Monday, April 15, 2013

A to Z Challenge 2013 - M is for Monopoly and the April W4WS event

We're halfway there, folks!
This year for the Challenge, I'm posting snippets from a story.
If you'd like to read the whole tale, please start with A.

M IS FOR MONOPOLY

"When I was little, I had a monster in my closet too." Danielle rubbed the girl's back and didn't protest as Libby leaned against her.

Libby wiped at her cheeks, sniffling. "What did you do? Did someone come save you too?"

"Nope, no one. My parents wouldn't believe me. My brothers made fun of me. But the monster was real." Danielle ran her hands through Libby's blond locks, brushing them back from her face. "I would stay up all night with a flashlight pointed at the closet. To stay awake, I'd play Monopoly. I rolled the dice on my blankets so no one could hear them. I was always the dog. My brothers used to fight over the race car, but I loved the dog."

"I've never played that game," Libby said. Her voice was soft, but there were no more tears.

"Kids these days don't play it anymore. You have cool video games." Danielle gave the girl a little smile. "But one night, I fell asleep and the light went out. No one can stay up all night all the time. The monster came out and pinned me down on the game board with one big paw. It was going to eat me. I knew it. Its mouth was huge.

"I started kicking and screaming. I wasn't going to end up in a monster's belly. Then my hands started to glow, and the little dog yelled at me to kill the monster. Well, if my dog said I could do it, I was going to do it." Danielle made a slicing motion with her hand. "I killed it. Just like that."

"But I can't kill the monsters." Libby's lower lip trembled.

"That's all right. You have me to kill them for you." Danielle hugged the child. Tight.

Welcome to the March 2013 W4WS event! I'm honored to co-host this event with three talented writers, Mary Pax, C.M. Brown, and Stephen Tremp.  The mission of this group is simple: we have a spotlighted author(s) that we strive to help bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people, increase the sales of their book(s), drive new traffic to their blogs and increase followers, and create verbal and viral buzz.
 
We've made this simple and fast. It's as easy as a tweet or a RT, and sharing a status on Facebook. Go to the writer's blog and copy a tweet or RT from the posts with the tag #W4WS. The W4WS Facebook page will have all the updates and links for you.
 
To join the W4WS event, click here for the linky list. It will only take a minute of your time, and you'll have talented writers take a step closer to their dreams. 
This month, we're spotlighting two fantastically talented writers.

E.J. Wesley is a scribbler of words and author of the Moonsongs series. It's a kick-butt NA paranormal series which I highly recommend. Check him out on his blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

M. Pepper Langlinais is an award-winning screenwriter and bestselling author. Her newest book, The K-Pro, is a contemporary fantasy that's highly original and superbly written. Check her out at her blog, Twitter, and The K-Pro's site.

24 comments:

  1. Wahoo! I love Monopoly! Such great memories from childhood :)

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  2. Give me Monopoly over video games any day! ;)

    Also, love learning some of Danielle's back-story here. Libby's lucky to have someone to help her since Danielle didn't!

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  3. Hey, it was nice to read this "origin story" about Fenn. I love Monopoly. Whenever my family play it, it does tend to take all night!

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  4. Is that where Fenn came from? Very cool.

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  5. leave it to you to weave an old favorite into your story--i love how you did that!

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  6. Monopoly is great and a very cool way to integrate it into your story.

    Especially about the dog :)

    Left and Write

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  7. Loved this! I used to play Monopoly all the time as a kid. Can't wait to get my kids into it!

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  8. <3 That so so sweet. Danielle acts like she's tough as nails, but you can tell she really cares for Libby. I love how and why Fenn took the form of the dog from Monopoly ... speaking of, such a great game; I might play with Oldest this weekend.

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  9. Thank you, everyone! Monopoly was one of my favorites as a kid too. Have a great Monday.

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  10. Ah, okay, so Fenn is the Monopoly dog? That gives me a better mental picture.

    And thanks to you & W4WS for all your support!

    ~M

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  11. I always wanted to be the dog in Monopoly too! So this is Fenn's beginning? Love it.

    W4WS has been fun so far! :)

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  12. Monopoly is a lot of fun. I enjoy both the original board game, and the new xbox version :)

    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  13. We love Monopoly here! Great excerpt!

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  14. You gotta kill off the monsters; that's for sure. Nice scene.

    Thanks for the reminder about W4WS. I've done a few posts and will do more later!

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  15. O loved Monopoly as a kid--played it for hours. My kids love it too!

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  16. Monsters...always makes me think of the childs book...can't think of the name, but can see the cover where the monster was afraid of the kid.
    A-Z

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  17. Yay for M. and E.J. It was obviously initials month :)

    I admire all you've accomplished in this scene. It's touching and informative and interesting.

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  18. Aww... I love story time. We always end up learning the hard way, but I'm glad she learned her powers (:

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  19. Aww. That's kind of sweet.



    Sonia Lal

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  20. I always lost at Monopoly. They're changing the pieces now, you know? No more iron.

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  21. I think, at some point in our lives, most all of us has need of a monster slayer.

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  22. I like how you incorporated Monopoly into this.

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  23. I was wondering how did she meet Fenn.
    Never played Monopoly but there is a game very similar to that here.

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