This week's reading is a short story by Blair Hurley. For the next two weeks we'll still be looking at short stories / flash fictions despite the weekly topics being novellas and novels. This is because I want my blog to contain only free resources for the weekly readings, plus it would take to long to read a novel / novella every week!
If you missed it, you can find it here:
http://www.paperdarts.org/literary-magazine/2018/12/14/inhalants
I loved this piece from the moment I first read it. The style and subject matter are so unique - we are learning about a woman's life through her autopsy report.
Although the report starts off more medical, we get an insight into our "main character's" actual life without ever meeting her alive:
The examiner found popcorn kernels—you never really can get rid of them—and crumbs of chicken fingers and pizza grease, and the voices of grown-ups: Look at that, she inhaled it. She’ll be a big one. I thought big girls were grateful.
What I love about this story is how it starts off medical but ends so personal. We learn she has a baby, that she worried about her baby, that there were things she left unsaid, but wishes she hadn't.
Despite being a medical report, this story is still able to have a surprising ending:
The autopsy showed pond water, brackish and green, rimmed with foam. It showed that she opened her mouth, not to speak, but to welcome it in.
This ending is quite shocking after what we have learnt about her: having a child, a cat, being a college professor. But on a closer read, we are able to see the imperfections in her life, and what might have driven her to act in this way.
Again, by showing you these fabulous stories, I am trying to inspire you to read and write more diversely and creatively. The more obscure and cutting-edge stories you read, the better your work it will become and the more it will stand out.
This would make a great characterisation exercise. Write an autopsy report for the character you are working on at the moment. Where do they live? This character has collected a teaspoon worth of New York grime, but your character's lungs might be full of the fresh sea air, or dry like a desert, or filled with a particular scent.
Focus on the five senses and try to work each one in, this will really invoke a sense of character and setting. What does your character like to eat? What are their favourite smells? What memories might be etched into them?
Happy writing!
コメント