THE JOY OF STORY
John M. Daniel’s Blog
April 9, 2016
Greetings!
This week, I take pleasure in presenting a collection of 99-word stories sent
to me by folks who read this blog and (it’s obvious) take pleasure in writing.
This month’s theme is “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.”
Whether
or not you are a writer now, the chances are you were a writer as a young
child, and chances are that you began by writing something along this
order:
Dear Grandma,
Thank you for the
toy fire engine. It’s just what I wanted for my birthday…
My
assumption is that you are old enough to have been required to write thank-you
notes for gifts you received through the mail. That doesn’t seem to be the case
in this modern age of email and text messaging, but the art of correspondence
was important back in the day. (When was “the day” for me? A hint: you could
send a thank-you note through the mail with a three-cent stamp.) I can remember
complaining about having to write a letter to my grandmother, and I complained
that once the obligatory “thank you” was down on paper I had nothing else to
say. “Write about the weather,” my mother advised. “Grandma loves to talk about
the weather.”
So
I wrote about the weather, as did a lot of you older writers when you were
young, and for some of us, the habit took hold. Weather comes in handy for
writers and tellers of stories. Think of the tempest in King Lear. Or the nonstop monsoon tattoo in Somerset Maugham’s Rain. Jack London’s To Build a Fire (brrrr!), Irving Berlin’s lyric “Isn’t this a Lovely
Day to Be Caught in the Rain?”
But
remember: the weather has to be important to the plot of your story. It has to
have a powerful effect on the characters. Weather must be responsible for change.
You shouldn’t just describe the weather to fill space in the narrative. If you
waste paper on inconsequential meteorology, you might just as well still be
corresponding against your wish with your grandmother.
Keep
this rule in mind as you read this month’s 99-word tales. Note that weather matters in these stories.
Note: I thank Eileen
Obser for encouraging her writing students to participate in this game. Judging
from the stories they send, I can be sure Eileen is a fine teacher.
§§§
Weather
Report
a
mini-anthology of 99-word stories
SPRING CAN REALLY HANG YOU UP
by Lydia Stewart
March began in winter, and Leo roared in angry. But when spring
came, I lay down for him like a lamb in a field of flowers.
Young and foolish, we married on April first. Our honeymoon lasted
two weeks, and then, on April fifteenth, we had our first and last fight.
Money.
Leo took the month of May to mean permission to stray. He left me
for June.
I’ve come to accept that I’m better off without him, but come August
every year I miss Leo, and on April Fool’s Day, rain or shine, I weep showers
of loneliness.
•••
SPRING CAN REALLY HANG YOU UP THE MOST
by Jerry Giammatteo
Ah, springtime, he thought, strolling on this warm day in early April.
People were meandering through the park as the dormant warmth of the sun
emerged from winter doldrums.
He sought something to do tomorrow as spring fever enveloped him. He had
an inspiration. He’d fill a backpack with provisions and hike along Fire
Island.
Unfortunately, he didn’t consult a forecast. Upon awakening next morning
there were six inches of snow on the ground and the wind blowing a gale.
Sighing, he made some cocoa and selected a book. Spring can really hang
you up the most, he mused.
•••
NO APRIL IN
PARIS
by June
Hannay Kosier
April, for
me, means working in the garden. I get all entangled in overgrown wisteria
vines, my clothes get ripped by the thorns while I prune the roses, and my arms
get scratched while I’m cutting back the wild raspberries.
April
showers bring puddles and mud to fall into and slippery slopes to slide down,
resulting in ruined shoes and pants. My back aches from carrying bags of
fertilizer and mulch, and my hands have blisters from raking.
But April
showers will bring May flowers, and after that there is the best month of all
in the garden—June.
•••
INFLEXIBLE
SPRING
by Jim
Gallagher
The long, cold
winter had finally given way to mild weather that was perfect for a drive
on a country road, with the top down.
Ignoring the
potholes, we drove happily along, with the CD player blasting our favorite
tunes.
Sadly, we soon
realized it was all too good to last. After hitting a huge rut and one final
bump, the convertible sagged, scraped the pavement, and ground to a halt.
The mechanic determined that a suspension component had broken. He said the
repair would be costly.
•••
THE PROPHESY
by Diane
Hallett
I sought the
wizened woman, the one with the globe and cards.
“Can you help
me?” I asked. “I’ve lost my way in love.”
After consideration, the visionary
replied, “Seek your pleasure in summer, heat ignites your soul. The brightness
of fall promises paradise, don’t hesitate, be bold. Be cautious in the white of
winter, problems go unseen. Don’t tantalize your dream. Beware the cruelest
month, its reputation is foreboding. Spring can really hang you up the most.”
Now my dream
has ended, yet I tremble with fear. It’s the first day of April and a rope lies
near.
•••
MAINE-LY BLACK
AND BLUE
by Diane S.
Morelli
The throes of
winter made Jared, a Malibu native, question why he’d traded his surfboard for
a snowboard and moved in with his fiancée, Emily, from Bangor.
