I’m woefully out of practice writing Friday posts, and moreover just sneezed all over my screen (TMI? hehe) so this will be short and sweet.  First, a hopefully helpful insight from the costume I threw together for a party a week ago–

–that’s me, as a witch dressed up as a muggle.  It’s funniest if you’ve read the Harry Potter books (versus just seeing the movies) since it seemed that in every gathering where witches and wizards from the wisarding world were attempting to blend and ‘act normal’ there would be someone who thought that a muggle costume wasn’t complete without a bathrobe.  It was clear, as I chatted with friends, which of them understood this nuance because their eyes would light up, on my confessing what my costume was.  But, even without having read the books, most knew the word ‘muggle’ and got the joke on a surface level, at least.

So, what’s the point?  That you can turn a lame, thrown-together costume into something better with a little PR?  Well, yes, that is the point!  And you can do the same with most other things, like a slightly tired plot, or a limp writing concept.  Give them a spin, that’s my advice.  Just a quarter-turn off of expectation will suffice.

And now, a small excerpt from NinChicks (newly edited according to editorial feedback!) to fulfill the 777 challenge issued me by Pat Esden.  The deal is you’re supposed to go the 7th page of your wip, drop down 7 lines, and post the next full 7 lines.  Being the cheater that I am, I may have fudged those numbers a bit–or, okay, kind of a lot.  But, hopefully these lines will illustrate that twist thing I mentioned above:

            As if to emphasize his words, the clouds above us let out another rip of thunder.  The rain that’s slicking our feathers to our shivering bodies goes from mild shower to heavy splatter.  Opus looks like something so miserable, even a half-starved buzzard with a broken wing wouldn’t want it.

“Here,” I hand him my chicken-sized umbrella.  I made it earlier when I snitched the paper bowl from our plucked person’s garbage and stuck a stick through the middle.  “No need to act as if the sky is falling.”

Now me personally, I’d expect chickens to tell jokes about other chickens, and reference pop chicken culture like Chicken Little.  ‘Cause, that’s just the way my brain works.  But telling him not to act is if the sky is falling…when it kind of is falling, cause it’s raining?  To me, that supplies the extra twist to pull a smile.

Of course, it’s my own book–I better smile. 😉

Care to join me in accepting the 777 challenge?  I’d love to read a snippet from your work, so leave a link in the comments if you’d like to play!

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