And then what?

Half way through the year and with twenty-five Reedsy Prompts written , Little Plump Jo felt she was ready to compile a book of Arthurian short stories. She would title it Cloudbank Cabin : The Reedsy Prompts Tales. She even had in her mind the page layouts, pen and ink illustrations, and the cover photograph of Cloudbank Cabin she would like to use. But the best publishing method to use was still a complete mystery to her.

It was definitely not the book that her mentor Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, had hoped she would produce!

For hundreds of years Malory Tennyson had been the custodian of Cloudbank Cabin, which nestled on the shore of the Fog Lake, at the foot of the Many Mooded Mountain, He had seen a steady stream of famous accomplished authors, artists, and creatives coming to the cabin for their retreats. Sometimes they came in groups. When the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood visited they left wonderful paintings and William Morris even wallpapered some of the rooms in the cabin. Malory Tennyson mused along with the Inklings and was amused by the Monty Python team. But he had never been able to have any connection with, or influence on, the artisans in the cabin and wished he could actually speak to them.

Little Plump Jo was neither famous nor even particularly accomplished; but she did have her five writing companions the Dabrowski Dogs – Intellectual, Psycho Motor, Emotional, Sensual, and Imaginational. And because dogs hear a different range of sound they could hear Malory Tennyson ranting about hair colour and sword skills in his dimension and could also interact with the Arthurian characters re-enacting their roles in the Fog Lake. So although Jo did not seem to have much control over character profiles, character development arcs and plotlines, Malory Tennyson had great hopes that, given sufficient time, she would be able to write the whole Arthurian epic in the manner he required it to be written.

At one minute past midnight Little Plump Jo checked her Reedsy Prompts for the next week. She found that it was #305 Spontaneous Creativity with Story Wars with the instructions:

Instead of picking your favorite prompt, write each of the prompts below on different pieces of paper. Then set a timer for an hour, pull a prompt at random, and start writing. Don’t think, don’t plan, don’t edit — just write.

“That’s one for the pantsers!” grumbled Intellectual Dabrowski. “I think I will go off and put pawprints all the way through Jo’s short stories where I believe a reference is required and research the correct form of inserting quotes and giving citations.

Call me in the unlikely event that you recognize the need to call on my expertise.”

“Don’t be like that, Intellectual! I think we can all have fun with this,” said Jo.

“Here are the creative prompts. Everyone choose one. Everyone go away and compose something . You have an hour to do it.”

PROMPTS

You know what? I quit.

I stared at the crowd and told the biggest lie of my life.

He looked between us once more and said, “It’s either her or me…”

At the intersection, I could go right and head home — but turning left would take me...

It took a few seconds to realize I was utterly and completely lost.

“Well, you can guess which one I choose!” growled Intellectual “You know what? I quit. There I have done mine.”

Imaginational Dabrowski picked up the slip which read: He looked between us once more and said, “It’s either her or me…” We have already visited that possibility in our last few prompts. It requires us to think about what would happen if Little Plump Jo leaves Cloudbank Cabin. She has created several new non-canon characters who would go with her. But I helped some of the Arthurian characters imagine a different story for themselves. When it came to the crunch canon characters who have changed their story would have a choice about leaving with Jo or staying with Malory and continuing to re-enact their story in the Fog Lake. I can imagine Malory saying to a character “It’s either her or me…”

“And then…”said Imaginational, grabbing another prompt slip, “I can see that as the character was weighing their decision, I see great possibilities at write about “At the intersection, I could go right and head home — but turning left would take me...

“Actually I wouldn’t mind writing about any of those prompts – with the possible exception of You know what? I quit.”

“I would like to do the one about: At the intersection, I could go right and head home — but turning left would take me…” said Emotional, her soulful spaniel eyes filling with tears. “ It is the decision that Sir Lancelot du Lac faced at the end of our last story. He wanted to change his future but opted to submit to King Arthur and to Malory Tennyson and to return to his role in the Fog Lake re-enactments.”

“Who wants do the one about : I stared at the crowd and told the biggest lie of my life?”

No body wanted to take that one .

“That leaves: ‘It took a few seconds to realize I was utterly and completely lost’ for you to think about Psycho Motor” said Little Plump Jo.

“It should suit him just fine!” barked Intellectual Dabrowski, who had appeared with a sheaf of references and citations in his mouth ready to start putting down his footprints all over Jo’s manuscripts. “He is always rushing into things and then getting himself lost because he has not thought of all the details! What are you going to do, Jo?”

“Well, I thought I would just spend some relaxing time reading, because Story Wars, who set these prompts, also has a place for Slow Reading: An intentional space for story-lovers. At the moment I am reading a romance series Hathaway House by Dale Mayer, set in a rehabilitation centre for wounded veterans. I found it when I put ‘Lance’ in a search engine.”

“That reminds me,” said Psycho Motor Dabrowski, “I want to go to Camelot and see how Sir Lancelot is recovering now. Malory Tennyson is covering for his absence from the Fog Lake re-enactments by running the Tristram and Isolde chapters at the moment. But it cannot be easy doing rehab for a fractured femur in Camelot.”

“I have all the academic references gathered about wound care in the middle ages. That is the reading Little Plump Jo should be doing now” grumbled Intellectual.

“Take this sheepskin rug and lavender infused pillow to Sir Lancelot!” barked Sensual Dabrowski.

“Sensual how did you avoid getting a topic to write on?” asked Jo “Do you want to do the one about lying to a crowd?”

“Not really!” barked Sensual “ I will just run around and insert descriptions of sights and sounds and smells into everyone else’s stories.”

“Ooh, ooh,” yelped Imaginational, jumping along on his hind legs, “ I will come with you, Psycho, so you don’t get lost. I am sure some of the principles of care, such as diet and physical therapy and counselling that are used at Hathaway House, could be applied in Camelot. I would love to write a story about that too!”