Fantasy Book Writing Club

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Comment by MoonDove Starfyre on January 31, 2012 at 7:26pm

Welcome KP,
Have you ever read the dark science fiction/fantasy series by Steven Ericson its very dark and violent -- so keep at it if that's what you wnat to write.
Write the stories that you want to write about -- not what others tell you to write.
Blessed Be,
MoonDove.

Comment by KP Merriweather on January 7, 2012 at 9:50pm

i write dark fantasy but it's heavy into the supernatural/paranormal realm. To keep from getting bored i also write dark science fiction. But fantasy is my genre of choice. I've had many complaints my works are too dark/violent/perverse. I just have an over active imagination (& do a lot of research). Thats why im not published yet (i dont have the money nor marketing skills to self publish)

Comment by MoonDove Starfyre on October 12, 2011 at 7:13pm

Hello All, I have just posted a document in the discussion forum. Feel free to write any comments that you have to my discussion. It is a rough draft.

Comment by Arianrhod Lefay on September 19, 2011 at 1:08pm

Probably. But I figured I would throw that out there :)

Comment by MoonDove Starfyre on September 19, 2011 at 12:58pm

must be a spammer, because I didn't send an email out to anyone...

Comment by Arianrhod Lefay on September 19, 2011 at 12:24pm

I received an email with a link from this group. The link has nothing to do with this group or any kind of story topic. Please do not send out these links.

Comment by MoonDove Starfyre on September 18, 2011 at 6:48pm

Love it!!! Very nice

Comment by Arianrhod Lefay on September 17, 2011 at 6:51pm

@Evelyn. you have a great start and background. Very Harry Potter-ish at first (with the magical school and all) and then it morphs into its own story. Nice:) Blessings!!

Comment by Evelyn Marie Ethridge on September 16, 2011 at 11:56pm

OOPs, that's the whole story, sorry, I didn't realize it posted it all. sorry for the page numbers, tried to take them out. Jokes on me, I guess.

