The Collaboration Writing Challenge!!!

I was so impressed by the submissions to the Spindlers Writing Contest that I had an idea: how about we work on a short story together?! 

Here's how it will work... today I'm going to post the opening paragraph of a middle grade story. You guys will have a week to submit your ideas for the next 200 words of the story to laurenoliverbooks@gmail.com. I'll pick the one I think works the best, post it...and then we'll keep repeating the process!

Occasionally, I might put some of my own writing into the story, or give you a specific feedback if I think the story is faltering or needs more action or more context or whatever. We'll aim for a FULL story, of about 5,000 words, that makes SENSE.  This will be a real collaboration: a group narrative that we all shape together.

I'm really excited about this! Who's with me? Read the first paragraph below.... and let me know what happens next! And as always, please keep it to 200 words! And make sure to get it in by July 6th!

Molly Lampart's 12th birthday was much like every other day, only more boring: first tea with the governess and a posed photograph with her parents, then a procession of girls who giggled and brought china dolls wrapped in pink paper, despite the fact that Molly hated pink and that most of her dolls ended up dissected for medical research purposes. There was no sneaking out the door to climb trees in the narrow, well-tended backyard, or hanging out her window hollering at the trains steaming into the station two blocks away, or helping Tabby chase rats from the cellar. 

It was a day to be quickly forgotten, except for one thing: 

On Molly's 12th birthday, just as evening was starting to turn the sky the exact color pink Molly particularly despised, the emerald train arrived, seemingly out of nowhere.