Story Starter 5

[Rachel E.]

The miles flashed past in slow progression as I sat and stared out the window. I dreamed of the days far in the past when I would not have been forced to make this journey into loneliness. I dreaded when the bus would stop and I would have to alight into the tiny country town that would become my new home. Instead, I looked into the past and found solace in my hopes and dreams of 20 years ago...

[Storygirl]

I was 18, foolhardy with my head in the clouds. I had pie in the sky ideas of what my life would be like someday...so different from what my life turned out to be. I lived in a small town back then as well, but I was never alone. I remember long, fast drives down the country roads with the radio blaring, my friends laughing and cutting up in the back seat. Walks through the winding roads of the town where no one could go anywhere without running into someone they knew. Long summer days at the river's edge where I would swim forever in the cool, rushing water.
I had graduated with honors and high hopes of my future career. My parents worried about me, but I wasn't concerned. Not having experienced much of life outside the small world I lived in, I didn't have anything to be afraid of. I faced the future with head held high and bounce in my step. I wanted to be an journalist. Not just any journalist, a renouned journalist. I wanted to be a writer who would cause people to hold their breath at my stories and eagerly await my next collumn. During highschool, I worked on the school paper, had numerous articles published, and by the time I finished college, had earned a reputation as a killer writer...well on my way to fulfilling my dream.

[jacks girl]

I'm not sure what we are supposed to do here can you explain what a story starter is.

jacks

[Rachel E.]

You just add a part to the story, where the last person left off. You can say anything you want, take it anywhere you want. Write a section, and leave it for the next person. Does that make sense?

[jacks girl]

I could see the road sings welcoming me to my new home. I'd taken the job to come and care for my dying Great aunt thought had no idea would I was getting into. I needed the money and I knew I'd be able to work on my writing while caring for Aunt Verla. Now as I read the sign. Welcome to Zapata, TX I wondered if I'd made a huge mistake.

My aunt lived south of town in a little area called Falcon Lake. As I stepped off the bus and looked around I knew I was out of place. Aunt Verla never had children, she'd been married once and was a nurse most of her life. She was my Grandpa's sister and I'd met her several times at family reunions.

Verla wasn't known for her tact, or her good manners but after all she was family and she needed help and she had plenty of money to pay for this help. As I hitched a ride with Juan riding in the back of his pickup with a dog and two billy goats I knew I was way out of my element. But the writer in me couldn't help to turn the next page and see what was coming next.

[jacks girl]

This is great fun, My aunt Verla really did live in Texas and she was something else. Always spoke her mind. She didn't live in this town but it's pretty close.

This is such fun Rachel.

[jacks girl]

Did you guys not like the way i went with the story or are you just waiting for someone else to jump in. Helllooooo lol. If you all don't add something soon I will. Muahauahahhh

I can't laugh as good as merrry.

[Rachel E.]

The dirt billowed up behind the big truck that Juan drove as I tried to get a clear glimpse of the surrounding country. The dirt filtered through the closed windows and tickled my nose. I set about trying to desrcribe the situation in my own head, like I did frequently to myself. It built my vocabulary as a writer.

(Jacks, no we liked your story, we were waiting for someone else to post. But please, feel free!)

[kshsj777]

Wait a minute... she's riding in the back of the truck? Why not in the cab? Oh well I'll invent a reason why.

It would still be an hour before I reached my aunt's house. I wasn't sure if I could take it riding back here with the animals. But then again, I'd made my choice and wasn't going back on it. If that meant I had to be jostled around and endure the smell, then so be it.

Sure, Juan had offered to let me ride in the cab. But no way. I wasn't letting any guy get with three feet of me. Not after what happened a year ago.

Flashback?

By the way, I want to steal this story LOL actually I won't, not until more is written... and what I mean by stealing is steal the basic idea... not what you guys wrote, LOL

[jacks girl]

Juan seemed like a nice man but I couldn't take any chances. He was a stranger to me. May be my Aunt trusted him but I didn't. Juan looked to be a littler older and me and he gave me a slight look of disgust as I climbed into the back with the goats.

The dog I liked, he was friendly and licked me several times making the ride go easier. Tears stung my eyes a little as I thought about the last time I was alone with a man. I didn't know if I could trust men again, mom kept telling me I had to that all men were not like Randy but for the time being I wasn't taking any chances.

I didnt want to do the flashback someone else can do that im too tired for anything complicated LOL



Jacks

[kshsj777]

Okay, whatever, it was a suggestion. Now I MUST go to bed. I will be cranky tomorrow!!!

[Rachel E.]

