Zero Draft — Volume One
King Arthur’s sword seeks its next great hero. Will Margaret O’Shanahan be the one?
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Each generation, the sword in the stone appears at the center of the town square. Since most relevant town squares disappeared in 2003, it has resided since August of that year in a Piggly Wiggly 14 minutes outside of Milwaukee.
Sadly, no one had tried to pull the sword on account of it being unceremoniously positioned next to an especially compelling advertisement for cheese. In Wisconsin, a mythical sword of unlimited power didn’t stand a chance.
With the great reckoning rapidly approaching, the sword itself began considering lowering its “hero of a generation” standards.
That is until Margaret O’Shanahan went shopping for the first time by herself. See, her father had groceries delivered, and she hadn’t visited the store since she was two, which is far too young for any dad to responsibly allow his daughter to pull a real-life sword from a display.
And as for that distracting assortment of wondrous cheese? Barely an issue, because for poor Margaret, all cheese, no matter the variety, smelled like rotten feet.
Immune to the sign heralding wildly affordable deals on Colby, she locked eyes instead on the glowing razor-sharp sword.
Naturally, when no one was looking, she gave it a tug. The sword flung out of the stone, thrilled to have found its worthy, cheese-hating hero right before the world’s darkest hour.
Under the sudden weight, Margaret toppled to the ground, invisible triumphant trumpets sounding all the way from the frozen broccoli section.
If only the story began there, but sadly for the sword and the world, Margaret O’Shanahan had already come to a grave realization. She liked shopping in person and worried ruining a store display would certainly get her banned for life, forcing her to return to a life of convenient doorstep deliveries.
Fearful of being discovered, she quickly shoved the sword of unlimited power back into the display and shuffled to the checkout counter, thrilled she would finally get to wield her coveted customer rewards key chain attachment.
Besides, what did she need with a fancy giant cheese knife? All cheese smelled like feet.
Story #1 of Zero Draft
Behind the Draft
This is the first Zero Draft I made. It was my proof of concept, and I can think of no better choice to be the very first Zero Draft of Volume One.
I would love to say that I had some grand inspiration for where this came from. Maybe my own experience with the Sword in the Stone (which, interestingly enough, was NOT Excalibur in the stories… who knew?!?! I did. King Arthur rocks).
Sadly, the origins of this include very little in the way of confirming I am some chosen one who will lead my generation to newer freedoms and inspired dining room furniture decisions.
The idea for this one was simple.
As I was beginning to consider the Zero Draft idea as a whole, I grabbed the notebook closest to me and sketched the first thing I could think of… a sword in a stone.
I am not an artist, but I was pretty proud of how it turned out. It looked like a sword. It looked like a stone.
The story came shortly after, but even now, I think there is something special about the fact that the roots of Zero Draft came from the first random sketch I pulled out of my brain.
Who knows what other scribbles I have hidden in there?
If you think you know what Zero Draft is from this first episode, I’m excited to tell you that you have absolutely no idea what comes next.
STAY IN THE LOOP.
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