Some original fiction oh yes....
Three pieces as wrote for an Open University Course. Posted with Universities permission. I guess you could say these where beta read by My teacher, whose comments I have removed by her request.
Story One.
Grading Nerves.
In 500 words, write a mini portrait of a character, in either past or present tense. In this story, note, there needn’t be any significant plot; concentrate instead on describing both character and place, and on conveying a particular mood - and state this mood as the title of your story. (For example: Happiness: Jane had short red hair and …)
And 500 words later we gotthis, based on a true story, (It happened, only for my white belt *Nods*
Angela was feeling a bit apprehensive to say the least. She had no reason to be. She had visited this particular dojo many times before, so often in fact it felt like a second home.
On the heated floor was the familiar bright blue and dark red crash mats. Everyone hoped that the grading would be performed in the area that the blue mats occupied rather than the old and hard red mats. Some would be lucky, and get a soft landing; some would be unfortunate enough to get a red mat area .They were set out, as usual with the red ones in the centre and the blue ones filling in the gaps. The pattern it created was always the same, and this gave Angela some comfort.
As she smoothed out her white suit, checking that the drawstring of the trousers was fastened properly, her nerves began to build. She readjusted her red belt so it was tightened just the way Sensei had shown her. She wrapped it around her not so slender waist twice, looped one end through the middle and secured it in a knot by her belly button. She checked that the jacket was positioned correctly, found it was not and so unfastened her belt with shaking hands. As she adjusted it so it fastened left side wrapped around her right side Sensei appeared.
“Pass it here” He said with a kindly smile. She did so with a shaky smile in return that showed off her braces. He helped her to tie the belt properly. The first time this had happened her face had went as red as her t-shirt she wore underneath. Not so this time, how to tie the belt to standard was one of the many mysteries of aikido she had yet to master properly. As he finished he give her short, dyed red hair an affectionate ruffle. She mock growled at him as it disturbed the hair band she used to keep it in place. She quickly adjusted it to its proper place, tucked the stray bits around her ears and looked across to the audience that was assembling.
“Don’t think about them, you know what your doing, just remember to take your time and not to panic.”
She nodded, sending her hair flying out of place again.
She would not let her nerves get the better of her again. According to her Sensei afterwards her face showed a different story. Her normally pale skin had turned a worrying shade of white. She limped slightly to bow to the picture of O’Sensei propped against the radiator and waited for her turn.
Her face grew paler still as she knelt. She was careful to keep her knees to fists apart and her posture correct. At 5’4 she was the smallest person going for the yellow belt.
Afterwards though, it had all been worth it. As she had the book and belt handed over to her afterwards she was positively glowing.
In 500 words, write a story or part of a story that fictionalizes something that is mentioned on the radio when you go to turn it on now. Choose a setting which you describe somewhere in your 500 words, and tell this mini-story from the narrative point of view of a man or woman (a character) whom the story directly affects. Do not use any dialogue. Write in either the past or present tense. Try to use clear, vivid language so that your reader can see the setting and character(s). Avoid cliche.
The Story I chose was of Little Maddie McCann, so it may be upsetting to some people.
I can see images of my beautiful little girl pasted all over. Everywhere I turn I can see posters showing her gorgeous blond hair and sparkling smile. In one sense that is a comfort, the more people who see her, the more chances of her being found. It does not help in the dark of night when I just want to tuck her in and give her a hug. The closest thing I have to her now is Mr Snuggles, her favourite toy. She will be missing him. Hope fades quickly now at least for the police. The insensitive and cruel letter printed in the newspaper detailing where Molly is buried has gotten them convinced. Grief and guilt sets in and now it is time to grieve for her.
Maybe the blame should be placed on us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but at the time we had no reason to suspect that anyone would want to kidnap our little girl. Certain people in the press dared to suggest that we may have had something to do with Mollies disappearance, how could they think such a thing? Both Me and Kerry love our kids and would never do anything to harm them. We went and checked on them children regularly and them where not far from our sight.
The two little ones seem to think that its one long holiday for them still. As we are still near the holiday resort we can leave them at the kids groups whilst we work on the campaign to bring Molly home. They enjoy themselves there, the staff have gotten to know them and they are well looked after. They have really settled in well there, established a routine, especially important for two year old children. After the kids club their grandparents take them to the local beach before we go to a near by cafe for a family meal. Normally pasta.
Kerry has took to coping with the situation by going for long runs in the near by mountains. The local church going community has also been really supportive, giving us private access to the local church for us to go pray. Although we are busy with the campaign we are attending prayers regularly. Well in between trips to keep Molly in the news. Those will not stop until Molly is found safe and well and returned home to us.
I truly believe that printing that letter was not professional. Whilst I will admit that similar letters have brought results in the past it was disrespectful to Molly to print it. They should have handed it straight over to the police and let them verify the source and authenticity of it first, rather than causing harm and distress to Kerry and the twins. Kerry is already on the edge over this and whilst I am putting a brave persona for the press I am also deeply concerned about Molly. But I will not stop until she is found!