Randy had been a semi-close friend of my brother. He worked for my dad, who was the mayor of the town I grew up in. He was a tallish, handsome man with medium brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. When he originally began to come over to my fathers house, my dad knew that he was interested in me. I dreaded the thought, because obviously I wanted to be a journalist, not a wife. My dad was thrilled with the prospect and encouraged Randy to a large degree. What finally revealed to my father the reality of the situation happened about a year ago at a party my father had held for me. He had invited all of the bigwigs and wealthier citizens for miles around to witness his beautiful daughter's nineteenth birthday. I had begged him not to hold the party, as I'm rather shy around strangers. But he would not listen, too proud of me to let my inhibitions change his mind.
It was toward midnight that Randy made his fatal move. I had finally ok'd a dance with him and he was holding me much tighter than I approved of. I finally squirmed away from him and stood back. He grabbed my wrist and practically drug me out onto the long, wrap-around porch on my father's big house. We stopped in the shadows and he pulled me extremely close in his arms.
"My dear heart," he began with a dramatic intonation. "I just want you to know that I love you with everything I am and that I want you to marry me."
I gasped and tried to pull away, but he bent down and placed a kiss on my unreluctant lips. I started struggling harder, knowing that I did not want to be placed in this situation. He grabbed both of my hands and pinned them tightly so that I could not get away. When I made a move so as to scream, he wrapped one arm tightly around me and placed his hand on my mouth. I fought him a while longer, but as he seemed to be enjoying the struggle, I quit. He slowly released my mouth and bent down to give me another kiss. I bit him as hard as I could, and knew that I had drawn blood when he jerked back and swore loudly. His grip on me loosened and I stepped back, lifted a hand, and struck him across the face as hard as I could. Then I turned and ran.

[kshsj777]

I don't want to write the next part, I'm so scared. (Good job, Rachel) Should he catch her and...?

[jacks girl]

I shook the thoughts of that night away and looked down and my meager belongings, sighed heavily and picked up two small bags and headed into the house. My aunt would be sleeping at this time of the day taking her nap. So I was quite when I walked inside. It surprised me a little when she told me that she never locked the house and that I could come on in and make myself at home when ever I arrived.

As i walked into the small house I was still trying to shake off the effects of the memories of Randy that often came roaring out of no where. How many times would I have to deal with that night, and when would I be able to forget it completely. I fixed a cup of tea and sat looking outside the huge kitchen window.

The cotton woods all but surrounded the house and I was a little surprised at the beauty of the place. I knew this would be my home for a while and that I might as well get used to it. I picked up my journal and began to write. As always my pen and paper didn't fail me. I began to write and as usual lost track of time and I was a little shocked to see my aunt standing there in the door way looking at me.

I could tell she'd spoken a few times by the look on her face. Her hair was so white now and it hung down her back in a white braid. The wrinkles from the hot Texas sun covered her face and hands and though she wasn't very tall her temper and attitude went way ahead of her and I couldn't help but smile at the site of her. I jumped up and hugged her it was so good to see her smiling face.

i'll try to get you all a picture of my aunt Verla sometime.

[kshsj777]

Good job Jacks.

Is this going to all be narrative or can we have dialogue too, b/c we don't have a bit of dialogue so far.

Do you think this story is good enough to do a multiple authored work for serious writing? Just a thought.

[jacks girl]

Sure we need some dialog, add some when you want. I think it's good enough to publish so far, needs some work, polishing i mean, getting rid of some passive voice and such.



Jacks

[Rachel E.]

Jacks and Kel... I'm with you, but I want to have a part too, cause I started it ok? Dialogue is plenty fine, I love dialoge! lol...sometimes mine are interesting, for sure.
tell me what you think!

[jacks girl]

Sure sounds like a plan to me, never done anything like that but i think it might be fun as a side project.. I would like to do the romance side of it do either of you write romance any. lets lay our cards out and see what we find lol

[kshsj777]

I'm with you, but I want to have a part too, cause I started it ok?

Yeah, that's why I said "multiple authored" :)

You, Storygirl, Jacks and me.

[Rachel E.]

I write romance, suspense/mystery, and most fiction genres...

[Storygirl]

Sorry I dropped out of this! I've been a little preoccupied of late...summer seems almost more busy than the school season!!!

Just my opinion...but couldn't Aunt Verna be some kind-hearted woman who also happens to enjoy trying her hand at matchmaking? The character (have you named her yet?!) ends up meeting someone she can trust and finds happiness in marrying him instead of pursuing a career...Just a thought of mine. Take it or leave it. I don't really have much of a say in this since I dropped out...

[Rachel E.]

Hi Storygirl, so good to have you here, I wish you could stay. Anyway, you have to drop by every once in a while and help us out, ok?

About what you've said, so far Jacks has been the one building that character. She may have a specific idea in mind of what Aunt Verla is, if that makes sense. Your idea sounds fine to me though.
What about ya'll, Kel, Jacks? What do you think?

