#Trifecta: Week 78 – The Boyfriend
This week’s Trifecta Writing Challenge word comes courtesy of Karen is Muttering.
The prompt:
1 : of, relating to, or being a pedant(see pedant)
2 : narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned
The rules:
Your response must be between 33 and 333 words.
You must use the 3rd definition of the given word in your post.
The word itself needs to be included in your response.
You may not use a variation of the word; it needs to be exactly as stated above.
Only one entry per writer.
This week’s challenge is community judged.
- For the 14 hours following the close of the challenge, voting will be enabled on links.
- In order to vote, visit Trifiecta’s post where stars will appear next to each link. To vote, simply click the star that corresponds with your favorite post.
- You can vote for your top three favorite posts.
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The Boyfriend (33 words)
He sported straight back and sides, wore tie and shirt to work everyday, ate only cheese sandwiches. He was so pedantic it pained her adventurous heart. But when he left, she was lost.
Beta-reader feedback #2.
My mother has spoken. Reading chapters 1-5 she thought, ‘What is this about? Why am I bothering?’ She persevered and from chapter 6 onwards she said it raced along. Then she asked if I’d been on a writing course (no) and if I’d written to a formula (I wish).
Male – 49 – has finished (which he doesn’t normally do with a book) and reported that the dialogue was good, although there was too much at times.
F – 45 – (who ended up in floods of tears) went through the document and highlighted words/ phrases she didn’t understand and talked them through with me on the phone so I am able to change/ adpat in the next edit.
And I’ve picked up another reader – F – late-40s. Via email she wrote that she’s a sensitive soul and was crying by page 8. Her step-mum is a published writer and I have been given her email address and permission to get in touch.
I really have to stop procrastinating now, write a synopsis (help) and get on with that agent’s letter before I work in everyone’s useful comments. (Yes, I am being selective.)
Dear. Mrs Smith…..
Two for Tuesday #8 – Author Interview
This week’s Andy Black’s Two for Tuesday Challenge was a lot of fun.
The prompts:
Standard prompt:
eat away
You have lots of creative leeway. The limit is 200 words. The words can be used:
- simply as a point of inspiration and do not have to be used directly
- they can be included exactly as provided
- or each word can be used independently of each other (for example if Death Row was the prompt instead of crafting a story about an inmate on the way to the gallows, you might write something like: Despite feeling like death from an excess of cheap vodka consumed the night before, Evelyn moved on to planting her next row of spinach).
Non-Standard Prompt:
I’m a foodie. I love to cook and eat and read about food and write about food. This week for the alternative prompt, write a story that centers around food. Food should be the main character. I’m not looking for a recipe. I want to taste and smell what’s on the plate. I want to see the shimmer of sauces. I want you to make my stomach growl. As per usual with the Non-standard prompt there is no word limit but there is a minimum of 200 words.
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Author Interview (364 words)
Tonight on the show we have Veronica Dexter, author of Hideous Hades. Veronica, why is it you include so much detail about food in your stories? Taking Hideous Hades as an example, your main character, Brutus, and guests eat away for almost the whole of chapter 3. The banquet takes up three-quarters of the chapter with the rest describing their slurping, chewing and digestive processes.
Well –
You describe the brick-like ochre of the fennel and chickpea dip, its consistency like the mud roads rained on after a summer of drought. Flatbreads are laid out like the tiles on a Roman villa. The empire purple of wine-roasted beets competes with the sunshine of honey-glazed turnips on one central plate. Blood oozes and flows from a haunch of venison. All this shows us Brutus’s wealth, but what do we learn about the characters?
The choices made by the guests indicate –
Acorn squashes stuffed with pork and sultanas cluster on the laden table. Caramelised onion spaghetti falls from serving dishes and loops itself around the tongues and fingers of the guests. The sweet and sour aroma of leeks roasted with apples assails Brutus’s nostrils. The tang of the cumin infused red-snapper wafts over the table, its scales sparkling in sharp contrast to the black olive pebbles sprinkled around its fins. This is all very vivid, but what does it add to the story?
I think –
By the end of the chapter, and the banquet, Brutus is sighing with pleasure at the contrast between the crunch and smoothness of a walnut crème caramel. Peaches blanched in spice wine drip their juices across his expanding stomach. Plump figs and luxurious dates are plucked from the table and fed to neighbouring guests. Pomegranate seeds and grapes are scattered across the whole board and glisten like tears. And by the end of it all the reader is raiding the fridge. What did you hope to convey with the chapter?
