Courage, Woe and Truth was a project I came up with some-when around 2000-01. At the time, I was a member of an MSN Group called “The Mighty Quill,” a group for amateur writers to get and give feedback. It was a close group and we all became friends.
When I began work on C,W & T, it wasn’t long before I realized that it was going to be a bigger project than I had time to work on. The concept was that it was to be a novel composed of short stories rather than chapters – you should be able to pick up the book and read any “chapter” for a complete story. Reading the book cover to cover would reveal a greater story spanning all of the short ones.
I had background information all worked out, characters developed, and basic plot lines of each story worked out. All I needed to do was write them all. That is what I didn’t have time for.
So, I turned to the members of The Mighty Quill and asked if they would be interested in writing the stories based on the work I had already done. Many agreed, and C, W & T was completed and published on a Bravenet server in 2002. Very soon, the Bravenet site hosting C,W & T will be shut down and I will be re-publishing it here on Sinistral Scribblings. The stories will be cleaned up and edited a bit.
To say that I was (and am!) proud of what these writers did with my idea would be an understatement. In the introduction, W. Peter Hall, the founder of The Mighty Quill, wrote:
The members of The Mighty Quill writers’ community have done themselves proud with this anthology. However, it would not have been possible without the ideas and advice of our friend, Eric, otherwise and familiarly known as Scribbler. His was the vision of this story, and his was the original hard work that went into the planning.
The members of The Mighty Quill extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks to Scribbler for the opportunity to showcase our writing on this website. We are hopeful writers, indeed, and happy to see our names and work in print, and being read and enjoyed by readers other than relatives.
If you, the reader, happen to be a publisher or editor, or are related to one, and just happen to like our work, please leave your contact information on the guest scroll. Believe me, we will get back to you.
In the meantime, please enjoy the stories and the difficulties that went into the making of the stories, and please sign the guest scroll. We would love to hear from you.
Thanks Scribbler, from your friends at The Mighty Quill!
Thank you, Pete, and all the members of the Quill who brought my vision to life. You are the ones who did the hard work, pouring your souls into these stories.
It is fitting that Pete (known on the Quill as El Oso Jefe) wrote the first story of C,W & T. I always admired his stories and wit.
Here they are, the stories of Courage, Woe and Truth. Each story can be read alone, but it is designed to be read as a whole in the order presented. All together, this clocks in at a word count of just over 41,000, about the length of a novella or short novel.