[kshsj777]

Yeah, I'm with Storygirl.

But my talents lie with sci-fi and action/adventure. I promise not to make it sci-fi ish unless you want me too.

The other thing is, I think I'm pretty good at dialogue for the most part. But I'm always good for romance, but I want it to be more than that. Maybe she discovers a dark secret of a bad organization and they kidnap her for her discovery and maybe even tortures her... sorry... getting dark there... but something like that???

[Storygirl]

Hmmm...sounds good, but I'm not sure if it fits with everything else that's been written...lol girl! Are you high strung? I'll just help out whenever with whatever you guys decide to go with.

[kshsj777]

Well it is past midnight here and the rest of the house is dark and everybody else is asleep and... yeah...

[Rachel E.]

Kel, kidnapping is fine, don't know about torture. Wish Jacks was over here to put her thoughts in this.

Basic storyline-

This girl (name unknown, suggestions are open), comes to this little town to take care of a "cranky old aunt" and instead finds a sweet old matchmaker that is interested in everybody. Through some Investigation of her own, this girl discovers a drug ring (or some other dark organization) and then gets discovered, she is kidnapped and just barely saved... and through this whole story runs a thread of romance about this guy that works for Aunt Verla who is rather handsome in rugged sort of way.

how does that sound?

[Storygirl]

And I thought I had a lot of energy...(my mom tells me she half wonders if I have ADHD)...there's no way I could stay here until past midnight and still think coherently!!! Then again, you are sci-fi, so I guess that's debatable...;) (just kidding...)

[kshsj777]

Yeah, that sounds great, Rachel.

Need to come up for a name for her though. Really funny if we went the first ten chapters w/o mentioning her name LOL!!!

[Storygirl]

Rachel, that sounds like a happy medium to me!

[kshsj777]

Storygirl, I'm probably NOT thinking coherently! :)

[kshsj777]

Maybe instead of being a journalist, she decides to become a novelist and write in her spare time while taking care of her kids... after she gets married of course.

[kshsj777]

At least that is MY plan...

[Storygirl]

I'm sorry...did you just forsee my future?

[kshsj777]

Oh yes... I have magical powers... LOL

[Storygirl]

Alright ladies, I have to go now and play the part of t.v. guardian with my sister and her friend as she watches a movie. lol. See ya'll later!

[Rachel E.]

How about for a first name

Miranda
Kathryn (Kate for short)
Elizabeth
Libby
Desiree
Cameron
Anna
Lilly or Lilith
(any other suggestions girl's?)

Last name -

Burnside
Howells
Greaves
Halliday
Edwards
(any suggestions?)

[kshsj777]

I like Libby the best. It could be short for Elizabeth.

Libby Edwards or Libby Howell sounds okay.

What do you think?

[Rachel E.]

I like Libby Howell, but her real name is Elizabeth, and sometimes Aunt Verla calls her that.

[kshsj777]

Yeah, yeah that's good. Let's see if Storygirl and Jacks agree when they come back tomorrow... I mean (in my time it's just past 1am) today...

[Rachel E.]

Sounds grea to me Kel, and also about my general storyline as well. Thanks!

[jacks girl]

sorry i missed out on all the fun, I think it all sounds pretty good lets just not call her Lib for short OK. and verla was a nosy little lady... so she could have been a matchmaker im sure. may have even been.

oh yea my real aunt verla had an affair with smoeone and one never tell us to this day we still don't know but she had this old braclet that the man gave her it looks like royalty would have owned it. just thought i would toss that out.

we had it checked out can't figure out what year it was made or the worth of it.

jacks

[Rachel E.]

Ok, no Lib... or maybe, someone in the story calls her that, and she freezes him or blows up at him, ok?
About and Verla, I think the nosy little matchmaker bit will work fine. How about anyone else? Kel?
And the idea of the bracelet is good... Libby could find out where it came from, or she could learn to be content through not finding out.

[jacks girl]

Hey i just was watching Texas Walker ranger and they had old classic cars coming acorss the border with drugs packed inside them may be she is an old car buff and some how runs across this looking the car over. she can be from ohio where they love old cars and she could know lots about them

may be knows it weights too much or smoe little thing that would let her know there is drugs in the car some how what do you think

yea thats good juan could call her lib or something i just hate that nick name lol

jacks

[kshsj777]

Yeah I agree. Somebody calls her Lib and she gets after him (or her) for it. Maybe her aunt Verla calls her that, and she hates that.

Good idea about the car thing, don't know much about that.

[jacks girl]

what is skype i see that a lot on here... do all of you have MWord of some kind

jacks

[Rachel E.]