I must say I think you’ve missed the point. I was –
Unfortunately, the powers than be in my ear tell me we have run out of time. Thank you Veronica Dexter for being our guest on Let’s Talk About Books this evening.
With thanks to Francine Segan’s The Philosopher’s Kitchen for some of the food ideas above.
#FridayFictioneers – 17/5/13 – The Anniversary
Every Wednesday Rochelle Wisoff-Fields publishes a photo prompt to stimulate and inspire writers to write 100-words of flash fiction or poetry. Every Friday (or before) the Friday Fictioneers post their 100-word stories.
Visit Rochelle’s site for how to join in and read the other stories by clicking on the blue guy.
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Rochelle has kindly chosen one of my photos for this week’s prompt. If you’d like to know more about where/ what this is, click here.
To fufil the wishes of some of those who commented on my story last week, this one provides a happy ending.
The Anniversary (100 words)
‘That’s us,’ Bob said, ‘two old sentinels in the wilderness. Do you remember our first date?’
‘If you’d come out with poetic nonsense that night I’d’ve decked you.’
‘Still one for plain talking.’
‘Still one for cautious optimism.’
‘Pity the kids didn’t come. There’ll be no-one to look after you when you’re old.’
‘People shouldn’t have kids to act as their carers. What if I hadn’t liked my own?’
‘You’re all heart.’
‘I’m a realist. You’ll have to keep fit and stay with me.’ Dora passed him a scythe. ‘Get cutting those nettles. I’ll pick up after you. As usual.’
#Trifecta: Week 77 – Night Manoeuvres
This week’s Trifecta challenge, write a 33 to 333 word story using the 3rd definition of the prompt:
DELIBERATE
1: characterized by or resulting from careful and thorough consideration <a deliberate decision>
2: characterized by awareness of the consequences<deliberate falsehood>
3: slow, unhurried, and steady as though allowing time for decision on each individual action involved <a deliberate pace>
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Night Manoeuvres (33 words)
The night was quiet, the last shush of tyres long gone. Even the girl had stopped whimpering.
The key thundered in the lock. His actions purposeful, deliberate. She should know he was coming.
#FiveSentenceFiction – Goggles
I’m nipping in just under the wire with Lillie McFerrin’s challenge this (last?) week. My brain seems to have been in neutral for a while.
Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week Lillie McFerrin posts a one word inspiration. Anyone wishing to participate writes a five sentence story based on the prompt. The word does not have to appear in the five sentences, just use it for direction.
This week: GOGGLES
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At 73, Trevor had seen multifarious pairs of goggles, and worn a fair few during his working life, but he was always open to learning about more.
There’d been the small airless ones he’d sported to protect his eyes from the scouring sand as he’d bartered with the Tuareg. There were the dark wraparound type that had fended off sparks of metal that flew as he ground and polished the hulls of boats and planes. And there had been the water-tight pressure-tested kind that had allowed him to examine the multi-coloured and multi-limbed fauna of the coral reefs during his environmental days.
So sitting in the dentist’s chair, wearing loose-fitting, badly made, safety glasses, while the nice lass scraped at the remaining stumps in his jaw, was ever such a disappointing new experience.
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#VisDare 19 – Mirror – Busman’s Holiday
I really liked Angela’s VisDare photo prompt this week, but I couldn’t get a story from it until now.
Post entry to your blog and “link in” using the link tool.
Busman’s Holiday (123 words)
Denise and Jackie stood on the beach watching Stan struggle.
‘Does he know what he looks like?’
‘He’s an artist. Does he care?’
Jackie cast a worried look at her friend. ‘How‘s he going to balance that frame and take the photo. Aren’t we supposed to help?’
‘That was his idea but, by the time he’s waded to the perfect spot, wiggled and jiggled to capture the best view, I doubt he’ll be able to spot us amongst all the other sunbathers.’
‘You’re awful.’
‘A complete bitch. Or just the girlfriend who’s mightily sick of being dogsbody to someone lacking all talent except an overinflated ego.’
‘Isn’t Tate St. Ives around here somewhere?’
‘Great idea. Let’s go and look at some proper art.’
