Let’s Play A Game…
I found Rory’s Story Cubes in the Calico Cat Toy Shoppe on Bainbridge Island. I first picked them up because the name Rory reminded me of Gilmore Girls, and Gilmore Girls makes me happy.
I’ve since found that these Story Cubes are *perfect* for days when my imagination needs a boost.
Today was such a day.
Here’s how it works: I’ll roll the 9 dice one at a time, put them in order, and then make up a short story that encompasses each of the images that were rolled. (A very short story, like a couple sentences per die).
I encourage anyone who’s interested to play along, to write a story of your own. And if you feel like sharing, I’d absolutely love to read it!
Alright, here we go! Once upon a time…
There was a girl named Lolly who loved the letter ‘L’. She spent every day searching for things that started with her beloved letter, from lockets to lilypads to lollipops (her personal favorite).
Then one day a fairy dropped from the sky in a parachute. The fairy begged Lolly to help find her missing wings, made of lace woven from the the tips of snowflakes and the tails of shooting stars.
Realizing that lace fairy wings were a once in a lifetime opportunity for an ‘L’-seeker such as herself, Lolly wholeheartedly agreed. The fairy waved her magic wand and transported Lolly to a new world.
Lolly found herself in Salvador Dali’s land of melting clocks where time itself seemed to slow down, one second blending into the next.
Not knowing what she was even looking for, Lolly pulled her magnifying glass from her utility belt and searched for clues. She searched high and low, over every corner of every clock, but found nothing.
Then Lolly had an idea. She climbed atop a grandiose grandfather clock and from there saw that the minute hands of every clock were frozen, all pointing in the exact same direction.
Lolly walked in the direction indicated by the clocks’ hands. Soon a castle loomed in the distance, massive and foreboding with stone towers that jutted into the clouds.
As Lolly approached the castle, a drawbridge rattled open to unveil darkness. A darkness so absolute that it swallowed the sunlight. The inky blackness surrounded Lolly and threatened to suffocate her. But luckily, experienced adventurer that she was, she brought her trusty flashlight. She flicked it on and proceeded into the castle.
Lolly climbed to the top of the tallest tower where she finally found the fairy’s missing wings. The moment she touched the wings, she was transported home on the back of a shooting star. The fairy rewarded Lolly with a fragment of her lace fairy wings, which became Lolly’s most prized, and final, ‘L’-word discovery. For the next day, she moved on to ‘M’.
The End.
What do you do to jump-start your imagination? Do you have any games you play, or prompts you use, to inspire your art?
What I’m reading: Crossing Colfax: Short Stories by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (I’m having such a blast reading my fellow anthologists’ stories!)
What I’m listening to: Red Hot Chili Peppers — Californication
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