the Wakefield Doctrine

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

‘Cross-over Posts’ popped into my head, as I sat down to pre-write this week’s TToT. For whatever reason, I’ve only recently noticed them among the small number of blogs that I regularly frequent. They (‘cross-over posts’) can be fun to read and surely are useful and economical for the writer. And, they clearly are not easy to write, at least in any convincing way. Of course, in these current days of trying to acquire decades of writing skill in months of frantic effort, the challenge is pretty damn irresistible. So, seeing how it’s 7:25 am, and given that I happen to be a clark with a secondary scottian aspect, I sincerely doubt anyone will be surprised that for this week’s contribution to the bloghop that Lizzi created, I will attempt a ‘Wakefield Doctrine, Ten Things of Thankful, Six Sentence and Almira-Chapter-Preview cross over post.

Needless to say, I don’t have a clue how to pull this off. Of the cross-overs posts I’ve read of late, they’ve all been either TToT and FTSF* crossover or TToT and SOC** or Six Sentence and…. well, there hasn’t been a crossover Six Sentence that I can recall, so…. ah ha!/eureka/damn!

Before I begin: this is, of course, the bloghop of Lizzi Lewis who along with her 8 co-hostinae (and yours truly) invite all to share ten things for which they feel grateful.

‘A list of 10 Items that causes you to feel thankful is necessary for this to be a TToT post‘, the voice in the man’s head shouted quietly, confident that, being a clark, the man would not try to pretend that the voice would be ignored or explained away as merely ‘sure, a cool idea but totally impossible’. Instead, the man continued typing (grateful that this cross-over post did not involve a timed or no-edits format), a hope flaring dimly at the mention of gratitude in the previous dependent clause, (dying-out quickly at the realization that he was at the end of the second sentence with only one grat item). Recognizing that sentences in Six Sentence Story tended to on the longer end of the scale, he struggled to come up with a premise in which a statement of multiple items could be convincing, his hopes deflated like a, like a… object that normally contains air under pressure being punctured by a sharp object, the realization that he was coming to the end of his third (of six) sentences caused him to stare out the window and think, ‘Oh well, at least it’ll be over soon and I can give up this insane idea, I’ll be glad (or even, ‘grateful?’ yet another interior voice piped up in his mind, which of course did not concern him, being a clark and used to the company) to put an end to... ‘  he looked up at his computer screen, and, with a arithmatic passion filling his heart, shouted,  ‘thats 3, no! its 4, counting this joyful realization that I’m almost halfway there!‘

With renewed optimism, the clark (with a significant secondary scottian aspect, which resulted in a tendency to shyly force himself in everyone’s face, at least when the delusional mood struck him), thought, ‘dialogue is accepted in Six Sentence Story(s), encouraged even, so though there are no other characters established in this post/story, reference can be made to people and animals that, had they been plotted in from the beginning, would have been recognized and therefore accepted by the Readers; Una and Phyllis and Kerry would be three to be welcomed with grateful relief, holy shit, I might pull this off!‘

‘Do not forget your weekly co-hostinae spotlight’, scolded the writer’s tertiary rogerian aspect, ‘it’s Sarah’s turn this week and how fortunate it is to have started this series just a few weeks before, giving us an easy 8th gratitude item‘, the writer laughed and thought, ‘jeez, lucky Sarah, she gets to be part of what surely is one of the weirdest, easily in the Top Ten all time weird Doctrine posts, and all she did was be a dedicated co-hostinae who participated in the ‘Great Ocean-side Beach Motel Love Fest of 2015’ and although you won’t see mention it on her site Amycake and the Dude and, of course on the Facebook she is a charter member of the Graviteers!’

‘Still, two items that all who read the TToT regularly will recognize as Things for which I am Grateful left to go’, the writer smiled with a self-consciousness that would have been more convincing if he’d told people about his idea for writing a crossover TToT post rather that going right ahead and posting it, a genuinely self-conscious person might not be quite so in-the-reader’s-face, ‘but that’s all moot‘, he continued to think, in a last-minute, faux-Joycean grasp for literary legitimacy, comparable to the six-year-old boy wearing his father’s shoes and necktie (down to his knees) and announcing that he was the man of the house, ‘don’t forget to tell the Readers to go read Almira and, thank god the Book of Secret Rules (also known as the Secret Book of Rules) has a little rule called SR 1.3!‘

…the end.

Your hosts

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Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Way early to start the Post, especially in light of how many different directions I’m being pulled, writistically-speaking*, of course. But it do find it immensely helpful to start the post early, even if what I write (such as this) has nearly nothing to do with the end product. The aforementioned end product, of course, is a Six Sentence Story. Our friend and hostina, zoe invites you, me and that person who is here for the first time, to write a story using six and only six sentences.

So the word for the week is ‘season’ (or SEASON)… six sentences.

*not a ‘real’ word

A Season of Reason.

They crept quietly through the underbrush. There was movement ahead, and that was hardly ever a good thing in the forest, away from clearings which afforded the illusion of the option of escape. Their leader lead them with a seasoned confidence that was written into his very genetic code. Every aspect of his manner (in both how he moved and the lack of fear he exhibited) was meant to bolster weakening resolve in the others. The clear message: run and die alone, follow and escape will be found.

The source of the sound, the seed of many a nightmare for the survivors, appeared looming above the surrounding vegetation, a black obelisk floated near what seemed to be its head and the blinding light of a thousand stars burst from it, again and again.

(psst…. down here)

(no!  way  down here)

farther…. you’re supposed to read the Six before you see the photos….

no cheating!

guess this is far enough