
They were in a little cottage out the back with nothing to write about on a dark and stormy night. Delia, a tall, strapping, Scandinavian woman, with long greyish blond hair down to her waist, had just given them, a small group of seniors, fifteen minutes silent writing during the class on short story writing. You should be able to come up with something, she said,almost despairing of her hopelessly floundering flock. This was the second session and still not a word had been written. The thunder boomed and lightning flashed helpfully as if to provide prompts. Delia paced up and down out the front working herself into a froth.
Just then, as if on cue, the door flew open, and a drug-addled man with straggly blond hair and black tank top stormed in, neck and arms swathed in devil tatts, shouting obscenities in a strange guttural language, throwing chairs around the room thankfully with no one in them, and then with his anger quenched, stormed out again. Where’s Security when you need them, fumed D who immediately phoned the police. Suddenly everyone started furiously writing. Delia could not stop them.
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Wow! What a class!
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this was so easy to write about because Lynne, one of the seniors, told us about it last night: she was in that class; it happened only three days ago around 8pm and she made it come alive —
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I think it would freak me out a bit. Flying chairs aren’t my preferred muse. 🙂 But I can see that it was very atmospheric and kind of like a horror scene. It would be fun to read what all the class participants wrote and see what was similar and what was different about their observations and feelings.
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yes, that would be worth hearing; hopefully some of that will happen when Lynne goes back for the third session during the week: I can certainly check on how it affected Lynne’s writing 🙂
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Nice
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I knew it was a mistake me wandering into that class! 🙈🤣
Seriously though… Sounds intense. Still, great experience for fuelling the creative fires 👍🖤
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🙂 that is a GREAT opening ! true, nothing like the frisson of horror to get the creative juices flowing: I’m rewriting this for ‘The Drabble’. condensing it into 100 words —
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Ah brilliant!! Can’t wait to see it! 😁🖤
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assuming they publish 🙂 the trick is to condense a 196 word story into a 100 word story without losing any of the flavor; tricky 🙂
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Quite a sudden turn of events. Perhaps she hired him to inspire the class?
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you know something, Beth? I entertained the same thought myself 🙂
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so crazy, but I love to believe in the unlikely possibilities at times
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Hi
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Hi back; did you enjoy this one?
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Yeah
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That’s a heck of a muse!
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you wouldn’t want to meet her/him in a dark alley 🙂
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What a class! And what a scary muse!
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I think I like my muses gentle, Hobbo — like you, I suspect 🙂 nothing too melodramatic 🙂
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Hear, hear!
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It hadda been a setup
devil tats and chairs
worked though, didnit?
Magic
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I can imagine this getting into all their stories:) I mean, how could you leave it out?
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Awesome!
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okay, thanks 🙂
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Hi John,
Love this.
Makes perfect sense, like sending electric shock to the brain.
Have a great weekend,
eden
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thanks, Eden, you too; ‘an electric shock to the brain’: I like that 🙂
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Great story and well told! Guess the chairman that came in was Delia’s husband!
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that’s what we’re all guessing by now: Lynne might have an answer to that after class on Tuesday night —
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That’s just what we need to shake ourselves awake and then the pen becomes the necessary agent.
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we certainly need something to shake us from our torpor, perhaps not a chair throwing man 🙂
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He was using his surroundings like all ninjas are trained to do. 😂 forgot to say, fun story.
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ooo I like that comparison very much ; I’ve never written a ninja story or poem, have you? now there’s a challenge !! that would be a fun piece 🙂
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no ninjas yet. Could sneak into a story, I imagine. Right now, trying to block out the most disturbing insect imagery from my mind after tonight’s casual viewing of The Hellstrom Chronicle, which I can never now unlive. (Very impactful)
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it was a very powerful film and obviously still is; sorry about that — but it’s like that wild bloke with the chairs: it may shake something out of you; hope the kids didn’t see it —
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They have a strict 8 pm bedtime. Keeps this ship a float. No sorry, as I’m glad I viewed it. Thanks for shattering any remaining illusions of our species.
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oh dear; I may have to view it again; it’s been decades; if only we could write something as impactful as that …
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That would definitely give me something to write about! Great job, John!
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🙂 thank you,: how could you not write after a prompt like that 🙂
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