THE PROMPT
Use the Short Story Framework to help you write a story about a person who lives a life quite like yours but does not behave the way you do
THINGS TO CONSIDER
Start with a character who lives a life like yours because it will take you less time to invent the surroundings of the story, this way.
Choose a situation that might enrage, frustrate, or delight you.
Give it to a character who seems like you, at first glance, but who reacts in ways you suspect you never would.
This can be an opportunity for you to be delightfully naughty or admirably honorable.
Make sure to disguise yourself a little bit, in case you ever show the story to anyone 😉 Use the short story framework and really dig into the ‘and because of that’ portions, making sure your character reacts in ways that you would not or could not.
What possibilities does that open up? What will be the consequences for your character?
**********
Based on a true situation, but the reaction is not what actually happened in real life. I am NOT a violent person even when provoked.
By Tessa Dean May 2024
Residents to Avoid
There she was again, the resident from Hell! I did my best to avoid her, but it was impossible to avoid her completely. We are both residents of this assisted living facility. Though she doesn’t belong here, the administrative executive was not working very hard at getting her out of here and into a memory care facility with a lockdown to keep her from wandering around freely and causing pain and anguish to her fellow residents.
As she approached me, I braced myself for the name-calling she always spewed forth to everyone. She left no resident alone, and in fact, she treated the staff the same way. The family didn’t want her at home, so they dumped her here, and this facility is not equipped to deal with memory care residents. She had Alzheimer’s and dementia and needed special care. When we complained, we were told to ignore and avoid her, and there was nothing they could do until they found a facility that would take her. The family was dragging their feet.
This was not fair to any of us. She constantly roamed freely through the building, looking for others to torment. She may have suffered from memory issues and mental issues, but she had times when she knew what she was doing, and she loved tormenting others.
I stayed on my side of the hallway, but she swerved over to me, calling me a fat ass and then pulling her fist back to land a blow on my arm. I wasn’t a violent person, but this was getting out of hand. Against my better judgment, I pulled back my own fist and returned the punch to her arm. She didn’t even flinch. She called me fat ass again and headed down the hall toward her next victim. I shouldn’t have wasted my time retaliating as it did nothing to stop her. She was already punching her next victim and calling them stupid and fat. On the good side she didn’t call me stupid too!
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.wordpress.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.wordpress.com
Tessa Dean - Author 