Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Hey, you know how some of the more successful and popular blogs will, on occasion, have guest writers? And how these guests writers are, like, the perfect fit and, somehow, hard as it might be to believe, increase the readership tenfold?
Well, this is the Wakefield Doctrine. So, if we’re going to do something proven to be popular with the readers of the successful blogs, well, we’ll do it differently, naturally.
I’m getting ahead of myself.
This is the Six Sentence Story. Hosted by Denise each week, readers and writers are invited to write a story based on/using/employing or otherwise referencing the week’s prompt word. Six sentence no more and no less. We gets a word and we writes a story. Pretty simple, isn’t it?
I did mention how this is the Wakefield Doctrine, right? Well, this week, my Six is drawn the on-going tale of one, Starr Diamond; a young woman of mystery, intrigue and rare skills. What I’ve done is invited one of our group to write a Six using my Six as the starting context. Anything, as long as the prompt word is invoked. (I did this once before, back in December with Denise writing the alt-view Six that was based on the prompt word ‘ripped’. That Six was also drawn from the fictional world of Starr Diamond.)
In any event, the person, a writer I respect for having mad wordage skills was kind enough to say that they would try to fit this impromptu task (kinda last-minute, ya know) into their week. I will leave it at that, try and find the echo among the Sixes.
This week the prompt word is:
Single
The girl leaving through the side door of the cathedral stood out like a Lamborghini in the handicap parking at the local Walmart; with the grace of a dancer leaving a mid-day tryst, she descended the broad staircase of St Agnes & James’ on a tangent that would put her two cars in front of the hearse at the curbside.
The double bronze doors of the church opened and three nuns bracketing a lone woman, her bent frame less dependent on the others for physical support than being guided through a world suddenly changed, walked out ahead of the mourners that filled the crowded interior. One of the nuns, a very large black woman who radiated an intensity of focus usually associated with a bird of prey at the edge of her aerie, briefly touched the arm of the young nun to her right and, with a nod as commanding as it was subtle, directed her attention to a limousine on the opposite side of the Philadelphia street.
Billy Seaford, a recent hire at McClennan’s Funeral Home, leaned over to Harold Grace and whispered, “Jeez, look, the guy holding the door for the nuns, he totally looks like Mr.Tiny in that Vampire’s Assistant movie,” staring all the while at a very bald man in a white suit, wearing the most peculiar purple-tinted glasses.
Starr Diamond, having reached the sidewalk two car lengths distant, noted the focus of the two nuns’s attention, watched as the passenger side window of the limo descended. Seeing the hint of blonde hair and diamonds stirring in the car’s interior, the young woman, determining the best single course of action, turned and walked up the sidewalk away from the growing crowd; her long hair, at least the part not restrained by the baseball cap that shaded her face, swung like the tail of a lioness who’d reached the conclusion that the small grove of trees into which the wounded gazelle fled, changed the odds into not a good bet.
Superb writing. I am a huge, huge fan of your sixes, Clark.
thanks man, good to see you back on the scene.
Always classy! Always good!
thank you, Paul
Vividly descriptive. I was surprised she was wearing a baseball cap. Lamborghini and all. I’m off to search for the ghost.
It (the presence of the ghost) will be interesting, as I alluded to, schedule was going to be tight.
….speaking of which, next time the mood strikes me, would you be up for a dual six?
Why gosh, oh, gee. I thought you’d never ask. Just kidding. I’ll try. Not sure I’m at the same level of writing ability, but I will try. (Getting nervous and jerky)
lol…np need a week myself to write a ‘regular Six*’
You will have fun with this as, along with Denise and zoe you’re the most familiar with the world which contains the three stories (‘Home and Heart’ in which this week’s Six was grounded or ‘Case of the Missing Starr’ which is where Starr is a main character or ‘Blog Dominion’ (which is a completed work, in fact I think you might have followed it in serial form) where everyone comes from (including the mysterious occupant of the limousine in across the street from the cathedral))
that was a very long way of saying, ‘if you have a preference for characters or context, let me know’… the way it works is: I write a Six and send you a draft. How polished a draft you get is a function of how much lead time you’d like’
it’ll be fun
regular, yeah, as if
I am a huge fan of any story that has my favorite nuns – thank you.
I enjoyed writing that sentagraph where Sister Bernadine could act natural…lol
btw, the limo? Not Cyrus StLoreto or even Constantin Szarbo but one very sexy and totally-scary blonde from Chicago, Anya Claireaux!
Okay, this SSS caused me to go back and read from the beginning once I reached “the baseball cap that shielded her face.” Once again you have captured your readers smack dab in the middle of your story! Excellent.
