Purrzah

Snippets of Novels

At one time, when I was young, I developed a sleeping problem where I found it very difficult to fall asleep. My mind was very busy. A doctor suggested that I think stories to myself, to focus my thoughts and relax. I considered it for a time and while on a camping trip I tried it out. Nowadays, people do what I did then online and they call it "fanfic". I was making up stories based on my favorite books, movies, t.v. shows and cartoons. In time I developed the same character to "guest star", as a representation of myself I guess, in these stories. At first she was named "Star", but she later gained a more "normal" name, "Jennifer Star Stuart".

I started to write a "fanfic" with Star visiting the universe of the "Battlestar Galactica" show, which I was a mad fan of. It didn't get far but it was my first writing effort.

Eventually, Star "demanded" her own story. The character in all my nightly stories was an agent of The Greater Good, teamed up with an angel and a side-kick cat, waging war against The Greater Evil, and facing against her nemesis, Zachariah and his demoness and pet hound. "The Protector" was what I called the story, and for a couple of years a simple book cover design drawn in felt tip on construction paper helped cover up the unfinished plasterboard walls of my bedroom. The book never really got started, however.

On October 8th of 1978, after having a very memorable dream, I was Inspired by a story. It was the story of a young king of a fantasy kingdom, an evil woman/sorceress, a brave young lady and a mystical sword. Not an unusual theme as stories go, and not entirely unusual for an eleven year old girl to dream about. However, the images of the dream were so strong, they had to be written.

Thus was born what I would call The Devil's Quest and the start of many years of writing. I wanted to make it a novel, as I already was reading books such as "The Hobbit" and related stories. So, using a rather unorthodox writing implement (a fountain pen), I began writing while sitting at a McDonalds just outside of the Seattle Center.

Over the years I came up with 9 chapters, over 900 written pages, several characters and occasionally an actual plan for how the story would progress and end. The story then lent itself to more stories, and plans for sequels and even one prequel grew. In the end, though I can't remember it all clearly, I believe there were five books based on that fictional world.

But my muse became busy at the same time. Other stories were borne in my brain. In the end, with those original fantasy stories the lists of novels grew to fifteen or sixteen. They included both science fiction and fantasy themes.

In the years since my time in High School these have been left to sit, untouched, unvisited, unread. While only "The Devil's Quest" was ever really started, little snippets (I would call them "excerpts") were put together for sharing with my closest friends. Some of these written for "The Devil's Quest" actually made it into the body of the greater work.

Here, in these linked pages, I offer up some of these little snippets. One day I may again start work on these stories. I know they provide a certain entertainment value, if only to young teen girls and maybe one entrapped younger brother. I hope you find them entertaining yourself, or are inspired to write your own.