Comment by Evelyn Marie Ethridge on September 16, 2011 at 11:54pm

Hi all, I hope you're projects are going well. I'm posting a short story that I'm thinking of turning into a novel. I would appreciate any comments, good or bad. It's really just a draft, I haven't done much editing. It's pretty long so I'll no doubt have to break it up.
THE NIGHT OF THE CAT
gazed into the full length mirror. “Well, sweater’s not too tight and at least
my make-up’s not smeared. Belinda Peters you’re 13 and supposed to be
having the time of your life, but you don’t even have one close friend."
I shook my head. Shouldn’t talk to myself out loud, everybody’ll think
I’m crazy, like they don’t anyway. My long black hair swirled as I turned
first to one side and then the other. I’m not ugly, but I’m sure not pretty
either. I moved closer to the mirror. My green eyes are definitely my best
feature, not enough breasts yet to even notice. Wish my nose was narrower
and my mouth smaller, maybe I’d be more attractive.
I watched as my features changed in the mirror. My nose became narrower and narrower and my mouth shrank until it almost disappeared
under my nose. I laughed. Not what I had in mind, I look like a chicken.
The reflection changed and once again I was looking at a short, slender
girl with a broad nose and wide mouth. Guess, I’d better be happy like I am.
I picked up my jacket and raced to catch the school bus.
Podunk’s a small town and most of the students come from small farms
and ranches in the area. We live on 80 acres, 10 miles from town and two
miles from any neighbor.
I’m the youngest of three children. My brother, Billy, lives in Los Angeles and works as a scriptwriter and my sister lives in Warren, Nevada.
She's an executive secretary for a hotel chain. My dad's a lawyer in San
Bernadido, and my mom stays home and raises goats, pigs, and a few chickens.
I wanted to join the 4-H club at school. I like animals and I thought it’d
be fun. Maybe it was a way to fit in a little with the other kids, but my dad
nixed the idea. He said the competition wouldn’t be good for me.
School was dragging by and I was sitting alone at a table in the lunch
room studying my Spanish when Sharon Davis and her group of girlfriends
walked in.
“Well, if it isn’t Belinda Peters, the only one in our junior high school who doesn’t have an after school activity, too bad your parents won't let you participate in anything.”
“My parents would if I wanted to, but they don't like the people I might
associate with if I did.”
“Oh, sure, like anyone would want to hang around with you, you look
and act like a loser, it might be contagious.”
“Yeah? Well, you look like a pig to me, and that’s insulting the hog; you
think ‘cause you’ve gotta lot of money you can run over everyone.” I put my
head down and started reading my book. I looked up when I heard the girls
gasp and scream.
“Oh, my God! Belinda, what did you do?”
I stared at Sharon who had somehow turned into a pig, at least her face, hands, and feet looked like a pig. She still wore her jeans and blouse and her hair was the same.
“I didn’t do anything, I guess her true nature’s coming out.”
Mrs. Morrison, the principle, happened to be walking by and screamed
when she saw Sharon.
“Oh you poor child, what happened? Who did this and how?”
The girls started talking at once and pointing at me.
“She did it, make her change Sharon back.”
“I didn’t do anything, honest, I only said I thought she looked like a pig,
how could I change her into a pig?”
Mrs. Morrison glared at me. “I don’t know, but both of you come to the
office, I’m calling your mothers and Iwill get to the bottom of this.”
We followed her to the office and sat down in the chairs while she called
our parents. I tried to study my Spanish but it was hard not to stare at
Sharon.
She was one of the school’s most popular girls. She was also in the
seventh grade, but she was already dating a freshman. Her family was well
off by Podunk standards and everyone thought Sharon was going to modeling
classes. She didn’t look like a model now however, in fact she didn’t even
look human.
I was relieved when my Mom showed up. She stared at the animal-girl
that sat beside me. “Wha-what happened?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, she said I looked like a loser, and I said she
looked like a pig, the next thing I know, she is a pig.”
Mrs. Morrison walked out of her office and stared at Miss Piggy.
“I don’t understand Mrs. Peters, how could this happen?” She shook her
head and pointed at me. “I know Belinda’s smart but I didn’t think she could
do anything that would turn a beautiful girl into a pig!”
“How dare you suggest that my daughter did this, I don’t know how this
girl was disfigured but my Belinda didn’t do it, I’m sure of that.”
Mrs. Morrison’s lips became a thin line. “I only know that when Belinda
said she looked like a pig, the girl turned into a pig! I don’t know how she
did it, but several of the students saw her.”
Dad showed about that time. He looked at Mom and shook his head, then he waved his hand and everything stopped; I mean like froze.
I watched as he pointed to Sharon, waved his hand and snapped his
fingers, just like that she returned to her normal appearance.
“Dad! How’d you do that?”
“I’ll tell you about it at home, there’s a lot you need to know, now I’ve
got to finish this and get back to work.”
He waved his hands and said “Retrozide” then vanished into thin air. I
was stunned when everyone returned to their normal activities just as if
nothing had happened. They didn’t seem to remember anything that went
on.
Sharon looked at me the way she always did, down her nose. “I don’t
know why you’re here, you’re not on the cheerleading team.”
I smiled, “Just waiting for my Mother.”
Mrs. Morrison nodded to Mom and me then motioned for Sharon to come
into her office. We left and drove home.
“I don’t know why I had to go to the school to pick you up? Why didn’t
you ride the bus like you always do?”
I realized Mom had no recollection of any of the events in Mrs. Morrison’s office.
The evening meal was spent in awkward silence. I waited for Dad to
explain today’s events, but he just sat and ate.
“O.K., Dad, how did you do it and why did Sharon turn into a pig in the
first place?”
Mom stared at me and then at my Dad. “Robert, you didn’t tell me about this, what happened?”
Dad sighed as he put down his fork. “Jen, I’ve been telling you for
years that Belle has to go to training.”
He slowly shook his head as he continued. “I’ve corrected her magic
for a long time, but her powers are getting stronger and she has to learn to
control them.”
Mom put her head in her hands, tears were streaming down her face.
“Oh, Robert, I’ve already lost Penny to the Magic Realm, I can’t bear to
lose Belle, too.”
Dad stood up and caressed her hair. “You know you haven’t lost Penny,
but if you’d agreed to live there with me, you’d have seen a lot more of her,
and Belle wouldn’t be so far behind.”
He kissed her cheek and sat down next to me. Mom looked at me and
smiled. “I’m sorry honey, I just wanted you to have a normal childhood. I
guess that was too much to ask.”
She got up from the table. “Your father wants to talk to you, he’ll explain everything while I do the dishes.”
Dad turned to me and took my hand. “Do you know what happened in school today?”
I frowned. “Sort of, when I called her a pig, Sharon turned into a pig.”
I thought about the events in the office. “I didn’t see you come in, but
all at once you were there, you didn’t say anything to anyone. You just waved
your hand, snapped your fingers, muttered something then disappeared. I
guess you fixed everything.”
“Well, we’re actually members of the Magical Realm, it’s a separate universe. You and your sister have magic powers because I’m a wizard. That usually happens when a witch or wizard has children; your mother’s a mortal
and for some reason your brother didn’t inherit any of my-uh-talents, do you
understand?”
“Not really, I didn’t think witches and wizards and all that stuff existed,
everybody says it’s just fantasy.”
“Good, we work very hard to keep our secret, mortals in general are
just not ready for that knowledge. There would be chaos if they knew about
us and the mortal world would cease to exist.
“That’s why you have to learn the rules, and how to control your magic.”
“How do I do that, I don’t even know what I’m doing.”
“I know, but you’ll find out, starting Saturday ; you’ll be going to classes
in the Magic Realm.” Dad smiled. “We’ll spend every weekend there until you’re declared a witch.”
“More school? Aw, Dad, don’t I get enough during the week?”
He laughed. “I think you’ll enjoy this school, Belle, there’ll be kids there your age. Now try not to get angry and don’t wish for anything the rest
of the week.”
Saturday came in a hurry with no more incidents at school. No one remembered anything about the pig. Dad held my hand and told me to close
my eyes. When I opened them, I was in a classroom very similar to my art
class. There were several boys and girls already seated at the tables. They were all in their teens. Dad motioned for me to find a seat then he left.
I’d gone to school with the same group of kids since the first grade, and I felt shy among so many strangers. Everyone was talking and gawking at the weird symbols on the walls. An old gray-haired man with a long beard and a
funny hat came into the room. His voice boomed like a cannon; we covered
our ears as it echoed around the room.
“I will have quiet in this room, you are here to learn, not to play, this is
very serious business.“ He glared at us and pushed up the sleeves of his
flowing robe.
“I’m Professor Snigglefritz and I’m the Headmaster of this school. All of you are part mortal and have powers imparted to you by one of your parents. You should have started your classes by the time you were 10.”
He paused and scowled. “You were allowed to delay your training because of your mortal parent’s objection; now you must make up for the lost time.“ His gaze flitted around the room.
“Normally, you would stay here at the school however, your mortal parent
doesn’t understand and, in some cases doesn’t even know of your powers, so
you’ll only stay on weekends and mortal school holidays.”
The Professor looked at each of us, but no one said anything.
I almost jumped when a stack of books appeared in front of me, a tablet and pen sat by my right hand. When I looked up, Professor Snigglefritz was
standing by a chalkboard holding a pointer. I tried to read what was written,
but it appeared to be in another language.
I groaned. I’ll never learn this if I can’t understand what he writes, I
thought. Then the pen took on a life of it’s own. It translated for me, and I
sat and watched as it wrote in English what was written on the blackboard. It
was a list of rules we were supposed to follow. The first one was “No Magic in
the Mortal Realm“.
That’ll be easy, I don’t know how to do any magic, I thought.
The Professor stared at me. “Belinda, you may not know how to do any
magic but you’ve managed to do it just the same, that’s why you’re here.”
My face flushed. Why me?
The Professor continued. “Each of you has used his powers unknowingly
and caused a lot of trouble for your parents as well as the staff at the Bureau
of Illegal Magic. An investigation is done when someone violates the Magic
Realm rules and we’ve had numerous reports on all of you.”
Well, at least I’m not the only one.
The Professor began going over each book and relentlessly assigning
homework. The papers stacked up and I thought they were going to reach the
ceiling. Finally, he gave us a break and led the way down a long hall to the
dining room. When we were seated, the Professor stood up.
“Now, for your first lesson in using your powers correctly. I want you to concentrate on what you want for lunch, visualize it, and point to your plates.”
I pictured a big, juicy cheeseburger and an order of French fries. I pointed to my plate and to my surprise there appeared the largest cheeseburger I’d ever seen. It could have fed half the people there.
I looked around; it seemed that everyone had ordered a huge lunch. One boy must have been hungry for beef because a huge steak covered his plate which had grown to the size of a serving platter.
Professor Snigglefritz waved his hand and everything disappeared.
“Let’s try again, shall we?”
I pictured an average size cheeseburger and a small order of French
fries and this time the food was exactly right. I decided to press my luck and
visualized a small strawberry shake. I was delighted when it appeared next
to my plate.
Most of the class were successful, however, one boy couldn’t seem to
conjure anything at all. I felt sorry for him and tried to help him, I felt a jolt
of electric shock that made my whole body tingle.
“Tommy will have to do it himself, Belinda, you can’t do it for him, he’ll
get it if he tries hard enough. That goes for all the assignments, you’ll be on
your own most of the time. Try again Tommy.”
While we were eating, we talked to each other. Since there were only 12
in our class, we soon learned we had a lot in common. I sat with Tommy
Duncan, David Williams, Elvira Brown, and Amy Langtry. I couldn’t believe it,
I’d actually made some friends.


