Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Denise is the host.
The rule is simple: six sentence limit to a story involving the prompt word.
This week we have the next installment in our serial story, ‘the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf‘
Prompt word:
PRESENCE
I hate it when I start to get scared.
“Anya, be careful; this woman is not all she appears to be,” my sudden protectiveness for Anya Claireaux must surely rank right up there with King Kong and Ann Darrow, Taylor and Kanye, for relationship mismatches.
And it’s not the feeling, or emotion, or whatever the term for the chilly inner scalp, that rides ahead of a growing threat, like an old cartoon cowboy, forcing his horse to an abrupt stop on the dirt, sand and excrement-filled street in the center of town, trail of dust immediately billows and, for a second, obscures the fact that there is now a chance of escape.
The thing I hate the most about getting scared, is the amount of time I spend trying to talk everyone, including myself, out of the undeniable fact of confrontation; it’s never the threat of physical harm that convinces me to to go all Neville Chamberlain on the people around me, it’s my own desire to maintain whatever it is that a part of me doesn’t want to destroy.
In retrospect, the truly disturbing aspect to what I believe I know about myself, is how willing I am to ignore the reality of the situation around me, as if I were an actor and, if I didn’t like the way the scene was playing out, I could always call for a re-write; when I was young I used to admire this tendency as being a capacity for strategic detachment, lately I haven’t been quite so sure.
“Both of you stop talking,” Sister Aclima’s green eyes flared as the distance between her open palm and my cell phone began to grow, and Anya, who was still confined to the display screen, began to smile, which, in normal people, is a decrease in threat; “I’m getting a little tired of the dramatics and what I’m sure will totally be a Battle of the Wills Second-to-None, so I’m altering the narrative trajectory by asserting my admittedly, less-entertaining presence.”
About clarkscottroger
Battle of wills indeed. Great job excellent six!
Thanks, Paul
Good observation about fear: “it’s my own desire to maintain whatever it is that a part of me doesn’t want to destroy.”
I suspect it might be true of myself*
*but, don’t tell anyone
lol
Another great instalment, Clark. I especially like the picture you create in that second paragraph.
Thanks, Chris,
that damn billowing cloud of dust! which, when you think about is related, somehow to those cartoon shapes that linger in the air when the character speeds away
Why am i reminded of the WWE Wrestlemania stuff my kids used to watch?
I remember those Battle of…. (fill in the blank)
I suspect we’ll have ringside seats
I especially liked the 5th sentence. Thank you
In retrospect, the truly disturbing aspect to what I believe I know about myself, is how willing I am to ignore the reality of the situation around me, as if I were an actor and, if I didn’t like the way the scene was playing out, I could always call for a re-write; when I was young I used to admire this tendency as being a capacity for strategic detachment, lately I haven’t been quite so sure.
ty
Step aside Ian, lol I’m looking forward to the Aclima – Claireaux smackdown :D
Joking aside, I look forward to finding out more about Sister Aclima and her “origins”.
still trying to figure that one out… we know she’s a member of the Order of Lilith, in good standing, we presume
but the name, why would she take the name of a daughter of Eve, unless overcome by an impulse to near-divine irony… or maybe she’d been turned to the patriarchal side early on,
Good one, Clark.
A killer short and sharp first sentence that pulls you in by the lapels!
After is some fine introspection with excellent pop culture references.
I like the “chilly inner scalp” visual, and the relationship to an actor – ah, to call for a re-write… but would we? (maybe one or two, yes).
Thanks, Mage.
Funny, the writing of this. I had (and still do) the grand conflict of the two antagonists and will be including it, but the morning of the Six came and I thought, ‘Hey, save that, lets get all real-time on the Readers. Remind them who the protagonist of this serial is’.
The pendulum swing between intricate visuals and, ” a Detective, a Client and a beautiful Villainess walk into a bar…”
the fun of these sixes, non?
Interesting philosophy on fear, Clark, as we are all subject to it and handle it in so many different ways.
tru dat, c
Funny thing about writing (as I referenced some-the-hell-elsewhere) this weekend, I suspect the writing fiction presents an opportunity to not only see ourselves as we are but to see ourselves as we might be…
Your Sixes seem to have an element of that, which is part of which, imo, makes them so readable
Laughing.
Yeah, there is invariably a bit of ourselves in our writing, and a bit of who we might have been too!
But I tend to slaughter fewer folk in real life…
lol
Some deep introspective thinking going on here. Very creative writing, Clark.
kinda have come to believe that one of the benefits of this place is that…with the difference being having to take that step out of oneself, at least enough to hit Publlish
I think I’ve jumped into the middle of a serial story? Any chance of getting the link to part one so I can learn more about the narrator and his love (and dislike?) for Anya Claireaux?
As for the song: Edgar Winter vocals + Johnny Winter guitar + Rick Derringer guitar = just about darn perfect. Enjoy the mellow.
Be happy to! ‘the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf‘
Most of the primary characters are from my first and still WIP, ‘the Case of the Missing Starr’. I thought to myself, I thought, ‘Man, if only I could write in the style of Chandler or Spillane or Hammett or, heck even Robert Parker…simple, direct stories… how hard can it be? lol
That said, trying to write a ‘pulp detective’ story is plain fun, even I won’t ever come with a line like, from Raymond Chandler, “It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.”
ayiiee! such words
Anya is a villainess from the Case of the Missing Starr she’s one of those ‘bad guys’ that you end up enjoying as much as the hero.
as to music vids and Sixes… I love to stumble on a song that reflects and amplifies a story and, sometimes, I get the song first and it helps me see the story I’m trying to writel