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 But I couldn’t let this sit on my hard drive unpublished, either.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?
by Mayumi-H | Aug 8, 2012 | Short Stories
For week 53 of the 100-Word Challenge for Grown-ups, Julia has given us a specific text prompt:
… would seven prove to be too much? …..
As usual, you have 100 words to add to these 7 making 107 in total to produce your piece.
I tamed things down a bit from my initial idea for this prompt, though I still stayed close to some characters with whom I’ve spent some time in the past….
“One More Night”
One, two, three were honest. Even four was believable. Five was unlikely, though, making six worthy of suspicion. Would seven prove to be too much?
“You’re not coming home?”
“I’m sorry,” he said into the phone, again. He nearly meant it, too; he could almost hear the obliging, unwitting smile in her voice.
“That’s all right,” she said. “I know your work is important.” More mundane pleasantries then, followed by vanilla farewells.
He closed his phone with a click, echoed by the snap of buttons.
“You think she suspects?”
He turned, took her in his arms, and smiled. “Don’t know. Does yours?”
She smiled, too. “Don’t care.”
![Arabian_nights_004 By Virginia Frances Sterret [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://mayumi.amorphous.press/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2012/08/arabian_nights_004.jpg?w=228 "Arabian_nights_004")
By Virginia Frances Sterret [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
There’s always a complication with these two…! Like most of my characters, though, the more I write them, the more engrossed I become in their deeper stories.
Did seven prove to be too much for someone in your story, this week? I’d love to know!
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.![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")
![Arabian_nights_004 By Virginia Frances Sterret [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://mayumi.amorphous.press/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2012/08/arabian_nights_004.jpg "Arabian_nights_004")
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