Thursday, January 7, 2010

7. Catching up


"But why should I go? I've already had way much caffeine today." He was grumpy from the previous night. He flounced into the next room, scrunching his slippers in his haste. She found him bent over the sofa, reading the paper from the floor. A partly drunk espresso formed a ring in the mug beside him.

“Just bring the Herald with you and join in when you wish”, anything to break the mood. Robert got like this every-so-often; precious, bordering on precocious. He grunted, running one hand mindlessly through his hair and incessantly drumming the fingers of the other on the arm rest.

As they swung into Hargreave Street they could see Miffy sniffing around, waiting for the inevitable scraps. They were a good bunch of friends. Not to live with: Sonia was too brittle, and Will too full of his own importance. But breakfast most Sundays was eminently doable.

9 comments:

Vera said...

Had to read this a couple of times to get the 'flavour' of the piece, but then became captured by the way in which you put names to the people and suggested their personalities. Felt as if I wanted to know about them, what their stories were, etc.

Nice piece, Julie

Vicki said...

Love all the little observations. It's the details that bring it to life. IMHO you're a natural.

Julie said...

Thanks guys, that means a lot coming from each of you.

It is the detail that really gives me a buzz, same with photography. Same with people watching in general. I see the detail more than I see the entire scene.

What I want to work on over the next couple of weeks (now that I have the first week in the can!) is sentence structure and how I weave the details in.

Choice of image is also crucial. I have had a couple that I have stooged around with and nothing would come. Change the image and Bingo! the piece is written and posted within an hour.

diane b said...

Interesting nano story about the characters in the shot or were you remembering your student days? This picture could be in Italy.

Julie said...

Nope not remembering anything. I was a boring student and besides - no money. All made up. I didn't use to believe writers when they said they did not know what they would write until it came out their fingers. I somehow have this scene in my head that gets more animated with each phrase I key in. It comes to life with me as some sort of intermediary. Wacky.

This shot was taken about 500 metres, 5 or 6 corners away; one day last week.

Nefertiti said...

hooooooooooo du soleil,ici on est sous la neige !

;O)

Julie said...

Yes, I can see from your photos that your village was very cold and covered with snow this morning. I only start my lessons in February, but if I am good enough I hope to be able to read your blog by the middle of this year.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Yes that is the joy of writing fiction ... it gets a life of it's own and there is no knowing where it will take you. Haven't done a lot of it because my writing is "too simple" to carry it but it was wonderful fun anyway.

Quite apart from the writing, the photos are captivating ... they are so full of detail whereas mine as usually very empty by comparison. It's so interesting to be part of your creative journey.

Julie said...

Don't think "empty", rather "expansive".

One of the aims this year is to pare away my more florid moments, to make my writing more simple. And yet, at the same time, to make my sentence structures more, not complex, but varied.

In a first draft, I will often just flow-write 170+ words. What I then do is strip out the adjectives and chose a more "colourful" verb.

Thanks for the company, friends. It is really appreciated.