Jared loved
jogging almost as much as he adored Emily. He sprinted each morning on the
state-of-the-art treadmill in her Victorian’s home gym. Trotting indoors made
him miss sunlit jogs along the Pacific all the more.
The first dry
dawn in April lured Jared to a nearby outdoor track. His run ended abruptly.
When the
ambulance arrived, the paramedic said, “Surprise! Black ice in spring can
really hang you up the most.”
•••
SPRING HANGUPS
by Christine
Viscuso
“Spring can hang you up the most.”
“In what way, Des?” Tom slammed the door
on his gym locker and the two men headed for Tom’s car. “Are you referring to
taxes, love, or the Easter Bunny?”
“Love. I’m engaged to two women. Both
want to get married in April; both booked the honeymoon in Paris; and both are
going to the same catering hall today, as we speak.”
“Geez. You do have a dilemma.”
“Problem is, I met a great girl at the
gym. She wants to get married ASAP, in April. You know I’m a snow guy!”
§§§
Calling all authors—
I
feature a guest author the third Saturday (and week following) of each month.
If you’re interested in posting an essay on my blog—it’s also a chance to
promote a published book—email me directly at jmd@danielpublishing.com.
§§§
Call for submissions: Your 99-Word Stories
The deadline for May’s 99-word story
submissions is May 1. The stories will appear on my blog post for the week
beginning Saturday, May 14.
note: this 99-word story feature is a game, not a contest.
Obey the rules and I’ll include your story. I may edit the story to make it
stronger, and it’s understood that you will submit to my editing willingly.
That’s an unwritten rule.
Rules
for the 99-word story feature are as follows:
1. Your story must be 99 words long, exactly.
2. One story per writer, per month.
3. The story must be a story. That means it needs plot
(something or somebody has to change), characters, and conflict.
4. The story must be inspired by the prompt I assign.
5. The deadline: the first of the month. Stories will appear on
this blog the second Saturday of the month.
6. I will copy edit the story. The author of the story retains
all rights.
7. Email me your story (in
the body of your email, or as a Word attachment) to: jmd@danielpublishing.com
THIS MONTH’S PROMPT FOR NEXT MONTH’S 99-WORD STORY: Think of something you feel
strongly about, an opinion that defines who you are—or who you are
not—politically, spiritually, economically, professionally, or any other
important way. Why is it important? When did this self-knowledge come to you,
and how did it change your life? Show (don't tell) this in the context of a
story. Hint: if you don’t want to share the details of your own life, write
fiction.
§§§
And
now, in my continuing celebration of National Poetry Month, a plug for my second
Guy Mallon mystery, Vanity Fire. Guy,
as you may remember if you read last week’s post, is a collector of poetry and
a publisher of poetry collections.
Vanity Fire
A Mystery Novel
ISBN 1-59058-322-1
Hardback, $24.95
Buy or order Vanity Fire from your local bookstore,
from one of the online booksellers,
or direct from the publisher:
Poisoned Pen Press or call (800) 421-3976
This book is also available in ebook format:
Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/
Nookbook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
When the phone rings in the middle of the night,
publisher Guy Mallon learns his book warehouse has burned to the ground.
Rushing to the scene, he and arson inspector Rosa Macdonald see a total loss.
And a burned body. Guy Mallon Books faces bankruptcy and the probable
dissolution of its partnership—Carol Murphy, Guy's lover and business manager,
fed up, had already split. But why is her car spotted parked nearby?
Guy begins the story lunching with retired
businessman Fritz Marburger. Like the devil himself, Marburger tempts Guy with
a proposition: to publish celebrity jazz singer Sweet Lorraine Evans' novel,
which he will underwrite. It's the first step in a Faustian bargain that finds
Guy getting a whiff of the sweet smell of success, followed by the increasingly
noxious fumes as the crass Marburger becomes Lorraine's agent, rents Guy's
warehouse space, and saddles him with an amoral co-tenant: Roger Herndon
pornographer turned vanity publisher. All Roger needs is ace computerist Gracie
Worth to help set up his operation.
Supported
by two Santa Barbara poets with strong backs and by the sometimes puzzling
actions of Gracie and her friend/lover Kitty Katz—two strippers forming the
core of Roger's stable of porn stars and production assistants—Guy first tries
to make a go of the new venture and then, post murder, to bring Roger down and
reclaim his own soul, not to mention Carol.
Read
reviews of this book: http://www.danielpublishing.com/jmd/vanityreviews.html
§§§
Thanks
for stopping by. Tell your friends! And I hope to “see” you next week, when
we’ll have a guest appearance by writer Anne Schroeder. Meanwhile, don’t forget
the Joy of Story.
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| photo by Clark Rohr |
I was in two of your 99 word anthologies and had so much fun! I hope others try their hand. I'm sending this over to the Posse.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sunny. I'd love it if you told the Posse and spread the word!
ReplyDelete