Saturday Stories #8 From Book Starter Course
Rediscover a love for fiction, because stories can change the world
These fiction stories are unedited, unfiltered, and written in 15-25 minutes. Please be aware that they may contain intense material related to emotional healing, trauma recovery, and redirected fears.
Location written-unknown, January 18, 2016
Once Upon a Time there was a beautiful maiden who lived in a castle. She was a maid and more than anything in the world she wanted to live in her own house, only doing chores for herself and to be a writer.
Every Day she dreamed of this. She occupied her mind while cleaning by telling wonderful stories in her head that she hoped she would remember when she was finally able to write.
One Day while washing a huge pile of dishes she had an idea. She would use the money she had been saving and run away. She didn’t know how she would survive, but perhaps she could find a better job, one in which she could have more free time to write in her little notebook with the pen she had taken from the castle. She knew that if the king or queen or servants found out about her pen she would be locked up and severely beaten. They gave her the illusion of freedom, but really, they would force her to stay. The king claimed to be kind and generous because he paid her, but really that was a small sacrifice for the favor of the people.
So, Because of This she had to sneak out in the night. It was summer and she hoped to find decent housing before winter. She would travel outside the king’s domain to another country where she could truly be free and not forced to do the terrible hard back breaking labor she had done since she was a child. So, she went on her way with a little money, the clothes on her back and some food she had stolen from the kitchen. She walked and walked, accepting rides from strangers.
Until Finally she reached the new land. Here she was helped to find good work and at last had time to write.
Today’s Insights
When reading this story, I think about when I was a kid and had to do excessive amounts of cleaning, far more than it seems I now do in my adult life managing my own apartment. When I wasn’t listening to audio stories that I recorded off the radio onto a tape player, I was writing stories in my head. I wrote this almost 6 years ago and don’t remember if I reflected on these experiences as inspiration or not, but it does illustrate the point that often the difficult things we go through as children impact and lead to our creative endeavors as adults. The opposite can also happen. Going through childhood difficulties can cause people to lose their creativity and spontaneity. In this story I like that the main character goes against the odds and escapes the difficult situation she’s in in hopes of finding something better. I like that she has a passion for writing and a dream that she holds onto. I don’t like that she steals food and the pen, but if I were in her situation, I might do the same thing. That said how many times do we judge when we don’t understand the fullness of the situation they are in. I also think this story is tied up a bit too neatly with a bow so to speak. It ends too well, but then that’s what happens when you only have 15 minutes to write a story.
You’re Turn
This story was started with the prompt to complete the following sentences which are a general story structure:
· Once Upon a Time…
· Every Day…
· One Day…
· So, Because of this…
· Until Finally..
If you wish to continue the story in your own creative writing or prose you can start by following this format and seeing what comes. You could also answer the following questions for fiction to continue the story or answer the questions for prose that can be used as journal prompts, for essays, or poetry.
Questions for Fiction:
· What is this new land like?
· Does she enjoy her new life of writing or are there challenges she didn’t expect?
· How does her past impact her stories and her relationships with the people in the new land?
· Has she truly escaped from the king or does he come after her?
· Who helped her find good work? Write that person’s story.
Questions for Prose:
· What dream do you hold in your heart when you are doing work you dislike?
· Do you have a creative outlet such as writing or art? If so, have you made time for it lately? If not, do you want to find one? If so, how can you start to explore different modalities?
· Are there situations that you need to leave? If so, what holds you back?
· Is stealing ever justified?
· Is there a time in your life that you helped someone leaving a difficult situation?
I share in this dream of being a writer, I am a writer, I’m writing more and I was moved to write in response to this story of the beautiful maiden. I appreciated the intro that, “these fiction stories are unedited…” I see the open space to comment and I acknowledge I don’t know the comments that are appropriate here just yet so for now, I will enter the same practice of writing unedited about what came up as I read through my experience and will respectfully remove it not appropriate here.
I also appreciated that despite her circumstance she stayed connected with her dream, she knew she wanted to write more. Of course many people loose sight of their dream and what brings them joy and ease but I do believe with the intention to reconnect, remember, it can be uncovered. Sometimes there’s a sense of urgency to find it especially when one recognizes that fire is out or it feels like it’s been so long since this connectedness was felt. I trust we are born with a purpose, it will emerge clearly especially when there’s some welcoming. May all beings everywhere experience ease, flow and pull of what they gravitate to.
When the beautiful maiden stole a pen and food, despite the words, I didn’t interpret her action as actually stealing. She worked and sacrificed, she made backbreaking offerings day after day…it seems quite natural that something more is owed to her. Sometimes this doesn’t happen immediately but it’s just divine order that there’s some offering in her direction. It’s easy to label it as stealing as if black and white but humans are just more complex than that.
Working without basic needs met is fact for too many… if there’s extra food in the kitchen and someone is hungry, I understand taking food to eat. Sista’ no shame in eating, we are human and all have to eat! “Thau shall not steal,” it’s a commandment I seek to always follow yet I get from the story importance of recognizing perspective, bias…the original caretakers of the lands occupied have not forgotten, the trees remember things that have been hidden. An offering to great Mother Earth is due. May we remember, give gifts and allow ourselves to receive.
Creating time to write until I feel done is a dream I hold. A gift to self and who knows who else. I wonder if I will ever be done writing yet there’s no hurry since love is here.
In response to insights shared, I too write things in my head and now many different google docs. It felt just right the story ended, “neatly a bow,” fairly tails allow possibility…each moment of life doesn’t always have to be so hard. I’ve heard many meditation teachers repeat what the Buddha shared about life, there’s 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows. I know it could feel like one outweighs the other or some challenges don’t end, perhaps they don’t but there’s always, always another side to life awaiting for our awakening to it and ourselves.
I still choose to look for the good, this way was handed down to me. I appreciate the generosity to share the prompts with everyone that got you started here.