I have MS Word, yes. I like the Lib idea, thanks for agreeing with me.
Do you know a lot about cars, Jacks? Because I know next to nothing about that, so it would be hard to write that.
What are we thinking, do we each write parts in order? Or, do we each write different character's points of view? Or how are we going to do this?

[jacks girl]

I have an uncle that knows cars well, i could always pick his brain while he's in at the family reunion next week. or call him if i have to. He even does classic cars. cool eh?

I'm not sure about what you said about the writing thing, may be just kind of take turns like we are now. I think we will all need to know the following below about each other before we get to invested.

1. Each others emails I'll give my g mail to all of you soon. but not sure if we should post them here in the threads.

2. a time now and then to meet in the chat room to discuss this real time.

3. What each of us expect out of all of this, myself it will be fun, something to do on the side, and may be it might get published who knows..


4. Is there anything you have trouble writing, if so what is it. Anything that you just won't write about or that you would just say no way i can't do that.

5. what do you think is the most likely thing that will cause trouble with writing with other people. I may not have a great amount of time to work on this, sometimes when things first hit me im like a cat in water but i adjust easily after i have time for the idea or thought to come over me


Myself i personally am not good with ghosts and scary spiritual things like the really dark side, like spirits taking over people and the like. but i don't think that is where we are going here. I can't kill people in a story but if someone else wanted to write it that wouldn't bother me. I do romance but it's not graphic, i don't write mushy romance, i like my characters real LOL.

I like to have some people christians some non in my stories i like it real life, and im a facts nut, but I can go light on the facts when necessary. thats all i can think of right now. on this subject.

One more thing. Would you have trouble with any of the below. We have to start somewhere so here is a list of my likes or dislikes. Don't freak out at my list i just want you all to know more about my writing.

People going to church
A man in the story with his shirt off
kissing or romantic scenes nothing graphic.
I normally don't use curse words
I like short chapters
i like about 80,000 words in a novel or more
i like to add in weather, the time of day, actual street names and town names,
i like several characters with about 3 to 4 being the Main Characters
I like mystery in the mix, i have men with guns a lot of times i can even see a Sherrif coming into the mix, may be he will be the love interest instead of Juan just something to toss out there.

Oh well didn't mean to bore you. hope you can do a list of your own soon.

jacks ... like i said don't freak out. also i have ocd and at times i may repeat myself trying to e sure my point is getting across or that i have not offended anyone. part of my make up.

Come on guys what do you think

[Rachel E.]

Jacks,

Yeah, pick your uncle's brain by all means, and let him know in some way that you will be talking to him about it fairly often till you get a good grasp.

I think you have an excellent point here and I will go ahead and list my replies.

1. Each others emails, but not sure if we should post them here in the threads. I think this is great, I'll send you both or all three mine, Kel has it already.

2. a time now and then to meet in the chat room to discuss this real time.
I don't ever go in the chat room, because my dad said no. I'm sorry that I won't be able to be involved in that, can we come up with something better? I have google chat.

3. What each of us expect out of all of this.
This will be something fun in my spare time, it will release a lot of my passion for writing that I haven't been able to do, due to lack of time. And eventually, if it really is good, I'd like to see if it can get published.

4. Is there anything you have trouble writing, if so what is it. Anything that you just won't write about or that you would just say no way i can't do that.I don't do violence in graphic. Or VERY mushy romance either.

5. what do you think is the most likely thing that will cause trouble with writing with other people. I think the biggest issue will be communication between authors, different writing styles that might conflict or draw away from the story, and different ideas going waaaay different ways. That could get confusing. If you have a particular idea about a scene, make sure that the next person to write understands what you are thinking on that.

I make my stories true to life. I can write romance as long as it isn't too deep. I can kill characters, and I"m not too bad about building the looks of a character into my story. I don't mind changing a character's personality mid-stream if said character decides to come to life.

Your list doesn't bother me, I've had similar things in my stories.

Romance doesn't bother me
Guys with no shirts are part of my everyday life
People going to church is great, but not all of them.
If I have a curse word in one of my stories I write it like "D---"
My chapters vary greatly in length
I'm not sure how long my novel is, no preference. But I think we need to decide before hand if this is a novel or a novella
I like facts too, and I think we need to have the name of the town and what state it's in, what time frame (older, current, etc.) we are in as well.
I generally have 2-5 Main characters in my story. Obviously in this one we have Libby and possibly her love interest. As well as maybe Aunt Verla and one other.
Men with guns, etc. are again, part of my life every day. No deal there. I love some mystery and it looks like that's where we are headed with this.

You didn't bore me. Tell me if I missed something or you need more facts, ok?
Thanks!

