The Challenger

This week's challenge: Dear Tiara by Sean Thomas Dougherty. A few lines are listed here; you can find your inspiration from these excerpts or any other lines from the poem, or from the entire piece.

I dreamed I was a chant in the mouth of a monk, saffron-robed syllables in the religion of You.

I dreamed I was your bad instincts.

I must've dreamed I was a nail, because I woke beside you still hammered.

I must've dreamed I was gravity, I've fallen for you so damn hard.


Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.

This week's challenge: a poem by Marilyn Krysl. You can think about the entire poem or focus on individual lines or phrases; whatever inspires you.

Sutra
by Marilyn Krysl

Looking back now, I see
I was dispassionate too often,
dismissing the robin as common,
and now can't remember what
robin song sounds like. ( I hoarded )

Click for original; © _lethe_

Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.

The house is old, made of crumbling brick and plaster. With every step a cloud of dust rises from the floor, the boards creaking nervously. There's a cloying scent of lavender in the air, and the sun just barely penetrates the murky film that covers every window. This is an old place, filled with mystery and longing.

Everywhere you look there are books, filled from floor to ceiling with ancient books from an Earth that may never have existed beyond these four walls. Select one and discover what secrets it holds.

Your challenge is to pick one of the books listed below and create its story; not necessarily the story written on its pages (although that would be fine as well) but the book's story (for example, it's history, who's owned it, who's tried to destroy it, is there anything hidden inside, etc.). (Credit to the Seventh Sanctum and Serendipity for the titles.)

The Secret's of the Citadel
Night of the Dream Rune
The Rogue and the Ruby
Invocations of Silence
A Guide to the Famous Cultural Agreements of the Frontier
Blessings from the One
The Shuriken: A Discussion of Dishonorable Use
Legend of the Vengeance King
The Unholy Autumn
Remedial Transformation


Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.

This week's challenge: a poem by Richard Wilbur. You can think about the entire poem or focus on individual lines or phrases; whatever inspires you.

The House
by Richard Wilbur

Sometimes, on waking, she would close her eyes
For a last look at that white house she knew
In sleep alone, and held no title to,
And had not entered yet, for all her sighs.

( What did she tell me of that house of hers? )

"The greatest and most important problems in life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown." - Carl Jung

Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.

This weeks challenge comes from "The Mysterious Traveler," a radio series from the 40s and 50s.

A Child is Crying
A nervous military gets their hands on a freaky 7 year old boy who has an IQ well above Einstein's, an ability to calculate the future, and his own intentions for how that future will play out.
(adapted from a short story written by John D. MacDonald, summary copied from Old Time Radio Plot Spot; I don't know the original radio broadcast date, but it was also adapted for the television program "Tales of Tomorrow" and aired on August 17, 1951; you can watch the program at the Internet Archive)

Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.

This week's challenge: a poem by Wallace Stevens. You can think about the entire poem or focus on individual lines or phrases; whatever inspires you.

The Plain Sense of Things
by Wallace Stevens

After the leaves have fallen, we return
To a plain sense of things. It is as if
We had come to an end of the imagination,
Inanimate in an inert savoir.

( It is difficult even to choose the adjective )

This week's challenge: The Very Nervous Family, a poem by Sabrina Orah Mark. You can think about the entire poem or focus on individual lines or phrases; whatever inspires you.

An excerpt:
She doesn't like that phrase. Dead bolt. It reminds her of getting shot before you even have a chance to run.

(You can read the full poem at Poets.org)


Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.

Please click picture for original size - © Olaf Hauschulz

Original fic, any fandom, any genre; real and fictional person pairings; slash, gen or het; fics, graphics, or videos. The goal is to inspire creation of any stripe and color. And most importantly, have fun.

If this interests or intrigues you, if you think you'd like to play around with the theme, or if you already have an idea that's just itching to be realized, please comment to this post to express your interest. This doesn't commit you to creating something based on this challenge; it just gives us an idea about what things the community members find most compelling.

Questions? Check out the info on the profile page. Otherwise, please contact me by PM or email.