posted
I started typing and came up ith a very short (about 800 word) short story. Some definitions call this flash fiction, but others put that word count much loewr and call this a short short. Either way, here's the first 13 lines and if anyone wants to look at the whole thing, let me know. If you just want to pick apart the first 13 lines, that's ok too.
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Myles sniffed the air. A salty sea breeze tickled his senses and caused his whiskers to twitch. He hated the sea, and yet here he had come, full circle to the place of his birth. His journey nearly complete, he sat down on his haunches and began to clean every inch of his orange and white fur.
Myles had not always been a cat. He had not always felt the overwhelming need to preen himself until his fur shone. Indeed, he had not always had fur. Some five hundred years earlier, he had been a man, a very unlucky man. If only his brain was big enough now to remember why that had changed…
A human approached Myles from the south, meandering along the surf and occasionally kicking the sand. The unexpected kicking motions set off warning bells in his cat brain. He stopped preening himself and crouched behind a sand dune, flattening his body in hopes that the man would not see him.
posted
Gotta disagree that "tickled his senses" is figurative. As someone who is suffering from allergy season I can tell you that that's exactly what it feels like. When they're mild, I feel like something is on the end of my nose tickling it. We won't discuss the other symptoms 'cause they aren't relevant, but "tickled his senses" conjured up a very real image of my cat's whiskers twitching.
posted
Thanks for volunteering....I'll send out the first batch right now.
Ok, I feel stupid. Eric, I know you are right, because as soon as you mentioned the "were" I instantly knew it *sounded* right...but for the life of me I don't know why it actually is true. So, to fill an obvious lapse in my grammar respository, would you mind explaining this one for me (and for anyone else who also feels stupid but is too embarassed to ak.)?
posted
Went out of town this weekend...just got back.
Thanks for your offers, guys, but I'm thinking for such a short piece, I've got enough at this point. Now that it's sat for a few days since my lsat critique came back, I'm going to take a toothpick over it and then send it off to Abyss and Apex...a good market for short shorts.
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