Thursday, June 14, 2012

Write On Edge: Fate Challenge

Fate is the topic of our 400 word Red Writing Hood challenge this week.

Humans have long argued over the existence of preordained destinies. It's been hard-wired into our genetic code to find purpose in our chaotic lives. Like children testing boundaries, we collectively push for a semblance of order.  After a million years of human existence, what we know for certain: with Free Will comes responsibility, and with Destiny comes the shackles of our limitations. So we struggle to find an optimum balance.

The word "fate" brought to mind the story I started that got me involved with this whole "I'm a writer" business. Within the script of a movie I watched was the line: "My moral compass doesn't exactly point north..." and I thought an actual Moral Compass would be an interesting find. Think of it: an object that can actually point one to doing the right thing. I wrote a few pages that never fit together, so I moved on to other things. However, I'm still in love with the Prologue, written from the perspective of a narrator retelling a fairytale. Fairytales, after all, are initially stories that teach our young morals. Jack and the Beanstalk spoke of the dangers of lying, stealing, and swindling. Beauty and the Beast taught the dangers of treating unfortunate strangers with malice and indifference. And Rapunzel taught us that defying a strict mother and smuggling boys into one's room could get one banished to the desert to birth twins. (At least, that's what I walked away with)

Eventually, I'll be inspired to return to this piece. As always, I welcome any brainstorming you would like to share.


I offer the following in response: The Broken Compass: Prologue



One bright summer day, a curious lad named William Torvaldi frolicked unsupervised in a meadow just outside his village of Ithylwich. He chased butterflies and nearsighted beetles, tossed stones in the creek, and climbed the giant willow tree to the loftiest branches. This is how he spent his summers as his mother died when he was a baby, and his father was far too important to take an afternoon off to teach his young son to play cricket or build a proper clubhouse. William chased away so many servants by hiding frogs in bed linens or adding inks to tea that the only domestic remaining in his father’s employ was a housemaid, Esmeralda. She, too, was far too busy with the keeping of their house that she did not have time to look after the growing boy. William however, was hardly bothered by being ignored. He never knew his mother, so he never knew how to miss her.

Fate, some have said, is a fickle creature, only gazing favorably upon those willing to embrace her.

As the day wore on, William became curious about anthills and the colonies that built them. He poked about in the ground for signs of armies and their activities. One hole in particular was rather large, too large he thought, for an ant colony, but he proceeded to investigate by prodding the opening with a long stick.

Poke. Poke. Thud.

His stick struck something small and solid. He dropped to his knees to dig out the unknown object. Free of its cave, a tiny brass compass, dulled from exposure to the elements, rested in his earth dusted hand. It was an odd artifact, and obviously broken, because William noticed the compass did not point to magnetic north like proper compasses should. Instead, it pointed slightly east to the community churchyard, where protective earth cradled the plain pine box containing the bones of his mother. He ignored this directive, for surely compasses knew nothing of mothers or graves, or even anthills. Since shaking the object did nothing to help its function, William discarded the compass by tossing it at the willow, where it bounced off and found a new hiding place amongst the tall grasses of the meadow.

It should be mentioned that had William decided to keep the trinket, the following tale might have had a very different outcome indeed.


16 comments:

  1. Intriguing idea. I wonder who does find the compass and whether or not anyone figures out what it really does. Your phrasing and descriptions create a great fairy tale feel to the piece. This is one I think would be well worth continuing to explore.

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    1. The original sketch had the compass bouncing around between seemingly random people/fairies/trolls and eventually makes its way back to William when he's an old man.

      We'll see when the story is actually fleshed out. Stories have a way of writing themselves and usually in different directions than plan. Or at least mine do.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  2. This does feel so much like a fairy tale, and I'm intrigued by it.

    I did feel like the opening paragraph contained perhaps a bit too much information, though I guess it depends on your intended audience.

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    1. The plan was that all of that information would be an important theme. It does ramble a bit...I love the opportunity to go through my past writing. If nothing else it provides a window to what sort of mindset I had.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  3. Love this idea. Your piece had the feel of a fairytale and the foreshadowing at the end was the perfect spot for a prologue to end and the bulk of the story to begin.

    It has a very Illustrated Man or 1001 Nights feel. A single object/person or greater story tying together a collection of short stories. Seriously love this idea. Get writing so I can read it. :)

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    1. That was the feel I was going for, so thanks! I'm glad you love it. I'll write the rest hopefully over the next few months. My projects keep backing up!

      Thanks again for the love and for stopping by!

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  4. This is such a different spin. Narrating fairytales. The writing was so rich in detail. I could picture his hands holding the compass so well.

    I also thing it's nice that you go back and revive old stories. I never think to do it.

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    1. Thanks! I've been known to write the same scene from each character's POV to find out who has the strongest voice. I visit my characters often, like old friends. I never scrap anything permanently.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  5. The idea of a moral compass is a great one! I was curious to see who was going to pick up the compass next. I was a little annoyed at William for not putting together what seemed like an obvious hint, and then felt that perhaps the moral of the story was that some people simply don't have much in the way of morals, compass or not.

    I don't know why this popped into my head, but it might be interesting to think about this piece from the compasses point of view.

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    1. I like the idea of having maybe a chapter or two from the POV of the compass. Hmmmmmm...

      William is an unruly little boy who desperately needs a mother, and a father too, so it's very tragic that he didn't follow the compass needle. But he may yet be redeemed. I like your take on the "Some people simply don't have much in the way of morals, compass or not".

      Thanks for stopping by and the wonderful brainstorms!

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  6. Someday, I hope you continue this story. A very intriguing idea relying on a moral compass, but consider this. What might happen in your story is the moral compass is broken? What if the "right" thing that the moral compass is pointing to is actually the "wrong" thing? How would one know if they only relied on the directions of something mechanical, but without feelings. Really, this would make a great tale. Maybe even for a YA audience?

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    1. Ooh, me likes...a tainted moral compass...maybe a compass affected by each pair of hands that holds it...

      Thanks for the brainstorm. And for stopping by!

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  7. What a great idea, I look forward to seeing how this might turn out. I love the fairytale feel that you captured.

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    1. Thanks! It may be a while before I come back to it, but when I do I promise to post my progress. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  8. Very nice. I'm curious to know the rest of the story now.

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    1. Eventually it'll all come together. Promise. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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