Hooray! It's First Friday again, and three great authors have described,
in 150 words or less, what they saw in this picture. Each one had an entirely different idea.
This is how creativity works. Wonderful examples.
HALLINAN
For thirty
years, Andres played his guitar in the corner of the little Barcelona bar as
the clientele changed from working-class people to thugs and gangsters from the
wharves, to slumming aristocrats, and finally to gay men and women. But Andres
played on: seguedillas, flamenco, classical.
On the night Andres didn't show up for work, the bartender went to his
one-room apartment and found it empty, except for his guitar. No effects of any kind. The bartender brought the guitar back and
leaned it against Andres' chair. In the
1990s the bar was closed and shuttered for the last time. A year ago, the building was scheduled for
demolition, and the workmen found a room rotten with damp, the walls cracked
and peeling, everything shrouded in plaster dust. But the guitar leaning against the chair in
the back corner: it looked like someone had dusted it every night for years.
LANE
“Thank
you . . . thank you.” He nodded to the enthusiastic crowd that overflowed the
smoky basement club. Breathing in the sweet smell of weed, he flashed his best
boyish grin at the table nearest the stage. Three sexy chicks, all giving him
the eye. He’d go home with at least one
of them – shit, maybe all three. If a
good looking guitar player couldn’t get laid…
He shifted his butt on the
stingy-seated folding chair and struck a tentative chord…
His wife’s voice shrilled down the
stairs. “Damn it, Mort, can’t you shut the basement door? You couldn’t play guitar fifty years ago; you
can’t play it now, you old fool.”
The door slammed; the nightclub
disappeared. Alone in the dank, mildewed basement, Morton sighed and watched
another leaf of paint peel loose and drift, like a discarded dream, to join the
others littering the floor.
MONAJEM
Rafaela DaVinci bared her fangs.
“You put my guitar in the dungeon?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s a cellar,”
I said mildly. Damp, with peeling paint and fractured linoleum, sure—but it was also the closest time
portal. “I propped it against a chair.”
She snarled, all flying hair and
furious eyes. “That guitar cost ten
thousand bucks!”
“So it’s the perfect bait,” I said.
“Titus can smell an antique from eons away, and if he opens the portal to take
it…”
“I can get back to the future.”
Where she wouldn’t have to hide her fangs.
“Where I’ll have to buy back my own damned guitar!”
“That’s where my brilliance comes
in,” I said. “I’ve rigged the pickup inside the guitar. Any noise in there and
we’ll hear it. You’ll have ten seconds
to cross the portal, snatch the guitar—
The portal opened, squawking a warning through the pickup. Rafaela
ran.
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| The Fear Artist - Amazon |
ABOUT THE
AUTHORS
Timothy
Hallinan
Timothy
Hallinan is the Edgar-nominated author of the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers,
the Junior Bender Mysteries, and the 1990s cult-favorite PI novels featuring
Simeon Grist. His newest Poke Rafferty
novel, THE FEAR ARTIST, received stars from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and
Library Journal. Hallinan also edited
SHAKEN, an ebook anthology of stories, with 100% of the proceeds going to Japan
tsunami relief, will soon release an ebook called MAKING STORY: 21 WRITERS ON
HOW THEY PLOT.
Hallinan wishes to acknowledge that
the Barcelona
bar was stolen, or rather inspired, by the bar in GITANA by Sam Reaves,
masquerading as Dominic Martell. http://www.timothyhallinan.com/ His blog is in his website.
 |
| Under the Skin--Amazon |
Barbara
Monajem
 |
| To Rescue or Ravish?--Amazon |
When Arabella Wilbanks flees a
forced betrothal, the last person she expects to find at the reins of her
getaway hackney is Matthew Worcester. It’s been seven long years since they
gave in to their mutual desire, but Matt still burns with regret for leaving
her without a word. He should escort her to safety, but the chance to reclaim
her proves impossible to resist...
Barbara Monajem started writing at eight
years old. She has wandered from children’s fantasy through mystery to
paranormal and now historical romance. Today’s little effort is her first stab
at science fiction.
