I think we should have popcorn and ice cream vendors at our next Secret Agent contest. I'm seriously feeling like I should be feeding you all.
Whew!
At any rate, stay tuned over the weekend while our Secret Agent continues to grace us with agently feedback. And remember to be patient; I give the Secret Agent five days to complete all the critiques to make sure there is ample time to get through them all without feeling rushed.
In other words, try not to sit there and refresh your browser every five minutes to see if our Secret Agent has gotten to your submission yet. (Not that I would ever do anything like that if it were me...ur, were I...ur...)
To keep our twitchy fingers busy, let's play a silly "Alphabet Story" game. The rules are simple: Each sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet. First sentence A. Second sentence B. And so on. If we get to Z and we're still playing, we start over at A.
Comprende?
And let's flex our writerly muscles and try to make the story kinda sorta make sense.
I will start the story in the comment box. Remember, the next sentence will have to begin with a "B" word.
Here we go! And I'll see you all bright and early on Monday for our Big Unveiling.
Miss Snark's First Victim
A bag of chocolate-covered cashews was the last thing Elvira expected to find tucked into the pocket of her vintage trench coat.
ReplyDeleteBad luck though, they were stale and entirely too hard to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteCashews scattered on the floor, as Elvira dropped the bag.
ReplyDeleteChocolate-covered cashews. Who would put them there? Who knew of her weakness? Were they poisoned?
ReplyDeleteOkay, quick revise:
ReplyDeleteDark chocolate covered cashews. Who would put them there? Who knew of her weakness? Were they poisoned?
And another revision to attempt to turn it into one sentence:
ReplyDeleteDark chocolate covered cashews -- who would put them there? who knew of her weakness? were they poisoned?
Egads, my cover's been blown, she thought as she pulled the trench coat collar up and ducked into the shadows.
ReplyDeleteFreezing sleet had alternated with lighter drizzling all day, and the cement gutter of the alley was covered in slippery, icy sludge.
ReplyDeleteGlistening with the freezing glitter, I trudged across the street.
ReplyDelete[Opps we changed from third to first person! Was that deliberate?]
ReplyDeleteHow strange, thought Elvira. An anonymous character has entered into the plot and thrown everything akilter.
ReplyDeleteIs this something she could have foreseen?
ReplyDelete[Let's just keep the story going in third person, shall we?]
ReplyDeleteElvira toyed with the suspicions in her mind as she stepped onto the curb.
"Just as I suspected: There'd trickery afoot...again," she muttered under her breath.
ReplyDelete(That word in the comment above should be "There's," not "There'd." **looks sheepish and curses tangled fingers**)
ReplyDelete[Thanks for the re-revise help authoress! This is fun!]
ReplyDeleteKayla had warned her about those evil, little elves – if only she'd listened.
ReplyDeleteLittle Elves scurried here and there, shadowing Elvira's every move, with dark covered chocolate cashews held in their little hands.
ReplyDeleteMany of them surreptitiously nibbled on the snacks when the other elves weren't looking.
ReplyDelete"Never a Keeblervore around when you need one," Elvira grumbled, stepping under the shelter of a nearby store's awning.
ReplyDeleteOn some silent queue, the elves scattered, slipping into crack and shadow as if nothing more than sand.
ReplyDelete"Xanto must've hired all the midgets in the state to try and convince me I'm seeing elves, but why, unless he's trying to prove I'm insane?" Elvira wondered.
ReplyDelete(sorry, don't know my alphabet yet--could have sworn the last one was "W", or maybe I just wanted to write "X." Probably saw the W in Wulf. Let's call him Petroff instead of Xanto.
ReplyDeleteQuarrelsome little turd, thought Elvira. Who believes in elves anyway?
ReplyDeleteRaymundo, her boyfriend, was the only person she knew who believed in elves, and she'd dumped him for eating all her chocolate-covered cashews.
ReplyDeleteSuddenly she could see it clearly, the cashews, the elves, the cursed tangled fingers, Petroff-Xanto and Raymundo, it all made sense!
ReplyDeleteTantalized by the realization that her boyfriend, Raymundo, and her nemesis, Xanto Petroff, were one and the same, Elvira sharpened her stilettos and popped a stale chocolate cashew into her mouth.
ReplyDeleteUnseen by the elves, she slipped down an alley and watched the elves scramble when they realized they lost her.
ReplyDeleteVery clever buggers, they chased her down the street, but their little legs couldn't match her stride, a few falling into the gutter.
ReplyDeleteWavering in their pursuit, the elves slipped away again.
ReplyDeleteXanto (Petroff-Raymundo) suddenly appeared before her in the street, "I never realized how short you are!" she cried aloud.
ReplyDelete"You're wearing stilettos," he reminded her, one eyebrow arching to tack an implied "dummy" onto the end of the sentence.
ReplyDeleteZebras, the elves were actually coming at her riding atop tiny zebras; Elvira looked left and right trying to find an escape.
ReplyDelete"Are you all going to leave me here like this, about to be ambushed by an irate tribe of zebra riding elves?" Elvira cried out in agony, as she realized the contest results had at last been revealed and the intrigue of her story had been lost in all the excitement.
ReplyDelete