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Stretching the Writing Muscle 
18th-Nov-2007 02:16 pm
Red Hair No Eyes 2

The writing break went well! I think I needed it anyway, considering I was starting a new job. After overloading my brain with all these new bank rules, it was nice to come home and just surf the Internet or sit down with a book. I finished Bloom, as I said and started Vampirates and Story of a Girl, which the library FINALLY got in. I was bugging them weekly. They're probably happy to get rid of me!

I also watched lots of TV and some movies. I watched an Australian indie remake of Macbeth. I love Australian indies. Ever seen Somersault? SO GOOD. The guy who played Macbeth in the remake was a main character in Somersault. His name is Sam Worthington and he is so yumm. He's been cast in James Cameron's new sci-fi movie, Avatar, so I think we'll be seeing more of him in the US. 

After watching Macbeth, I was instantly inspired to open a new document in Word and just started writing. The thing with Australian indies, they have this haunting quality, quiet and poetic. I just love them. At least the ones I've watched and perhaps it's true too for US indies, but I haven't seen many to know.

Anyway, here's what I just wrote and I love it. It felt so good to stretch that writing muscle after a week or so! That really isn't long at all, but, whatever. For me it is! 

This is a story of death. Of the literal and figurative sense.

Because I saw them dead and because I am not the same as I was when this story started.

Where did it start, exactly?

Where all stories start.

On a day.

On a day that began like any day.

Perhaps it was a Thursday though I can’t remember clearly. After the beginning, the titles of the day blurred together like lights outside a carousel. They were just a flash of golden smudged against the darkness.

But on that day, I twisted shut the lock on the front door of my father’s chocolate shop and that was where the ordinary ended. It was a distinct end, an audible click in the night.

The next sound that reached me, carried on the crisp cool wind of autumn, was a gunshot.

 

(And since this is technically a teaser, consider it my teaser for Tuesday. I'll be working all day Tuesday, so I won't post.)

Comments 
18th-Nov-2007 07:48 pm (UTC)
Oooh, I like that. Really sets the mood, and makes me want to read on. :D
19th-Nov-2007 09:51 pm (UTC)
Thanks! I like the way it left me feeling. I definitely want to explore it more.
18th-Nov-2007 08:00 pm (UTC)
That was awesome. What a great beginning!
19th-Nov-2007 09:51 pm (UTC)
Thanks!
18th-Nov-2007 08:26 pm (UTC)
Mmm, good strong voice. I love the juxtaposition of the chocolate shop and then the gunshot.
19th-Nov-2007 09:52 pm (UTC)
I wanted something sweet in a story that would otherwise be dark. ;)
19th-Nov-2007 01:59 am (UTC)
Beautiful! :) And yay for your new job too!
19th-Nov-2007 09:52 pm (UTC)
Thanks, Robin!
19th-Nov-2007 09:58 pm (UTC)
I agree about the Aussie indies. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert had me thinking for months when I first saw it!
23rd-Nov-2007 09:46 pm (UTC)
Wow! I hope you keep going with this one. I love the voice and the images you've created and I want to know how the chocolate shop and the gunshots figure into things and who the MC is.

Let me know if you keep writing this story!
24th-Nov-2007 04:18 pm (UTC)
I think I'm going to keep experimenting with it. I can't stop thinking about that beginning and the voice of the main character. So yeah, I hope it sticks!

Thanks, Stephanie!
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