Question: Witches customizing their broomsticks

[Miskatonic]

The exhaust on a top fuel dragster engine is a thing to behold when it's spitting out fire. Could even be an ethereal component that's part of an enchantment on the broom.

 

[Shreddies]

One of the witches I have in my stories works as a courier and has slowly modified her broom to be more comfortable/useful. So she has saddlebags for the parcels and supplies, along with a cushion for those long flights, stirrups to help with not falling off, headlights for when she has to fly low at night (I don't know if headlights would be useful high up in the air), reins (or handlebars) to control it while sitting comfortably, dragon deterrent (she's never seen a dragon, but you never know), and so on.

Plus several canisters of fuel, for those extra long flights. No point in tiring yourself out keeping your broom in the air if you can just bottle the stuff and carry extra.

Edit: Plus after she ran out of ways to make it more comfortable, she moved on to making it more aesthetic. The first of which was making it shoot glowing dust out the back, to give it a 'shooting star' appearance while flying (she figured it would be good advertising).

 

[wordwalker]

Stirrups and cushions would be essential, if you think for a second what it would be like to sit on a wooden stick for hours and try to hold on-- I've always figured basic brooms used part of their magic to lighten and brace the witch in place. Flying carpets are so much more practical. (Though a minimalist world where you just stretched out along the broom, braced your feet against the bristles as the only thing you could balance against, and hung on for dear life... that'd be a thrill ride!)

Headlights are a great idea, though. Your witch won't see much until she gets near the ground, but she will see the headlights (running lights) of any other witch up there, and midair collisions are no fun. --Still, it does make it easier for the dragons to find her too.

 

[Jay_Ehm]

Stirrups and cushions would be essential, if you think for a second what it would be like to sit on a wooden stick for hours and try to hold on-- I've always figured basic brooms used part of their magic to lighten and brace the witch in place. Flying carpets are so much more practical. (Though a minimalist world where you just stretched out along the broom, braced your feet against the bristles as the only thing you could balance against, and hung on for dear life... that'd be a thrill ride!)

Headlights are a great idea, though. Your witch won't see much until she gets near the ground, but she will see the headlights (running lights) of any other witch up there, and midair collisions are no fun. --Still, it does make it easier for the dragons to find her too.

I actually hadn't thought about headlights, thank you and Shreddies for bringing those up! Luckily, the only dragon-like creatures in this world are the subterranean knuckers who mostly hang around in caves and the pools of water within them, so dragon attacks shouldn't be much of a worry for a witch who's riding their broomstick up in the air. Headlights and possibly even lights in back would definitely be essential for riding at night and possibly for signalling to others on the road.

 

[Queshire]

When it comes to headlights I suggest taking a look at what planes do light-wise. Since a broom would have to maneuver in 3 dimensions instead of 2 like a car it might have different requirements.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

An off the mark thought. Someone mentioned vacuum cleaners instead of brooms - why use a broom at all? Or an appliance? Why not an easy chair? Imagine - take your favourite easy chair, crank the foot rest up so you're comfortable, maybe fasten the seatbelt, and then just go flying around in that. We already have people motorising them - why not go all the way!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Shreddies]

Hi,

An off the mark thought. Someone mentioned vacuum cleaners instead of brooms - why use a broom at all? Or an appliance? Why not an easy chair? Imagine - take your favourite easy chair, crank the foot rest up so you're comfortable, maybe fasten the seatbelt, and then just go flying around in that. We already have people motorising them - why not go all the way!

Cheers, Greg.

I remember a story where a witch tried making a basket fly, since it was more comfortable. But she couldn't keep it from flipping over. I wish I could remember the name of it. . .

 

[Jay_Ehm]

I drew a really basic sketch for what one of these brooms could look like! I'm going to start an art thread and as I come up with more broom ideas, I'll post them there along with some other work. I'm sure there are a lot of design flaws with this one and I will almost definitely change up its design a bit in other drawings of this particular broom, but it feels good to finally have a somewhat reasonable-looking (well, as reasonable as a crazy motorcycle-broom hybrid can get) broom drawn.

 

[StoryTypewriter]

Hi,

An off the mark thought. Someone mentioned vacuum cleaners instead of brooms - why use a broom at all? Or an appliance? Why not an easy chair? Imagine - take your favourite easy chair, crank the foot rest up so you're comfortable, maybe fasten the seatbelt, and then just go flying around in that. We already have people motorising them - why not go all the way!

Cheers, Greg.

I like Psychotick's way of thinking... to go further. It reminds me of a movie I saw in my childhood where they travel in a bed by rolling the decorational knob in the head of the bed to fly off with it (I can't remember the title though...) I like ideas out the ordinary and this thread has just inspired me. Ps. I love the broom sketch!

 

[Noldona]

Hi Noldona,

I saw this - "... depending on the tire period ..." And had to ask. What would you suggest for Goodyear?!!!

Cheers, Greg.

Well, there is another idea. Different brand bristles. And you have to replace the bristles every so often as they wear down from air friction.

I like Psychotick's way of thinking... to go further. It reminds me of a movie I saw in my childhood where they travel in a bed by rolling the decorational knob in the head of the bed to fly off with it (I can't remember the title though...) I like ideas out the ordinary and this thread has just inspired me. Ps. I love the broom sketch!

The movie was called Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Was a classic Disney film.

 

[StoryTypewriter]

Cheers Noldona!

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

 

[mincus17]

There could be a mirror that, if waved thrice, could take the witch to another dimension. In that dimension, each foot equals 10 feet on your world. When waved thrice again, said witch could travel back to the world that s/he started in.