Hello, Thumbelinas and Honored Guests!
I hope you have put on your well ironed shirt, sated your hunger beforehand, and got an emergency frying pan handy, because…
This week’s Writing Group prompt is:
The Fairy Ring
RULES AND GUIDELINES BELOW!
Make sure you scroll down and read them if you haven’t! You may not be eligible if you don’t!
In the dark forest lies a ring of pale mushrooms, hidden by shadows and low grown bushes. It spreads its roots deeper and deeper until it reaches a place beyond ours.
Cradled in the warmth of home and hearth lies a small babe, fast asleep and lost in sweet dreams. Out from the forest comes a shadow, smelling of wet soil and rot. It slides in the window and before even the parents notice, the child is gone, replaced with a screaming and squirming fake, never to be seen again.
Flickering colors, a sensation of falling. Finally you are back; it has been years since you lost yourself in the woods and stepped inside that circle. You can’t wait to get back to your village, tearing through the underbrush in a straight line for the woodland’s edge. But as you throw yourself into the open…there is no sleepy fisher’s village. Instead you see yourself face to face with gleaming pillars of glass and steel. The air is filled with the roar of distant beasts and the once great forest seems to be not much more than a crop of a dozen trees. Gods, you should have taken the Queen’s offer, heeded her warning!
Finally, the ring is in your possession. You’ve worked hard to obtain it from the Fairy Court. So why isn’t it opening when you say the spell? Could it be that you’ve been tricked? Well, two can play the trickery game.
You peer over the bushes to see their unholy ritual. You thought it was a tale to scare children, but you see the witches dancing with their devilish master, cackling as they go. The earth they tread won’t be the same tomorrow.
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So don’t step foot inside the circle, my dear, lest you want to feast at the Queen’s table tonight.
—Kaylie, Paul, and Felicia
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Remember, this is part of our weekly Writing Group stream! Submit a little piece following the rules and guidelines below, and there’s a chance your entry will be read live on stream! In addition, we’ll discuss it for a minute and give you some feedback.
Tune into the stream this Saturday at 3:00pm CST to see if you made the cut!
The whole purpose of this is to show off the creativity of the community, while also helping each other to become better writers. Lean into that spirit! Get ready not just to share what you’ve got, but to give back to the other writers here as well.
Rules and Guidelines
We read at least five stories during each stream, two of which come from the public post, and three of which come from the much smaller private post. Submissions are randomly selected by a bot, but likes on your post will improve your chances of selection, so be sure to share your submission on social media!
Text and Formatting
- English only.
- Prose only, no poetry or lyrics.
- Use proper spelling, grammar, and syntax.
- Your piece must be between 250-350 words (you can use this website to see your wordcount).
- Use two paragraph breaks between each paragraph so that they have a proper space between them (press “enter” or “return” twice).
- Include a submission title and an author name (doesn’t have to be your real name). Do not include any additional symbols or flourishes in this part of your submission. Format them exactly as you see in this example, or your submission may not be eligible: Example Submission.
- No additional text styling (such as italics or bold text). Do not use asterisks, hyphens, or any other symbol to indicate whether text should be bold, italic, or styled in any other way. CAPS are okay, though.
What to Submit
- Keep submissions “safe-for-work”; be sparing with sexuality, violence, and profanity.
- Try to focus on making your submission a single meaningful moment rather than an entire story.
- Write something brand new; no re-submitting past entries or pieces written for other purposes
- No fan fiction whatsoever. Take inspiration from whatever you’d like, but be transformative and creative with it. By submitting, you also agree that your piece does not infringe on any existing copyrights or trademarks, and you have full license to use it.
- Submissions must be self-contained (everything essential to understanding the piece is contained within the context of the piece itself—no mandatory reading outside the piece required. e.g., if you want to write two different pieces in the same setting or larger narrative, you cannot rely on information from one piece to fill in for the other—they must both give that context independently).
Submission Rules
- One submission per participant.
- Submit your entry in a comment on this post.
- Submissions close at 12:00pm CST each Friday.
- You must like and leave a review on two other submissions to be eligible. Your reviews must be at least 50 words long, and must be left directly on the submission you are reviewing, not on another comment. If you’re submitting to the private post, feel free to leave these reviews on either the private or the public post. The two submissions you like need not be the same as the submissions you review.
- Be constructive and uplifting. These submissions are not for a professional market, and shouldn’t be treated as such. We do this, first and foremost, for the joy of the craft. Help other writers to feel like their work is valuable, and be considerate and gentle with critique when you offer it. Authors who leave particularly abrasive or disheartening remarks on this post will be disqualified from selection for readings.
- Use the same e-mail for your posts, reviews, and likes, or you may be rendered ineligible (you may change your username or author name between posts without problem, however).
- You may submit to either or both the public/private groups if you have access, but if you decide to submit to both, only the private group submission will be eligible.
- Understand that by submitting here, you are giving us permission to read your submission aloud live on stream and upload public, archived recordings of said stream to our social media platforms. You will always be credited, but only by the author name you supply as per these rules. No other links or attributions are guaranteed.
Comments on this post that aren’t submissions will be deleted, except for replies/reviews left on existing submissions.
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