be careful reading this, i don't have paragraphs marked off. this was an idea i had for a book for preteen-early teen kids. i'd love to know what you think. this is just my outline so don't rip it up too bad.
the story will be about these two kingdoms who have been in conflict with each other since their very origins. this will of course be told from the kingdom of story beginnings, since it is the beginning of their story. at first the two kingdoms were one and the stories were complete, but there was an evil, avant-garde storyteller who introduced the idea that stories didn't have to end "happily ever after." he gained a sizeable following (mostly critics, ie failed story telling majors at the university) and led a revolt which resulted in the split of the kingdom into two essentially equal halves. at first each kingdom was content with it's own stories. in the land of endings most everybody knew all the stories already so it was ok to pick up from the middle; but gradually people started to forget the beginnings, since they hadn't heard them in so long. over in the kingdom of story beginnings the anti-HEA movement started adding their own endings that were sad, maddening, boring or just plain weird; gradually the people started regretting their actions. the kingdoms tried to reconcile but neither side had forgiven the other. threats were made and returned and finally, the evil storyteller, who had siezed power in the land of beginnings ordered an attack on the land of endings. his motives, known only by himself, however were not to reunite the kingdoms or even to regain the happily ever afters for his own land, but he wanted to destroy the HEAs altogether. unfortunately for him, fortunately for everyone else, no headway could be made by his forces, or the other side for that matter. the two kingdoms were trapped in stalemate. generations passed and the evil, avant-garde story teller passed his ideals and his plots down his line to the present day. his latest descendant, a beautiful princess, doesn't like the stories of her land, but she doesn't know why, since for her there has never been an alternative. part of her upbringing as princess is to learn ALL of the stories in completion. also, she must keep up the appearance of complete satisfaction with the stories of her land because of her station in the royal family. one day while walking the vast grounds of her castle home, she overhears a story she knows very well, conspicuously started from the middle. she hides behind a tree/wall/bush/whatever and sees a handsome young man she has never seen before narrating to a small group of castle servants. when the story comes to an end, she is shocked to hear a happy ending. she bursts out from behind her hiding place to inquire of the young man but he is taken by surprise and runs. the castle servants are mortified to see her--they think it's the end for them--they beg and plead for their lives. the princess is taken aback and asks them who the young man was. they tell her it was the prince of the land of endings. she doesn't know how to react to this information. her whole life she has been told that the prince's kingdom lives solely to corrupt the stories that her land prizes and defends. having heard the prince's story end happily she knows that this has been a lie. she agrees to keep the servants secret on the condition that the next time the prince returns that she be brought along. they reluctantly agree, to her extreme joy. back at the castle, the princess' parents notice that she seems happier. they are glad at the change, if not puzzled. their answer comes at one of the princess' recitals. during one of the most well known stories she tells a happy ending! her parents and teachers are horrified. she is immediately questioned to find out where she has heard such blasphemy. she is forced to give up the servants and tells of the handsome prince's meeting and her plans to attend the next one. her parents don't seem as angry as they should to her, they even tell her to attend the prince's gathering as planned. on the night of the meeting (of course) the parents send spies to abduct the prince. the princess is devastated, the servants knew the whole time, and were threatened with their lives not to tell the princess. she goes to confront her parents but they are too busy planning with their generals what to do with the prince. they throw her out and she decides to help the prince escape. in the middle of the night she sneaks down to the dungeon and to her horror she sees her parents standing over a thoroughly beaten prince. they are making demands of him to tell them all the story endings he knows and telling him of their plans to carry out their ancestor's goal of ridding the world of happy endings forever. he spits at their feet defiantly, which prompts the monarchs to resume the beatings. horrified the princess screams in protest revealing herself. everyone is caught off guard at her presence but it is the prince who reacts first, grabbing her and holding her hostage. he is able to slowly back his way out of the dungeon with the princess as cover and trap the king and queen in their own dungeon. once they surface, the prince makes to run away, but his wounds are too great and he passes out from the pain. he later awakens to see the princess watching over him. he is surprisingly comfortable and the princess begins to explain how she was able to help him escape in the back of a traveller's wagon cart and that they were dropped off at the traveller's relative's house. the prince, just now realizing the gravity of