[jacks girl]

I'm not sure what google chat is but i may can find it. can more than one person get onto google chat.

few more things i forgot you might want to know

Been saved since i was 8 now i'm almost 42 yikes
been writing since i was 8
live in the country
love cop shows, and lawyer shows and like the kind of romance you find in, scarecrow and mrs king, or the wester the outsider that was on hallmark, danille steel is not my type of romance.

one more problem may be chain of command so to say, we need a line of the way we do things once this gets long and we start passing it around. Like this. i will always send my emails to rachel then she will send it to 777 and so on until it comes back to me.

If i suggest something it is that till we all agree. this is fun.

jacks

[kshsj777]

1. Each others emails, but not sure if we should post them here in the threads. I have all three of yours. And I think all three of you have mine.

2. A time now and then to meet in the chat room to discuss this real time. I have skype, yahoo, msn & aol instant messenger. I know that Storygirl has yahoo.

3. What each of us expect out of all of this.
I don't know. I'm scared to work on this, b/c I'm a story hopper. I don't know if I can promise myself to this project. I think we should just shoot for a novella. Keep the project small and simple, especially since we have about 4 authors working on this. Style issues and all that could be a problem... I heard that before embarking on a serious bok with coauthors that there should be some kind of contract... I don't really want to do that, so I'm not sure what we should do.

4. Is there anything you have trouble writing, if so what is it.

Description is my nemesis. Dialogue is my friend.

5. What do you think is the most likely thing that will cause trouble with writing with other people.

I think the biggest issue will be communication between authors, different writing styles that might conflict or draw away from the story, and different ideas going waaaay different ways. That could get confusing. If you have a particular idea about a scene, make sure that the next person to write understands what you are thinking on that.

Yes I agree.

Problems I Have:
No cursing, period.
No graphic content, though I don't have a problem with killing people or letting something really bad happen.
That's all I can think of.

So what genre is this in particular? We need to decide that, and come up with a basic overall plot.

[kshsj777]

And yes we need a chain of command. We should pick which of us has the most experience (not sure if any of us are very experienced, but...) who'll make the final decisions. Somebody's gotta be the boss. Not me. I don't want to be the boss. So you three figure it out.

If you want, we could find somebody else here on CW to be the boss. Maybe somebody that wouldn't do the actual writing, but could act as a mediator if we have disputes, and do the final edit and have the final say.

What do you guys think?

[jacks girl]

I have google chat now it's easy and if you have a gmail email you just use that account

I consider this romance, mystery, may be some action

anyone disagree just say so

[kshsj777]

Oh sorry, I was going to explain skype, it's a messenger similar to yahoo, but you call also use your computer to call regular phones if you have a microphone & speakers. (Have to pay money for that, but computer to computer calls and instant messenging is free.)

[kshsj777]

Yes I agree Jacks. Which one is the most important though? We have to pick a predominant genre. For example, my novel Followers of the Light is mainly sci-fi, but it's also romance, mystery, historical, action/adventure all rolled in one.

[jacks girl]

Cool computer calls are free that is good. i have a mike somewhere i think. i know i have speakers.

Well I guess it would be for me Romance but I don't mind if it's mystery with romance.

Also we could ask Tommi lynn or Laina to moderate could ask melw but it's hard with her time zone. how long is a novella never written anything less then 80.000 words myself. not counting the shorts we do on here for prompts they are about 500 words.

[kshsj777]

I was thinking 30,000 - 40,000 words.

[jacks girl]

I think that will work for me, i wonder where rachel is at...

so we have Romance or Mystery as option
and 30 to 40 thou words on the table

[jacks girl]

i'm not sure if more of us than one at a time can chat on google.. not sure about that

what do you think rachel

[Storygirl]

Okay, haven't had time to catch up on what ya'll are talking about, but I did want to say that if you have something to do with drugs...I can help out a LOT with making that realistic. (NOT because I have experience with them mind you ;)...) My dad was a narcotics officer with the task force (DTF) and I know all about the different types of drugs, how people go about selling them, the terminology, etc. And if we have questions I can always ask him and he'll know. He did a HUGE case once that led all the way to Ireland and he's got some great stories. So anyway, I haven't read through this all the way, but just thought I'd let ya know in case you wanted to go there with this....~Storygirl~

[jacks girl]

cool sounds really good story girl thats would be great help.

jacks
do you have google talk

[Storygirl]

No. I have Yahoo.

[kshsj777]

How about yahoo then? Maybe? I know you can do multiple chats in that one.

[Rachel E.]

