I’ve noticed that on many creative writing blogs writers share their work. What a revelation! I’ve been spending most of my time writing about blogging and craft (which have their place, of course), when my peers are doing what they do best–writing creatively.
So using a prompt adapted from The Pocket Muse: “In your character’s voice, describe a holiday without resorting to cliches or familiar imagery,” I share the first paragraph of the following short story — an exercise in “Knowing your Characters.”
Thanksgiving Behind Bars/Knowing your Characters
A pall hung over the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center on Thanksgiving Day. Although the sun shone brightly, its rays could not penetrate the walls of the prison or the hearts of the people inside. Officer Matt Bruno’s jaw ached with empathic rage as he watched the inmates file past the Trustee distributing Thanksgiving dinners from a metal heating cart: turkey with all the fixing, pre-cooked and covered in plastic. Missing was the aroma of poultry and stuffing, hot out of the oven, and of candied yams and green beans with lemon zest and parsley. Butt and feet, that’s what the place smelled like, a weird oily smell that clung to the clothes, and got into the pores and the hair. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst was the heaviness in the air.
If you’d like to read the rest of this short story and four other super short stories click HERE.
As always, thanks for stopping by,
Very nice! Don't you love those writing prompts? They've moved to Saturday so be sure to check it out.
Thanks Tonya. Will do.
Your comment is so true, Margaret. The internet has provided us many options, however, one can get lost because of these tempting options. It's a great reminder, I have many blogger-writer-followers who have somewhat fell into what you described, perhaps to try and promote their writing? I wonder if they ever realized?
I noticed as well many writers will post their creativity online, but I wonder how secure that is. I mean, we pour our hearts into our creation and to put it out there publicly for someone to swipe away with a click of a mouse concerns me. Where are the lines drawn in protecting the author's works when it comes to publishing your stories online say at your blog or any other site? Do the copyright laws apply the same as when you put pen to paper? The reason I question this is because recently a published author told me posting one's stories online could possess plagiarism problems. Clarification on this matter would be helpful, if you know. But….getting back to the piece you wrote, this is very well written. You have a picturesque story-telling manner with your words and I could visualize this scene clearly in my head. Good job!
Self Sagacity. I'll be doing a bit of both for awhile and when the time is right, spend more time talking about my own journey as a writer. It's hard knowing what my readers actually come here for. In time, I'm sure they'll let me know.
Hi Cathy. So far, I've only posted short stories that I don't plan to have published in any other way. If people steal them, I'll probably never know. The work I put on my blog is to "audition my voice," so to speak, you know, give my readers an idea of my writing style, so when my novels do come out, they will hopefully want to read them. That said, I have put the first chapter of my latest novel on my blog because when I entered it in The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest, they put it out there for anyone to download onto their Kindles. By entereing the contest, it's perfectly clear that this is my work. I have a copyright on all that is put on my blog with MY FREE COPYRIGHT, which sends me a daily e-mail with a "All Rights Reserved" fingerprint for my latest blog. You might want to look into this or check out something similar such as CREATIVE COMMONS. Thank you for reading my story and the very nice comment.
Margaret, I didn't know this existed, but shouldn't be surprised. This is all new to me and I'm learning something with each passing day. I guess this is a good thing, though, right? I looked at MY FREE COPYRIGHT and I may consider doing this with my future blogs. I did notate at the bottom of my site the copyright symbol with my name and year. What is your opinion regarding this?
Hi Cathy. I'm definitely no expert, but it seems that once you've posted your material on your blog you have proof that it's yours with date, time, and everything. If someone steals after that and HAS IT PUBLISHED, which I find highly unlikely (It's hard to get things published, we all know that.), then you can go from there. All the experts I've talked to say that it's highly unlikely anyone will steal your work and get it published. It's so distinctly your own and probably not THAT good (Maybe if I was Stephen King). Anyway, this is a risk all writers take when they put their work out there. Protect what you can and then write and share, is my motto.
I've never been too worried about people stealing my work off the internet. If they want it that bad, it means I must have done a good job.
Interest take on the prompt. Though, poor Jimmy is done for already with a guard looking like his friend. It's a tough world behind bars.
I agree with you on the stealing, Raven. And yes, my take on the prompt was not your normal Thanksgiving story. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.