Stop and say hi to these super authors. Tell us what you think or join in. We'd love to hear from you.
21 comments:
Such fun, Ellis. This is an interesting challenge. All three--well done and the perspectives varied--subgenres coming through in the last two pieces. Had I time, I would join in, but I have a deadline on a short I'm working to perfect. Bravo to all three writers for their fine pieces, which as I read them could be first paragraphs for novels. Got those hooks! Next time, perhaps.
I don't know what to say. They're all brilliant. Kudos to all three writers - and to you, Ellis, for coming up with such a great idea.
My goodness -- such fun to see our very different takes on the photo!
Excellent work, Tim, Barbara and Vicki. Ellis, I love this feature you're doing. It's fascinating to see how different writers interpret the same picture.
Fascinating and fun. I loved doing this, Ellis, and then reading our very different takes on the photo. Thanks! :~))
All of them excellent and so different. Like E.B. wrote, I'd like to join in, but don't have the time right now to be as creative as the three of you. I did write down your names to check out your books.
Wonderful pieces, Tim, Vicki, and Barbara. This is one of the most original exercises I've seen, and the different takes are fascinating. Keep doing this, Ellis.
I love this concept, Ellis, and the stories are wonderful. I'll be back every month!
I'm doing this on the first FRIDAY of each month. Unfortunately, the holiday mixed me up, and I thought today was Friday. Still, it gives it another day to be up.
I enjoy finding the pictures and I have several "possibles" selected for future exercises. I love reading what everyone writes.
I love this concept of yours, Ellis. And I love the pieces--the lost dusty dreams in the first two by Tim and Vicki, the wry edge in the last.
This is the kind of exercise that influenced me to return to writing.A picture/post card in front of our group would generate lofty prose or poetry from the others. Mine always had a corpse. Lots of fun to focus on perspective.
ha these are def fun....and a nice taste of each writers writing....glad vicki pointed me over...
In my wildest dreams I would not have imagined such different takes on one picture. Enjoyed all three! Thanks for hosting and thanks to Vicki for inviting me.
Fab idea and I loved all three takes! I hopped over from Vicki's blog and will have to check in here regularly from now on. Thanks!
The dreamer in me just loved Lane's account, especially poor Mort being brought back to reality by his wife's shrill voice.
I also loved Hallinan's take with the dust not settling on the guitar.
Interesting how all three writers have such different stories to tell and yet each one fits the photograph very well. I suppose that's what sets them apart from the rest of us.
All three are good though different. It's difficult to choose. I read all Vicki's books and enjoyed reading them.Her account has a great deal of humour, while the Hallinan post creates a feeling of sadness and longing for the past, a tribute to, the probably diseased, owner of the guitar. All three are good!
Each one evokes a different feeling. I love how each one saw something so different.
Barbara's made me wonder about the pickup and where the guitar was going next--who'd have gotten sci-fi and a time portal from that picture? Vicki's hooked me into the club scene and then I laughed. Tim's was sad, and I wonder who loved the guitar player that much. A great exercise!
This was just amazing fun, Ellis, and I thank you for letting me play along with the others.
I think a lot of credit goes to you for picking such an evocative image. Hard not to write a good story about something as full of suppressed emotion as this picture.
This would make a wonderful writing exercise, especially for those who feel that they're blocked. I set a timer to 30 minutes and finished it pretty much as the alarm went off. There wasn't TIME to get blocked. (Confession -- it was 100 words over and it took me longer to cut it than it did to write it.)
I loved them all. I'll use them as an example on how to write a few meaningful words that tell a story.
Vicki pointed me here and I am glad she did. I enjoyed reading each take on the photo
flash fiction is always a treat
loved Hallinan's lingering haunting ending...
And Vicki's ..wow..took a turn I did not anticipate...loved it..she nailed his dream and nightmare...all in such a low wc
Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting, and thank you, Tim, Vicki, and Barbara for joining in. I love all the different takes on the photo--different genres and entirely different ideas. They were great!
Ellis
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