by Mayumi-H | Apr 4, 2012 | Short Stories, Songbirds
Carrying over from last time, is this week’s 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups:
The prompt this week is to go back to last week’s entries. You are to use the last 10 words of the post next to yours and using just 100 words create a story. It may be a follow-on from the previous one or you may like to take it in a different direction. So:
- You find your entry HERE
- You go to the next entry (if you were 6 you go to 7 etc)
(I was #16, so I’m using #17 for my prompt: “An Important Date” by Andrea, the gothcatlady. It is a lovely little ode to Carroll’s original story, and I suggest you read it for yourself, before going on to my take on her prompt!)
- Using the last ten words as the prompt you write your piece. The prompt can be anywhere in the piece but must be complete as it was in the original.
- If you didn’t take part last week, choose any entry to use the last 10 words from.
I was lucky enough to get a very charming prompt – What a wondrous adventure with young Alice that would be – for this week, and I’m delighted that I can even (sort of) continue from my own challenge from last time! So, without further ado, here it is.
Such Wondrous Adventures
With pinafore and ponytails bouncing, Katie bounds across the playground, away from them.
Watching her, Larry sighs. “Seems like yesterday,” he murmurs, “we were pregnant, and I was reading her Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Beside him, Sally shrugs. “She’s growing up.”
“Does she have to do?” Larry asks, chuckling.
“What a wondrous adventure with young Alice that would be!” Sally says, and they laugh. But then they quiet, cuddling close.
“I didn’t think it would happen so fast,” Larry laments. He meets her gaze, chuckling anew. “I want another one!”
Sally blinks, then smiles, softly. “Funny, you should mention that….”
I do so love these little challenges, and being able to incorporate them into my own universes, in this case, that of my Songbirds, Sally and Larry. I wish I could share them with more people, too, especially the ones who enjoyed the original Songbirds series of stories. Who knows? Maybe, someday, I can…and will!
I can only hope that Judee, over at write tuit, has as much fun with my prompt as I had with Andrea’s!
by Mayumi-H | Mar 28, 2012 | Short Stories
Per the prompt over at Julia’s Place, for this week’s 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups:
I want you to write a piece with
….‘What was the rabbit late for,’ wondered Alice…..
in it. You have 100 words making a total of 108. However, the last 10 words are going to be used to start a piece by someone else next week!! Good eh! The idea isn’t mine – it came from Winchester House School.
This is quite a tricky prompt! Not only does it require the use of given text, but the writer also has to create a “hook” for the next one to come along! Nevertheless, I couldn’t sit back and let the challenge go unanswered:
Larry paraphrases; he’s barely focused on the text. But Sally doesn’t mind.
She knows he worries, that what he does isn’t “enough.” But she also knows his concern is unnecessary. His touch, his presence, his voice: that’s what’s important. And she tells him as much, when he pauses over the page:
“You’re fine,” she says.
After a moment, he continues. “’What was the rabbit late for, wondered Alice-‘”
A jolt in her belly makes her gasp, softly.
Larry gasps, too. Then, he looks up, his blue eyes wide, astonished. Delighted. “You think… she heard…?”
Sally smiles, and nods. “All she needs is the sound of her daddy’s voice.”
I’m not certain how next week’s prompt will work – if we’ll be choosing our own personal prompt, or if we’ll be assigned someone else’s entry, or if one special entry will serve as the jumping-off point. But I’ve had this story kicking around (if you’ll pardon the pun) for a while, now, and I’m happy that I got to put it to use!
——-
I originally had a completely different entry for this challenge prompt. It was much darker, and played a bit more with the themes of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You can read it here, if you’re so inclined.
by Mayumi-H | Mar 21, 2012 | Short Stories, Songbirds
This week’s 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups prompt: “…the red box…”
Just like the government, we’re dealing with fiscal budgets at work, right now. So, I veered off from the obvious choice of “the red box” for this week’s prompt, and instead went just a bit to the left:
Eyes twinkling with charmed interest, she pushes him in front of the red box and raises her camera into his face.
“Brilliant,” he mutters at the lens. “Now, we’re tourists.”
She shushes him and clicks. He fidgets, feeling ridiculous as the subject of a photographic cliche.
“Satisfied?” he asks.
She lowers the camera with an elfin smile. “Not just yet.”
She pushes him again, trapping him into the antiquated phone box. Then, she presses up and kisses him: soft, warm, sweet.
He’s dizzy when they part.
“Satisfied?” she echoes, smiling wide again.
Closing the red box around them, he grins. “Not just yet.”
image courtesy Favim.com
Another little Songbirds Series drabble, because the moment I thought about those red phone boxes, I thought that Sally might take a moment to bother with a snapshot…and Larry would probably scoff about it. But even two people who see the world from such different perspectives can find a way to mutually enjoy something so quaint.
by Mayumi-H | Mar 2, 2012 | Persona 4 Fan Fiction, Songbirds, Uncategorized
“Adaptation” is a short Doctor Who–lite story I wrote for the one-off characters of Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale, as presented in the television series episode “Blink” (Series 3, episode 10).
Nothing like a romantic little one-off, eh?
I fell in love with this pairing almost immediately, and I’ve written about them more than once. “Adaptation” was my attempt at drawing parallels between classic literature and personal relationships.
It’s not often that readers entirely “get” what I’m trying to do with my stories…but, sometimes (occasionally; rarely), a sharp, clever reader will absolutely nail it. The feeling of elation I get when that happens can last me for days.
Reader Rokesmith wrote:
This is my favourite of your Songbirds stories. It says such wonderful things about these two incidental characters and the relationship that sadly we only got a glimpse of. But mainly, I like it for what it says about relationships, Sally’s slow uncovering of Larry’s deep rooted insecurities about how an introverted geek is supposed to maintain a relationship with a bright, beautiful girl with whom he shares very few interests. This is something I imagine a lot of geeks find themselves confronted with in relationships at some stage, which is why the resolution is so touching: Sally’s gentle but inescapable affirmation that no matter what their differences in interests and dreams, they love each other and that’s what’s important. And it’s all brilliantly tied together by a comparison to ‘Sense and Sensibility’ that fits so well with Sally herself. A perfect meeting of Doctor Who, classic literature and compelling romance, which is everything this pair should be.
Of all of my fan fiction outings, I think I love my Songbirds series the best. It’s not nearly the most popular, either for the pairing or in general, but the stories are very simply about two people romantically entwined. There’s no grand adventure they undertake, beyond that of life and love. Though, in some ways, that’s the best adventure of them all.
Carrying over from last time, is this week’s 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups:
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