I was unconvinced at first, but it's actually fun to try to write a story this way: "Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in the forest. This was a gree

I was unconvinced at first, but it's actually fun to try to write a story this way: "Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in the forest. This was a green bushy forest, full of living trees that would sing together at sunset. It was a good place to live. One day, an army was passing by the forest and they started cutting down trees to make bonfires to spend the night. It was late autumn, and nights were getting cold and damp. The men felt as if they had icy roots delving deep into the ground, sourcing the humidity and the dampness and the cold up to their bones. So rather than becoming frozen trees themselves, they had started felling the trees. Many trees had been felled already, when the girl noticed. She had stepped out for a walk, to check that the little birds had enough to eat in the harsh weather. At first, she didn't understand what was going on. Sections of the forest that had been there for all her life, trees that looked as stable, as permanent, as fixed in place as the hills themselves, were now laying on the wet grass, chopped. It was unreal. Red twinkling bonfires could already be seen by the encampment. A great tent was set in the middle. In this tent, there was a great general and his son. The general was old and knotty and ruthless. The son was kind of heart, but had grown up in a violent environment and didn't know much better than his father..."