Sunday, February 8, 2015

#NovelSnip

#NovelSnip is a tiny bit of my fiction writing project.  This is the first week where I feel like I have to choose what to post.  Like, I have two options. I wasn't sure if I should show more of Alice and Frank in the pool.  The draft of that scene is complete.  But, I also wanted to show this phone call between my two characters, which takes place maybe five years later.  So, the good news is there are scenes in the queue.


Alice glanced up from her paper on the "Miller’s Tale," the one she was eeking out one painstaking sentence at a time, when she heard it ring.  The window on the front of the flip phone revealed an unfamiliar area code. Alice sighed, clicked the phone open, and took the call.

“Alice?” Frank said, his voice gruff and strained.

“Hi, Dad,” she said, resigned.  

“Happy birthday,” Frank said, sputtering slightly.  “I’m calling to wish you a happy birthday.”

A sudden and fierce rush of anger flashed through Alice’s body, beginning in her stomach and radiating down her limbs and up to her cheeks.

“Happy birthday?” Alice repeated.  The date was December 17th, days before her hometown college’s winter break, snow lightly falling, collecting in airy clumps on the sidewalk. Alice pulled her turtleneck up over her chin with her left hand as she gripped the phone against her right ear.

Her birthday was May 5th.
That's #NovelSnip.  In this scene, Frank has lost his grip on reality.  I had a really hard time writing it.  I'm also having a hard time figuring out what the arc of this story is.  But, that can come later.

1 comment:

LH said...

I feel kind of sorry for Frank. He needs to pull it together.

In conclusion, I love #novelsnip