Saturday, May 16, 2009

Challenges - a 50 word story



The tasks Jon sets Suzanne are too easy. Anyone can teach dogs to read, or motorways to sing. At last he challenges her. She spends days carving nature out of ice, only for it to melt before she reaches the last leaf. Even after the fruit bruises, she stays frozen.

(And the inspiration for this prompt comes thanks to Dave who kindly provided the music ...)

7 comments:

Douglas Bruton said...

Saturday 16th May: Write Your Ass Off Day! Only in America! A challenge. Of sorts. No procrastinating. No twittering or blogging or text messaging. Just the writer and the empty page. A whole day. To write your socks off – it would be socks and not ass if it was here.

Douglas Bruton said...

Bran remembers. Children in the bath. At opposite ends. Bobbing like seals on the surface of the water. Noses and mouths under. Cheeks swollen and Bran was counting. Past fifteen and twenty. Until he couldn’t any more. But Sissal still could. Beat him every time. But she screamed at spiders!

Kathryn said...

Tess decided to put biting into the strawberries on ice for a bit. Their plumpness, the way the dimples rose from where they were pinned down by seeds, pulsated with juice, fit to burst under her teeth. She knew that ice would do it. They're only tasty at room temperature.

Kathryn said...

Douglas, I had a creative writing tutor called Bran, once. Not a common name is it?

Douglas Bruton said...

Kathryn - I believe it's a scottish name. Not very common. I kinda like unusual names. They can sometimes add a little fizz to a piece.

One wee tip for your piece... I see you have given your girl a name... it works better. Instead of your 'She knew that ice would do it' put 'Tess knew ice would do it'... it repeats the name and adds a level of 'real' then to her. IMHO

D

Kathryn said...

Yes, Douglas, my tutor was indeed from Aberdeen. To me, strawberries and Hardy are inseparable. Couldn't help myself in this instance.

Gemma Mortlock said...

June only bought strawberries to flavour her afternoon indulgence...ice! To her you just couldn't beat the sweet taste of the fresh ripened strawberry against the cold unnatural feeling of the ice as it melted over her tongue caressing each erect taste bud as it trickled right down her throat.