I have google and so does Jacks. You can do multiple talks on it yes. so far, I like your ideas about the genre. I think suspense/mystery with romance in it is fine. I think for time we should place it in the current era, what do you think? I do not have yahoo and CAN NOT get it right now. I'm sorry to cause problems but it isn't possible. I think we should write this by email. Such as. I write the first part, then pass it on to Jacks. She either writes the next part and passes it on to Kel, or she decides she doesn't want that part and just passes it on. Kel will do the same thing and pass it on to either Storygirl (if she decides to do it with us) or me. And so on in a circle. Is that fine? What do you all think of this?
Sorry it took me so long to get here, life is hectic in my house.

[jacks girl]

sounds like a plan to me, a good way to start it's hard to paste into an email sometimes you get those weird little dots along the side and you loose your paragraphs or may be i don't i know how to fix it LOL. I always sent melw my work with a file attatchemnt from M word.

some of you have M word. do we all have it.

jacks

[Rachel E.]

And we need to know if Storygirl is going to be a writer or an editor too. She mentioned something about not writing, so we need to find out.

I have word.

[kshsj777]

I don't have MS Word anymore, but I do Open Office Writer, which is similar. The only thing is though, it's probably work best, if the files are .rtf. I've heard the .doc files I save don't work in Word for some reason, though I can open them fine.

[jacks girl]

i'll send you a word doc sometime there and see if you can open it with your program as a test.

i talked to rachel on that google talk.. the last time i tried yahoo you didnt have to down load it you could use a on line program that might work too not sure.

we can work out the bugs.

jacks

[kshsj777]

Yeah that would be a good idea jacks, but I already know I can open them. I just don't know if you can open a .doc. It might mess up how it saves the .doc, I don't know.

[Storygirl]

Hey all! I was thinking about this...I'd love to be a part, but what with school, family, my own writing, updating the website, church stuff, etc...I'm not going to have a ton of time to work on this. Passing it around for us all to write separate parts might work, but I can't exactly promise speed. Now editing, proof reading, ideas, and overall critique I can commit to. You guys will do fine without me, I'm sure, but if you want to include me in the writing...just thought I'd be up front about my time and schedule. ;) I hate it when people flake...

My opinion only counts if I'm in, but here are some things I DON'T write:

Absolutely no foul language. (If it MUST be so, I use something like "he swore under his breath" or "he cursed", Ultimately though, my opinion is: get a thesaraus.

A lot of physical romance. I just don't do it.

I DON'T have a problem with guns or violence (just so long as we're not talking grossly graphic here! ;)) Bottom line, I live with a 16 year old redneck who already has an eviable gun collection and my dad is a cop. I don't have a problem with stuff like that.

So...if you need me I'm here but if you can manage without me and don't want to wait on me when my turn comes that's fine. I'm "cool" either way. :D

~Storygirl~

[kshsj777]

Well I probably shouldn't make any promises I can't keep, but I can try to write some stuff... definitely grammar and spelling I can do that!!

[jacks girl]

I think this is going to be a side project for all of us so i dont think time is a problem it's not with me. There may be times when we all get the story passed to us and we say shew to busy and pass it on.

I think this will be for fun to start out with, may be it will be good enough to do something with. I'm looking forward to working on this project. So far we all seem to be pretty much on the same page with what we won't write.

jacks

[Rachel E.]

Storygirl, I think we'll go ahead and pass it around in a circle, just like we were thinking, and you, instead of writing on days when you have no time to do so, just run a complete edit on the previous portion and pass it on, that way we all know what you are doing, and you don't have to write if you don't want to. That will keep our ideas straight and Kel, you can edit grammar, etc, when you are too busy to write, ok? Jacks and I, unless we see something serious, will just write, ok?
How does that sound to all of you?

[jacks girl]

that can work for me. i'm a stickler for passive word so i edit most of mine as i go along bad habbit i have lol.

so do i have this right the order is

Rachel
jacks
777
story girl then rachel

[Rachel E.]

Yes Jacks, that does sound right.

Thansk for clarifying!

[Storygirl]

Fine by me. And if I have an idea, I might just write it and you can either decide to use it or toss it. I'm pretty tough skinned so don't worry 'bout hurting my feelings.

[kshsj777]

Yeah, I agree. I'll throw out ideas and brainstorm too. But most of the time I'm only good at that at one in the morning LOL

[Rachel E.]

lol, thanks girls! Let's get this rolling. I'll work on it tomorrow and pass it on. Good luck and GOD BLESS!

[jacks girl]

Sounds like a good plan just email it to me when you are done and if you want to highlight the first few line of anything knew you do or bold or something or say here is where i started.

You'll think of something

jacks

[Rachel E.]

I just sent it to you Jacks!

[Rachel E.]

Kel and Storygirl. Jacks and I were just talking over ideas for a title. We would like to know what your ideas are as well. But here are ours.
I liked

Texas Ring (which has to do with the drug ring etc.)

Jacks' was

Texas Hearts

Go ahead and let us know what you think, ok?

