The Thorn Clock

When her auntie died, Subira inherited three things from her: a blessing, a curse, and a quest. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt: When her auntie died, far sooner than she should have, Subira inherited three things from her. One was a blessing. One was a curse. The third was a quest. The curse is what killed her aunt. And the curse would kill Subira too unless she completed the quest before the number on the clock that her aunt gave her reached one thousand and six. What's the Writing Prompt that inspired the story? Think about something that made you angry. Why was this and what could you do to change it? Source: A Writer's Year: 365 Creative Writing Prompts. Text by Emma Bastow. Copyright © 2019 HarperCollins Publishers COMING SOON…my book! Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. I've put that method into my upcoming book called Fictioneer's Field Guide. The book details how to write a short story from start to finish. Ever wonder if you could get a t-shirt with my artwork on it? Or maybe a mug, sticker, notebook, a baby onesie, and more? You can. To find out how to get my book, merch, or online course, please visit my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE I've Got Issues For You The Storyfeather Gazette is a monthly round-up of my recent podcast episodes, short stories, trailers, news, recommendations, and more that I send by email. Follow the link to look through old issues and to Sign Up: STORYFEATHER GAZETTE CREDITS Story: "The Thorn Clock" Copyright © 2020 by Nila L. Patel Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel Music: "Trip-Hop Lounge Abstract Background" by Digital Emotions (Intro/Outro) Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)* "Compass" "In the shadows" "Wide place" "Signs of desolation" "The cross" "Don't move" "Gateways" "What is hidden" "Haven" *These tracks were part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Nicholas Jeudy licensed from GameDev Market Sound effects from AudioJungle and GameDevMarket Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping to align with my narration. Find more music by Digital_Emotions at audiojungle.net Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com Episode Art Description: Digital drawing. Partial view of a watchband, showing the watch face and stitching at the edges of the band. A small label above the circular watch face reads "766." The face itself, seen at an angle to show depth, bears five equally spaced control knobs on the frame at right. Contained inside the face is a heart with blood vessels extending to the edges. A thorny vine is wrapped around the heart. Some of the thorns pierce the heart, and each draw a drop of blood. Watermark of "Storyfeather" along left edge of watchband at top.