Well, that's about half of the story. Hope you like it and will give me some feed back. By the way I checked out Lulu press (see ad) and found it very interesting, I'm going to try to use them to publish my book (not a fantasy) just a murder mystery. Thanks to all of you and Blessed Be.
When classes were finished, Elvira, Amy and I were
assigned to the same room. The girl’s rooms were on the
opposite side of the school. It was a long walk.
I sure wish I was already in the room, in a nice
comfortable bed. At that moment, I was there. Wow!
that’s neat.
When the others arrived, I was almost asleep.
“How’d you get here so fast?” Amy asked.
“Yeah, you were walking with us one minute, the next
you were gone.”
I yawned and told them what I’d done.
“Cool. No more walking for me.” Elvira said.
“Me neither.”
Suddenly, I wasn’t tired anymore. My sister had
materialized beside my bed.
“Hi, Belle, welcome to the Magic Realm, it’s about
time you started your schooling.”
I introduced Penny to my friends. “How did you
know I was here?”
The tall, willowy blonde smiled. “I’m a witch.” She
sat down on the bed. “I live here and I work for the
Bureau of Illegal Magic, I know all about all of you.”
“I thought you lived in Warren, Nevada.”
Penny laughed. “No, it’s the next town to the East
of here. How do you like Professor Snigglefritz?”
“He gives out a lot of homework, but it’s
interesting.”



Smith-Night of the Full Moon Page 13

Penny nodded. “He’s a master wizard, the best in the
realm, you’ll have to listen close and learn fast. Too
bad you couldn’t start sooner, there’s a lot to learn and
you've started 3 years late."
My face fell. “How’m I supposed to catch up?"
Penny smiled. “Oh, I think you’ll do it, you just
need to concentrate. I’ve got to go now, get some
sleep.”
The next day was filled with new and exciting things
to do at the Wizardville School for Witches and Wizards.
The lessons weren’t easy but I enjoyed reading the books
and attempting to memorize the incantations the Professor
had assigned.
We all did our homework in the large library next to
the classroom. It was a mess. Everyone was trying to
cast spells and do incantations at the same time. We
were laughing more than learning. Professor Snigglefritz
watched us for a few minutes, then he separated us into
small groups.
“Take turns, each of you do one spell then sit down
and let the next person do the same spell. When you have
each completed the spells perfectly, come into the
classroom and perform them for me.”
I was surprised how easy some of the assignments
were, and I finished them quickly. When I performed the
spells for the Professor, he marked a grade in his book
and gave me more to learn. He said I could practice them
at home, in my room.
“I thought I couldn‘t do magic in the Mortal Realm?”
“From now on, your room will be part of this realm
whenever you’re in it.”
Smith-Night of the Full Moon Page 13