The fun (and challenge) was to get across that, being from a very wealthy family, Starr’s wardrobe was, how shall be put it, expensively frivolous
She’s been pretty low-key, just-leaving-the-room since I ‘met’ her. (In a Six a year or two ago, she has since become a character in ‘The Seach for the Missing Starr’ which is my WIP effort to write a detective novel.
Oh, you are so good at this intrigue thing, Clark! I smiled as you so adeptly unfolded the scene, and what at first appeared simple became complex, a well placed lure to fish us in wanting more! :-)
The characters, imo, make all the difference, meaning, once they have taken on a life of their own, they kinda tell the story. In this case (as I mentioned to Pat in my Reply to her Comment) she started as a Six Sentence Story character but managed to become part of the ‘Search for the Missing Starr’ WIP. But even more fun that characters who are ‘alive’ is the world in which they live. This Six is a part of the WIP ‘Home and Heart’ the nuns, the whole funereal scene is from that timeline. It’s just that I discovered that Starr Diamond went to Radcliffe at the same time that Sister Margaret Ryan (the nun who the Mother Superior touches on the arm)…and Sister Ryan is the protagonist in Home and Heart (and before that, the completed ‘Blog Dominion’)….lol I know!
but wait! theres more….actually, see my Reply to Phyllis re the occupant of the mysterious and threatening limo
And hallelujah, my comment posted on the first attempt! :-)
You have drawn me in, i want the book soon!
Wow I love that whole last visual! Now am I misunderstanding I don’t quite get it am I supposed to figure out who wrote your second half? Who wrote it?
almost…. there is another writer who I said, ‘hey! you up for a dual Six?’ they did say that there was a good chance that they would not be able to make it, hence the clarklike presentation of the concept…
now the concept! welll I really like the concept, I mentioned it to val and (was thinking of you also)…. I may be knocking on your door saying, ‘hey! lets do a dual (or even a trial)
the concept?? oh yeah… so there you have my Six…. were you to be the trial I would have sent you the draft of that Six and said…. write yourself a Six based on this ‘scene’… could be anyone in the Six or anything, for that matter
sort of a ‘jam’ (in the musical context where a band might start with a song and do individual variations ‘within’ the song, it, providing the framework/structure of any improvisation
…’cept with nuns, newly-hired funeral attendants, an attractive wealthy young woman seemingly on the run, a guy who looks like ‘Mr. Tiny’* and a very black limo with a blonde woman inside**
*this character Phil Borastein is from ‘Home and Heart’ and quickly become identified in my mind as looking like a character in the movie referred to in the Six
** a character from Blog Dominion
To be honest, all humility aside false or otherwise, truly I don’t think I could keep up with your level of writing anymore. It’s been so long since I’ve written anything and you have so developed your art that I don’t think I could do it justice. I love this idea though it’s fun!
hold that thought…. (the ‘this idea is fun’ thought lol)… I may still hound you in that remarkably subtle (only to those who judge a clark by their general passivity) aggressiveness that we exhibit when caught up in an idea that we think would be fun… seriously, the ‘form’, riffing off a scene I have only begun to get a sense of and so, I bet I’ll be able to express the ways it can be enjoyed by co-participants more as I practice it. (really. even as I think about the next one I get caught in the idea of whether I should try to anticipate alternate stories or simply provide characters in a rich enough context…(more to follow))
What a teaser! I have missed reading Home and Heart. Sr. Margaret Ryan is surely one of my favorite characters. Hell they’re probably all my favorite characters lol.
Looking forward to more of the Case of the Missing Starr.
What is more intriguing, this Six, or the mystery sequel that I now must find? I just happened to open your Six first, so this is perfect.
I may be too late to the show again, seems like a Sunday posting is like missing the bus. I otherwise followed the rules, kept to a six pack this week. Okay, off to read the others’!
Alas* … the schedule of the other writer did not work out. So there is no multi-story this week**
*yes, I did in fact deliberately (and with a straight face employ the word ‘alas’)
(**See my comment-reply to Val… it is my intent to continue to try this experiment (more an improvisation than a sequel)… even hint at a question and I’ll totally hold forth lol)
Alas, alack, indeed. Next time maybe.
I don’t think I am hip enough to ever play, as evidenced by the use of the word ‘hip’. Not so good with the slick cloak and dagger set. Indeed, alack, alas.
but…but… I have dreams of buying denim overalls and stealing a banjo with strings only a little rusty and writing me a tale of woe, as a context I reserve to ask you to join in the funny (why yes, one might borrow a picaresque admonition and alter it for the times, ‘hey, clark don’t type a story challenge that your imagination can’t sketch’*)
In any event, stay tuned this thing might get interesting.
my god! talk about a long way for a half a chuckle… even for me that was a bit labored
It is finished. ;)
cool! I literally was turning off my computer (at the office) and noticed the comment… will go back (and try for FRIST).
I transferred your FB comment over. Your URL is too long…there’s a new one. :D
thanks