Writer Wednesday: Sneak Peek + Updates

 

Have we mentioned how great the storyaday website is? Because it's an incredible resource for writers that we highly recommend. Every Wednesday a prompt is posted that has one simple goal: to challenge your abilities. The whole website is designed to encourage, promote, and enable you to write regularly and to clear away any of those pesky cobwebs getting in the way of great storytelling. 

This week's prompt is to help prepare for May when there will be monthly prompts. If you haven't already and would like a challenge, we encourage you to sign up too. You can do that here. You can find the prompt for today here. We highly recommend you check this website out. It's truly incredible and we love everything about it.

When we read the prompt for today we had to think about how to tackle it. How to go about a writer's tale? We decided to take the opportunity to introduce a couple of old characters that we created years ago and have recently returned to. We have lots of exciting stories that will soon be making their way to publication with several we have planned to have on Wattpad. More information will come at a later date. For now, you can check out our Utopia short story and check out our short stories on Reedsy. You can find our children's books and photo books at Barnes & Noble while our murder mystery Demons in the Details and our Wicked Eyes novella can be found on Amazon.

We've been in love with these two characters since they were first created and we are eager to get back into their world. Their chaotic, humorous, silly world of writing, mischief, and sleuthing adventures. These two writers have lost their jobs after a serious case of writer's block landed them unable to write a word. Now to regain what they lost, they have taken on a new challenge. They have become PIs and are using their stories to create investigative stories that they hope will win their jobs back. 

Check out our sneak peek:

"Writer's block," Nyth recites soberly. "The scourge of wordsmiths, the delayer of dreams. Two more have been claimed by your dreadful hands. Oh, woe is we!" Her hand flies to her forehead dramatically and she leans against the wall. 

"Maybe save the dramatic monologues for after the night shift," Lyric says, coming from down the hall. She pushes her guard hat up. It was a size too big and kept slipping down over her eyes.

"I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation," Nyth says. She adopts her usual stance and her too-large pants slip. She grabs at them and fusses with her belt to tighten it further.

"You look good." Lyric nods. "So, the guard on the day shift said that something goes missing every night at precisely 12:31. So, we just need to keep our eyes out for any … unusual activity." 

"At least we were able to get these costumes!" Nyth chirps. She falls into step with Lyric and gives her baton a swing. "They may not fit well, but - ow!" She drops the baton and touches her face where she'd whacked herself. 

"Well.... that was almost threatening..." Lyric encourages. She picks up the baton and hands it to her. "I have a good feeling about this. We find this guy or lady or person that is behind these thefts then we'll write the most awesome article and then bam, we'll back on top."

"The paper will /have/ to take us back then!" Nyth crows. She retrieves the baton and reattaches it to her belt.

"And they can't accuse us of having writer's block." Lyric swats Nyth's right arm repeatedly. "I think I see something up there." She keeps her voice at a reasonable whisper. 

"Not that they'd be wrong," Nyth mutters. After three submissions that took twice as much time as usual and could only be called subpar if you were kind, it was hard to argue against writer's block. Nyth still thinks the paper went too far by firing them.

Lyric swats Nyth again this time with a glare. "I heard that." She pushes her up and pulls her pants up. "Let's do this." She hurries around the corner after the unseen potential theft

"Hey!" Fred, a middle-aged newcomer to the security profession, calls. He holds his flashlight aloft, illuminating the intruder. "Who's there?"

"Your backup," Nyth replies, rounding the corner. "Don't tell me Denise didn't tell you."

Lyric puts her hands on her hips, an attempt to seem more official. "We were last minute. Newbies, so they sent two of us to replace Sammy. He's sick with the flu, you know? Did you sign his card?"

"That doesn't sound right," Fred says. He's never once missed signing a coworker's card. He has something of a nose for occasions. It's what led him to this job, after all. He was reading the paper on his lunch break and bam! He saw the latest headline about the museum's crime spree and got one of his feelings. 

"You can call Denise." Lyric shuffles forward, trying to channel her inner guard. "She assigned us to the Ancient Greek wing." 

Fred knew they were lying now. He snatches his radio from its cradle on his shoulder. "We have intruders in corridor A9!" There was no way a newbie would be assigned to the wing with the break-ins!

"You're making a mistake!" Nyth cries.

Fred hesitates. 

"Run!" Lyric hikes up her pants, wishing she had taken that belt and booked it around the corner. "Run like an antagonist is chasing you!"

"We are the protagonists of our own story!" Nyth cries. She flees after Lyric.

"Stop!" Fred calls, distraught. He chases after the women as fast as he can.

"You'll never catch us alive!" Nyth yells wildly, giggling all the while. This would make an amazing story!

Lyric rounds a sharp corner and yanks Nyth after her, pulling her through a door marked "Greek Antiquities." "Shh," Lyric says with a finger to her lips. She listens until she hears Fred huff by. "Well, that was interesting..." She turns to see a figure in a hoodie and dark pants with a mask shaped like a falcon. "Uh... Nyth." She paws at her friend's arm.

"Can you believe it?" Nyth whispers as loud as she dares. "Our first real chase! Look!" She thrusts her arm out for Lyric to inspect. "I'm shaking!"

"Nyth," Lyric says through gritted teeth. She takes her friend and turns her to face the figure who had stopped. She could tell where its eyes were but the masked face was now pointed directly at them. "It's the thief." 

"Theif!" Nyth gasps. She charges the figure. "Stop right there!"

The figure tosses a vase at Nyth and takes off running. Lyric hurries forward and barely the two of them manage to catch the vase before it could hit the floor. "That was close." The door opens behind them. Lyric slowly turns her head to see Fred the night guard. "Hello, Fred."

"This isn't what it looks like," Nyth says quickly. "There was a guy in a mask..."

"Where did he go?" Fred looks from one woman to the next.

"He ran that way..." Lyric helps Nyth get the vase back onto its little podium. "or she... or they... The person ran that way. They had a black hoodie on and a falcon mask."

"Don't move," Fred says, wagging a finger at the women. He steps aside to whisper in his radio.

"You know what we have to do," Nyth says.

"Run?" Lyric asks, watching the guard carefully.

"Come on!" Nyth edges away. "We have a criminal to catch!"

Lyric follows her friend's movements. "We're so getting arrested later." She takes one more look at Fred before chasing after Nyth.

"A small price to pay!" Nyth declares.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Fred calls.

Lyric hurries quickly after her friend, rounding the corner to where they enter the mummy wing. "We should be able to hide in here..." 

A flutter of movement catches Nyth's eye. "No need!" The thief glances over their shoulder. "Citizen's arrest!" Nyth screeches, hurtling towards the figure. "Citizen's arrest!" The thief whirls away quick as a cat. "Sir, madam, or more, I demand you stop this instant!"

Lyric lunges forward. "Hey!" She hurries after them and trips only to land on her knees. She looks up at the face of a black hooded figure wearing a fox mask. "You are under arrest, fox person." She wags a finger at them and shoving up all the courage she could, gets to her feet. She puts her hands on her hips. "Now, if you would kindly wait until the others get here, that'd be great." The masked figure looks her over before shoving her backward, right into an open coffin. She lands with a thump and sees a mummy next to her right before the lid closes. "Nyth!"

Nyth and the falcon masked thief slow then stop. The thief tilts their head, clearly asking if Nyth intended to continue the chase. "You get away this time," Nyth says, scowling. It was no choice. Lyric needed her. She ran back the way she'd come.

Happy writing!