Shaping a Text:  Work for Week Seven

Write a flash fiction story or a prose poem (300 – 500 words)

Here’s an example

Forecast

by Nik Everleigh

The wrinkled man pokes a finger in to the slew of guts strewn across the parched ground. The day-dead rabbit that had previously contained them lies on its side three feet away facing east.

A drag of the finger further displaces the ropes of intestine. Cocking his head the man lifts the finger to his lips and tastes. He hops from foot to foot and rolls his eyes in rapture.

Several minutes pass before his eyes drop and regain their focus. With a nod he creaks to his feet and turns to face the silent, expectant crowd.

“Rain. Two Days.”

STRUCTURE

It starts with the ‘action’, the main character (the ‘seer’ ) solving a problem.  The problem is left unstated until the end. It is to predict the weather, if it will be good or not (perhaps for stone age farmers).   The ‘normal’ is the way things are done by these (perhaps stone age, but they could be modern cultist) people.  The resolution is the diagnosis itself, perhaps relief for the people.   The surprise is, of course, to do with the explanation of what this man can possibly be doing.   The surprise for the reader is in our realizing what is going on.