everything that has happened is hysterical at how stupid the princess was for allowing herself to be followed to the meeting. the princess counters with how stupid he was for thinking he could get away with rebel story-telling on enemy territory. especially given that their countries are at war and ESPECIALLY given that he's the prince. just then the owner of the house walks in holding a tray with food for the both of them. she is an elderly woman, living by herself on this farm. the land she rents out to nearby farmers and her supplies are brought to her every week by her relative who travels back and forth between the kingdoms. the prince has been knocked out for about a week and the traveller is due back to drop of supplies for the woman again that same evening. the woman's presence is strangely calming to both of them and she barely has to whisper for them to calm down and eat their suppers. as the prince and princess are eating their suppers the traveller, a scruffy, middle-aged man, shows up at the woman's cottage carrying armfuls of food and various other supplies. he is in high spirits, explaining that he is ahead of schedule and that he's been dying to hear one of the the old woman's stories ever since he realized he'd have the time. the old woman consents and instructs everyone to sit down and be quiet. the prince and princess glare at each other through slitted eyes, both thinking that the story they are about to hear will be one from their own respective kingdom. as the woman weaves her story (the scruffy traveller giddy with delight) both the prince and princess are struck by the fact that the story has a captivating beginning and a beautifully happy ending. much to both of their chagrin they love the story. no sooner does the woman say, "...the end," then the two of them, almost in unison, demand an explanation. she laughs at them knowingly and begins to explain that because her relative, the traveller, goes back and forth between the kingdoms every time he stops by to bring supplies he also brings half of a new story with him. she then reunites the new half with its counterpart. she then turns to her relative and asks which half story he was bringing this time. he speaks up, "the end of the one about the (guy with the thing...to be written in later)." the princess then speaks up, "i know how that story begins!" and she begins to tell it. the prince is stupefied, which gives the princess no small amount of satisfaction. the old woman says, "the only problem is that not all of the stories have found their counterparts. what was the story that you brought last time? oh yes, the beginning of the one about (the other guy with the other thing). i still don't have it's end." now it's the prince's turn to speak up, "i know how that story ends!" he tells it to the princess' surprise and delight, which gives HIM no small amount of satisfaction. the old woman, smiling knowingly, is silent as she looks back and forth between them waiting for the realization to hit them. it does. "i know how to reunite the kingdoms!" they both shout at the same time. they frantically outline a plan of how they can use their royal story training to reunite all the stories that were separated so many years ago. now the traveller speaks up, "the best thing would be for me to get you two home, now. your parents are both under the impression that the other side has you abducted and are preparing to double their efforts in the war. i propose that once you're home, you use me to transport the stories between the two of you in secret." they agree and go with the traveller, in secret, back to their respective kingdoms. over the next few weeks the prince and princess send stories back and forth completing a relative few. they also begin sending personal messages to one another (the traveller is more and more annoyed at having become a telegram delivery service). after a few months, the two become frustrated at the slow pace at which the stories are coming together; after all, there are so many to reunite. they make plans to meet one another in secret, much like the secret ending meetings the prince held earlier in the story. they decide on a day and decide the old woman's cottage will be the meeting place since it is directly between the two kingdoms. the decided day comes and the princess manages to sneak off unseen. when she arrives at the old woman's cottage it is seemingly abandoned. she is uneasy and searches the house finally finding the woman unconscious and injured in a storage room. she rushes to the woman's side and tries frantically to wake her. she begins to come to but, the front door bursts open and the prince's voice can be heard shouting in a panic. the princess rushes to him to find out what's going on. "princess, i'm so sorry. my parents found out about our meeting and are sending their entire army here as a rallying point to kidnap you and then attack the kingdom of beginnings!" as he says this the traveller bursts in, panting. breathlessly he says, "we've got to get you and the old woman out of here!" he commands, "the entire army of beginnings is on its way here. your parents discovered your plans and they are trying to beat you here to apprehend the prince and surprise attack the kingdom of endings they are trapped in the middle of what looks to be an all out war. not knowing what else to do they pick up the semi conscious old woman and take her outside where the travellers wagon is waiting. unfortunately so are army scouts for both sides, bantering with each other, braying their horses and making threatening gestures. the