The Write Stuff

Signs began appearing on abandoned K-Mart stores and other large empty buildings around the country. The Write Stuff, a play on words to be sure, was the name of a new company designed specifically for the aspiring writer. For a cost similar to a gym membership, the budding author would have access to resources unlike anything their predecessors could have dreamed of. The large buildings were divided into categories: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Mystery, Romance, Horror, Fantasy, Historical and Non-Fiction. Like-minded new authors would meet in their specific room’s conference area to exchange ideas. Writers could change from genre to genre as their stories or interests developed. The rooms were further divided into private cubicles where authors could create in complete quiet, but have access to tutors and reference materials as needed. All works were saved by the company server and published in the author’s name for the public to read, review and critique.

The concept grew surprisingly fast as people who had never written more than a paper for high school decided they had a story to tell. Of course, most of the works were mediocre at best, but some best sellers saw the light of day. The parent company started in the U.S. and quickly expanded to Europe and Asia. Like many large corporations, the owners and money people remained in the shadows for an excellent reason.

Titan, Jupiter’s sixth moon.

They called themselves the Originals because that’s exactly what they were. Billions of years ago, their species was the first to become sentient. They continued to advance until reaching a fork in the evolutionary road. Option 1: keep a physical body that had reached its full potential and was slowly heading for extinction, or Option 2: discard a dying body and continue to exist as ethereal beings into eternity. The choice seemed simple and they, as a race, discarded their physical form. Now the Originals were free to travel to all corners of the universe with no physical life support that their former bodies required.

It took several thousand years before the Originals became bored. They were a race of scientists and after all the mysteries were solved, there was nothing left to stimulate them. Lethargy set in and the Originals went in search of a stimulus. Direct contact with another species was risky because there was always a chance of contamination. Besides, all the other species they had found were no more advanced than amoebas. Then they found Earth.

The Originals monitored the blue planet and discovered the indigenous species, Humans, were too dangerous for direct contact. After further observation, it was discovered that Humans had an exceptional capacity to create stories from simple phrases or single words. For all their millennia of existence, the Originals had no capacity for this form of creativity; it mystified and intrigued them. From Titan, they could nudge, persuade and guide the Humans into producing more stories. To the Originals, they weren’t just stories, but an explosion of inspiration not experienced since they had shed their bodies.

A true symbiotic relationship is one that benefits both parties equally, and that is what the Originals are creating with their oblivious Human counterpart. By continuing to foster the Human’s writing abilities, the Originals are gaining a new drive for existing and the Humans, through writing, may become a more refined and tolerant species. If that happens, the two races may meet one day. Until then, the only direct contact between the two entities will be through the story’s humans create. Story’s that occasionally will start with a prompt offered subliminally by the Originals.