by Mayumi-H | Aug 1, 2012 | Short Stories
For week 51 of the 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups, the prompt is, simply:
…together the flames…
We have 100 words to produce a creative piece from the prompt. It doesn’t say we have to use those words exactly, but I did, as you’ll see.
“Fire Dancers”
They’d danced what felt a slow forever: circling, stepping, narrowly avoiding, their movements never too close…nor too far. Just enough distance to stay safe, to stay mellow, to stay simply teasing and contained.
But even embers, left alone, will glow, and crackle, and burn.
That’s what they did, at last, one night. Flared fiercely in the dim dark as they met for the first time, feeding and devouring each other both, with each kiss and lick growing stronger, brighter, until they burst, together, the flames forming a consuming conflagration.
His wife fled.
Her husband wept.
And the fire raged on.
“The Lovers’ Boat” by Albert Pinkham Ryder [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
What kind of flames did you stoke for this week’s prompt?
by Mayumi-H | Jul 18, 2012 | From Hell (A Love Story), Short Stories
It’s Week 50 for the 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups! I’ve only been participating for twenty weeks (you can read my entry for Week 31 here), but I feel like I’ve really learned a lot – and grown as a storyteller – in even that short amount of time, so I’m so grateful for the continued opportunity to participate. Thank you especially to those of you who have been so supportive of my efforts!
But, on to the matter at hand! Julia says, The prompt is:
… the rain turned the road into a river…
You have 100 words to add to the prompt, making 108 in total. Please don’t split the prompt and remember to make a link back here so that others can find us.
Here’s my attempt:
Neither Hell nor High Water
“Come home? I need you.”
Sally’s message made Larry scramble, tossing rushed goodbyes to his mates as he bolted outside. The rain turned the road into a river, but he didn’t care. The sky could go on fire, the earth could belch its dead; nothing would keep him from her.
He’d stripped half-naked before he was even up the stairs, where he immediately swept Sally into his arms for an impassioned, instigating kiss.
She flustered. “What’s this, now?”
Larry shifted back, abruptly stymied. “You said…! Aren’t you…ovulating?”
Sally shook her head. “The water heater’s broken,” she explained.
He flushed hot. “Oh.”
She chuckled, coyly. “But, since you’re here…!”
Prosaic, I know…but I couldn’t help delving into such gentle silliness between a couple of want-to-be parents. I’m sure many of us have been there…!
photo courtesy flickr.com/photos/zokuga/6201265728
Did you get rained out on this week’s prompt? Or did you manage to make your way through the storm?
by Mayumi-H | Jul 11, 2012 | Short Stories
Week 49’s 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups is another text prompt:
….Murray was just about to serve for the Championship when…
As Julia says, you have 100 words plus those in the prompt making 110 altogether. The prompt must be in the piece and not split.
Okay, then! I revisited an earlier vignette for this one, inspired as I was by that trailing “when…”
“Sad to Belong”
(With apologies to England Dan and John Ford Coley.)
They left the hotel television on, simply for the noise: noisy rooms were less likely to be disturbed. And they couldn’t be disturbed. Not now. Not after all the cooped-up days they’d already wasted, yearning for each other’s touch.
Robb’s arms were around her, but, still, Emma had to ask: “You’re certain about this?”
He nodded, nearly desperate. “I can’t go another minute without you,” he said, before crushing his mouth to hers.
They tumbled to the bed then, the television’s chatter covering their moans, and the snap of buttons and belts. Apparently, Murray was just about to serve for the Championship, when Robb’s mobile rang.
It was his wife.
I’m likely alone on this, but I don’t see Emma or Robb as bad people. Perhaps because I see their situation as a case of Right Love, Wrong Life.
What glimpse into another life did you take, with this week’s prompt?
by Mayumi-H | Jul 9, 2012 | Excerpts, Fearless, From Hell (A Love Story), Persona 4 Fan Fiction, Process
Warning: I’ve tried to keep it clean, but discussion of mature themes to follow.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Venus guessed. “Since you two have…been together?”
Ross paused, hand hovering over the electric kettle. “A bit,” he admitted.
She offered him a slow nod, glancing down at the edge of the counter space, where there was a stash of pens and a flip-pad scribbled with future meal notes. “Well, sex shouldn’t be the most important thing in a relationship.”
He shook his head as he filled the kettle with water. “I know that-”
“But it is important,” she said, and here Ross raised his head in quiet surprise.
I’ve never shied away from sexual situations in my stories. I don’t consider a sex scene in and of itself pornographic, though it can certainly be used for that purpose. In most of my stories (as in life), sex is a way for two people to communicate beyond the use of words; the intense intimacy forged by being sexual with another person creates all sorts of interesting conflicts and realizations.
Venus, here, is stating my own opinion: Sex should not be the most important aspect of a relationship. But it is important.
Sexual compatibility can mean different things for different people. A couple with low libidos may have sex once a month…and it will be wonderful every single time. A couple with strong libidos may have sex once a day…and that can be beautiful every single time, too. Relationships are as unique as the people in them, and it’s the part of stories I really enjoy examining.
I like a sex scene to mean something, though. A conflict of interests. A learning experience. A personal enlightenment. Even a casual or detached sex scene can have important meaning for a character, at that moment in the story. I like using all of these approaches to sex in my stories.
What I’ve been enjoying with this latest endeavor, though, is the fade-to-black, or glossing, technique. Sex for its own sake doesn’t do anything for a story; I’ve always agreed with that. But sex also doesn’t have to happen “on-screen” for it to be worthwhile to a character’s or relationship’s development.
For Fearless, let’s say there are four sex scenes that are important for the development of the plot. Does that mean the characters have sex only four times in the story? Hell, no! But, I can show in a paragraph – or a sentence – what’s happening between them, without going into detail. I know what’s going on; the reader knows what’s going on. And I can get to the really important part – the ramifications or repercussions of that sex scene – that much more quickly, than if I delved into the detail.
Some writers and readers don’t like sex in their stories. That’s fine. I do like sex, though, when it means something. Just like in real life.
How do you feel about sex in stories?
by Mayumi-H | Jun 27, 2012 | Short Stories
Week 47’s 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups is a picture challenge, of the Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah, Washington:
Julia says: All you have to do is produce a creative piece of 100 words in length from the emotions / thoughts that this image stir in you.
My head is likely not in the same place as most people’s on this one, but I’ve just begun the process of producing a documentary, so my mind is on editing and video a lot, lately. The following is what I came up with (names have been changed to protect the “innocent”):
“Flirting with Temptation”
Raw footage review is a thankless task. But an editor’s job, as they say, is never done. So he sits in this cramped room the same as he’s done for the last week straight, poring over seemingly endless reels of kitschy novelty attractions, while the world goes on outside the door.
Sitting beside him, equally tired and equally antsy, Emma asks when was the last time he saw his wife.
“When was the last time you saw your husband?” he replies with a snicker.
She doesn’t laugh, though.
“Let’s not talk about that,” she says, just before she kisses him.
Temptation
Don’t ask me why I went there….
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