[kshsj777]

Are these title suggestions for the novel? If so, I don't like either one, sorry.

[Rachel E.]

they are TEMPORARY. I imagine that we will change it later, if and when we decide to publish it. Right now though, it doesn't really matter what we title it as long as it has a name.
Now, do you have any ideas you'd like to throw out there??

[jacks girl]

To me a name doesn't really matter right now I don't know enough about the story or the characters to think of a real name yet.

So as far As i'm concerned we can call it CW story or. The title is the last thing i pick or way down there lol.

so we need a temp name.

I suggest
CW Story
Our Story
What do you want to toss in there 777

[jacks girl]

I'm also working on an outline. Does anyone have any problems with the following.

30 to 40 thou words.
about 1500 to 2000 words a chapter
making about 20 chapters,

With todays market of fact paced books I think it's best to go with shorter
chapters. What do you all think.

Jacks

[Rachel E.]

Sounds good to me Jacks, but we are really going to have to watch the flow of the story, sometimes that measures how long or short a book is. Just a thought...

[jacks girl]

yes all of this is sub to change as we go. but we have to have a starting point is all i'm saying and asking.

jacks
Also i will try to be the same green all the time

[Rachel E.]

right, I agree with you.

[Mona]

So maybe I really like riding in this truck bed with the animals. You can judge an animals character better than a persons most of the time. Thoughts were swirling through my head; thoughts of how I had realized that all things good and bad are in a yesterday and yesterday cannot be unlocked and relived. So look ahead, after all Aunt Verla will be in need of my assistance and heaven only knows what nuggets for writing I will get from this experience.

[Storygirl]

About the title, I do think it'd be a good idea to wait to decide on what to name it. Also, could you please save our work in "rich text format" every time? For some reason, the last time Kel sent it to me, something went wrong and its almost impossible to read and make corrections. I can get the jist of it, but sentences are broken in half, punctuation is strewed everywhere, and wierd symbols are where the quotations are supposed to be. Makes it just a tad difficult. ;)

~Storygirl~

[Mona]

Oh dang! I wish I had a brain. I'd do it right if I could; I would, I would.
I've clicked the wrong "button" again! This is supposed to go with the story but I won't try to correct it. It would end up in my infamous double trouble.

[Mona]

So maybe I really like riding in this truck bed with the animals. You can judge an animals character better than a persons most of the time. Thoughts were swirling through my head; thoughts of how I had realized that all things good and bad are in a yesterday and yesterday cannot be unlocked and relived. So look ahead, after all Aunt Verla will be in need of my assistance and heaven only knows what nuggets for writing I will get from this experience.

[jacks girl]

I don't know how to save it like that in rtf no clue. I just save it in word then paste it into an email then send it to kel.

jacks

[Storygirl]

Click on 'save as' and then down underneath where you type in the title, it'll give you a list of formats to save it in. Click "rich text format" or "rtf" before you hit the save button. Should work. but if you cut and paste...the trouble isn't coming from your end! Things are REALLY screwed up over here. By the way, I'm working on making that whole thing with Randy more dramatic right now. I'll e-mail it to you when I'm done. I think it might be too long...but you, Rachel, and Kel can work on tweaking it to suit you. ;)

~Storygirl~

[jacks girl]

ok send it to rachel next okay and i tried to send it to you again through email on here.

hope that it helps you paste it all together will look for that rft stuff

jacks

[Storygirl]

Thanks Jacks Girl! I got it and I can see it perfectly the way you sent it. Tell you what, I'm not adding the scene into the actual content because I'm not sure of it, so I'm going to forward the one section to you, Rachel, and Kel for you all to look over.

~Storygirl~

[jacks girl]

ok that will work thanks much this is such fun. hey i did an outline someone will sent it to you tomorrow some time.

jacks

[Storygirl]

Right-T-O! :D

[Storygirl]

Just e-mailed you guys (excuse me, GIRLS) the new scene.

[jacks girl]

hey story girl i just read on line that a ATF agent would go undercover in a drug raid do you think this is a true fact. i have worked with FBI Us marshalls so i'd like to go a new route and use ATF this time...

jacks

Oh yea did you get the outline i wronte i sent it to rachel not sure if she has passed it on yet. if i got your email i lost it but i could email it on here i guess

[Storygirl]

I'll have more time later, but I just wanted to answer your question real quick...yes, that's realistic, but I don't know much about ATF agents...would it be okay to stick with working off a county sherriff's dep.? My dad has gone undercover numerous times and has done cases all over the state and one that led out of the country. It might be more realistic if we stick with stuff we know about...and I'd have my dad as a real life reference book. :) My dad worked in DTF (Drug Task Force) for about ten years and is now a regular Detective, and it was just a district of types of the County Sherriff's Office. (though many of the members of DTF worked for differen't PD's within the county and not the Sherriff's Office itself...if that made ANY sense...) I don't know if I've received the outline yet...haven't been home all day. I'm going to be on here later so I'll let ya know. See ya!

