Every Friday authors from around the world gather around the virtual fireside of fellow WordPress blogger Rochelle Wisoff to share flash fiction stories of 100 words, all inspired – regardless of genre – by a common photograph, and exchange constructive criticism. Readers’ comments are also welcome.
This week’s photo, Heads, has been provided by artist, writer and blogateer Claire Fuller. Here’s the story that Claire’s Heads inspired:
An Affair of the Heart
“With this hand I converted you. You cannot revert.”
“I was never that statue fashioned from this block.”
“I made you in beauty unsurpassable; then, invoking Venus, made you flesh!”
“Your effigy was but a reflection of your own self-fingerings. Beings cannot create beings. Artists play among Creation, exhibit wonder.”
“Your tongue is sleeker than Galatea’s. What are you?”
“A shard of a shattered heart. One of countless shards blown to the four corners; spill of love dispatched to pierce hearts.”
“What am I?”
“Enslaved, endlessly re-creating yourself as Pygmalion.”
“How can I be freed?”
“Let me pierce your heart.”
(c) Ann Isik 2013
http://www.annisikarts.com
PS This week I made the 100 words limit!
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Poetic Mapping: Walking Into Art 
Lovely literary piece that is intriguing and beguiling both. I’d love to find out more about how it ends 🙂
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I would love to know how it ends too but you know how wilful characters can be! Ann
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Sorry, meant to add my thanks for reading! Ann
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They are definitely pesky things those characters Ann 🙂
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I feel like E.L. My literary resume leaves me missing the finer points of many of these fabulous posts. Even with that said i found it to be a good read. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
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Thanks for reading my story Joe. Perhaps if I’d written ‘Shattered Heart’ instead of ‘shattered heart’ it might have made more sense. Ann
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This is so unique and very well done. Bravo, and thanks so much for stopping by mine
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Thanks for reading.
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Wow.. Great dialogue with most of the lines I love. The last line was brilliant and this one also:
“Your effigy was but a reflection of your own self-fingerings. Beings cannot create beings. Artists play among Creation, exhibit wonder”.. Very well written.
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Kind words. I thought this bit a little on the preachy side, but as a sermon at least it’s short!
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Great job condensing it to 100 words. I love the shards line.
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Several people have mentioned the shards line. Thanks for the compliments.
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So many things to think about reading this piece, Annisik, you have made me want to waste a morning on wikipedia investigating. Interesting story and well done for condensing it to 100 words!
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I hope you didn’t waste your morning! Thanks for your positive comments. Ann
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“One of countless shards,” beautiful!
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Thank you!
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Enjoyed this very much.
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Thanks Shirley.
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Nicely done. I’m impressed!
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Thanks for reading Beth.
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This reads like poetry, enjoyable.
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Thank you! And glad you enjoyed it.
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Lovely dialogue with rich literary references that take the reader into the smitten sculptor’s heart. Well done!
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His heart will need to be pierced before he can love! Ann
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Well done, and linking it to Pygmalyon is so good. I kind of prefer your version to Eliza… Thank you 🙂
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The sculpture in the photo is ‘classical’ in style and I thought Claire’s inspiration might have lain in mythology. I searched and found the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. Having read it, I thought that if Pygmalion had lived now, he might very well have become obsessed with one of those inflatable adult dolls, rather than a statue. If you get my gist! Sexual obsession is not love.:)
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Dear Ann,
Congrats on making the 100 word limit. You’ll find it gets easier and some of us are obsessed with it. Interesting dialogue.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks Rochelle. It would be nice if reaching the 100 word limit got easier. It would be nice if ANYTHING got easier.
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this was very good
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Thank you!
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Thank you! Ann
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“Enslaved, endlessly re-creating yourself as Pygmalion”. Interesting take on Pygmalion–and provocative last sentence. Good story.
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Thank you for reading and your comments are much appreciated. Ann
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Brilliant writing 🙂 http://readinpleasure.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/fridayfictioneers-janus
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Thank you for reading.
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Nice writing – although I think my paltry literary education is letting me down – I don’t get half the references. My fault not yours. Made me want to know more though. I’m off to Google Galatea 🙂
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I had to Google Galatea too. I reckoned they had to be some kind of star-crossed lovers and looked like Ancient Greeks.When I read the story of Pygmalion and Galatea I thought of – ahem – a sort-of adult inflatable doll situation, if you see what I mean. The story took its twist during the writing. Thanks for reading!
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I thought I’d replied to this. Did I? I did say I had to google Galatea too! Thanks for reading.
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You did reply! – I have both replies on my dashboard. Not sure what’s going on… ?
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Technology!
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Very convincing dialogue – well done.
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Oh, the irony! My novel has been stalled because I couldn’t write the dialogue. I must be getting a teeny bit better at it.
After reading your story, I need a hot drink. Or a stiff drink. Ann
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very nicely done. I enjoyed reading it, and read it again for pleasure.
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Thank you. And have a good holiday. I’m planning on going on retreat to progress my novel. Ann
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Mystery is everything. — yes i definitely agree. and the last line’s brilliant 🙂
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Thanks for reading!
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I loved this part…”What are you?”
“A shard of a shattered heart…..”
Tom
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Thank you Tom.
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Dear Annisik51,
Your piece did justice to the prompt. Well done. On another note…a good friend once told me that hyperlinks within my stories were distracting and, being new to them and stretching my hyperlink wings, I had to step back and think about it from the reader’s perspective. Food for thought. There are many ways to share what you want the reader to learn. I ended up on the ‘no hyperlinks in the body of the text’ side of the question, but I make no judgements. Every voice is unique, every message singular in its POV.
Welcome aboard,
Aloha,
Doug
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There are hyperlinks in my story? I’m with you on this. I’ll get rid. Thanks for pointing this out! Ann
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excellent work! you’ve got it!
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That was quick. It’s still Thursday here! Thank you for the feedback. Though I’m not sure what the ‘it’ is that I’ve ‘got’! Mystery is everything. Ann
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