As I said in my last post, the assignment was to write a 26-sentence story where each sentence starts with a successive letter of the alphabet. In addition, A Certain Kathryn has repeatedly asked me to write a short short story for her for her now long long past birthday. None of my previous efforts really suited that purpose. So I decided to start with the working title "Kathryn," and this story is what happened. I've since changed the title to "They Met At the Library." It's 354 words and available here. Although it's not exactly erotic, I suppose if you are either (a) particularly prudish or (b) my mother, I'd rather you not read it. (Sorry, Mom.) There's also a bonus reference to an earlier SSF post just for JFW readers. Class is Tuesday at 8pm EST, so let me know if you have any non-spirit-desiccating comments or suggestions.
Update, 2/1: Revised to fix an egregious spelling error with X word. Also pleased to see that Kathryn herself has offered her appraisal in the comments.
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11 comments:
I liked the other story better, but maybe i'm just a) prudish, or b) your mom.
Actually, what happens for me is that when you break with the sequence at the end, I get confused about who is talking. But I've never been very smart.
Prude/Mom: Really? But they just alternate. An advantage of HTML instead of written text for this is that I could use colors to distinguish speakers.
RWS: Thanks!
I get confused because I get jarred and thrown out of the flow. Then I have to get back in and I don't know who is talking, so I have to back up a bit and restart. I get that it is back and forth.
hey, your stories aren't 26 sentences long. are you going to get in trouble?
Entertaining.
The alphabet device is more apparent in this one. Sort of a sing-song rhythm works its way in as you go along. Maybe you're enjoying the gimmick more than the characters now?
Looking forward to your teacher challenging you to dig deep!
Thanks for sharing. Fun.
Josh
I'm not sure if I'll be challenged to dig deep or, if so, if I'll rise (dig?) to that challenge. This is just Adult Education after all, which is also why I'm not worried about the 26 sentences.
Anon: Any ideas for what I can do to help the problem where you needed to restart?
Also: My other idea for the N line was "Narwhals go through a specific sequence every time they mate." Any opinions?
Narwhals = hot. plus, they probably do have a particular mating sequence.
You ARE sensitive! Not deep, deep.
Keep posting those stories. Your blog (and commenters) sure are evolving since you hit Cambridge.
Hey, this is a lively blog, man.
Josh
JECG: this reminds me of two things. (1) On "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (a TV improv show), one of their exercises occasionally is to improv a sketch where each sentence has to begin with the next letter of the alphabet. Since both of your stories are in dialogue, it really reminds me of that. (2) In my Grammar class in college (it was an awesome class, really), one of our exercises was to write a story consisting only of subject-verb-object sentences. Harder than it sounds. If I can find it, I'll send it to you.
are you going to tell us how the class responds to your stories? i'm curious to see if they "get" you.
Thanks for my birthday present! It's very approrpiate too... nothing screams Kathryn quite like library nudity. You rock!
--Kathryn
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