It's a work in progress!

[vovat]

lozenger8 did a meme where she posted the first few sentences of stories she was working on, but hadn't finished. I'm going to follow suit. All but one of these are Oz stories, and the one that isn't is kind of Oz-related. I should probably try writing something completely different at some point.


Untitled Oz Story

All over the Gillikin Country of Oz, people were preparing for a great celebration. And when I say “people,” I do not simply mean ordinary humans. The King of the Soup Sea, who is made of soup bones with a cabbage for a head, was stirring up a hot batch of soup for the festival that was to be held. The giant spiders from the northwest were spinning brilliant decorations.

The premise of this story, which only has about a paragraph or so beyond this, is that the Gillikin Country is celebrating its thousandth anniversary. I might incorporate this idea into another story at some point. I have a lot of ideas about Emperor Gilkennius, an old Gillikin ruler who was a ruthless conqueror, but I have yet to do anything with them.

Another Untitled Oz Story

Prince Corum was sitting in the Knights' Lounge, playing chess with the Red Knight, when he heard the news. The Red Knight was the current Ozian chess champion. His father, Quintal, had held the same position several centuries in the past, and Quelnal, Quintal's only son, had been raised on the game.

This was supposed to be about Corum's stint at ruling Corumbia after his parents had disappeared. I also wanted to do something with the background of the suitor knights from The Yellow Knight of Oz.

The Golden Hammer

"I regret to inform you," began the messenger, "that the commission for the Golden Hammer has been cancelled."
"Cancelled?" shouted a Dwarf. "Cancelled? I slave day and night on this darned hammer, and you tell me that I'm not even getting paid?"

I'm actually fairly far along on this one, and I have an idea as to where I want it to go, but I've been putting off working on it. There are a few minor problems with my plot ideas, too.

Jenny Jump's Adventures in Time and Space (Edited Version)

When Jenny Jump materialized in her bedroom, her first thought was that she had left her Turn-Style in the past. A quick look around the room revealed that the magical device was nearby, however. Jenny was too tired to use the Turn-Style, so she went to bed on a couch, in the clothes that Pastoria had given her.

This is actually from a finished story, but I was hoping I could rewrite it with more conflict.

Yet Another Untitled Oz Story

The man arrived at the wall of stones in the middle of the night. Pushing on a yellow cross revealed a hidden door, which swung inward, allowing him access to a surprisingly ornate cave, decorated with maps, charts, swords, and chests. It looked pretty much the same as when he had left it over a month before, but something felt wrong. Putting the thought out of his head, the man lay down on a set of cushions for a good night’s sleep. After all, he had been traveling for some time, and he was tired. Besides, any problems that might have arisen were not likely to grow worse by morning.

Inspired by some comments on the old Nonestica mailing list, this story was supposed to be about Kadj the Conjurer from Pirates in Oz. I wasn't totally sure what to do with it, though.

Good Grief, Another Untitled Oz Story!

In the midst of the great eastern plains of the Gillikin Country lies the tiny country of Knoof. As of late, little had been heard about this country, but, in the past, it was famous for its knights, who were hired for missions throughout Oz. The knight training program was still running, but it was no longer as popular to hire knights from Knoof, and only a few of the nearby kingdoms ever did so.

Another idea that I'd been kicking around for years was a story about a famous Ozian knight named Sir Zonzell. So far, though, it hasn't gone anywhere.

The Brown Warrior of Oz

Kengar Frilt was NOT allowed in the basement. His parents had told him that numerous times. His father had assured him that there were dangerous things down there, which would not be good for an eight-year-old boy to get into. As you probably know, though, forbidding a child to do something will generally only pique their curiosity, and such is the case with children in the Gillikin Country of Oz, where our story begins, as much as it is anywhere else.

That's just a tentative title for this work-in-progress, which I intend to be a longer manuscript. It's supposed to be a sequel of sorts to my already-finished-but-probably-badly-in-need-of-editing Oz manuscript, but I think I might want to get that one finished up before I seriously get to work on this one.

