His breath came in ragged pants as his shoes splashed through the puddles in the streetlamp lit alley. Just keep running, he thought. Just keep running. If he catches you you're dead. The vague shadow in the corner of his eye was still there- taunting him, playing with him like an orca with a seal, or a young psychopath w/ a poor, unfortunate animal- barely distinguishable from the other shadows of the night.
Another sound of metal on brick dopplered in his ear. Was that a knife? Is he throwing knives at me now? I have to find someplace to hide. Need time to think.
He started rounding corners every chance he got; using fire escapes, jumping fences, ducking in unlocked doors. He didn't know where he was. He didn't care, just so long as the one hunting him wasn't on his trail anymore. No place seemed to be good enough to hide from HIM, so he just kept running. He didn't know how long he ran, but he knew dawn was approaching when he finally collapsed in a heap against a chain link fence at the edge of a vacant lot beside the trainyards.

In working on the story begun w/ my previous entry's brainstorming I started thinking about theme, mood, and setting. Following through w/ that I thought that I'd try some scene painting as it were w/out fleshing out any characters, so that's what this exercise is about.
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The great, black locomotive rocketed forward on it's inexorable trajectory along the tracks. The explosive force that had removed an expansive section of the support trestle had previously steered the train around the adamantine edifice of the towering donjon. Without the guidance of the rails the train's momentum dictated it's direction... straight into the wall of the keep.
Across the city citizens struggled to keep their feet while those in the nearby blocks closest to the catastrophe suffered from temporary hearing loss. A jet black smoke rose from the wreckage obscuring the street below and the paths along the crenelations above.

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She stepped through the steaming manhole beneath the subway tunnel, the meager light cast by her dim lamp creating many channels of shadow. There was enough light to reveal the holes of grating circling down into the darkness supported by curved, studded girders. Taking a broken pencil out of her pocket she deliberately dropped it into the darkness below. It clanged against the supportwork for some time.
(Note: I'm concerned that this image might be cliche, however it also seems like an obvious metaphor for my theme. Thoughts?)
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The sandhog came to the end of the street and stood before the wall. The stones used to built it were too massive for any one man to have moved by himself, nay a small team would need mechanical assistance. He looked up to see the top of the barrier only to see clouds brushing the stonework before viewing the pinnacle of the wall. How was he supposed to get up there?

Brainstorming

Inspired by the Wily Writers group I'm just setting out ehre to list elements of favorite genres it my be neat to incorporate into a story.

Steampunk/Screampunk
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clockwork machines
trains
Tesla
secret societies
Cthulhu by gaslight
Morlocks
journey to the moon
industrial aesthetic
world travel
ether goggles
pseudo-scientific experiments
dirigibles
steam powered "jet"packs


Swashbuckling
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pirates
treasure
courtroom intrigue
corrupt governments
sword-fights
witty banter/repartee
"the fine art of fighting w/ furniture"

Arthurian Romance
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secret affairs
jousting
wizards, knights, & dragons
questing beast
quest for magic item
castle in the sky
ley lines

Gothic Romance
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Female protagonist
imposing castle
Faustian deal
tragic flaws
Catholic iconography
vampires
werewolves


Sword and Sorcery
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thieves (actually make the thief a villain idea)
wizards/sorcerors
barbarians
intelligent magic items
exotic locales
apemen
giant snakes
dragons
dungeons
scantilly clad damsels/chain mail bikinis-clad warrior women
powerful magics
sieges
many sorts of monsters

New Weird
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fairy tale elements in contemporary setting
angels
coming of age stories
Otherworld element/through the looking glass