Hive Transaction

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    "body": "\n![logan-weaver-lgnwvr-QfQJMlP1v6g-unsplash.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/internutter/23xAZh1f5grz9Q8cqvyyPEwvejqrMtWeBFNKQMeXmYox7Y63MuBNj9iz1iPSyXENgs3i1.jpg)\n\n> After a bout of writer’s block, an author of some renown has the spark return. Only, the events that the author begins penning begin to happen in real life. Horrified, the author tries to abandon the work. And yet, the tickle of imagination, the curiosity of what’s happening, and even the thrill of power keep calling the author back to the paper and ink… -- [Deathshead419](https://internutter.org/bb/user/deathshead419)\n\nWriters may not live and die by the words they write, but they certainly eat and pay the rent by the sales they get. Some _have_ died because of the words they wrote, but the blame lies on an unhinged member of the audience more than the work of the author. It's when inspiration stops cold and the ideas no longer flow, that a creative soul might pay _anything_ to have one more idea.\n\nEllias Tauryn had been doing very well in speculative fiction. Their fifteen-book series had made their name, their fortune, and their fame.\n\nIt also made the most-asked question: \"What's your next book about?\"\n\nThat was the problem with an adoring audience. They wanted _more_. Yes, they loved what you made, and would continue to talk about it, but they wanted to see what happened _next_. What was the new thing.\n\nThe other problem was that Ellias didn't have one.\n\nNot a new series, a new novel, nor a new idea. Not even the vague concept of an idea. Not a glimpse of a mote of inspiration.\n\nTheir muse, in short, had bunked off to parts unknown and had not been seen since.\n\nEllias did all the things one should do to gain ideas. Long walks in the countryside. Absorbing new media. Looking through the social networks for anything that interested them. Wiki-walking from one strange historical fact to another.\n\nNo lightbulb moments. Not a single spark.\n\nThey even wandered around their town, looking for interesting places where ideas were wont to roost. Trying to find every niche, hole-in-the-wall shop where the people who ran it could take or leave customers.\n\nIn one such dusty store of Escher-esque architecture, the old man running the shop watched Ellias navigate the cramped aisles. \"You don't find what you want, here,\" he called. \"You get what you _need_.\"\n\n\"I need something to happen,\" grumbled Ellias, absently righting a dusty doll on a shelf. \"I need a story to tell. Something visceral. Something _real_.\"\n\nAlways be careful what you ask for, and be specific with _how_ you ask for it. Because what writers mean with certain phrases isn't how other people hear them.\n\n\"What you need,\" said the old man, \"is the right tool for the write job.\" He rummaged under the counter. Drawers hissed and door hinges creaked, more than would seem possible for a dinky hunchbacked shop or any counter that may fit in one. \"Yes. _This_. This is what you need.\"\n\nIt was a novelty pen, made to resemble a finger bone with unnerving anatomical accuracy. With an ink nib holding the place where a fingernail might rest. Laying in its box was a boringly dull bottle of India ink.\n\nEllias also purchased a notebook from a far more ordinary stationer's on the way home.\n\nThat evening, new pen in hand, he began to _write_. It was not fantasy, nor any kind of speculative fiction. It was a real-world drama. Set inside a nation much like his own. One about to come into the wrong side of a war.\n\nThey wrote all night, only succumbing to sleep just before dawn. The television was on, but only for the white noise.\n\nEllias thought he was dreaming when he heard the newsreader talking about the events he had just written. As consciousness crept up on him, that thought was proven false. It was real.\n\nIt was all real.\n\nCo-incidence. Ellias got a meal into themself and with a fresh cup of coffee, sat to write more. They _had_ to find out how the tale played out.\n\nThe instant they finished one page, the news began talking about those events. Okay, more than a co-incidence. Ellias' idea was on fire. They wrote as quickly as they could to get the story out of their head and onto the page.\n\n...which again matched the news. Wait. The news matched _it_.\n\nEllias put the pen down, horrified. Could they _really_ dictate real life like this? Ellias began a new page.\n\n_The president stepped up to the podium for the press conference, about to turn his entire party's policies upside-down,_ Ellias wrote. _He was fully confident that if his party did not back him, that the people would cheer his momentous decision..._\n\nThey fought to put it all in one page, but when it was done... Ellias watched agog as it all unfurled. They almost laughed themselves sick watching the toadies and lickspittles have a quiet fit in the background.\n\nIt was going to be fun watching them backpedal to the chorus of outraged people howling about the retraction.\n\nEllias contemplated the pen. It helped their ideas, but it wrote reality. On one hand, yes, they could fuck with the way the world worked. On the other... they could really fuck with the way the world worked.\n\n...and the idea they started with was gnawing at them.\n\nDid they really want to live in a world of their own making?\n\n[Photo by <a href=\"https://unsplash.com/@lgnwvr?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText\">LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR</a> on <a href=\"https://unsplash.com/photos/two-white-printer-papers-QfQJMlP1v6g?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash</a>]\n\nIf you like my stories, please [Check out my blog and Follow me](https://peakd.com/@internutter). Or share them with your friends! _Or_ visit my [hub site](https://www.internutter.org) to see what else I'm up to.\n\n[Send me a prompt](https://www.internutter.org/bb/category/6/prompts) [12 remaining prompts!]\n\n[Support me on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/cmweller) / [Buy me a Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/cmweller)\n\n[Check out the other stuff I'm selling](https://books2read.com/ap/n7O1la/C-M-Weller)",
    "title": "Challenge #04888-M139: And Having Writ, Moves On",
    "author": "internutter",
    "permlink": "challenge-04888-m139-and-having-writ-moves-on",
    "json_metadata": "{\"app\":\"peakd/2026.5.3\",\"format\":\"markdown\",\"description\":\"Something about tears?\",\"tags\":[\"fiction\",\"instantstory\",\"magical-mayhem\",\"cursed-artefact\",\"power\"],\"users\":[\"lgnwvr\",\"LGNWVR\",\"internutter\"],\"image\":[\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/internutter/23xAZh1f5grz9Q8cqvyyPEwvejqrMtWeBFNKQMeXmYox7Y63MuBNj9iz1iPSyXENgs3i1.jpg\"]}",
    "parent_author": "",
    "parent_permlink": "fiction"
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