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westywrites · 7 years ago

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The Collection

Here is a master post with links to everything I have posted on this blog, but you’ll also find everything under the tag #west’s words or on my Wattpad.

Under the cut, you’ll find everything from poetry to longer pieces and info on my WIPs. There’s also links to and descriptions of the 25+ short stories, scripts, and multi-part pieces I’ve posted since this blog began in August of 2017.

Poetry

Short Stories

How to Get Through

- (An exercise from a creative writing class practicing “show don’t tell” in terms of characterization). Fresh out of school, a young psychologist finds her first job in a youth mental wellness hospital. She quickly comes to care for her patients, four children with vastly different lives and personalities. As her dedication to the job grows, she finds herself struggling to balance her life with her work, and struggling to get through to Sam, a twelve-year-old girl with violent tendencies who could endanger the other children.

Strokes of Life

- Scarlet is a young girl with a difficult life, her father hates her, school is boring. The only thing that makes it all bearable, other than her best friend Avery, is her weekly art lesson with her eccentric instructor Camron. The man claims art is magic, and the way he says it makes Scarlet almost think it's true, but how could it be? When Camron disappears, Scarlet's life is turned upside down and her worst nightmares seem to be coming true. She must remember what she's been taught if she's ever going to see her beloved instructor again.

It’s Just the Cat

-We are all scared of what goes bump in the night even if we don't admit it. But hey at least you can be pretty sure it was just that damn cat, right? Listen closer. Listen for those bumps and bangs. The gentle padding of feet down the hall. No, it has to be paws, it has to be cat claws scratching on the bedroom door. Listen closer. Take a deep breath. Are you sure it's just the cat?

The Tea Party (Halloween story and activity)

- Imagine you come home one day, and something just isn’t quite right. Then you find a paper with smooth and fancy writing, “You are cordially invited to attend The Tea Party.” (I used to run Halloween parties each year for guides, this is a story I wrote for an activity that the girls always loved. Instructions for the activity are included in the post.)

Ground Assault

- There's nothing quite like young love. The way it sparks when a naive girl looks into the perfect eyes of a perfect boy in her math class. It can change even something as simple as a paintball game into something more. Especially when that paintball game goes up in smoke and the girl wakes up in a strange world where the only familiar thing is the boy she thinks she loves. But just how far will she go to save her young love?

Listen

- (A very short and somewhat comedic story about a rural man who found something mysterious in the woods.) Listen, I beg you, listen to me. You don't know who I am, but that doesn't matter now, just listen. I don't have much time, there isn't much time left. This explanation will probably leave you with more questions than answers, but I have to ask you to trust me. I know it's too much to ask. I know that I showed up on your doorstep, covered in mud, covered blood. I know what this looks like, but believe me, it's not whatever you think it is.

And She was Bad...

- Everyone says to stay away from Kaycee Newman. She's no good, she'll cause nothing but trouble. Maybe trouble is what this new girl is looking for. Either way, the warnings do nothing to keep her away, and soon her unlikely friendship with the school's resident bad girl has bloomed into something more, and neither of them will ever stop fighting for what they've found in each other..

Under the Pink Umbrella

- Certain people change our lives forever, saving us from where we were before. Teaching us to dream, to imagine, to smile. For young Charlie, this person shows up in third grade, bringing light back into what has quickly become a dull life. (Also! Video of a play version of the story!)

Whispering Ends

- Do you ever wonder what happens after death? Light, dark, heaven or hell, or perhaps it is a choice. Perhaps it is whatever you want it to be and maybe, just maybe there is someone there to help you along the way.

What Death has to Offer

-From a prompt: You are Death, but in a post-apocalyptic world. Only a few survivors remain, and you’re doing everything you can to help them because if the last human dies, you die as well. The survivors can’t see you, but they feel your presence and noticed your effort. They started to call you Life.

The Slaughterhouse

- Inspired by writing down one of my true experiences with ghosts (the ghost truck), I decided to write out the scariest thing I have ever experienced in story format. Join 13 year old me as I spent the weekend home alone with a friend who just moved onto an abandoned pig slaughter farm, and read about my terror as we explored the old barns out back only to discover we weren’t as alone as we thought.

The Taste of Truth

- A short story inspired by the prompt “you can taste lies, but one day when comforting a friend you say she’s only human and your mouth is filled with a foul taste”.

Mommy!

