Tuesday Tales 011: ‘Small Steps’

Armed with the prompt of ‘dress’, my fifth short story for online writing group Tuesday Tales, below is the result (a second-person short story for a change).

Tuesday Tales provides a new prompt each week, the members write a story inspired by it and post it on our blogs / websites. Then we email the link and first two or three sentences to Jean Joachim. She then posts them on the Tuesday Tales blog (on a Tuesday ), gives us the link then we go out and shout about it.

So, without further ado, here is my 162-worder which features with 22 other writers on the Tuesday Tales blog post dated 28 February 2012:

‘Small Steps’

It doesn’t bother you that you have to teach him to dress himself. All over again.
It doesn’t bother you that he doesn’t remember your name.
It bothers you that you’re the reason he’s like this.
A constant reminder that you didn’t take any notice when he asked you to slow down.
Begged, even.

Totally out of character, you chased the other car.
The driver.
The woman who’d cut you up.
The woman you recognised from the picture.
 
You were only supposed to be giving Andy a lift to football.
They weren’t supposed to be playing.
Didn’t usually in the rain but he’d had a text at the last minute, too late to walk or take his bike.
So he missed the game, and you missed the bend.
A lamppost slamming into the passenger door as the car spun.
The woman stopped then, ran back, helped you both, all the time crying.
“Jack loves you, Emma. We’ve only ever been friends.”

The links to the earlier prompts, and resulting stories, and the forthcoming prompts can be found on this blog’s Tuesday Tales page. Do go and check out the Tuesday Tales blog – it’s a wonderful idea supported by talented writers.

So, not only can you read these stories but you could also write your own using the prompts given each week. There’s no word count limit. Single-word prompts are something I regularly give my Monday night workshop and it’s amazing how different our stories can be.

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Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

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