This week for Sunday Scribblings, Jim and I continued our search for the perfect writing cafe, and again, didn't find it. The place we tried, Fleur de Lys, is a bakery/cafe built in a converted library. Sounds promising, and the oatmeal-fig-pumpkin seed scone was tasty, but the ambience was all wrong for writing. Sigh. But we tried our best. This time I wore my "I am creative" underwear (and have now run out of all inspirational undergarments and will have to invent imaginary pairs for future posts) and tried a piece of short fiction. When Meg asked me what I thought about "Real Life" as the theme for this week, right away a strange idea began to take shape from the swirling mists. And here, without further ado, it is... (and if anyone can tell me how to indent in blogger, I'd appreciate it!)
"Real Life"
**story removed because it is being published. Yay!**
(the end)
34 comments:
No, no, no! You can´t stop there!!! I want to read more!
Laini, I love this story! It's a bit deLint-ish in spirit, but still very you. I want to read more about this world. Great job!
OMG, this is so damn good! I still feel breathless from the suspense and anticipation!
Laini, you are a master of words and imagination--you had me hooked from the very first sentence and the change in the color of Esme's eye! Thank you for this generous dose of creativity and intrigue! Fabulous!!!!!!! xo
Holy crap I love you! That was great wifey! :)
While she had told me the beginning, I had no idea where she was taking it! SO impressed (once again! :)
xoxo
Jim
I think I might have said this before - but I wish I could wander around in your head for a while. I wouldn't disturb anything. No, I just would love to see the pretty colors and lovely and horrible creatures that live in all the irridescent worlds within. I'd be very, very quiet. This story is true magic.
THIS is why I would never attempt to write fiction--my imagination simply doesn't go veer in these sorts of directions. But, oh, how I admire those whose imaginations do. :) GREAT story!
Absolutely enchanting. I wanted to follow and join them.
I am so impressed once again. You have such a vivid imagination and the ability to share it with others in a powerful way. Wow! I was enraptured by your story.
A fairy tale for grown-ups! Great metaphors in a sort of parable of comfort for the searching artist. I imagined myself looking in the mirror just to see if maybe one of my eyes was starting to change color too...
Wow! GREAT opening line. And the rest was just wonderful! You should paint beautiful Laini pictures to go with it, and send it off to someone.
It made me think back to when I was an unhappy little girl, and I was SURE that I was going to find that this world was not even real, and I belonged in a magical place...
You rock.
Breathtaking! Like Jim, when you read me just the first two sentences this morning, I had no idea reading the whole thing where it would go, and I was hooked and delighted to the end! Reminded me of how I felt when I read Coraline. Way to go Feteeyo!
This is so amazing -- I loved it! I love Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, etc...this was like a beautiful, dangerous mix of them. I wish we could hear more. Any chance of turning it into a book?!??
Ahhh....wonderful. I hope that we hear more of Esme in the future and I love the girl's name!
LOVE this, laini! there are a million metaphors in there for me. climbing out. climbing up. new life. old life. tribal community. on and on. loved it. you have such a gift, my friend. can't wait to read your book!
Laini, I just went back to your story again after reading it this morning. I could be this 14 year old girl. At 58 I am definitely slipping sideways and to the left. Amazing how it all fit once I let it in.
Annie
Wonderful Laini!!!!!
A magical story! I loved the idea of her being able to see a whole new world through her new eye - what a wonderful adventure that could be. I never thought of using the prompts for short fiction. Thanks challenging us to think outside those darn boxes - and inside the manholes!
Hi Laini!
You can indent in blogger using the quotation button!
Absolutely amazing story! I was captivated right from the start.
JTL
xxx
Had me from the beginning. Loved this story. I was that girl. :-)
Wow. You're brain is such an amazing place to visit. Thanks for opening it up out here! I especially love the way you take places and elements generally used in dark stories and make them welcoming and promising. This was amazing.
You have a gift. I had tears in my eyes from the moment she found her tribe. Shifting to the left will be a new and meaningful metaphor for me. Thank you.
That was amazing. I love the way it ends with a sort of quiet power. It also has a feeling of snow, but it's speckled with brilliant color and vibrance. Awesome!!
Yesterday, I came and saw you wrote a story and I left without reading it. I wanted to anticipate it a little more...but I just returned to savor and enjoy it. Thank you, thank you....
more please! this reminds me of so many things...the short stories i've written that i love most play with reality. thank you so much for sharing this. it's fantastic. i love love love writing that makes me want to write, and this does.
jennifer
I'm with everyone else - wow. wow. Like Jamie said, the part about shifting to the left will be with me for a long time. You have a real gift.
um... but Laini... what happened NEXT?!?!
hi laini. i put this off as i wanted to give it my undivided attention. so glad i made the stay today. what a fantastic story! what a wonderful take on real life! just a little shift in perspective and your outlook, sight, journey could literally come to life and open up to have a whole new meaning. Your writing is so vibrant and the whole adventure was so inviting... so freeing... climbing, skipping, hovering, rooftops, butterfly wings, wolves... what a great afternoon treat!
Laini, that was amazing! Wow! I really love your story! Is that what your book is like?? Short stories? I don't remember seeing what it is about!
You are SO talented!!
"blur people"--such a great, evocative term. Life moves so fast and its so hard to be aware in every moment that it does feel like we're "blur people", sleep-racing through the days, moving too fast to latch on to anything. But maybe there are other beings like the wiskered lady, who are wiser than us, who know how to absorb life and live, maybe more dangerously (with wolves) but also without constraints, with a fully free imagination.
P.S. It was sweet of you to put me under your links!
I must chime in with, I think it was Chest of Drawers - Please Don't Stop There!
I want to read more, More, MORE of Esme's adventures in this magical world with the whiskered and winged wildthings!
I'm so glad you interpreted the Real Life prompt into an enchanted real life.
Thanks, I needed that!
Enchanting piece! Reminds me a little of Antoine de Saint Exupery's "Little Prince." Each of has our own unique place in the world. Your story is wonderful!
THAT WAS TOTALLY AWSOME!!!!!!!
By the way if you ever come to Staten Island NY there is a real nice little coffie shop called Muddy Cup.
More, please.
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