Monday, March 5, 2012

Second Campainger Challenge

Quite an interesting challenge we have this week! We had five prompts this time, and the ability to use some of them or all of them using various writing guides. Complete info on the challenge can be found on Rachel's blog.

The activities I chose are:
  1. Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words)
  2. Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts
  3. Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts
And I decided to go with these challenges:
  • Complete at least three of the activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be)
  • Write in a genre that is not your own

Here are my pieces, feel free to interpret them how you wish. They are in the order I wrote them: poem, flash fiction, logline.

Silence fell through my Hands and Crashed at my Feet

We sit here together, and the only thing to cover us and keep us safe

is something that’s also on its way to decay.

We’ve become monsters who can only hide in the shadows

while children who can still dream play in the sun.

A long time ago the bubble burst and there was nothing there to catch us

so we shattered into a million shards.

Like forlorn souls, we sift through the wreckage

trying to find pieces of ourselves, but we’ve fallen too far.

I close my eyes as you stroke my hair, but instead of darkness, all I can see is fractured light;

a memory of all the things we let fall through our hands.

*

We used to think running away would solve our problems; that if we ran far enough we could find happiness and forget everything we left behind. But the only thing we’ve found is darkness thicker than what we used to know.

There was another bridge, in another life, where a little boy played for hours and all he knew of nightmares were things that weren’t really lurking under his bed. Does he still play there? Or like me, does he just stare at the water feeling like his heart burst in his chest, and even though he bleeds, he must live on?

I feel like a beggar, leaning on someone who bleeds for me, but who can’t give me light. I ran for him, but I am raked with regrets. Now, whenever I dream, it’s not people or places I see, but explosions of color like fireworks that remind me that when the light fades, the impenetrable night sky remains.

“What are you thinking about?”

“My son.” He holds me closer, but I’m still cold. “Do you think he still plays on the bridge?”

I thought I was suffocating then; now I truly know what it’s like to not breathe.

*

Aura was suffocating in a marriage that broke her in every way; her only joy being her son and a forbidden romance with her childhood friend, Micah, whose poverty put him far below Aura’s class. When Micah convinces Aura to run away with him, her desperation to be with him sends them into a world they soon realize they are not prepared to face. Weighed down by Aura’s regret for leaving her son, and their inability to support themselves, Aura and Micah may soon realize that happiness is what they left behind.

30 comments:

  1. You have a gift of words, my friend ;)

    "So we shattered like a million shards" Love it.

    Love how poetic you are even in your prose. Very nice. :D

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  2. Love love love! The poem and the flash were beautiful, sad and evocative. Great job!
    Voting for you now!

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  3. I loved that line , raked with regrets. Lovely! You did a nice job. I could only manage two: a pitch and flash fiction. This was a hard challenge. but you did a fantastic job!

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  4. Those blend together beautifully. Well done! :)

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  5. I loved the whole thing. All three aspects tied together in a common theme. It was all very eloquent and poetic. Well done!

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  6. what a tapestry of exposure! from symbolic to literal and such a tagedy! great!

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  7. Oh, I liked all of these. It's very sad--it reminds me a little bit of "Becoming Jane." You always want true love to workout...it's confusing when it doesn't lead to happiness though. Good job!

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  8. Very poetic prose, even in the fiction piece. Creates a real emotional feel. Nice work.

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  9. I love how you wove all these entries together.

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  10. All three are very nice pieces, well done! I really enjoyed your poem, great use of description!

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  11. Wow. Amazing pieces. I especially loved the poem—so beautiful.

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  12. Very good! You get a vote for sure.
    Melissa Maygrove #14

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  13. I especially like this: "nightmares were things that weren’t really lurking under his bed." (#30)

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  14. Ah, I love that they ran and are finding that life may not be everything they thought it would be. Well done.

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  15. Oooh, so lovely. I love the flow of your words.

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  16. Holy cow! You are extremely talented. Your words flow like river water on a sunny day. Great job! #54

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  17. I love your imagery and prose in your entry. It is perfectly dosed - not too much, not too little. Very nice job! (:

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  18. Love the first line in your poem!

    Your story sounds so sad, but I'm very attracted to it and would love to read their whole story.

    #38

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  19. Beautiful writing. I loved all of your prose. Your imagery is fantastic. Well done.

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  20. This is wonderfully poetic! Love it!

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  21. Way to do the poem - I thought that was the hardest prompt!

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  22. Like some others, I found your story just as poetic as the poem. Haunting imagery and a great portrayal of a doomed love affair.

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  23. Nicely done. Such a thread of sadness...

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  24. You have a beautiful way of writing! I loved your entries:)

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  25. I really loved all of these! Your writing is beautiful. :-) In particular, your poetry has a wonderful sense of flow.

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  26. I appreciate all the comments, thank you!

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  27. Lovely. Reminds me of Anna Karinena (or however you spell that). Definitely voting for you:)

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  28. Absolutely beautiful. I loved it. Great job.

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  29. These are quite lovely. You have a gift with words :)

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  30. That feels a little too bleak for my taste, but thanks for sharing and joining in the challenge!

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