Outright Theft

Something that troubled me in my tender years, when idea of writing as something I might do first surfaced, can be articulated thus: All the good titles have been used. Back then, I thought that the title was sacrosanct, and since H.G. Wells had used The Star then neither I nor any other person could title a story with those two words.

I then went back to pushing a small plastic Luke Skywalker around the floor in a Kenner-made Landspeeder while enjoying Saturday morning cartoons.  My view of the world was a little naive for a very good reason.

I now know that this is not the case, and that the same title can grace diverse works of literature, and even films!  Still, childhood notions are sticky, so I sometimes baulk at a title that I know hangs on something else.  I’m hoping the latest flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig has burnt some of that idea out of me, because he’s instructed people to take a title from a Stephen King novel– just grab it and use it!

And so I have.  My little tiny Bag of Bones has nothing whatever to do with King’s fat bundle of words, bar the fact that it has the same three words stuck to the front.  I’ve slightly exceeded the word limit for flash, but since I’m on very good terms with the editor here, I’m not getting in trouble for it.

And while I’m here, I’m going to tease– stand by for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT next week!  I’m so giddy about it I could burst, but I’m also quite good at keeping secrets.  See you then, I hope.

…ALSO also, I’ll also point out the newly-minted donation button, for those who incline that way, in the left side-bar, which looks rather like this one: