Saturday 27 October 2012

The Sound Bite Novel



In this crazy world of sound bites, tweets and single character texts –the ‘y’ from my husband springs to mind. He meant ‘yes’, I thought he was asking, why? – the Guardian invited well-known writers to join their Twitter challenge. They asked for 140 character novels and the responses were surprisingly good. I say, ‘surprisingly’ not, I hasten to add, because I don’t love and respect the authors in question but more because it couldn’t be done, could it?

My half-brother had a stab and I was suitably impressed. He’s not particularly known for his musings, incredible artist that he is, his talents are more generally seen in his elaborate, if slightly terrifying, tattoos:

Awake. I'm late, procrastinate. That rat race; a slave, there lies in a hellish place, I hate! I realise with tired eyes, YES! it's Saturday. By Gareth Hares.

So I thought I’d have a go:
 
Her finger hovered over the bell. 8pm, he’d said. She could walk away; he’d never know. She rang it. Better him, than an orphan for ever.

So, over to you! I look forward to reading your novels :)

10 comments:

  1. No sorry too taxing for me! Like yours though Gareth and Jackie!

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    1. Awwww, I bet you could, really! Thanks for popping in.

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  2. I noticed this on the Guardian site, but forgot to go back to read them. These two are really good. I might have a go and come back to share :-)

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    1. Yay! Please do come back with yours, Annalisa!

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  3. He closed the door. Her tears tumbled. Footsteps faded. Alone again. She screamed. A newborn cried.

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  4. I tried a few 141 character stories when I first got a twitter account.

    In a show of unity, Bryn's bag for life split just before the bus ran him over.

    “Stuff this lark,” said the deceased bird’s owner to the taxidermist.

    Believe it or not, they were the best ones, the worst where really bad.

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  5. Ha ha, Charlie, they both made me laugh! It's harder than you think, isn't it, to make something that's actually a story rather than a statement - that's why the bag for life one's particularly clever. Thanks for playing!

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  6. Many thanks for this one by Pauline, as posted on Facebook. A bit sad... 'You don't understand,' she said. 'I love him.' I just stared, numb. Couldn't speak. Couldn't cry. History repeating itself.

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