Marvin over at Free Spirit is offering me and several others a challenge. Way back in the middle of October, Marvin held a contest on his site to select characters for a Halloween story. Then he tricked some of us who entered the contest into continuing the holiday tradition by writing Thanksgiving stories. However, it's been my task to figure out the format and the inspiration for the story.
So I sent out a friendly little request into the interwebs, and this is what I got back:
Mike Cane, political and technology blogger, had a few very interesting ideas, ranging from hippie tripping, self-sacrificing turkey cannibals to shape-changing aliens stuck in turkey form to Thanksgiving being a cover story for the secret war between turkeys and chickens.
Gayle Carline, author and writing blogger, suggested a fantasy story about "a small town [being] terrorized by a serial killer, who turns out to be a turkey with an axe (to grind)," or alternately a real-to-life tale "of cooking all day, having family members show up 3 hours late to dinner (and they've already eaten), and at one point, walking into the kitchen to discover the cat straddling the turkey, gnawing the breast."
Larry Hodges, an expert on political history who's currently working on a novel about the election in 2100, couldn't help but put a political swing on the Thanksgiving story. His version includes Former President Andrew Jackson, thousands of Indian ghosts, and a beheading.
All of these leave me thinking one thing: what's so bad about Thanksgiving? Does everyone really have such bad memories that all they can think about the holiday involves madness and mayhem?
Now comes your part: which story do you want me to write? Leave me a comment, and let me know! Then come by on Thursday to read the story, and stop by Marvin's blog to check out the rest of the Thanksgiving tales.
And don't forget to return for Community Fridays. This week's guest is Mayra Calvani, author of the newly released The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing.
11 comments:
"Hippie tripping, self-sacrificing turkey cannibals to shape-changing aliens stuck in turkey form to Thanksgiving being a cover story for the secret war between turkeys and chickens."
Whoever this Mike guy is, I like him. I vote for one of the above. and please ask Mike if I can have his email addy. Great head on that dude.
I'm sorry our Thanksgiving ideas make the holiday so grim. It's just that, usually a story is the most fun when when everything goes wrong. How much fun would A Christmas Story have been if the dogs hadn't eaten the turkey and forced them to the Chinese restaurant? Most of my own, real-life Thanksgivings are filled with good food and good company, which is great for me but would make a fairly boring story.
Thanks, Marvin. Mike Cane is a very interesting guy, though I warn you he can be very opinionated at times! And Gayle, you make a great point. The reason they call it fiction is that it ISN'T real life!
My vote is for Thanksgiving being a cover story for the secret war between turkeys and chickens. I can see this being a humorous piece rather than a grim one. But grim can be good. hehe
I think I wrote Gayle's suggested story of a small town terrorized by a serial killer. The "turkey," as some might call him, was definitely out for revenge. A Village Shattered is the mystery/suspense novel, and Emma will be interviewing one of my characters here, the sheriff, on Dec. 5. Thanks, Emma, your blog is one of my favorite stops each morning.
I'll go with "hippie tripping, self-sacrificing turkey cannibals" because I have no idea what a self-sacrificing turkey cannibal would be.
Jean - was your killer really a turkey? I was picturing a big, fat tom holding a carving knife in his talons. Gobble, gobble, indeed!
hippy tripping sounds good to me.
Perhaps you just got responses from all of the people who hate the holidays?
No, a human turkey, Gayle, and a very sick one at that. Not the kind you'd want to grace your Thanksgiving table with. :)
So, Emma, when (and where) are we going to be able to read your story?
Happy Thanksgiving, Emma, and everyone who comments on your blog site.
Post a Comment