- A young child is told to count down from ten whenever they wake up scared, then they can call for mommy if they’re still afraid. This time, there’s something to scared of

A Writer’s Story

- There once was a person, not too unlike many other people on this big, round world. It is not known when or where they lived, or even what they were called by their dearest loved ones. It is only known that they existed, and that, unlike many other people, they thought they knew why they were here on this big, round, wonderful world. You see, they were a writer. (Short about some struggles of writing, written in a somewhat poetic style. This description is mostly just the first paragraph.)

To the Girl and the Moon

- In the dead of night, a girl writes poetry, throwing it out the window for the moon. Down below, a boy who had lost himself finds poems that fall from the sky like falling stars meant just for him. (I hesitate to call this a short story as it doesn’t hugely have a plot and is rather more poetic, but it’s one of my favourite things I have written.)

The Imaginer of Worlds (previously titled New Worlds)

- In an infinite expanse of black and stars, you discover a new way of looking at the world and the power you hold as a ball of light in the palm of your hand. (A call and response-like style as a way of exploring what it is to be a writer, an imaginer of worlds. By far my favourite thing I’ve written.)

Scars - Everyone has scars, right? So what does it mean when someone doesn’t? When their skin is umarked. Do they not also have stories to tell?

Dark Fears - It is not uncommon to fear to dark. To fear what could lurk in the shadows, what our eyes impose on the blackness while seeking patterns that do not exist. Because it doesn’t exist. There’s nothing there. Nothing in the dark to hurt you. Nothing inches away from your sleeping face.

Flying for the Sun - I called her my sun and they only warned that the sun could burn. They called me a modern day Icarus, but they left out a significant part of the story. You shouldn’t fly too high, but you also can’t fly too low, and you can’t let fear keep your feet on the ground.

A Raven’s Secret - A raven sits on a branch in the night, watching silvery flakes fall, watching a miracle occur. (This is the prologue to my WIP The Corvine, which you can out more about below, but this can be read as a stand-alone short)

The Fox and the Raven - A myth and popular tale to tell in the world of The Corvine, The Fox and The Raven is a short story of love, passion, and always longing for more, even in the face of adversity. That longing may just lead to more, like it does for the Fox and the Raven who find each other and magic in realms beyond their wildest dreams. (Another stand-alone short related to The Corvine)

Run - The night is dark and chilly, pain seizes your lungs. No matter what you cannot stop running. Why are you running? You don’t know, just that you must. You must run until this hellish night ends. (A horror story in 2nd person)

The Past is Ash - An old home, long since abandoned, is nothing more than a dead relic of old memories. A link to the past. But this past begs to be forgotten. Based off of a flash fiction Friday prompt, “burn, baby, burn.”

Summer Love - A very short, sweet love story. Based off the Flash Fiction Friday prompt “Peachy Kisses”

Honey Girl - A girl who doesn’t like going out much decides to take a chance, and ends up meeting a beautiful girl at a club.

Sweet as Cherry - Poetic prose in response to the Flash Fiction Friday prompt “Sweet Surprise”

The End of a Not-Life - An old vampire meets a young woman who offers them a refreshing perspective on the meaning of life and the choices we make. A musing on the power of choice and the roles we play in the world, featuring a genderqueer vampire narrator and the thoughtful Jewish woman who changes their not-life.

When You Wake - When Leo returns from a difficult battle, his lover, Onca, is waiting to patch his wounds. A cute, gay hurt/comfort fantasy with humanoid animal main characters.

A House with Eyes - Your friend loves scary stories and ghost tours. You don’t. So when he drags you on a haunted walk of the old Pioneer Village, you’re terrified. But somehow, that fear eases just a little as you feel something watching you from the windows of the house at the end of the lane. A fictionalized account based on a spooky thing that happened with a guest on one of my ghost tours.

Scripts

I Met a Girl

- Since coming to university, I have been trying my hand at writing plays. This short play tells the story of two girls who met at a bus stop on a rainy day. Unfortunately, the bus came before they caught each other's names and now they fear they will never find each other again. It’s cute and gay and I’m pretty proud of it. This play was written, staged, and performed in less than 24 hours as part of a theatre challenge. Please excuse the formatting, Tumblr doesn’t like scripts.

June

- Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? (Especially when there is a ghost involved) In this script for a 25 mintues play that was performed for the Fridge Fest 2018 (our take on the Fringe Festival), we see the investigation of the Murder of Juniper Truman, a naive university student who was working at her sleazy professor’s party as a form of extra credit.

