Boy, howdy! Never tell your boss you're off on leave in a week. I have had a crap-mountain bigger than Everest dumped on me this week, which is why I've not been around on your (or even my own) blogs.
As it's Thursday, however, I get to spend a day working from home so I can at least enjoy reading this week's 500 Words stories. Yay!
The sentence for the week - in honour of Katie being in Paris - was taken from Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables'.
It was:
'Between the walls of the two yards there was a dark and narrow street, the Rue de Chemin-Vert-Saint-Antoine, which seemed to be exactly what he was looking for.'
The rules you know and if you don't you're on the wrong blog.
Katherine's 'The Secret of Señhora Sete'
Oh, golly!
Weemen scare me enough already, but now Señhora Sete has me cowering behind the sofa.
Brr! What a gloriously dreadful creation.
Wonderful writing, terrible coffee and a secret you really, really don't want to discover. Hee hee.
Todd's 'Heist'
Hoorah for Todd's mind! Sheesh, it must be like living in a Terry Gilliam movie spending the day with thoughts like those.
Ah, "the sweet, toasted aroma of their theft."
With only a few deft strokes of his imagination Todd conjures up a complete world, fraught with dangers and delights.
Vanda's 'Paris Noir'
Woohoo! You know how much I love noir.
Fabulous, atmospheric fun from Vanda this week.
"The street was dark with something more than the night …"
Yay!
I loved this, every last word, and it left me gagging for more.
Dive's 'Two Sous'
Dive's been spending too much time with his head buried in Victor Hugo's masterwork. Not that anybody could ever spend too much time in there.
8 comments:
Lovely work, people! Which is harder to write: dialogue or atmosphere?
Dive: I have never read Les Mis! I intend to. BTW, a few days ago I saw a Lotus and the driver was as you described! I can't confirm the cashew part, but I have my suspicions! hee hee.
Hee hee indeed, Cali. You're very wise not to have checked his cashew.
As for dialogue and atmosphere:
When I started writing these I included no dialogue whatsoever as I had no idea how to write it.
I still have no idea, but dialogue has been creeping in at an alarming rate (my last story, 'Lunch' was almost entirely dialogue).
I do know that I tend to overdo the descriptive passages but then I've never been told how to write so I have an excuse. I just like writing that way. Much too wordy. Hey ho.
Oh, and you simply MUST read Les Misérables. Be warned: it is a very long book but do try to read it slowly, like you're reading it out loud. Taken at that pace you can truly lose yourself in it. Don't skip over a single word and I can guarantee when you finish it you'll feel your life is immeasurably richer.
I mainly read biographies these days, but I like to throw in a classic now and then.
I like this description of it in Gone With The Wind: It was a ragged copy of Les Miserables, that book which caught the fancy of the Confederate soldiers. They had read it by camp-fire light and took some grim pleasure in calling it Lee’s Miserables.
Thanks to your recommendation I look forward to reading it.
I find the descriptive passages interesting as I have a terrible time describing something I've actually seen let alone inventing something I haven't.
Lee's Miserables! Hee hee, Cali. Well spotted.
I put my own over-wordy descriptive passages down to a drinking game I spent many a year playing in dressing rooms and hotel rooms at gigs.
The rules are simple:
1) Get drunk.
2) Very.
3) Pick up Roget's Thesaurus.
4) Stand in the middle of the room and read aloud in as clear a voice as you can manage, the entry for "Dead".
This should get things going nicely as it is almost verbatim Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch.
5) Take turns choosing icky or interesting words and standing in the middle of the room reading their entries aloud.
6) Extra kudos for gravitas, declamatory hortation and Olivier impressions.
7) The game ends when nobody can stand up or read any longer.
That is some drinking game! I don't think my Olivier impression is up to par so I will try a Garbo impression! LOL.
If you're drunk enough they probably sound the same. Hee hee.
I know way too many drinking games.
Hey ho.
Ooh la la, what a wonderfully colourful and intriguing tale dear! I could have kept reading this one for a very long time. Poor old Paris got a bad rap, adjectively speaking. I have actually seen the place where Cosette lived, in Paris, pointed out to me by a friend. In fact, I think I might have a photo of it. If I find it, I'll send it to you.
Woah! That would be so cool, Mme! I'd love to see it.
I've always wanted to try out Hugo's "To err is human; to stroll, Parisian." and after next Tuesday I can at least make a start. Reading the book and following Valjean on his labyrinthine meanderings just makes my legs want to walk themseslves to a standstill - and you know from personal experience how much I love to walk, hee hee.
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