Author: Christine

Christine http://www.mombie.com I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Co-Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm the current president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

Story-A-Day May: Holy

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In all the old stories, they used holy water to ward off vampires. She couldn’t get behind that though. She wasn’t a believer, so she didn’t think trying to invoke the Christian God would work for her. She had the next best thing though, a hip flask full of wine. Most of the holy moments in her life had featured wine – weddings, funerals, and moments of friendship where you met souls instead of people – so she figured that was a close to a blessed fluid as she was likely to come across. She wasn’t sure if it would work but she had to put her faith somewhere.

Sometimes, they could go ages between attacks but this past month the creatures had been coming week after week. It was just wave after wave of them, and her team had been out in full force. Sean had fallen prey to them last week. Maddie and Jason were both injured after a battle with a particularly strong vamp, so she was the only one to stand between this wave of vampires and the people sleeping in the village just beyond.

So far, the wine was just back-up. Her stakes had been working just fine, but she had a limited supply. It wasn’t like on Buffy when the vampires would disintegrate and leave her holding the sharpened wood to use again. That wasn’t how it worked in the real world. Jillian had to pry the stake loose each time or the vamps wouldn’t go to dust at all. And there wasn’t always time for prying, mostly she had to run on to battle the next one before the adrenaline from the last fight had faded.

She was crouching on the roof of someone’s shed, watching for the steady creep of a bloodsucker. Her attention was so focus on the ground beneath that she didn’t hear the creature slide up behind her. Its hand was tilting her head to expose her neck when she threw her elbow back into its midsection. Vampires didn’t have to breathe anymore but their bodies hadn’t lost the habit of reacting to threats to human anatomy. It took a step back and she turned to face it.

It bared its teeth but the intimidation tactic had no effect on her. On the slope of the roof, she couldn’t risk losing her balance by reaching into her bag for a stake. She was going to have to try attacking with the wine. Even if it didn’t work like the water, it should at least cause enough confusion for her to grab a stake.

The vampire was sniffing the air. She heard that they could smell when you were nervous and they liked the taste in your blood. It licked one of its fangs.

Its commitment to savouring the moment before the kill gave her enough time to reach toward her hip flask and unscrew the top with her thumb. She pulled the flask from the holster, arcing the liquid toward the beast as it sprang. Every splash of wine landed with a hiss as it burned through the vampire’s flesh. She didn’t have enough to take the creature out completely, but as she had hoped, the burning distracted it enough that she could pull a stake from her bag and pierce the vampire’s heart.

This time, she was able to remove the stake and watch the corpse fall into dust. She wiped the mess from the shed roof, threw her stake back into her bag and headed out to find another bottle of wine. Perhaps she’d even get two, she could really use a drink.

Story-A-Day May: Cheers

I’m going to end up coming back to this story. This is definitely not the final version, but this is ‘Story a Day May’ not ‘Perfect Story May’ so I am posting it as is.

“To us then, I guess?” Jenny poured the white wine into both of their glasses, spilling just a drop on the table between them.

They lifted the glasses and gently touched the rims together before taking a drink. Ben held his up to the light in their dining room. They had chosen a poor font for the glasses and the word Groom was almost unreadable. “I always thought these were corny, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but they seemed like the thing to do, at the time.” She looked tired and he wanted to push the hair away from her eyes but he held himself back.

“It was a good day, though, wasn’t it?” He smiled at her, thinking of how bright and beautiful she had looked, walking up the aisle towards him. He remembered the feeling, like the whole world was opening up before him, like he was seeing happily ever after.

“Oh, it was terrific. But, we’ve had a lot of good days. A lot of fun.” She finished the last of her wine and poured another glass. “Despite everything, we’ve been pretty happy.”

“Definitely. Are you happy now, though, Jenny?” He let her fill his glass again, too.

“Yeah, I am. I think this is for the best.” This time her smile looked more resigned.

“So, we’ll take one of these each, will we?” It had come down to dividing everything and now they were at their wedding glasses. The set only made sense together, you couldn’t be a bride or a groom by yourself.

“I guess. Or…” Jenny looked at him out of the corner of her eye the way she did when she was up to no good. “…or, we could smash them.”

Ben nodded. Smashing them had a lot of appeal. It was much better than owning half of a set.

Wednesday Writing: Originality!