In The End - This 20 minute virtual play can be watched as a video! After neglecting the rest of her life in favour of working towards her next promotion, Lyn Tenorio receives a call from a group of masked strangers in the night. These strangers begin to question Lyn on the life she’s lived, forcing Lyn to face her choices and presenting her with a new decision to make. Inspired by other literary works such as Moliere’s Dom Juan and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Multi-part Pieces

Nothing Nor All

- The Nothing are a magical race of beings comparable to ghosts and demons that are constantly at war with their natural enemies, the All. This is the story of how two teens fall into the middle of a world they never knew existed and end up more important than they ever could've imagined.

The Teller of Stories and Keeper of Secrets

- Five teenagers are wrought with tragedy in their otherwise ordinary lives leading them all to the same group therapy session that changes their world more than they ever thought it could, especially as they begin to develop unusual abilities.

Soulmate

- A series of three short parts exploring a world where everyone is born with a unique mark that matches only one other person in the world - their soulmate. A twist on the usual soulmate tropes, this story shows the dark side of what can happen when everything is “meant to be”

The Orphan Experiments

- Who could possibly be a better subject for illegal experiments than four young orphans and their teacher? No one, of course, that's why young Mr. Kleary and his students were abducted one day and put through a series of experiments that made their lives at least marginally worse than they were before.

There are currently 10 published parts that leave off at a decent stopping point, (and I’m slowly continuing it because I love these characters too much to let them go.) But it is 1000% obvious that this is a wip I started when I was 13 years old lmao

Main WIP

The Corvine

In an unending, star-speckled sky, ravens keep watch. There is a tear in the barrier between realms. There is a prophecy about the children who might seal it.

When they turn sixteen, they’ll be adults. They’ll lose their jobs and the room they share at the factory in Herenzen - a city where dreams never reach higher than the looming smokestacks. Cambridge believes things will work out, but it doesn’t matter what she, Ivory or Avenir think, Lennox won’t wait that long.

He has an idea. A witch saved his life once, she could do it again. After all, she is Corvine. And Lennox believes magic like hers could change the world.

His plan to save his friends will lead them to a crossroads of destiny, with their freedom and the fate of two realms dangling at their fingertips.

Genre: YA fantasy // coming of age feat. magic // alternate history Setting: an alternate history/version of Earth with an additional (mostly Dutch) colonial country in North America POV: third-person limited, multiple povs Status: draft 2 completed, (93k words/prologue + 50 chps), third in progress Themes: the meaning of family // magic & power // hatred & anger vs love // destiny vs choice // the nature of humanity

The Corvine MASTER POST here

Various other WIPs

Cypress Ascending

In this world, you’re either God-touched or you’re irrelevant. Knowledge and progress are ruled by the magical chosen ones in their Temple, and by the six gods - the Sphaera - who chose them. Anyone who dares suggest things could be different quickly regrets their mistake - like Acacia Schyley, a shunned scholar turned shepherd. His writings were a revolution that was doomed from the start, and he long ago surrendered to living the rest of his days shrouded in unimportance.

After her father’s death, Cypress Schyley realizes that irrelevance was never her destiny.

Genre: NA fantasy Themes: the importance of history & knowledge // the power of belief // gods & religion // imperialism // what it means to be human Status: Outlining & first draft

“Story with Gods” (still desperately in need of a title)

Three teenage girls are ripped from their normal lives, kidnapped and killed only to wake up in custody of a tyrant king who tells them that they are "The Big Three" Greek gods reborn, and destined to change the course of a war they know nothing about.

Genre: YA fantasy Themes: nature vs nurture // governance & democracy // war // the power of belief // what it means to be a god Status: first draft eternally in progress

A Mind of Static

A girl finds herself in the middle of a field in an unfamiliar land with no memories to guide her. Soon she stumbles across a boy who tells her that this land is engaged in a hundred year war with the mega-corporation XeNetic Tech. When faced with the choice of flight or fight, her choice to fight feels right, in fact, it feels like a choice she has made before.

Genre: YA science fiction Themes: the downsides of technological progress // war and resistance // classism // how the past affects the future // romance // what it means to be human Status: first draft in progress

#west's words #the collection #I'll add to this every so often to try and keep it up to date #if any of these interest you please go check them out

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