party stops cold at the door to the cottage, uncertain how to proceed. it takes a few seconds for the horsedrawn men to stop flinging epithets at each other and recognize their respective monarch and then enemy. in unison, the clueless soldiers shout, "you shan't be harming the royal heir!" and each makes the signal for his army to converge on the spot. one blasts a ramshorn call, the other shoots a flaming arrow straight up. the ground begins to tremble rhythmically with the marching of armies on either side of them until the shine of armor and weaponry reflecting the sun can be seen approaching over each horizon. as the gravity of the situation sucker-punches them, the prince and princess, both with "what do i do" faces, look first at each other, then the old woman they are holding between them. "can't you two figure anything out?" she says with exasperation. "you're royalty aren't you?" they nod. "that means the armies will do what you order them to do, right?" they nod again. "well...?" again they nod, with no idea what she is getting at. by now the soldiers are so close their ranks stretch out as far as the eye can see in either direction with commanding officers leading the pack on horseback. "tell them to stop, you dummies." instantly, as if they had thought of it themselves, the two young monarchs shout with all the authority passed down to them over the generations, "i order you to stop on the authority of the crown of...blah blah blah (i'll make it up later)!" the commanding officers of both sides, recognizing the authority of the orders, give hand signals to their troops to halt. the armies are so close now the four fugitives caught in the middle can smell the soldiers breath (not fresh). "what is the meaning of this?" the princess' commander demands. the prince's commader responds, "you're obviously going to retreat, you loser!" this sparks another gleefully entertaining insult-a-thon between the two. the prince and princess take this opportunity to consult the old woman. "get them to shut up and tell them a story." she says. they are reluctant, giving a few excuses as to why they couldn't. "i'd be too nervous," "i wouldn't know which story to tell," "i wouldn't know where to pick up." the old woman fixes both of them in her stare, "all that doesn't mean anything. you're here and they're here and quite frankly this is the best idea i've ever had and you know it too." with these words she stands herself up and walks back in the house, leaving the two teenagers standing there facing each other. "once upon a time..." the princess says feebly and without conviction or confidence. the two horsedrawn men, stunned into silence by what they thought they almost heard, stare wide-eyed at the princess. after a moment of pregnant silence the princess starts up again, this time with gusto, "once upon a time..." and launches into a fanciful tale of magic and love and bravery. "ooh, that's a good one," the prince says to himself. he looks around at the two vast armies of innumerable soldiers and sees that they are all rapt, wrapped completely in the weaving of the story. when the princess reaches her stopping point he whispers to her, "you're a tough act to follow." she smiles. he finishes her story emphatically and with flair. the audience of soldiers, including the ones on horseback erupt with a commotion of applause. someone somewhere says, "i always thought that one ended with a comet striking the planet and wiping out all life." someone else says, "that's how you think all stories end, you idiot!" someone else in the crowd shouts out, "tell another!" and soon every single soldier on both sides are shouting out at the top of their lungs in chorus, "tell another!" so they do. they tell a story even more captivating than the first. then they tell another. and another. and well into the night they tell stories and thunderous laughter and gasps like gusts of wind sound through the night. at around midnight the old woman steps out of the front door of her house with a tray of food for the two youngsters. "told you so," she says with a smirk. "shhhh!!!!!" the audience blasts at her, almost making her drop the tray, as the prince is about to reach the climax of the twenty-something-eth story of the night. applause again at the conclusion of the story followed by shouts for another. and so they kept going. eventually they stopped but it wasn't for a long time. they agreed to meet back the following year on the same day in the same spot for more. and when that time came they did it again only this time there were so very many people that they decided to build a stage for the next year. then the next year they added an amphitheater. then a coliseum. then they decided they would build a city around the coliseum so they didn't have to travel so far every year. then they decided that city would become the capital of the two kingdoms and they built a humongous castle around the old woman's cottage where the prince and princess united the two kingdoms and started a new royal family and passed on the completed stories to their children. you knew they were going to get together, don't act so surprised. the end.
It would be popular but I don't like it I don't like present tense stories and your description is to minimalist not a bad story though.
thanks, michael. it wouldn't be present tense in the final version. this was just an outline for me to actually set down a beginning, middle and end. when i'm done it'll have chapters, paragraphs, better descriptions, and maybe some capitalizations. i haven't decided about the capitals though. =)