#Challenge - Creative Writing: The Necklace

[Ellywick Fizzlespark]

We play in a world where words are everything so this week your challenge is a creative writing exercise about a locket/pendant. It is a combination of two things: writing a story and creating the thing it's about.

Step One: Write the necklace's description separately from the story. This can be a paragraph to provide a mental picture or you could instead create it as a piece of loot from our Loot Lists (this does not mean it will be joining the loot lists! I don't have that power!). The description must be a few sentences long. It cannot be “It was red and oval and looked pretty.” Put some thought into it! If you're having trouble, do a search on pinterest or google to find a picture of a locket that inspires you. If you're unable to do that, I have saved several that I can offer people as something to look at to jump start their writing juices. You can include an image, however, the description (not the story) needs to provide enough detail that I wouldn't need one.

Step Two: Write a story about the necklace. It could be found, given, looted or just be a story about the pendant and the myth behind it's power. Is the locket haunted? Was it made for a queen? Is it tarnished or new? Is it something you made for someone? Is it magical or mundane? You can make it something that isn't very powerful to something that is.

Every story needs to be at least 300 words in addition to the description. You may write one for each of your characters as long as every story is different from the others, meaning you can't write the same basic story for each character. It must be clear as to which character you are writing about when the story is submitted.

You can choose to post your entries on this thread and send the link to Rica (funsizefantasy) or just submit them in an email. Make sure your subject line says "Weekly Challenge".

[Ellywick Fizzlespark]

A Princess Locket 

Made of gold and hand engraved with floral filigree, this locket was made for the Queen of Dewshine, Vexy Sparklespan, as a gift to her daughter. Both sides of the heart are inlaid with a blue finish in a way that creates the illusion of a breeze while a tiny golden butterfly rests upon some of the etched petals. No one knows for certain what the queen placed inside the locket before giving the gift, but many curious citizens enjoy theorizing about it. 

A Story

While she had been a small gnomeling at the time, Ellywick could still recall the day that her father had received word of his being chosen. The task was simple enough for the Fizzlespark patriarch, yet for many decades to come, he would claim it was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. Jewelers from all over Dewshine and its outlying communities had been told to send some of their finest wares to the capital. It had seemed like weeks since the items had been returned with no word over who had been chosen. 

Gimble Fizzlespark and four other jewelers had all been chosen for the burden of making a gift from the queen to her daughter for her fortieth birthday celebration. There was to be a festival held in honor of the princess's coming of age in a month and all gifts needed to be finished in time for the feast on Cheribelle's actual birthday. Which meant that Elly's father had a month to plan a gift that wouldn't upset his queen or their princess, make it and have it ready for the trip to Dewshine in just a few weeks, on top of their already busy life living in the burrow and having three children and at least one more on the way. 

It wasn't the stress of the times that Elly remembered the most. It was how her father took the time to learn more about the princess and the queen by contacting individuals to find out their likes and dislikes. Information that hadn't been given freely when the order was placed, information that he thought was crucial to making one of the best gifts. Elly tried to tell her Papa to do many different magic tricks with the locket but he insisted that it wasn't necessary as he began. What the queen wanted didn't need to be flashy and many people could do that on their own, what the queen wanted was a gift that would be cherished. It was a lesson that Elly took to heart almost immediately and while he was teaching her other ways to work with metal and gemstone, the locket was always something that he did alone until the end when it was hand delivered to the throne room in his hands. 

Most gnomes who had come to the feast talk about how they remember the food and the festivities and if asked, they all seemed to think the princess liked her gifts like any young woman might. Ellywick Fizzlespark was young enough that the dancing and drinking weren't on her mind as much as the gifts were. Since he was one of the chosen gift makers, Elly's father was given a table for his family close to the dais so they could see the queen present his handiwork to her daughter. So Elly got to see up close the face that she made upon the opening of every gift. The locket was saved for last. 

Gimble didn't share the queen's reaction to his presentation so when Elly sat on her hands waiting for the reaction, she didn't yet know that her father had created the perfect gift. While the other gifts had all been smiled over and put on or shown about the dais to her siblings, parents, and subjects soon after opening. The locket received a different kind of response. Cheribelle's hands shakily rose to her mouth as she covered it up as she saw the simple little locket lying upon its velvet backdrop. Her blue eyes seemed to water as she looked up to her mother's face and a similar expression seemed to be there on the queen's for just a small blink of time. In that moment there was a connection between the two people over this one gift. A secret sharing of information that didn't need to be spoken to be understood by them or anyone truly watching them as Elly was. Then she looked to her father who had a pride in him that she had seen before. The pride of having made exactly what the patron wanted, yet given them that which the ultimate owner would truly cherish. As soon as the king placed the necklace around his daughter's neck and the hugs began, the music had started up and the moment was lost to many as the festivities truly began. Though the little girl with the green eyes sitting at one of the front tables stared on towards the two women still holding each other. Knowing that one day, she wanted to be the person who brought such joy to others and to feel the pride that her father felt in that moment.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Locket Image}