Filling the space below the shingles since 2008

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Nano Fiction, 1-2-3

Owing to the fact that I have written approximately ZILCH since . . . I can't even remember when, I decided to write some nanofiction. You can tell I haven't written in awhile, but if nothing else, it reignited the creative flame.

To all who have preceded me in doing this: I'm impressed. Tom, I hope that coming from a stranger, the fact that your nanofiction blew me away means a little something extra to ya.

The Smell of Fear:
As they leave under a blackened sky, the boy wipes a red river from his nostrils and says, “I get nosebleeds when I’m nervous.”

Garages:
She’d kissed him twice before today in the same stagnant parking garage, when her eyes prickle as he pushes in too far.

Month-to-Month:
December, he coughs blood into the Kleenex she keeps in the glove box. February, she leaves her keys in an envelope on the mantel.

2 comments:

Kate said...

Oh, AP, you make me so happy (even though you don't return phone calls)...these are just your specialty of lovely/dark. Is it just me, or do these three sound like part of the same narrative? Month-to-Month is particularly nice, feels so whole, complete with trajectory and recurring metaphor...as well as the title, which I first read as "mouth-to-mouth"...and I'm geeking out.

Tom said...

Hi Allie,

I haven't read much by you before, so I can't really attest to "your specialty of lovely/dark" but I was stuck by how vivid your words felt while describing less-than-bright topics:
"blood into Kleenex"
"red river"

I particularly like "Garages". Your characters have a past, they are alive in their sensory detail, AND there's this change inside your female character when he "pushes in too far." In just 25 words, awesome!