Monday 15 April 2013

An A-Z Story - M


This Challenge really is majestic. It's the start of Week 3, M for Monday, and I hope everyone's still having a magic time.

My theme is as follows: each day I will ask for words beginning with that day's letter, which I will randomly select five from to use in a sentence in an ongoing story. That sentence will be posted the next day when I'll ask for words for the next letter. So my Z sentence will appear on May 1st.

Thank you for the mercurial 206 words mentioned as contenders over the weekend. The following five have been marked for the mission to continue my story:

Lanky (suggested by Rhonda)
Lover (suggested by Gwen Gardner)
Lost (suggested by Silvia Villalobos)
Loquacious (suggested by Empty Nest Insider)
Lobster (suggested by Melissa Sugar and chosen out of a marvellous 29 words - mad props to you!)

So here is the story so far including the latest melee of contributions:


Angels had always had a certain ambiguity, being both human and divine, reflected Acatour with an acute sense of malaise as he looked down on the arable fields of medieval England. A bird flew past making a belligerent shriek, unnerved it seemed by a boggart; Acatour descended, thinking it would take a brainiac like him to unravel the poor soul’s beginnings and why it had not reached Heaven.
     York Cathedral hove into view, shrouded in wooden scaffold as part of the local bishop’s campaign of restoration; but before he could challenge a carpenter over whether any of his colleagues had fallen to their doom, his presence was announced by the crawdad he’d eaten back in 20th century New Orleans repeating on him. He wiped dribble from his chin as the remains of the crustacean narrowly missed the workmen to land in the dew of the graveyard, berating himself for his debauched and unangelic behaviour the previous night; why did that dame have to desert him? The effervescent Ella had always been eager for exciting adventures, but when he’d asked her to accompany him on this esoteric time travel mission, she’d called him a crazy drunk and left.
     It did sound rather fabulous, in the true sense of the word, he thought to himself as he descended further before landing on an empty area of scaffold, all the better for making himself visible; next to him was some viscous fluid, making him think that any fall from this precarious structure would surely be a fluke. Stepping away from the gel-like substance, he felt something watching him and turned to see a Gardengoyle on the wall next to a carved bunch of grapes, which caused the gregarious sounds of the workmen to die away as two thoughts rang clearly in his head: what was it doing here, and did he detect guilt in the creature’s eyes?
     That horrendous stare was starting to give Acatour a headache when a workman with a harried expression shimmied up onto the platform via a hemp rope, his arrival causing an apparently hilarious reaction in the Gardengoyle. “Hey, you!” said the workman, stomping towards Acatour, but something seemed to interrupt his progress, drawing him inexorably towards the island of iridescent liquid, which seemed entirely illogical to the angel until he sensed the impish carving’s illicit intentions.
     The workman slipped on the puddle and waved his arms frantically like a jester, trying not to fall over the edge; in that moment Acatour sensed the wickedly joyful mirth of the Gardengoyle and grabbed the man’s arm, saving him from jeopardy and causing the creature’s joy to dissipate as it contemplated a future in Paranormal Jail.
     “Thank you,” said the man, “my darling Kate is too young to become a widow,” but upon saying this he started to keel over as if affected by his own version of Kryptonite; Acatour had been ready to show kindness to the grotesquely kitsch Gardengoyle, but now saw the only solution was to destroy it. While struggling to hold on to the lanky workman - who had become rather loquacious and kept babbling about his wife and lover, who Acatour hoped were the same person - and stop him from being lost over the edge of the scaffold, he cast around for any tools or discarded carvings he could use as a weapon and finally alighted on a rather hefty rock lobster, which, it occurred to him, would be much more effective than a crawdad.

Please take a minute or two to help make my story with your M words! You can offer as many as you like, and they can be as obscure and outlandish as you like (feel free to use a dictionary for inspiration). The more words you suggest, the more chance you have of one being picked. It doesn't matter if you suggest the same word as someone else (as I know not everyone always has time to read all the comments); each will count as its own entry.