Revolution in Oz

The Royal Caretaker of Prince Pazil took a look into the Prince's chamber. Seeing no one in the room, he rubbed his eyes and took another look. Still seeing nothing, he began calling for his young charge, and knocking on the doors of the bathroom, playroom, and wardrobe. Receiving no response, he rushed out of the room and down the stairs, almost colliding with the Lord High Chancellor.

This is another one that's fairly far along, but I'm not totally sure where to take it. That's almost certainly not going to be the title of the final version, though.

A History of Ristill

Ristill was officially founded around the fifth century of our calendar, when a man named Ristius was able, through a combination of campaigning and military might, to unite the many small territories between Zurgoria and the Sinewave Mountains. His two greatest allies were Arzo, an old, experienced sword-fighter from the county of Hanjo, and Gremmorn, a seaman from the small seaside village of Norrand, who, although young, had already saved his village from an attacking sea dragon.

The only one of these that isn't an Oz story. Well, not EXACTLY an Oz story, anyway. I had introduced Ristill in my short Oz story "The Cloak and Dagger Spell," but I'd sort of like to do something non-Oz-related with it. I've come up with several ideas about what Ristill is like (sort of an odd combination of a quaint fairyland and a futuristic society), but nothing coming all that close to resembling a plot or main characters.

The Black Witch of Oz

“The end is near! The end is near!”
As the voice rang out through the early morning, people in the nearby houses began to stir. Some of them tried to cover their ears and drown out the sound, while others took the approach of going to the windows and yelling that people were trying to sleep, and would the person who was shouting please be quiet. The shouter did not listen, however, and continued shouting his message.

Another beginning to what I intend to be a novel-length manuscript, although it's only a few paragraphs so far. The Black Witch of the title is Gloma, from The Wishing Horse of Oz, but I haven't actually decided what she's going to do in the story as of yet. It might well have something to do with the aforementioned Emperor Gilkennius, though.

Wantowin Battles Story

The inhabitants of the Castle of Canamgria trembled as the great black eagle flew overhead. Why had the bird come? Surely it was not an attack by one of the wicked witches! Old Gingemma had been quite clear in stating that, as long as the royal family paid tribute to her, no witches would trouble them.

My intention here was to write a story about the disappearance of King Cheeriobed's father, as well as to explain the reason why the Soldier with Green Whiskers has two different names (Omby Amby and Wantowin Battles).

Comments

[loz]

I want to read them all now. I like your writing style.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I have some stuff I wrote for my college Creative Writing class here (http://members.aol.com/jinnicky/writings.html), and some Oz stories here (http://members.aol.com/jinnicky/stories.html). Be forewarned that most of those Oz stories are ten or more years old, so they're probably not as good as my more recent stuff.

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

Wow - I'm really impressed! Whenever I try to write fiction, I end up horribly second-guessing myself and tossing the story aside...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, all of these ARE stories that I've tossed aside, at least temporarily.

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

well, I wrote "aside" but it should have been "in the trash" :)

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

Sweet. Very interesting beginnings. I wish I knew something about Oz so I could say a bit more about that. :/

This is a very sweet meme idea, and I'm totally stealing it from you for sometime when I'm not too lazy to go *get* my unfinished stories.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, all of these stories were saved on my computer, so it wasn't that difficult to cut and paste.

It bothers me sometimes that so few people I know share my interest in Oz, but I realize it's not for everyone.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

:D Like all great opening lines, they make you want to keep reading. I'm especially fond of the ones for "Brown Warrior..." and "Revolution...."

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Those are probably two of my favorites, too. I believe they might also be my two most recent. With those, I think I was trying for something more stylized, and also somewhat imitative. With the "Revolution" opening, I think I was trying to write somewhat like Ruth Plumly Thompson. I'm not really sure what the "Brown Warrior" opening sounds like, but maybe it's a combination of things.