This book is also dedicated to the 32 individual people and their creativity who provided the colours of the fabric from which I wove Emmeline's story. When I first set out on the 31 day writing challenge, I knew I was going to weave the topics together to tell a story, but I didn't know how, and I didn't know who would get involved when I put the invite out. As it happened, those who participated came from all walks of my life, and are all people I'm honoured to have collided with on the journey of life, even when they gave me some fairly peculiar threads with which to tell a tale. Below are the original introductions to each day, mentioning the topic I was given to use, and the person who gave it.
Day 1. So here it begins, the first step of our 31 day journey. I'll take a quick moment here to thank the talented Lyndsay for the first topic of my writing challenge, Pink Clouds.
Day 1.2 Heather gave me the topic of her favourite word, delineation, and I forgot to use it. For the purposes of this publication I have added additional content including this new chapter with the missing topic.
Day 2. Good evening beautiful people! Here we find ourselves at day two of my 31 days, and the theme given to me by Anne is New Years Fireworks. Read on!
Day 3. My next topic is Spaghetti Bolognese. When Mirka gave me the topic, I had to laugh, because there are so many things you can do with spaghetti...
Day 4. My fourth theme, today given to me by Libby, is entitled 'Life going backwards'. When she told me this was her choice, I have to admit I was a little worried. Such a strange topic! But here we go, and here the plot thickens, as they say.
Day 5. The topic for day five changed the direction of the initial story dramatically. The moment Alisa told me her choice of topic was Pohutukawa trees, just to get a bit of 'Lil ole New Zealand' into my challenge, she had no idea how scene-setting it would be. To be fair, she had no idea what I was going to do anyway, other than write about Pohutukawa trees. But that's okay, they are my favourite kind of tree too.
Day 6. Strange and ridiculous sounding words are somehow always fun to work into a sentence. It can take weeks or even months from the moment you discover an epic word, to the moment when you find the perfect sentence in which to place it. However, in a similar situation the pressure to fit a particularly strange word into a piece of writing when required can be a thoroughly discombobulating experience. Thanks Helen!
Day 7. With the help of Mandi's chosen topic for day 7, things are about to get extraordinary.
Day 8. I was having a late night coffee date over skype with Mandi when she gave me her topic. She then carried the laptop in to see Sean, who was still in bed, and prompted him to give me a topic also. We ended up with the word 'fan'. It may not seem like the fan has much to do with this piece, but the police were not even involved with with Emmeline's tale until the word 'fan' came along.
Day 9. If at first you don't succeed—well you know the rest! I had this post ready to go well before midnight on day nine, however, when it came time to share I realised I just wasn't happy with it. Some things need time, especially a good topic like the lightning tree, thank you Helen! (Yes, a different Helen.)
Day 10. For day ten my next theme victim, Ade, gave me the neat little topic of An Icy Place. That sounds like fun! Let's see where we go....
Day 11. It always hurts to say goodbye. But the one thing I do know for Adisti—who gave me this theme for day eleven—is that the best thing about a farewell, is that it always opens a door to a new beginning.
Day 12. Marlyn has been my long time like-minded-fiend in the quest for expression of creativity and imagination. A brilliant mind and a brilliant artist, she gave me the eloquent and deviant theme, the death of a raven, for day twelve.
Day 13. Another one of my creative co-conspirators, Priya, gave me the theme for day thirteen, learning English.
Day 14. I heard that Will woke up on New Years day in Berlin, after the carnage of the night before, and suddenly realised which theme he would give me for day fourteen, the sound of silence.
Day 15. Thanks Harry, learning to ski is a great topic, and I hope you had fun doing it! However, how on earth do I work that into this story?
Day 16. For Sanjit, who may never see this, because he doesn't have Instagram or Facebook, and doesn't know what Wordpress is. He gave me a topic which I refused to use, and when I asked him what he was doing that would make him think of such a topic he simply said, itching.
Day 17. I believe Donia was sitting on a beach somewhere in Cambodia when she came up with the unusual topic of missing fathers. Seeing as the theme of fathers—missing, dead or disturbing—is central to the story so far, day seventeen seemed the perfect day for it.
Day 18. For day eighteen I have had to wrangle with the rather devious topic of sex. Thank you for dropping me in a real challenge, Abi, I know you loved it. I've decided to use it to highlight a topic I feel quite passionately about, the plight of Human Trafficking and my sadness at the use of a human body as a commodity that can be bought and sold.
Day 19. Lorenzo gave me the topic for day nineteen. Nostalgia, however pure and innocent, can also be a destructive force when we cling too tight to the memory of something long gone.
Day 20. Stephanie gave me some great observations, and the excellent topic of stereotypes after being obliged to endure the evening at an awkward house party.
Day 21. I loved Maraehakao as a child. It was my second favourite place to go camping, and it was somehow always magical and strange, as the location would suggest when you read this chapter. It is also my topic for day twenty-one, given to me by Charles.
Day 22. Today I have a curious topic from Sarah, who was helping a friend get ready for her wedding. Garters. Well I guess this story will have to move to a Victorian location for a bit then...
Day 23. Jayne is my bff from way back. I learned recently that she takes really awesome photos of Eels, and couldn't pass up on the opportunity when she gave me my next topic. So here were are counting down to the finish line with Eels as the topic for day twenty-three.
Day 24. For today I was given the topic of "Piloting the Iron Maiden plane." I would love to do this! And thank you Ray for getting so creative with the theme (Both Ray and I have a shared heavy metal fan history that goes way back. Raawwwk!) The problem here is the simple fact that we have gone too deep and too dark into Emmeline's personal journey for me to just whack her onto a plane with one of the greatest bands of all time and expect the story to hold. I toyed with a few different ideas for pulling the theme in, but in the end—well—I am a storyteller at heart...
Day 25. Our theme tonight was a grand and classically epic one. I've decided to turn it on its head, just a bit. Thank you Elliot, for The hero's journey. Yes, our heroes will be going on a journey, but it's the kind of journey you and I take more often than we would like—the daily commute through central London.
Day 26. Wires and cables, an interesting topic. Sometimes events need to get darker before they can get better. So, thank you for the topic Rian. Let's see where this takes us.
Day 27. For the 27th day of my writing challenge, Natasha gave me the topic of patience. Patience is something I personally have always struggled with, and I think Emmeline agrees with me!
Day 28. I almost missed this topic, given to me by the amazing Caryn! But here it is, and one of the best topics to cover when you are feeling down, chocolate.
Day 29. My topic for day twenty-nine, with only three days to go until our journey together is over, is the only one given to me by someone I don't know personally. In fact, I don't even have his name, but wherever you are, thank you for keeping the positivity in this tale!
Day 30. Our penultimate topic is the one you have all been waiting for. Thank you Sam, for the topic of love.
Day 31. I saved my most beautiful topic for today, the final entry in Emmeline's tale. It's been an intense 31 days, possibly the most consistently intense 31 days in my life. But I'm glad I've done it. It proves a point that in the strangest and simplest of words, topics and themes, that there is always a story to be told. So here we are at the final chapter, about to share our goodbyes over Fee's subject of the universe.
YOU ARE READING
Emmeline, the girl in the storm
FantasyDo you ever get the feeling you were born for so much more than this? On the 31st of December there was always a dawn, there was always Emmeline, and there were always tears. The day Emmeline turns twenty-one marks the return of the darkness that to...