I’m experimenting with creating a blog post plan with specific topics on specific days. In a mark of stunning innovation and originality, I’m going with ‘Writing’ for Wednesday. Sometimes it will be about what I’m writing, sometimes it will be about how I write, and sometimes it will be a little advice-y.

Have you ever given up on your writing because it didn’t feel very original? Or because it felt like you didn’t have anything *new* to say? I’ve done it and it sucks.

On the one hand, it makes sense because you don’t want to just repeat what other people are saying – that’s just boring plagiarism and you already know not to do that.

On the other hand there is a HUGE difference in being not particularly original and actually being derivative. AND I think that trying to be original for it’s own sake is far more annoying than saying something that has already been said but in a new way.*

That’s the thing, right there: Unless you are copying and pasting someone else’s work (DON’T DO THAT), or simply restating a precis of someone else’s stuff, you ARE being original.

Giving your own take on the situation, telling people what you think of it – that’s your originality right there. No one else has your exact combination of experience and talent and thoughts, so by default, no one else is saying what you are saying. Perhaps it will be your phrasing that will reach someone in need when no one else’s would.

And, really, how original can anyone be?

It’s well known that there are only seven or so basic storylines in all human stories. The difference is only in how they are presented. Soooooo, why should you worry about being the person to come up with an eighth?
You don’t need that pressure! Why not accept that you are probably going to hit the same marks as someone else and just concentrate on how well you hit them? Why focus on how accurately you say what you mean to say?** Or, even, on what insight you can bring to the topic.

I’m not saying to jump on the bandwagon to comment on the same things that everyone else is commenting on. You don’t need to just add fluff – the only time you need to do that is when you are shipping breakables. But if you feel pulled to discuss or write about something, don’t let the fact that other people have already discussed it hold you back.

You have just as much of a right to comment as anyone else does and, I think that you should carry on. I’m not promising you fame and fortune. I’m not saying that no one will be irritated with you about it. What I am saying is that your writing is about you expressing your ideas so you should just keep on doing that***

It is far more important to do the writing than it is to worry in advance about how original it is. You need to get on with getting the words out. You can re-craft them later. When you’re editing, you can add some in, take some out, do what you need to do make them better, but if you do not start by writing, then you will have nothing to work with.

You cannot edit a blank page and you cannot post a blank page and you cannot publish a blank page. A blank page serves no one, especially not you.

So, go forth and write, my friends! Mess up some paper with your words!

*You know, kind of like those insufferable people who work SO hard to be different and they just end up making you want to punch them?
**And don’t get started on worrying about hitting them on the first try either. Get close to the mark on your first pass, move closer on the second and third and just hope for the best.
***One important caveat: While it is okay to have opinions on world events, do NOT speak FOR a marginalized group, step out of the way or sit the hell down and do not prevent them from having room to speak on issues that concern them. Don’t mansplain, whitesplain or richsplain: LISTEN.

Story-A-Day May: Gold

(I decided to challenge myself with a 100 word story today)

Dragons aren’t monsters but they are compelled to protect the gold they sleep on. Yet, the Emperor will only trade my sister for a doubloon marked by a dragon’s claw.

I crept into the sleeping beast’s lair, eased the coin from beneath him, and made my way toward the mouth of the cave. The light from outside made me bold and I hurried toward our freedom, but, in my haste, a stone skittered from beneath my foot. A creature that large shouldn’t be able to move so quickly, just a moment between claws on coins and claws encircling my waist.

Story-A-Day May: Connections

She stood at the bottom of the steps. They had cleaned up most of the blood but the flooring was still stained. It was like an inkblot, the kind they used in movies but that real life patients hardly ever saw.

She thought that she would have liked to see some inkblots, see what they might have told her about her motivations. Those were apparently important. Dr. Flynn had told her that once they found her motivations, then they could start to figure out her behaviour. Her triggers. Once they knew her triggers then they could help her change. And once she changed, then she could start going out into town again.

Dr. Flynn had thought that spending time with Shelby meant that she was changing. He was counting on Shelby to help her recover, to make her better, to help her connect. They connected all right but probably not in the way Dr Flynn intended. Shelby though, she was counting on connection. She thought that they had something, that they were destined to be together.

That was never going to happen, Jane didn’t work like that. She went along with it because it got Dr. Flynn off her back, gave her a break from his questions about when she was going to make an effort to get to know people. She didn’t usually bother to get to know people because once you knew them, they got annoying. And once they annoyed you, you had to get rid of them.