Word Count 496
Sources used.
For question three the event that I used was Gerry response to the letter printed in the newspaper. As reported on TFM radio new broadcast 13 June 07. Additional research came from http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/
In 500 words, write a complete mini-story where the central character is a child. Write it from the child’s narrative point of view (using ‘I’), and in the past tense. Pay attention to the kind of language a child might use; and to the observations particular to a child. Use as your setting: a busy city street, where something has just happened, before the story actually begins. Use some dialogue.
And on a similar note Child disappearance is featured in this one to
I was walking home from school yesterday with my mammy and older brother. Mummy was cross with my older brother. His name is John and he is Twelve years old. His in big school and has to do boring stuff like maths homework. I am Six. My homework is fun, its normally reading and I like to read.
The road was busy; I live in what Mammy calls a busy city. Sometimes I think she is joking because according to my teacher Middlesbrough is not a city, it’s a town. My teacher sometimes likes to joke with us though so we have to find out the answers by our selves.
Mammy has warned John not to go off by himself but he did not listen. John never does. He likes to go and do his own thing. I did not see what had happened to John but Mammy just started screaming and grabbed hold of me. I wanted to go and talk to my best friend Stacey though. Stacey is really smart and has the best books. Mammy would not let me go talk to Stacey. She was holding me really tightly, like I hold my doll when I have had a bad dream. I couldn’t see John anywhere. I thought he had gone into the sweet shop.
Then there was a big crowd surrounding us. People where asking silly questions such as “are you okay?” and “What happened?” Mammy just clutched me even tighter and screamed more. I was getting scared now, because mammy should not scream like that.
Everything was a bit confusing. The police and an ambulance came. Their was a nice police woman who was asking me a load of questions about what had happened. I could not answer them though. She wanted to know if John could have gone round his friend’s house or if I had seen any strange people before John disappeared.
I did not know that John had disappeared. Then nice police woman had to explain what that meant to me. She called herself Olivia and she had bright red hair. Stacey and her Mammy then took me around her house and I got to spend the night. That was fun; we read some of her books and ate ice-cream.
Daddy came to pick me up this morning. His eyes where all red, like mine are when I have been crying. I told him that and he just nodded.
“That’s because Daddy has been crying.” he told me.
“Why?”
“Because a nasty man has taken John. The police are looking for him though.”
I remembered something that we had talked about in school.
“He should not have gone of with the nasty man” I said to Daddy.
“Your right, but John did. So he might not be at home for a few days.” Daddy looked like he was going to cry again, so I give him a cuddle.
.
I wonder where John might be. I hope he does not end up like Maddy, the girl from TV.
Story One.
Grading Nerves.
In 500 words, write a mini portrait of a character, in either past or present tense. In this story, note, there needn’t be any significant plot; concentrate instead on describing both character and place, and on conveying a particular mood - and state this mood as the title of your story. (For example: Happiness: Jane had short red hair and …)
And 500 words later we gotthis, based on a true story, (It happened, only for my white belt *Nods*
Angela was feeling a bit apprehensive to say the least. She had no reason to be. She had visited this particular dojo many times before, so often in fact it felt like a second home.
On the heated floor was the familiar bright blue and dark red crash mats. Everyone hoped that the grading would be performed in the area that the blue mats occupied rather than the old and hard red mats. Some would be lucky, and get a soft landing; some would be unfortunate enough to get a red mat area .They were set out, as usual with the red ones in the centre and the blue ones filling in the gaps. The pattern it created was always the same, and this gave Angela some comfort.
As she smoothed out her white suit, checking that the drawstring of the trousers was fastened properly, her nerves began to build. She readjusted her red belt so it was tightened just the way Sensei had shown her. She wrapped it around her not so slender waist twice, looped one end through the middle and secured it in a knot by her belly button. She checked that the jacket was positioned correctly, found it was not and so unfastened her belt with shaking hands. As she adjusted it so it fastened left side wrapped around her right side Sensei appeared.
“Pass it here” He said with a kindly smile. She did so with a shaky smile in return that showed off her braces. He helped her to tie the belt properly. The first time this had happened her face had went as red as her t-shirt she wore underneath. Not so this time, how to tie the belt to standard was one of the many mysteries of aikido she had yet to master properly. As he finished he give her short, dyed red hair an affectionate ruffle. She mock growled at him as it disturbed the hair band she used to keep it in place. She quickly adjusted it to its proper place, tucked the stray bits around her ears and looked across to the audience that was assembling.
“Don’t think about them, you know what your doing, just remember to take your time and not to panic.”
She nodded, sending her hair flying out of place again.
She would not let her nerves get the better of her again. According to her Sensei afterwards her face showed a different story. Her normally pale skin had turned a worrying shade of white. She limped slightly to bow to the picture of O’Sensei propped against the radiator and waited for her turn.
Her face grew paler still as she knelt. She was careful to keep her knees to fists apart and her posture correct. At 5’4 she was the smallest person going for the yellow belt.
Afterwards though, it had all been worth it. As she had the book and belt handed over to her afterwards she was positively glowing.
