Happy Halloween! Your challenge for this Friday, 10-28-11, is to use the picture above to write a spooky flash fiction of 80-120 words. I would also like you to please use this H.P. Lovecraft word in your submission:
"...tenebrous..."
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Obscure
She held her hands high, stretching the wings that had been expertly grafted in to her skin. It had taken her months of research in dusty bookstores and Wiccan enclaves to unearth the tenebrous rites that made her transformation possible, and even longer to find a practitioner who would take her money. Now she was free to search for prey. Her blood warmed and her skin tightened and puckered, before flight. She would feast often and drink deeply this Halloween.
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Gloomy
“But Dad!” she stomped her feet and threw herself up against the pillar with all the drama she could muster, “all of the cool kids are going as vampires! Why can’t I?”
“First,” he looked at her, trying not to look at her developing form, “no daughter of mine is going to a party with a crowd of tenebrous vampires, and certainly not in that get-up.” He tried not to stare at her jet black hair, her chest, her hips, and her leather bodice.
“I’m asking mom!”
“Ginny! “ He yelled, “I already told her she can’t go out like that!”
“Dear,” she replied, “Lilly’s 18 now, and it’s just a party.”
Harry growled. “Who thought up Topless Twilight anyway?”
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Dark
She couldn’t shake the feeling, so she just stood still, not even able to take comfort from the sound of her heart that no longer beat within her chest. She never got used to silence of her own body. So much death, stillness, a life barren of life itself, a mockery of the living. “Tenebrous” That was the word Lovecraft used as he sank his teeth into her neck so many years ago, and he was right, for that was the last sunrise she had ever seen.
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Commentary to follow. I have to hurry and meet my carpool now.
OK - As promised (even though I think only 1-2 people have read this yet) I'll add a little commentary The word tenebrous was a new word, and that's always fun, though it makes it awkward to use. It doesn't roll off the tongue comfortable, it's like wearing a new suit to an interview, it's the right thing to do, it's fitting, yet everyone knows it was just put on for the day and that it isn't really you. Obscure, gloomy, and dark are the clothes you put on every day, they are a bit worn, a little to familiar, and have shown up in too many family pictures, but they fit and look good enough.
I liked the picture and the petulant teen in Gloomy came to mind first. For those of you who are familiar with the names, you'll get the joke, for those who aren't, let me tell you. Harry Potter married Ginny Weasely and had a daughter Lilly, named after Harry's mother. Among teenage girls 15 - 19 there is great debate, and some disturbingly deep-seated acrimony between Harry Potter fans and Twilight fans. Having Harry's daughter go to a "Topless Twilight" party made me laugh, so I wrote it.
I liked the others as well, they are darker and more thoughtful. Vampiric immortality has been dealt with more lately, dispelling the myth that living forever, at least in human form, is an ideal. We've all lived too long, maybe its in a job we should have quit, a marriage we should have left, or a degree program that just wasn't going anywhere. We like stability, the myth of stasis, of "just staying put." But that's not life. Life is change and decay and rebirth and growth. All vampires get to do is hunt. There world is dark, there is no life, and I tried to capture that in my 120 words.
Have a great day. There is a long list of participants this week so close the door, tell people you are on a conference call, and start reading!
OK - As promised (even though I think only 1-2 people have read this yet) I'll add a little commentary The word tenebrous was a new word, and that's always fun, though it makes it awkward to use. It doesn't roll off the tongue comfortable, it's like wearing a new suit to an interview, it's the right thing to do, it's fitting, yet everyone knows it was just put on for the day and that it isn't really you. Obscure, gloomy, and dark are the clothes you put on every day, they are a bit worn, a little to familiar, and have shown up in too many family pictures, but they fit and look good enough.
I liked the picture and the petulant teen in Gloomy came to mind first. For those of you who are familiar with the names, you'll get the joke, for those who aren't, let me tell you. Harry Potter married Ginny Weasely and had a daughter Lilly, named after Harry's mother. Among teenage girls 15 - 19 there is great debate, and some disturbingly deep-seated acrimony between Harry Potter fans and Twilight fans. Having Harry's daughter go to a "Topless Twilight" party made me laugh, so I wrote it.
I liked the others as well, they are darker and more thoughtful. Vampiric immortality has been dealt with more lately, dispelling the myth that living forever, at least in human form, is an ideal. We've all lived too long, maybe its in a job we should have quit, a marriage we should have left, or a degree program that just wasn't going anywhere. We like stability, the myth of stasis, of "just staying put." But that's not life. Life is change and decay and rebirth and growth. All vampires get to do is hunt. There world is dark, there is no life, and I tried to capture that in my 120 words.
Have a great day. There is a long list of participants this week so close the door, tell people you are on a conference call, and start reading!
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