by Mayumi-H | Sep 5, 2012 | Short Stories
“FACES” was the prompt for this week’s Five Sentence Fiction challenge, from Lillie McFerrin’s blog. We don’t have to use the word itself, just write five sentences with that word as inspiration.
My original entry was much more based within a fandom, much more referential and trying to be clever. So is this one…though, I prefer it over the original.
For all those parents who think they have any kind of control over what their children do….
“No Girls Allowed”
Larry’s only criterion was that he wanted a boy; he even had a name in mind: Thor, after the Norse god of thunder, a childhood heroic fantasy figure (though he’d accept Loki, if the personality fit).
Not to say he didn’t love his girls (and, here, he included Sally, even if he’d never call his feisty, gorgeous wife a “girl” to her face) – he loved them more than anything, in fact – but being the only man in a house with three women took its toll; there were only so many evenings he could spend with Elton, shooting 2D zombies, or with Tom, feigning interest in a single man’s problems, or with Craig, faking his way through a conversation of last night’s football match. He wanted to connect with a male who’d understand him, who’d let him be himself; he didn’t think that was too much to ask.
So, when he’d arrived home again after a two-day stint working the dealers’ room at another convention, and his girls had met him at the door with too-wide, cagy grins, asking him to “keep an open mind, don’t get upset, Daddy, please,” he’d known something was amiss, and was ready to give them an earful.
But, then, they’d pulled out that wobbly-legged, round-faced, chocolate-coloured bundle of fluff, that looked up at him with those dark, trusting eyes and that snub, twitching nose, and that happy, proud smile that promised loyalty and interest no matter how mundane, married, or how much of a geek he was…and all he could say around his creeping smile was, “I guess we can call her Sif.”
![By Ltshears (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://mayumi.amorphous.press/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2012/09/256px-chocolatelabpup1.jpg?w=227 "256px-ChocolateLabPup1")
Good old Sif.
As much as I enjoy writing for a lot of these prompt challenges…I really have to stop jumping on them so readily, and concentrate on my own work-in-progress novel. I love Ross and Amber too much to let them simply simmer, while I play in other people’s ponds.
That said, what FACES do you like examining?
by Mayumi-H | Aug 29, 2012 | Short Stories
I’m back in the world of the Stowaways, for this week’s 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups (week 56).
Julia is offering the following for our prompt:
“…as my penance [for last week’s confusion,] I am posting what I hope is an easier prompt for you but with a link to my apology. The prompt is: … being clear is essential to …”
There was no direction that we needed to include those specific words (Julia is often very clear about that), so I didn’t. But, hopefully, you’ll see why it’s often so necessary to follow instructions.
“Turnabout”
“You’re not taking us back!” Stoll shouted, just as the hunter vaulted over the table, smashing his boot into Stoll’s face; blood arced from his nose as Stoll crashed to the floor, his rifle clattering beside.
Lelia’s pistol flashed up, but the hunter spun on her, slapping his hand to the base of her head to send her to the floor, too.
Tych squeezed his gloves around his spanner, but that was all. The next second, he was staring down the hunter’s gun barrel.
“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear,” the big man growled. “I said, you’re coming with me.”
Action is not my strong suit, but I do enjoy dabbling with it, every now and again. I figured it was warranted for this moment, seeing as it’s a follow-up to Aral’s scene, from an earlier prompt.
I’m thinking more and more I’d like to examine these characters in greater detail. Perhaps for this year’s NaNoWriMo?
How clear did your scene or story come out this week?
by Mayumi-H | Aug 27, 2012 | Fearless, Short Stories
The prompt for this week’s Five Sentence Fiction from Lillie McFerrin’s blog is BLUSH, and I’m using it for a little bit of a side story for Fearless.
In all my stories, I like to play around with gender roles in character relationships. Most of my characters follow pretty traditional roles, especially in my romances (there’s nothing quite like having a man who knows how to be a hero), but I also like to mix it up a bit: women can be bold hotheads; men can be tender-hearted romantics.
One interaction I always enjoy is the mentor/mentee relationship, no matter who plays which role…though my women tend to be the more cultured gender:
“Education”
This rosé was making him a bit dizzy (he was used to the clean simplicity of an ale), yet, she was still talking, perfectly normally, as though they hadn’t cleared through the bottle over the last hour.
“In America,” she said, tilting her glass back and forth in opposition to her head, “they call this type a ‘blush.’”
He blinked over at her, slowly, as he swallowed back the last, then muttered, “Why’s that?”
She settled her stemware on the table, then raised her eyes to his, and traded her cool glass for the warm angle of his cheek. “Because that’s what it makes you do,” she said with a tickled giggle, as she pushed him down to the floor, the taste of her lips sweeter than any wine.
![By Neeta Lind (originally posted to Flickr as IMG_2397) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://mayumi.amorphous.press/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2012/08/256px-sediment_left_over_from_rose_wine.jpg "256px-Sediment_left_over_from_rose_wine")
Ah. Nothing like letting affection ferment a bit with the bottom of a bottle…!