~Storygirl~

[jacks girl]

I found out that it would more than likely be a DEA agent from laina her hubby is a cop i think too. me and rachel looked over my outline on google chat the other day and when she is done i will send it to you.

we are thinking of having a dea agent come in and may be be part of the story don't have a name yet and we will have to run it buy you guys but me and rachel are kind of on the same page working it out will send it to you soon to see what you and 777 think of it.

nite

[Storygirl]

DEA works good too, in fact, I almost mentioned it. My dad worked with the DEA a LOT when he was on DTF...they're a larger group (with a more comfortable budget, might I add) and it would work quite well with what you're going for.

[jacks girl]

The reason we was looking at a dea is that the local law enforcement won't know that he's working under cover, that is why i thought it best to go with an outside agent.

it helps to know people in the law enforcement i use google my family is into coal mines, security, trucking and church. no officers.

[Storygirl]

Jacks Girl...

If the DEA were to send an agent in under cover, the County Sherriff's office or the local PD would know because its under their jurisdiction. My dad almost always knew when the DEA was in his area. Most of the time, when entering under his jurisdiction, they would work with the DTF and borrow their information, tips, informants, etc. Very seldom, if ever, will the DEA enter under another PD's jurisdiction without informing or working with the force there. I double checked with my dad on that one. ;)

~Storygirl~

[Rachel E.]

Storygirl, I dont' have your email address I just discovered. Could you please send it to me so that I can forward the outline your way?
Thanks!

[Storygirl]

Sure thing! I'll get it to you sometime today.

[Rachel E.]

That would be great, whenever. Thanks!

[Rachel E.]

Storygirl, I got your email address, thanks!
Let us know about the outline, ok?

[Storygirl]

I just e-mailed it to you Rachel. My notes are in my portion of the e-mail, I didn't add anything to the outline.

[Rachel E.]

Jacks, Storygirl, Kel,

How do you feel about me writing the background for Libby, then sending it to Jacks. She adds/changes what she likes, sends it on, etc. That way we can all know what we are thinking in regard to our MC.

[jacks girl]

I think that you are right Story girl but may be we can bend the rules and not have him tell the locals cause he thinks the locals are in on it. may be he has one contact there that knows... i think it would be good to have a few of the locals in on the drugs coming across the border. what do you think about that


jacks

[jacks girl]

hey go for it write her back ground and we all can take a character and have most of his traits be our ideas. i prefer to take the DEA agent as a character i write the back ground for.

send me libbys out line when you get it
and i'll be looking for the outline back from story girl too

[jacks girl]

i just emailed the letter to all of you and i dindt mean to do that rachel and story you all can read it if you want but i think i was supposed to jsut send it to kel.

i don't want to get us all started email the wrong people so forget you got it lol.

jacks

[Rachel E.]

lol ok Jacks.
I'm trying to work on the background for Libby. It's coming slowly, please be patient.
Thanks!

[jacks girl]

im trying to be patient i just love project like this.

[Storygirl]

Hello Ladies!

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to back out of this project. I just do not have the time for it. I'm trying to finish my own book and other writing projects (today I just wrote an article for The Homemakers Cottage) and I'm just going to slow ya'll down. If you have a question, need an opinion, or need me to play editor, I'll be happy to help out! Once you've finished a few chapters, I can edit your work for you if you like. But I just cannot be a big part of this. I have too much going and Perfecting113 is going to have to be updated in a couple of weeks on top of it all. I'm really sorry for having to back out of this!! It's been fun and I know this project is going to turn out great for you!!! Thanks for understanding...

~Storygirl~

[Rachel E.]

Hi Storygirl,

Just want you to know what a joy it was to have you aboard as long as you could be here, and how sorry we are that you can't stay. God bless you!

[Storygirl]

Thanks Rachel. Will keep in touch!!!

~Storygirl~

[VWeathers]

Randy, Mr. Randolf Hurst, was the Dean of Journalism at NYU. He hated when I called him Randy. He was my professor and mentor. He took me under his wing and introduced me to some of the most influential publishers in the nation.

[VWeathers]

Did I say Hurst? I meant Frist....

(I knew that name sounded familiar.:o)

[Rachel E.]

Welcome to the thread VWeathers...

[Storygirl]

Hey Ladies! How is this project going? Have you gotten very far? Catch ya later...

~Storygirl~

[seasalt]

Closing my eyes for a few minutes to take a break from the dust and adjust to where my life was headed, flashbacks begin to consume me.