Writing prompt no. 4

Some absolutely fantastic responses to our writing prompts so far for the Cafe Aphra NFFD... well done and thank you everybody for your contributions! 

These simple ideas have really generated some great short fiction writing.

So - prompt number 4 for today is: "My mother never..."

Write a piece starting with the line "My mother never..." and see where it takes you - I look forward to reading more fascinating and intriguing pieces!

Next one in three hours' time.

Comments

  1. My Mother Never Said I Should by Joy Manné

    My mother never said I should
    Talk to a stranger in the wood
    Oh my mother you were wrong
    The stranger sings a sexy song
    The stranger’s arms are broad and strong,
    The stranger pleased me all night long
    And in the morning in the wood
    Again I did what I never should
    I gave him my name and my address
    It appears you know him. What a mess.

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    1. Hahaha! Funny. I like it. Your innate instinct for poetry will out, it would seem... Thanks for this Joy, brought a smile to my face.

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  2. My Mother Never Said by Lizzy Sermol

    My mother never said hello. She would enter rooms at full stride, lock eyes with the person she intended to talk with, and just start. There were no preliminaries, no niceties. They weren’t lacking either - she never seemed to offend. Somehow she seemed to know everyone before she met them, and instinctively, they felt the same. She didn’t see the need for hello.

    My mother never said goodbye. She would say thank you, or that it was a pleasure meeting someone. But the words ‘goodbye’, I never heard it slip between her lips. It was a forbidden word. A dirty word. A word that always seemed inadequate, awkward. It was an empty word, so she left it well alone. She had no time for empty words or actions. Instead, she just appeared, and then she disappeared, no fuss. She didn’t announce her comings-and-goings, but everyone knew where she was.

    She appeared, and then she disappeared.
    She was, and then she wasn’t.
    No hello, no goodbye.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. What a fantastic character portrait! I feel sure I must have met someone like this at some point in my life... certainly an intriguing character to place in different situations. Very effective use of repetition. Thanks for this, Lizzy, and welcome to Cafe Aphra.

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  3. My mother never stopped thinking of me as a child. I remember on my fortieth birthday she gave me a pair of football boots. At least they were the right size. Now I come to think of it I don't suppose my feet had grown since I was 17 or 18 so she was on safe ground when it came to picking out a pair. It would have been far more disconcerting to have received a pair of football shorts several sizes smaller than my middle aged frame could ever accommodate.

    Mums must see the physical changes, must know logically that their offspring are growing old/bald/fat (delete as applicable), and yet part of their brain remains locked in time; the part that shops for clothes in particular.

    Another decade's passed since that birthday, and a few more years on top. Mum still buys me a present each year. Sometimes it's shoes. They're always the right size. I guess some people's mums forget shoe sizes, but not mine. My mother never did.

    by Derek Dohren

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  4. Haha, loved this. So true, so true... I can almost see the character's mum in this piece. Nice work, Derek. Thanks for this.

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