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Here at Pen and Kink we understand that you would much rather hear from our authors than from us, so we invited the contributors to Legendary to stop by and write a guest post for our blog.<\/p>\n
For our final day we’re hosting T.R. North whose story, “Vanishing Point” has some lovely imagery that will linger long after you’ve finished reading it.<\/p>\n
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by T. R. North<\/p>\n
It feels like there should be some great secret to writing, but there really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Start with words.\u00a0 Put them on the page.\u00a0 Make something happen.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have to be grand or important.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have to be a dark and stormy night.\u00a0 The narrator\u2019s name doesn\u2019t have to be Ishmael.\u00a0 All work and no play doesn\u2019t have to make Jack a dull boy.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t even have to make sense, not right now, not when you\u2019re first writing it.\u00a0 How about the oldest phrase known to typewriters?<\/p>\n
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.\u00a0 Congratulations, all your keys work!<\/p>\n
But\u2026 it\u2019s a little judgmental, maybe, don\u2019t you think?\u00a0 Maybe the dog is old.\u00a0 Maybe she\u2019s had three litters of puppies.\u00a0 Maybe she kept a flock of sheep from harm for ten years, until her eyes got bad and her legs got too stiff to run after them first thing in the morning, when the air\u2019s still got teeth and the damp holds a grudge.\u00a0 Maybe her children take care of the flock now, like she raised them to.\u00a0 Maybe she\u2019s earned the right to be just a little bit lazy, sometimes, when there sun\u2019s shining and there\u2019s a soft patch of grass and no one seems bothered if she takes a nap.<\/p>\n
Does the fox know he can get away with it?\u00a0 Has he done this a hundred times before, thrilled with his own daring and getting too confident by half in his luck?\u00a0 Or was it an accident, a one-off, a zig when he should have zagged on his way out of the hen house?\u00a0 He\u2019s quick, we know that.<\/p>\n
Maybe he has plans a fox shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 Maybe his ambitions outstrip his station.\u00a0 Maybe this fox is wicked, or brilliant, or some admixture of the two.\u00a0 Maybe this fox\u2019s mother grew up in the city, sat in great halls and greater tunnels and watched people go about their lives, ate what she pleased out of their garbage bins, got trapped and relocated by animal control.\u00a0 Maybe this fox\u2019s mother never forgave those gods for casting her out of the garden.\u00a0 Maybe this fox\u2019s mother raised her kits with those sharp, cruel words in their ears, teaching them her anger better than she could teach them to hunt wild things.<\/p>\n
Does the dog understand this?\u00a0 She\u2019s old, you know.\u00a0 She\u2019s seen things, so many things, more things than she can count.\u00a0 She was good at herding sheep.\u00a0 She could feel it in her bones when things were going sour.\u00a0 Her eyes are good enough to see that this fox moves strangely, a little too proud of himself, and watches too keenly when he should run.\u00a0 He reminds her of an animal she saw only once, one winter, when it raised its bloody face from a dead porcupine\u2019s open belly and watched her that same fearless way.\u00a0 Maybe this fox worries her.\u00a0 But maybe she\u2019s smarter than this fox, who doesn\u2019t have the sense to be afraid of a dog just because it looks like it\u2019s sleeping.\u00a0 Maybe there are things this fox\u2019s mother didn\u2019t–couldn\u2019t–warn it about when it comes to sheepdogs.<\/p>\n
Is the fox old enough to have learned caution?\u00a0 Is the dog too old for one last fight?\u00a0 Is there a serpent on the grass, unseen, whose fangs will ensure the contest never happens?<\/p>\n
Keep typing.\u00a0 Finish the story.\u00a0 More words, more pages, more things.<\/p>\n
Do you want the farmer at the door, lifting the latch, shotgun ready in one hand?\u00a0 Do you want the dog to feel a spark of pity for the fox, one last fatal weakening?\u00a0 Do you want the fox frightened out of his wits and giving up a dream that was never, after all, actually his?\u00a0 Does the snake coil, ready and careless of the drama playing out around it?<\/p>\n
I take it back: there is a great secret.\u00a0 But it\u2019s one you already know.\u00a0 You just have to decide to tell it.<\/p>\n
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