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Drabbles - 100-word stories
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I wonder if this is the best place for this topic...I'll move it to games for now. If you don't think it's a good idea, let me know.
Nancy wrote: "I wonder if this is the best place for this topic...I'll movie it to games for now. If you don't think it's a good idea, let me know."
That's fine. Thanks!
Another quickie I wrote a while back:More Money Than Sense
To say Jim was a gadget freak was an understatement. On Monday he bought an iPad, Tuesday, an iPhone, Wednesday, an iPod, Thursday, a MacBook. It was on Friday when he returned home with another iPad that his wife finally snapped.
“Jim!” she shrieked. “We cannot afford these luxuries day after day after day!”
The problem was Jim was also a proverb-loving hypochondriac.
“But an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” Jim explained.
“Jesus, Jim, there’s a cheaper way to fulfil that proverb, you know!”
“But peeling them is such a pain, and bits get stuck in my teeth.”
These are fun, but I'm terrible at this. I hope others will participate.
Nancy wrote: "These are fun, but I'm terrible at this. I hope others will participate."Well I've written about 300 over the last year so there's no shortage of them! I can't post them all, of course, because lots are published, but I'll post one every so often :)
The pain drove her from bed, despite the exhaustion that tore at her, that tried to absorb her in the warm sheets and covers. Every move she made revealed fresh injuries: bruised flesh and strained muscles, deep scratches that must surely have bled into the bridal bed, welts where the lashing tail had stung her. She had welcomed it all. The bed was wet with more than her blood.But where was she now, the woman who had deflowered her and used her so mercilessly, so exquisitely, while her forgotten husband bled to death on the floor, their marriage unconsummated…
That's quite evocative, Francis. Good one!
My first drabble. Don't make fun of me. :)Lydia
A lavish feast lay before me. There were various salads, some with rich creamy dressings and others with fragrant herbs and oils. There were tarantulas, fried and swimming in buttery sauce, antelope hot dogs, soups with various livers and gizzards floating inside, goat stew with baby potatoes, squirrels cooked in coconut milk, fried starfish on a stick, meat dumplings floating in black tea.
“A man likes a woman with a little meat on her bones", says Lydia, while filling my plate.
I wake up rubbing my mildly upset stomach thinking I had put on all the 55 pounds I lost!
Visions of Indiana Jones and chilled monkey brains... :-)
I had this dream after watching an episode of Bizarre Foods
Great to see you joining in, Nancy! :)Here's one that has just won an award:
The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth
"Mummy, Daddy, Mummy, Daddy, look what I got!"
Tina and Andrew looked down at the shiny pound coin resting in Tommy's cupped palm and smiled. Tommy beamed back at them, proudly displaying the gap in his top row of teeth.
"Now I can buy something!" Tommy turned and ran back up stairs to get dressed.
"I'm so glad you remembered to do the whole tooth fairy thing," Tina said to her husband with a relieved sigh.
Andrew paused for a second then replied.
"Funny you should say that because that's exactly what I was just going to say to you."
Here's a Christmassy 100-word story I wrote last night :)The Present
“Billy, come for your present.”
“Why not bring it down here? I’ll open it in front of everyone else.”
Toby hesitated. “I can’t.”
“Can’t?” Then Billy understood. It must have been too big to bring down.
“It’s in my room,” said Toby.
The pair excused themselves and walked upstairs, which caused Billy’s heart to pound. He didn’t know why; he wasn’t unfit.
Toby opened his door. Both stepped inside.
“There’s nothing here,” said Billy.
“Look up,” whispered Toby.
Above Billy, completely out of place, hung a piece of mistletoe. Yet Billy felt it the most natural present to find there.
I recently had a new drabble published - a work of fiction precisely 100 words long. Here it is: Too Late
His jawline is strong. Manly. This incongruity leaps out at me for some reason. Perhaps it’s because I have always equated religion with weakness. But this man… this man I can see beyond the cassock and collar. His skin is clear and radiates a softness I wouldn’t have thought imaginable without touch. His lips are not too slim, not too full. Just right. And his eyes tell stories I want to listen to right into the early hours when the light of day is blissfully absent. To my left stands my soon-to-be-wife. And soon the soon-to-be will be no more.
Is this at the altar?Very nice, though. I love it.
Francis wrote: "Is this at the altar?Very nice, though. I love it."
It certainly is. Thank you, Francis. Long time, no speak! I hope you're well :)
Jonathan wrote: "I recently had a new drabble published - a work of fiction precisely 100 words long. Here it is: Too Late
His jawline is strong. Manly. This incongruity leaps out at me for some reason. Perhaps ..."
This is a great thread - I've enjoyed going back and reading everyone's drabbles. There used to be a 100 word flash fiction contest run by one of the bookstores by the University in Tucson, Arizona that I occasionally sent entries to. They're harder to write than it looks; that's my opinion anyway!
Great job everyone, and Jonathan, I like this one at the altar - I like all it suggests. The light hearted Christmas one is fun too in an entirely different way.
Maybe I'll try writing one to post here someday - it's been ages since I wrote anything. I'll see if I can dust off my brain cells enough to do it. :)
Oh yeah, I'd love to see one from you!I've written tons of the things over the years. I'll have to dig out some more some time :)
"I wanted one perfect night. A night of music and dancing with no one to shout at me, no one to order me about and criticise every little thing I do. For once to wear beautiful clothes instead of rags made grey by age and ash from the fires I tend. My hands free from cuts and burns, the callouses of drudgery."Thank you for that night, your highness, but in truth you held me too close and too long, and your passionate words made little sense. Keep my glass slipper if you must, but I will not marry you."
For the first time since that fateful night, Ella and the Prince stood face to face with no one to overhear or interrupt. He looked away, his cheeks red as if baked by the hot fury in her eyes. “I distinctly remember leaving with both my shoes,” she said.“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “My father insists I marry, and you… I asked my fairy godmother to find me a woman who could be both friend and lover, yet not sicken me with romantic affection. She gave me the glass slipper.”
The tension eased from Ella. “Maybe there’s hope for us.”
Francis wrote: "For the first time since that fateful night, Ella and the Prince stood face to face with no one to overhear or interrupt. He looked away, his cheeks red as if baked by the hot fury in her eyes. “I ..."Ha ha :)
Here's one I wrote recently. I haven't shared it publicly (until now!) It's a little more poetic than my usual style of writing but it's appropriate for this group. If anyone wants to have a go at writing one, go for it!
Blossom by Jonathan Hill
Blossom clings to every arm, knowing each second could be its last. A breeze starts to hum and every pink petal flutters like a trapped butterfly. And then the wind doth sing. The tree leans and the boughs bow, sending forth blushing showers. The twigs shiver, a little more naked, as a hundred butterflies swirl and soar over the green. As they begin to descend, the clouds part and God’s filled cheeks empty, driving the salmon wings over the road and into the churchyard where they mix seamlessly with thrown confetti, landing on the scrubbed black lapels of both grooms.