What gender roles do you like to observe – or disregard – in your stories?
by Mayumi-H | Aug 22, 2012 | Fearless, Short Stories
Week 55 of the 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups (over at Julia’s Place) was a picture prompt of a ridiculous cat wearing a wig and glasses. Julia asked that we write a piece to go along with this picture (it doesn’t have to be 100 words). For me, I couldn’t get out of my head the ridiculousness of a greeting card like that…and how inappropriate it can sometimes be for a situation.
I’ve decided not to submit to this week’s 100 WCGU link list, because I’m not following the rules posted (my flash fiction doesn’t really go along with this picture at all). But I couldn’t let this sit on my hard drive unpublished, either. Hopefully, you don’t fault me for that.
“What a Way”
She twisted her ring, slowly. It stopped hurting, but the imprint remained, where he’d squeezed too hard with unloosed passion.
Such passion…! More than she’d bargained when she’d singled him out, on those quiet, twilit dunes. She’d thought him just a beautiful blond boy, a simple pleasure to pass the time. Who’d have guessed he’d be so…emotional? But those words, breathed longingly beside her ear:
“I love you.”
It had to end. He was too young. She was too…married.
Beside her, an advert caught her eye.
“Say it with a card.”
She sniffed. What a way to break his heart.
Ouch, Susanna. Just…ouch.
But, don’t let me depress you! Do go over to this week’s 100 WCGU site and check out some of the delightfully funny stories there!
by Mayumi-H | Aug 18, 2012 | Process, Short Stories
Usually, I reserve my Saturday post space for discussion of the process of writing. But, this week, I had to try my hand at Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction, since I saw the prompt was NIGHT (2012 August 16).
Five sentences is a tricky target to tell a story. It would be relatively easy for me to craft a piece that just used semicolons anywhere there could be a period…but that’s not really how the semicolon should work. (“Don’t think of a semicolon as a strong comma,” says editor Theresa Stevens. “Think of it as a weak period.”) Thus, I wanted to use the semicolon sparingly, yet still create something fresh, and still hold to the rule of five sentences.
This one is quite flirty, though I should think not quite NSFW-worthy. As always, though, I leave you to be the judge.
“Strangers”
He’d never been propositioned in a club before (he’d never been in a club before), but the reward for such daring…! She was as he’d never known: wild, wanton, full of eager lust; the kisses started the minute they’d left the pounding, primal rhythms behind, only to be reprised -more rhythmic, more primal- not long after, in their sparse Whitechapel hotel room.
The bells tolled three before she was finally satisfied, and, while exhausting, it was wonderful.
With morning, propriety returned, as he’d known it must. But, he’d always remember playing strangers in the night, with his bold, brilliant wife.
Ars Erotica. One of my favorites of the bunch.
So, to sort of stay on topic, what are your feelings on the use of semicolons in prose?
by Mayumi-H | Aug 15, 2012 | Short Stories
So, it’s week 54 for Julia’s 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups, and we’ve got a relatively simple prompt:
LEGACY. Julia says, You don’t have to … include the word but I would like 100 words on what it says to you.
Legacy always conjures up the idea and ramifications of family, for me. I’m sure others can sympathize…and you’ll likely see more of this sort of legacy, this week. As for me, I’m venturing among the Nightingales, again:
“Pretty Princess”
Katie’s Princess
“Miss Trish asked what we’re to be when we grow up,” Billie said, smearing blue across her colouring book Clydesdale.
Sally smiled. “What did you say?”
“Starship captain,” Billie answered. She grabbed a green; the horse became a pegasus. “Or, dinosaur zookeeper.”
“That’s my girl,” Larry quipped.
Sally chuckled, turning to her quieter daughter. “And you?”
Katie dabbed red over her picture princess’s hair, murmuring, “Pretty.”
Sally and Larry stopped, frowning.
Billie gave her pegasus purple horns, declaring, “You’ll be pretty, just like Mummy! But, I have to do more. Because I look like Daddy.”
Larry sneered. “Thanks very much!”
Billie’s Horse
There are brutal truths of society that children understand even at an early age; the importance of beauty is one of them (I know I learned it very young). But I didn’t want to dwell too much on such a ponderous topic, so I figured outspoken little Billie could offer a slightly pragmatic turnaround. Hope you enjoy!
What legacy did you examine for this week?
“FACES” was the prompt for this week’s Five Sentence Fiction challenge, from Lillie McFerrin’s blog. We don’t have to use the word itself, just write five sentences with that word as inspiration.![By Ltshears (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://mayumi.amorphous.press/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2012/09/256px-chocolatelabpup1.jpg "256px-ChocolateLabPup1")
![By Neeta Lind (originally posted to Flickr as IMG_2397) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://mayumi.amorphous.press/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2012/08/256px-sediment_left_over_from_rose_wine.jpg "256px-Sediment_left_over_from_rose_wine")
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