I nodded. This is gonna be fun. I was attracted to
Tommy Duncan; he was so cute. He had curly black hair
that fell to his shoulders and Siamese-cat blue eyes, and
best of all, he wasn’t that much taller than me. He was
from San Diego and he didn’t think he had any magic
powers. I tried to help him with the studies, and told
him he just had to work at it.
I didn’t want to leave the Magic Realm, but Dad was
firm. I took all the books and papers home with me.
Working on the spells and incantations was a lot more fun
than doing mortal school homework.
The weekdays dragged, I couldn’t concentrate on
Podunk Junior High. My magic classes were my first
priority and I lived for the weekends in Wizardville.
We weren’t allowed to leave the school unless we were
accompanied by an instructor, so most of my time was
spent in the library with my friends. I was learning
that I could do most of the spells easily, but the book
on potions was hard to understand and my concoctions
rarely seemed to come out right.
I think it’s gonna take a while for me to be a witch.
Tommy and I spent as much time together as we could.
I liked him a lot and asked him to go with me to the
annual holloween party at Podunk.
“That’d be awesome, Belle, when is it?”
“It’s next Friday night, you can stay in my brother’s
room and we can go to class together on Saturday.”
I couldn’t wait for Friday night, my thoughts
were on the party instead of my schoolwork. I hoped Mom
would like Tommy as much as I did.
Smith-Night of the Full Moon Page 14


Dad didn’t say much, but I knew he wanted to talk to
me before Tommy arrived. When I walked out of my room, I
met him in the hall.
“You look beautiful, Belle, soon you'll be all grown
up; I can’t believe it.” He lowered his voice so Mom
wouldn’t hear if she was close by.
“There’s something you need to know before Tommy gets
here; it’s an exception to the rule about using magic in
the mortal realm.”
He looked around. “You can help another witch or
wizard if it’s necessary to preserve our secret, or save
a life, but that’s just about the only time. I don’t
think that’s going to happen, but you never know.”
“Thanks, Dad, I’m sure that problem won’t come up.”
The knock on the door sent me flying down the stairs.
I stopped at the bottom, and walked with as much grace as
I could to open the door. I introduced Tommy and his
mother to my parents, and then we walked outside.
His mother was driving a red and white Ford LTD
convertible with black leather interior. He opened the
door for me, and I felt like a queen in the soft luxury.
We had agreed that his mother would drop us off, and
my mother would pick us up in our Explorer when the party
was over.
Sharon Davis and her boyfriend were standing in front
of the gym when we drove up. Her mouth fell open and her
face became bright red when we got out of the car. I
started to wish for a camera, but remembered the rule.


Smith-Night of the Full Moon Page 15


We went inside and all my classmates stared at Tommy.
I tried to act normal, after all it’s just a school
party. We played games and danced for awhile, then
walked outside. The moon was just starting to rise.
“Oh, look Tommy, it’s a full moon, tonight.”
His face turned ashen, then he started to change.
His hands and face were contorted, and he started to bear
a strong resemblance to a wolf. I was staring at him
but, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other couples
come out of the gym. I knew he’d be in a lot of trouble
if they saw him, and so would they.
The boy beside me was now completely transformed, and
the wild, haunted look in his eyes was scary.
“Tommy,” I whispered. “I hope you can understand
me, we have to get you to the Magic Realm.”
I couldn’t understand how he got so tall. He should
have been a lot shorter as a wolf. I’m short, I know
that, but I felt like I was sitting down. I reached out
to touch him and stared at my PAW!
I didn’t have time to think about how I looked, I
pictured us at the school in Wizardville, and we were
there. Professor Snigglefritz stared at us.
“I see you’ve discovered how to shape shift.” He
waved his hand and Tommy laid down and went to sleep.
He looked at me, his eyes twinkled, and he smiled.
“Can you change yourself back?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never done it before.“
“Ah, I see, so you didn’t consciously change yourself
into a cat?”

Smith-Night of the Full Moon Page 16



I shook my head. “I was just me until he changed,
then I was trying to figure out how to get him back here
before anyone saw him, I knew I was in danger but I
didn’t know what to do.”
The Professor nodded. “Sometimes our abilities
manifest themselves when they’re needed. Well, go to
your room, I imagine you’ll change back when you calm
down, if not, I’ll take care of it.”
I teleported to my room and found when I got there
that I was a girl again. I shook my head and lay down on
the bed. How am I ever going to explain this to Mom.

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