Stories

Stories

I plan to share some of my stories here and dissect how and why I’ve written them the way I have.  I’ll also share some of the stories I’ve written for my Facebook pages here. Hope you enjoy.

Job Satisfaction

Thud! The fairy returned to what she’d wrongly sworn was an open window.
Damn! Every bloody window was shut. Her scowl curdled the street’s milk. She fired a spell at the letterbox to keep it open. Many fairies narrowly escaped being sliced in half by a clanging letterbox but nobody cheated her of an overdue incisor yet alone a snoring bully…
Outside her client’s bedroom, the fairy rummaged through her pockets. When humans made her work harder than necessary, she returned the compliment. The fairy grinned at her pliers. There were times she really loved her job.

Ends.
Copyright: Allison Symes 2016

This story first appeared in From Light to Dark and Back Again, published by Chapeltown Books.

The following first appeared on my FLTDBA Facebook page on 6th February 2020.

Story time again. Hope you enjoy.

Putting My Face On

If I can fake this, I’ve got it made.

I’ve only got to go and meet John at 3. I don’t want to go but it will be the acid test. If I can keep my act together when I meet him, I can keep it together for anyone. Anyone, I tell you.

So if a bit of lippy and rouge are what I need to cover how I feel, so be it.

Well, I say I’ll meet him. It’s really a question of seeing him.

John’s in the Chapel of Rest at the local undertakers.

I put him there.

ENDS

Copyright: Allison Symes – 6th February 2020

Now this is one of those tales where I knew my lead wasn’t looking forward to meeting John but I then had to work out why. So I did! Could’ve taken this in all sorts of directions but that is the joy of flash. It is open to genre and I fancied this one being a crime tale.

The irony is I can change the mood of the story completely by adding a few words to the ending.

If I added “I put him there – and so wished I hadn’t” – the mood of the story completely changes. Yes, there could still be a crime element but tragedy becomes the lead genre here instead.

So have fun with your flash fiction. Think about what impact you want your character and story to have on a reader.