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Flash Fiction Friday : One Man Band

Friday, 10 September 2010

In the loft, Dan found his guitar, untouched in 30 years. He strummed its remaining strings, smiling. He had time to play it again now.






Flash Fiction Friday is a weekly post of a work of fiction small enough to appear on Twitter etc.

Posted by Simon Kewin at 12:00

15 comments:

  1. Kittie Howard10 September 2010 at 12:07

    Loved how the first sentence grabbed me. Wanted to know what had happened in those 30 years.

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  2. Simon Kewin10 September 2010 at 12:39

    Kittie,

    Thanks for that. I think that's often the trick with these very short stories - suggesting a back story that is left for the reader to fill in.

    Simon.

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  3. Marisa Birns10 September 2010 at 13:11

    Well, your three lines tell us that once Dan played guitar, then life and all its responsibilities took his attention away from doing something he loved.

    Now, freed from those responsibilities...

    So, well done for saying so much with such an economy of words!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Simon Kewin10 September 2010 at 13:34

    Marisa,

    Thanks for the feedback. I had in mind a particular reason for his now being on his own, free to play, but obviously there could be lost of reasons. leaving the reader free to decide for themselves.

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  5. Matthew MacNish10 September 2010 at 14:43

    Wow. Nice. I'm more used to Flash Fiction being around 250-500 words, so this seemed really short, but still quite good. I really liked the emotion it stirred within me as a reader, thanks Simon!

    You can read one of mine here , if you're interested.

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  6. Simon Kewin10 September 2010 at 14:47

    Matthew,

    Thanks for that - it is short, I agree. The idea is that its short enough for a tweet. I'm off to look at yours now!

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  7. Old Kitty10 September 2010 at 14:48

    Awwww! Well here's to Dan and his guitar!! Good for him!

    take care
    x

    ReplyDelete
  8. Simon Kewin10 September 2010 at 14:54

    Old Kitty,

    Absolutely! Maybe he can start up that band he always meant to now?

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  9. Anonymous10 September 2010 at 19:58

    Play it, Dan. Play it.

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  10. Thomas Taylor10 September 2010 at 20:32

    This is really touching. I bet Dan's first song will be a nostalgic one.

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  11. Suzie F.10 September 2010 at 20:53

    Whoa! This actually *almost* happened to me this week! After about 20 years I pulled my dusty guitar out of the closet for my son. He started lessons. I strummed a terribly out of tune G chord before putting it aside for him.

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  12. Simon Kewin10 September 2010 at 20:57

    Thomas - yep, reckon so. If he can remember how to do the darn chords (speaking as someone struggling to learn the guitar ...)

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  13. Simon Kewin10 September 2010 at 21:03

    Suzie,

    That's actually pretty amazing - as is you being able to recall how to do a G after 20 years!

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  14. K M Kelly11 September 2010 at 16:22

    Nice one. It works because of what is left unsaid :-)

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  15. Simon Kewin11 September 2010 at 16:40

    Thanks Kate! I do like to think I'm quite good at unsaying things ...

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I'd love to know what you think.