55 comments:

Dee @ A Deecoded Life said...

L is for Lol... At this -> "and kept babbling about his wife and lover, who Acatour hoped were the same person"

And M is for

Mistress
Misty
Maudlin
Memory
Mirth
Murder
Miscellaneous

D is for Deecoded

Trisha said...

Ummmm


M is for...MOUSE! :)

Okay, that was unoriginal. I like that lil pic you have up there though. And mice always remind me of my cats...unsurprisingly if you know about all the rodent-scapades I live through.

Suzanne Furness said...

M is for;

mortal
munch
movie
muffin

Have fun!

Heather R. Holden said...

I've missed the past post or two, I think. I really like how this story is shaping up so far!

Some M words:

mist
melee
massive
mammoth
miracle
mindless
mystery
mystical
mandarin
mess
mountainous
morph
mint
miller
malice
missing
minstrel
map
moan
mental
mirror

Rhonda Albom said...

Yay! You used one of my words. Thanks :)

Monkey
Monday
Misty
Mummy
marvelous
moko (it's a Maori tattoo on the face)
mindful
merrily
Montana
meticulous

Sally said...

March,
marriage
month
mayhem

Hope you had a good rest yesterday.

Cynthia said...

Magic
Magicians
Mad
Money
Monk
Moody
Manipulate

Anonymous said...

Muse...mystic,,maybe, myriad, miracle,menace, memories, mostly, mirage, miss, mesmerize, Mongolic,maniac, mistake...
P.S. Do we have a limit or can I pen down my entire lexicon over here?? :D This is sure fun!!!

Elise Fallson said...

Magic
Malignant
Mighty
Mouse
Melons
Mud
(:

J.L. Murphey said...

magnificent
mother
moose
marmalade
mistake
microphone
mica
marmaduke
monster
monstrous
made
maid
mister
milkweed
mousse
malise
malady
morose
maline
man
mermaid
mail
male

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

And you actually made lobster work!
Mesmerize, metaphysical, misanthrope.

Cassie Mae said...

LOL, I love that you threw lobster in there. And loquacious. I actually had no idea what that meant till about a year ago, haha.

Um...

Mother
Maid
Mastermind
Muse
Melody
Microphone
Meditate
Murder
Masochist

:)

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

mellifluous
mermaid
merman
manatee
mask
mourning
morbid

Bish Denham said...

Make believe
Mob
Misanthrope/Misanthropic
Mental
Mention
Marrow
Mark
Mardi Gras
Mere
Mare
Mail
Male
Moth
Mothball
Motor
Mummer
Mumble
Mumbojumbo
Muscle
Mineral
Milk



Jay Noel said...

I was wondering how you'd get that lobster in there.

miniature
moose
marching
moola
messy

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hi, Nick,

Hope you had a great weekend....

Mischievous

Mannerisms

Melancholy

Miraculous

Mirror

Mainstream

Molases

Microcosm

Misery

Miracle



Anonymous said...

The only one I could think of is Muggle.

Now *THAT* would be an interesting thing to read about in this story :)

Jamie Dement (LadyJai)

Mark Means said...

I like how this story is developing :)

My M words:

Messy
Mat
Marigold
Mourn
Mandible

Ella said...

main
miracle
monster
missing
memory
mystical
music
mix
machine
micro-chip
macabre
Monday!

Happy Monday Nick!

Melissa said...

Wow, what a challenging challenge!
Love the part about the crustacean. LOL

malformed
macerate
mammose

Jennifer Joyce said...

My M words are:

Monstrous
Machine
Market
Melons
Morosely

~Sia McKye~ said...

That's quite a story so far!

M words...melancholy--just love the sound it makes as it rolls off your tongue. Malmute--love the dogs.

Dani said...

You have plenty of M words... great post btw!
Dani @ Entertaining Interests
#warriorminion

Zainab Ummer Farook said...

