Candy

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION: CANDY

"It's like taking candy from a baby," he said, "and all the baby can do is scream at you until you give it back but it makes you feel like a terrible person."

I rolled my eyes and wrapped up his purchases in the fancy, gold lettered boxes we were famous for.

"Mr. Luchesi, I firmly believe in the power of diamonds," I said, failing to mention the fact that diamonds had never worked before on the stubbornly unrepentant Mrs. Luchesi.

"You always say that Tom..."

I winced, held up my hands and said, "You could always stop stealing her truffles and prove to her that you've turned over a new leaf - she might even come out of her room this time!"

Ha! This is so random. 

Come join the fun at Lillie McFerrin's blog. Five Sentence Fiction is somewhat addicting, just be forewarned. :D

FSF: Tears

Annoying droplets of water kept trickling down from my eyes and they refused to stop falling. The wind was blowing against my face, making it cool and fresh.

I wondered if the shade of my nose matched the red shoes I had put on… because everyone knows red is a lucky color. And if shoes are red, well, it might even give you the strength to tell someone you love them.

Even it meant running away to a world I wasn’t sure existed… and yes, even though he would laugh at me and ask me if it were even slightly possible that I’d been crying over him. 

A random Spring Break pic since I have no teary one...

Well. This is convenient. :) I had a writer's meeting last night with two delightful friends and we were discussing our big projects/manuscripts and the equally important "distraction projects". The project that keeps you going when you hit a rough spot and need to be creatively rebooted. 

I didn't really have one. I have plenty of ideas, they just seem to fizzle away after a few days, maybe a week. I still love them, it's just nothing grabbed me like my current project. 

Last night I remembered a fun, modern day, fairy tale that I had always wanted to write but I joked that I didn't think I would like it because it's just so... happy. Compared, at least, to my current project which is filled with some pretty messed up people. 

But I like happy stories. So I got home, pulled out my old storyboards and started flipping through all sorts of character charts and exciting plot points. I'm pleased to say I discovered that I had carefully mentioned at least one insecurity and 'greatest fear' for each character. Several have very broken pasts. I liked that. 

Suddenly, they all seemed like real people. And real people make for delicious fairy tales. So I'm kindly writing them one. I'm quite distracted. :) 

Anyway, the convenient part of this post is that, as I was writing, I hit a rough spot. Then I remembered the Five Sentence Fiction word for this week! TEARS. 

Even happy fairy tales need a healthy dose of tears. I have to make their lives a little miserable before the happy ending, right? Bahaha. 

Problem solved. 

FSF: Wicked

Photo Courtesy of ~

Verecundus threw himself into his uncle's parlor, sweating and spewing words that - had his mother been alive - would have been his last. He threw a mauve cushioned stool toward the bookcase, shattering the glass and books catapulted about the room. Still screaming, he reached for another stool when a small green bottle caught his eye, sitting unharmed at the back of the bookcase. He snatched it up and, breathless, read the inconspicuous label: "Large. Winged. Potion." Suddenly, Verecundus felt no need to wait for his approaching punishment and laughing wickedly, downed every last drop. 

Whew, barely got this one in! Five Sentence Fiction through Lillie McFerrin. You know you want to do this. :) 

FSF: Tattered

My heart beats once, then twice, but then I forget to listen for even that little sound. My eyes listlessly explore the state of the room in front of me, seeing and not seeing the crumpled paper, the bleeding colors, the false beginnings. The silence is so overwhelming but I can't look down. I can't bear to see it - I'm afraid it is just another broken idea attempted with strokes of shaking fingers. I'm afraid that this painting too, will be in shreds, just like my heart. 

Yeeepp. Never saw that one coming. That's what I get for drinking chocolate milk at 10pm on a Tuesday night...

Does this sound fun?! (of course it does, don't lie.) Please join in the madness at Lillie McFerrin's awesome blog. :)

FSF: Enchanted

There was a strange tapping noise coming from my bedroom and I paused at the door, deciding immediately it was too big to be Ferdinand.

The thought of Ferdinand made my stomach twist with guilt but I told myself I had to find out what was making that awful noise before I made that dreaded phone call.

