A humble seahorse reconstructs his form by studying his fellow fish, and emerges as the most magnificent creature to grace the sea.
Music: “Mystical Town” by Chris Logsdon
[Video Description: Trailer. Duration, 31 seconds. Music: “Mystical Town” by Chris Logsdon. Digital drawing. Floating in water among small bubbles, the mythical creature known as the hippocampus. Seen from left side, the front half looks like a horse, except that the mane is replaced with a spiny dorsal fin, and the hooves are replaced by fins. The forelimbs appear to be in mid-gallop. The back half appears like a fish with fins protruding from the sides. The tail arcs toward the front. The creature’s coloring is vivid and shimmering like a fish. A watermark of the word “storyfeather” lies over the image. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Mythology” and the story title are displayed in front of the image. The title card and story title fade. An animation of bubbles rising from the bottom to the top of begins and continues throughout. Lines from the story appear over the image: “We are only one of many different kinds of horses. And all of us, the ones who fly through storm, the ones who canter on land, the ones who wander in dreams, we all came from one place, the sea.” The title reappears at top just as the last line disappears. A watermark of the site URL appears at bottom center throughout.]
Welcome to Year 9 of Storyfeather
Every year’s short stories (mostly) follow a theme. This year, I will turn the Wheel of Fiction to help me decide what to write. There are thirteen spokes on this wheel. Eight are occupied by the eight themes from the previous years of stories. One is a prompt to turn the wheel again. One is a wildcard (hmm…curious). And three are covered only in question marks. I suppose I’ll find out what’s beneath those questions as we go along.
Welcome to the WHEEL OF FICTION
The Wheel of Fiction landed on REVISITATION for the first time this year. I’ve been doing an art challenge I came across on IG called Creatuanary (Creatures in January). So to save myself from having to draw even more images this month, I’ve attempted to use any relevant image (that’s not already connected to an existing intellectual property) for my stories, assuming I don’t have to force anything.
On reviewing the drawings I’d done so far, I found one that I’d already written a story about, the mythical half-horse and half-fish creature, the hippocampus. The only connection between that story and the previous one, The Hippocampus and the Menagerie, is the concept of the hippocampus. That concept is what I’m revisiting. And this new story is an origin story for the mythical creature associated with one of my favorite animals. I found quite a few charming details about seahorses that helped me shape the story. For instance, It was once thought that seahorses were the baby versions of hippocampi. So cute.
[Video Description: Duration, 8 seconds. Choice wheel made on the Spin the Wheel application. Thirteen spokes or slices in various colors, labeled as follows, clockwise from the top: Objects of Power (the “of Power” is not visible), Prompts, Definitions, Turn Again, Elements, Creatures, S.T.E.A.M., Wildcard, Revisitation, (alternating question marks and apostrophes), Challenge, (alternating questions marks and asterisks), (question marks). The title at top reads “The Wheel of Fiction” and below that the words “Spin the wheel.” Below that is the date of the spin, 1/22/2022. At top left corner is a flag icon labeled with the letter “F.” This represents a function of the application which interferes with true randomness by reducing the probability of receiving the same choice twice in a row. The wheel turns and lands on REVISITATION. As it does, a seahorse appears at top left of the wheel.]
Genre: Mythology, Fable
Tags: CONSTRUCTION, FOAL, HIPPOCAMPI, HIPPOCAMPUS, INFLUENCE, MAGNIFICENT, MATE, PO, SAILFISH, SEAHORSE
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