A to Z Blog Challenge 2023
Theme Reveal
In a writing group I attended, we were given a story prompt and had 20 minutes to write a story to share. When I finished sharing my story, several participants suggested that I use that story as an introduction to a series of connected stories. I decided to take them up on their suggestion. What follows is the revised story I wrote that day as an introduction to the rest of my A to Z Blog Challenge for 2023. In the end, it will be a complete tale. This is my eighth year doing the Challenge and my first attempt to use all the alphabet letters as part of one story.
Save me a Story
The door opens, and I look into the eye of the mystic I was directed to. Why you may ask? Well, it all started when I woke up this morning.
I had been dreaming I was in a car. Dawn was approaching. As the sun began to rise, sunshine hit the front of the car I was in, and I was blinded, so I pulled off the road and stopped the car. I got out, and standing there was a woman. She stood about 5 foot 6 and had short blond hair and eyes that were vivid green. She stared straight at me. Her eyes were what attracted me, or should I say mesmerized me.
She said only a few words. It was an address and a request that I go there. Then she turned and walked away.
Under normal circumstances, I would mark her as a crazy lady or another one of my vivid dreams, but the look she gave me bewitched me. So when I woke up, well… here I am.
The mystic asked me to sit down. I realized this mystic was the woman I had seen in my dreams.
“I asked you here for a reason,” she said. “I am the gateway to any number of kingdoms. And you are needed in one of them.”
Not knowing what she was talking about, I asked, “Why me? And what kingdom?”
Her answer was quick, ”Because it has been foretold, and it is the kingdom of Selat.”
This did not make it any clearer. “What do you mean….”
She stopped me before I could finish my question. “You are a bearer of tales, are you not?”
I nodded yes.
“In Selat, all the stories that have existed have been stolen. Therefore it is your task to discover where they have been taken to and to bring them back. What has happened in Selat also threatens your world. Once stories are gone, there is no history, no learning from generation to generation; there is no true existence.”
I didn’t know how to respond, and she sensed that. So she said only one thing.
“Just do it!”
And she disappeared, as did everything else around me. I found myself alone in an uninhabited village in this new kingdom called Selat.
Where to begin…?
————–
And so begins my journey. Who will I meet? Where are the stories? What obstacles will I face? Will I get assistance? Will I succeed?
All will hopefully be revealed by the end of the Challenge. We’ll start on April 1st with Ask a Question and end on April 30 with Zeitgeist. Hope to see you there.
A to Z Blog Challenge
Stopping in from A-to-Z. Great idea for the challenging. A running story from A-to-Z will be fun. See you in April.
Love your idea of telling a story. I’ll be checking back
This sounds like a brilliant idea, Harvey. I look forward to reading your stories. I am sure I am going to learn a lot from your blog.
Wish you the best!
What a great concept for an A to Z story-telling adventure!
Fabulous. I’m hooked.
Interesting. I am going to be posting about your A-Z theme in a future article on my blog. Every blog on my blogroll that has announced an intention to participate in the 2023 soiree that Is the A-Z challenge will get some ink. (cyberink of course).
“Why” – “Because it’s been foretold” – sounds like the proverbial Mom’s “Because I said so” ;-)))
Good luck with the challenge!
What a spectacular beginning! Loved it. All the best for AtoZ 🙂
Sounds fun! Looking forward to seeing what you post all month.
The Other Side | Blogging A to Z Theme Reveal: Doctor Who
Good luck. I generally don’t visit stories that are written over the whole a2z, as I can’t remember them from day to day. But it’s a huge undertaking. Don’t forget to enjoy it!
Jemima