I slipped the door open wide enough for one eye to peek through and found two horrors reflected upon my retinas.

The first was the little green imp covered in lavender paint sitting on my floor; the second was that in his hands was my favorite hammer and he was capably nailing lavender painted nails into my varnished wood floors.

"Boo," he said, a little green tongue dancing between pointed teeth as he blew something shiny into my face, knocking me to the floor and the only thing I could remember was: I really do need to call Prince Philip and explain everything before they call off our engagement...

So. I had this dream last night about a girl who was supposed to marry a Prince but she felt he would be jealous because she loved her cats as much, maybe more, than she loved him. So she ran away and started running into all these other princesses that were running away - as well as a friendly panther and a crazy cowboy scientist and one princess who had at least 20 children.

Anyway. It would make a good story. :)

FSF: Yearning

~photo courtesy of~

They stood at the edge of a pier, wind blowing through their already windblown and saltwater streaked hair. The sun was just peeking over the tops of the waves, caressing their faces and lighting their eyes with its warmth. The water had been freezing that morning and the girl was shivering, but in a beautiful, alive kind of way as the moment filled her chest with fresh air that would not be released.

Next to her, the boy slowly entwined his fingers with her's and though he couldn't look, he hoped she didn't mind. 

She didn't. 

FSF: Shiver

The old woman in front of her had once been very beautiful. Now she was regal: soft wrinkles in her face, full lips and hair streaked with an elegant silver. Her hands were folded under a coverlet and her chest rose gently against a silk robe. Even asleep on her throne, the perfect posture and stern mouth spoke of power, but, Bria thought, with her eyes closed she almost looked kind. When they opened, however, all Bria's ideas of grandmotherly affection and reconciliation shattered.

Bahaha. 

So, this actually might go into my current manuscript... I was force writing tonight (trying to get back into the habit of writing every day) and I was having trouble describing my protagonist's creepy grandmother. I think I like this. What do you guys think? Too much detail? Not enough detail?

Clandestine

Five Sentence Fiction! I remember the first time I heard the word 'clandestine'. I was sitting in Latin class in 6th grade and we were talking about derivatives of some Latin word - maybe clandestinus? - and my Latin teacher was trying to explain to us what it meant... It took a long time for me to understand it too. 


Weird memory. But it's a great word!! So, here we go: 


(now it sounds really weird because I've had to sound it out so many times to spell it... )


CLANDESTINE: 

"Do you really think this is a good idea?"
"No."
"People are going to go insane, Hermosa is going to kill you, I'm going to kill you, the Prime Minister's wife is going to lose her wig... really, darling, this is a terrible, terrible idea."
"As long as you deliver the note and  the rest of us stay under the bridge no one will get hurt... unless someone kills me."
"This is why it is not a good idea!" I hissed, but he only smirked and pointed at the dark horizon.

Radiance

A delicate trickle of light flows through the trees and illuminates her path. Her bare feet float through the rose petals, each breath coming a little faster than the last. The world feels like a warm distant dream and she expects it to wrinkle around the edges and disappear at any moment. She sees what she's been waiting for and hopes he is real; her heart is ready to fly out of her chest. There is a pause in her walk, a gentle embrace and the shining burst of a smile as her veil is lifted.

Five Sentence Fiction numero dos. :)

((Side note: McKenzie is suffering from Obsessive-Wedding-Planning-And-I-Really-Want-To-Get-Married-TOMORROW Syndrome and this will be evident through her writing for a couple of days. She will try to contain it within her journal. Don't worry - this usually only lasts a couple of days and she returns to normal. Usually.))

Five Sentence Fiction

Lightning: 

We fly through the water, breathing in the salt around us. From above, you wouldn't be able to see us until we chose and even then you wouldn't understand what you were seeing. People don't believe we exist and we hold that to our advantage; for some secrets are worth keeping. This way, we can swim and no one ever sees but a glimpse of flashing light, like the reflections of lightning, as we go past. 

I love writing prompts sooo much! This is called Five Sentence Fiction and I found it on Lillie McFerrin's blog. Super fun stuff. This week was apparently 'Your Choice' so I just picked a word from the old list of words.

I'm in a mermaid mood. :) Let me know what you think!