In 500 words, write a story or part of a story that fictionalizes something that is mentioned on the radio when you go to turn it on now. Choose a setting which you describe somewhere in your 500 words, and tell this mini-story from the narrative point of view of a man or woman (a character) whom the story directly affects. Do not use any dialogue. Write in either the past or present tense. Try to use clear, vivid language so that your reader can see the setting and character(s). Avoid cliche.
The Story I chose was of Little Maddie McCann, so it may be upsetting to some people.
I can see images of my beautiful little girl pasted all over. Everywhere I turn I can see posters showing her gorgeous blond hair and sparkling smile. In one sense that is a comfort, the more people who see her, the more chances of her being found. It does not help in the dark of night when I just want to tuck her in and give her a hug. The closest thing I have to her now is Mr Snuggles, her favourite toy. She will be missing him. Hope fades quickly now at least for the police. The insensitive and cruel letter printed in the newspaper detailing where Molly is buried has gotten them convinced. Grief and guilt sets in and now it is time to grieve for her.
Maybe the blame should be placed on us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but at the time we had no reason to suspect that anyone would want to kidnap our little girl. Certain people in the press dared to suggest that we may have had something to do with Mollies disappearance, how could they think such a thing? Both Me and Kerry love our kids and would never do anything to harm them. We went and checked on them children regularly and them where not far from our sight.
The two little ones seem to think that its one long holiday for them still. As we are still near the holiday resort we can leave them at the kids groups whilst we work on the campaign to bring Molly home. They enjoy themselves there, the staff have gotten to know them and they are well looked after. They have really settled in well there, established a routine, especially important for two year old children. After the kids club their grandparents take them to the local beach before we go to a near by cafe for a family meal. Normally pasta.
Kerry has took to coping with the situation by going for long runs in the near by mountains. The local church going community has also been really supportive, giving us private access to the local church for us to go pray. Although we are busy with the campaign we are attending prayers regularly. Well in between trips to keep Molly in the news. Those will not stop until Molly is found safe and well and returned home to us.
I truly believe that printing that letter was not professional. Whilst I will admit that similar letters have brought results in the past it was disrespectful to Molly to print it. They should have handed it straight over to the police and let them verify the source and authenticity of it first, rather than causing harm and distress to Kerry and the twins. Kerry is already on the edge over this and whilst I am putting a brave persona for the press I am also deeply concerned about Molly. But I will not stop until she is found!
Word Count 496
Sources used.
For question three the event that I used was Gerry response to the letter printed in the newspaper. As reported on TFM radio new broadcast 13 June 07. Additional research came from http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/
In 500 words, write a complete mini-story where the central character is a child. Write it from the child’s narrative point of view (using ‘I’), and in the past tense. Pay attention to the kind of language a child might use; and to the observations particular to a child. Use as your setting: a busy city street, where something has just happened, before the story actually begins. Use some dialogue.
And on a similar note Child disappearance is featured in this one to
I was walking home from school yesterday with my mammy and older brother. Mummy was cross with my older brother. His name is John and he is Twelve years old. His in big school and has to do boring stuff like maths homework. I am Six. My homework is fun, its normally reading and I like to read.
The road was busy; I live in what Mammy calls a busy city. Sometimes I think she is joking because according to my teacher Middlesbrough is not a city, it’s a town. My teacher sometimes likes to joke with us though so we have to find out the answers by our selves.
Mammy has warned John not to go off by himself but he did not listen. John never does. He likes to go and do his own thing. I did not see what had happened to John but Mammy just started screaming and grabbed hold of me. I wanted to go and talk to my best friend Stacey though. Stacey is really smart and has the best books. Mammy would not let me go talk to Stacey. She was holding me really tightly, like I hold my doll when I have had a bad dream. I couldn’t see John anywhere. I thought he had gone into the sweet shop.
Then there was a big crowd surrounding us. People where asking silly questions such as “are you okay?” and “What happened?” Mammy just clutched me even tighter and screamed more. I was getting scared now, because mammy should not scream like that.
Everything was a bit confusing. The police and an ambulance came. Their was a nice police woman who was asking me a load of questions about what had happened. I could not answer them though. She wanted to know if John could have gone round his friend’s house or if I had seen any strange people before John disappeared.
I did not know that John had disappeared. Then nice police woman had to explain what that meant to me. She called herself Olivia and she had bright red hair. Stacey and her Mammy then took me around her house and I got to spend the night. That was fun; we read some of her books and ate ice-cream.
Daddy came to pick me up this morning. His eyes where all red, like mine are when I have been crying. I told him that and he just nodded.
“That’s because Daddy has been crying.” he told me.
“Why?”
“Because a nasty man has taken John. The police are looking for him though.”
I remembered something that we had talked about in school.
“He should not have gone of with the nasty man” I said to Daddy.
“Your right, but John did. So he might not be at home for a few days.” Daddy looked like he was going to cry again, so I give him a cuddle.
.
I wonder where John might be. I hope he does not end up like Maddy, the girl from TV.