Amazing story - very original and vivid!

Here are some suggestions for M:

Marionette
Mediocre
Midget
Momentum
Mutation

- Zainab @ Metamorphosis

Zainab Ummer Farook said...

Okay, count in Metamorphosis as well :D

Emily R. King said...

What a fun idea, Nick!

Hmmm...some of my favorite M words are:

Musty
M&M's
Mine
Mommy or Mom

Jean Davis said...

Mad
Mouse
Meanders
Meadow

Kelley Lynn said...

Moody
Make
More
Mega

I really love your A to Z. SO fun! :)

Laura Eno said...

What a great story you have going here!

Metacarpal
Mob
Moccasin
Manzanita

Anonymous said...

My M words would be:

Malarkey
Munching
monumental
monstrosity
Makebelieve

Margo Kelly said...

Well, hello ... M is for MARGO :)

Haha - love this - so much fun.

Here are my words:
Margo
Merriment
Mayhem
Mysterious
Marvelous
Money
Marmalade
Manga
Marmott
Mischief
Monoco

Elizabeth Seckman said...

magnificent...that's my thought and my word for the day!



Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Mighty
Magnificent
Millennial
Majesty

"M" thought for the day.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Mary Montague Sikes

L. Diane Wolfe said...

So many good words already.

Meek
Mum
Mollusk

D.E. Malone said...

Meat, melon, mustard, mutton, munch. It's almost lunch time, can't you tell?
Good luck!

Christine Rains said...

A lobster would be better! Here are my M words: manifestation, magnetometer, mariniere, metamorphosis, mite, and monocle.

Julie Flanders said...

I love the little mouse pic. <3 And I do hope the wife and lover were one and the same LOL.

Milky
Merriment
Melancholy
Maestro

nutschell said...

that last line made me laugh. :D great story. Here are some M words

Melody
Malodorous
Malificent
Magnet
Mentor

Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Unknown said...

I've been having a great time hopping on to catch up on these posts. I'll be sad to see them go at the end of April!

maleficent
marginal
mysterious
moniker

Mark said...

Free association time, but the mouse totally reminds me of Mouad Dib...for those Dune lovers of you out there:)

Cathrina Constantine said...

Megatrone
Minion
Mendacity
Mordant
Make-out
Meager

I tried.

Michelle Wallace said...

Map
Moss
Mist
Mess
Mint
Mount
Moult

Good Luck!

Writer In Transit

Anonymous said...

mythical
monstrous
marginal
map
morbid

Carol Kilgore said...

Wow, M already. Your story's coming along great!

mommy
mule
mocassin
mukluks
mosey
mover
musketeer
mambo

cleemckenzie said...

I'll just give you my word for the day: mellifluous

Nick Wilford said...

Thank you everyone!! I think this is the most multitudinous menagerie of words yet! :)

Dobson said...

This sounds fun!

Mystical
Merriment
Metamorphosis
Matriculate
Mastoid
Metric
Metronome
Millstone
Malleable

I hope I have offered something new for your use tomorrow.

Aimee Laine said...

What an awesome theme!!

Nancy Thompson said...

I'm probably too late, but here goes:

marriage
merchant
menage
magnetic
mead
mince
mucous
mourne

Unknown said...

Rock lobster. Yes, I totally am breaking out into song.

Here's my words:

Macadamia nut
Microscopic
Midnight
Majority
Mantra






Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

Malevolent
Mellifluous
Multipurpose
Malingering
Mischievous
Mournful
Mixed-up

loverofwords said...

malapropism
mal de mar
malfeasance
magma
matins

Wasn't there a fire in the York Minster?

Anonymous said...

maleficent, murky, mottled, mental, minty

Nick Wilford said...

My goodness! Thank you for this mesmerising mixture. New sentence up soon. :)

Empty Nest Insider said...

It's amazing how creatively you pull this all together! Thanks for letting me be a part of it. Sorry I didn't see this sooner.

Julie