If you haven’t, here’s your chance. And believe me, you don’t want to miss it.
I met Stuart during the A to Z challenge, which resulted in the book of flash fiction A to Z Stories of Life and Death. He was one of the few who wrote fiction on all the 26 posts for the 26 days of April, and I loved his work.
For today’s post, he wanted to work on prompts.
So I sent him this picture to the left by wonderful photographer friend Andrew Graeme Gould and the word prompts: Pencil, Hourglass. I specified the word count at 250.
The following is what Stuart created from this bizarre mix I provided him, and I LOVE it.
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Pops sat under the Pig and Duck, waiting. His juju bag sat at his feet, and his divining material set up on the ground in the proper order: plastic bottle of juice; name tag that he found in the garbage; and three copies of Cavo-Relievo Magazine. Squinting in the sun, reading another copy of the magazine, Philippa sauntered up.
She had an hourglass figure, with long legs and long, jet black hair. Philippa took off her sunglasses, put her hand on her hips, and glared at Pops. Putting down his reading, Pops looked her squarely in her eyes. He reached into his shirt pocket and took out a pencil, circling the air around her face.
“Stop that. I want to…”
“Shh, …shhhh! Ah, there. It’s off to the left of your head; your thoughts are wide open to me. Philippa, he does not love you.” He pointed the pencil down to the last magazine to her right.
“Shit.” She looked down at the top magazine, and there was a picture of Jorge with another woman. The photo moved: Jorge and the blonde embracing; Jorge taking off her dress; Jorge running his hands along this other woman’s body. Philippa shed tears, watching this unfold.
Pops put his foot on top of the magazine with Jorge, grinding it back and forth. The paper tore and shredded under his feet. Philippa started to scream “NO,” but felt that urge drift away.
She put money into Pop’s hands and went back to her car.
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Stuart Nager is a creative individual with many areas of passion that he explores in his daily life: Professional Storyteller; NYS Certified Drama Specialist/Educator; Teaching Artist; PUBLISHED Writer of Fiction; Playwright; Professional Development Coordinator & Facilitator; Workshop Leader; Arts-In-Education Advocate; Puppeteer; Director; Performer; Curriculum Writer and Developer; and sometimes more, as the needs arise. Check out his fiction writing blog (Tale Spinning) at: stuartnager.wordpress.com/ and his Arts-in-Education blog at:bornstoryteller.wordpress.com/ Stuart can be contacted at: [email protected]; website: www.bornstoryteller.com |
You really met this challenge well. You told a good story in such a limited number of words, and nothing was missing, it was truly complete. I enjoyed it.
Thanks Jill. I had to cut it down a LOT to get it to 250, but…I’m glad it worked.
Hi Stu! not only is this inventive; it’s a perfect piece of flash in that it tells a complete story (not just a vignette), and that is extremely difficult to do, especially in only 250 words. So, well done! (As usual.)
Thanks, Damyanti, for giving Stuart a great challenge!
@Li Thank you Li. It was a hard challenge, doing this in such a limited amount of words. I’m really glad you enjoyed it. As I said, I like Pops.
@fishyface thank you.
That was awesome… well done… you have a super creative mind…
Take care,
Lisa
very nice, tantalizing, so much in so few words 🙂 Thanks for sharing
Thank you Moni. There is something to be said about brevity. I just bristle at having to have a clear thought in 140 characters.
Cool – too short – wanna know more. Ah, such is flash fiction. Here and gone ‘in a flash’. haha
Anna, yeah..I chafed a bit with the 250 word count. I had so much more I wanted to write about Pops, but…a limit is a limit. I DID push it to the max.
Thank you. Maybe I’ll continue his story at another time on my blog.
Thanks for the comments, folks. Stuart is indeed awesome!
You are too, if not more so. Thanks Damyanti.
This is really great from only one picture and two words… Very captivating!
Thank you Mariette. I asked her for a challenge, and she doled it out. Made it more fun for me, esp. as it unfolded.
@Mish: thank you. The prompts could have taken me anywhere. A street brujo is where it landed.
@Anna: thank you very much.
@Toby… cool is good. Was it groovy too? 😉
Damyanti, thanks for letting me play in your backyard.
cool.
Woah, that’s awesome 🙂
Phew ! What an amazing creative mind … ! This is out-of-this-world !