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Fiction Friday: He Said, She Said

By Tania Runyan 14 Comments

Last week I received my shiny, colorfully bird-laden copy of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. Books like this don’t usually show up at my house: I’m a poet, through and through. But I’ve also had this little fling with fiction on the side since attending the Midwest Writers’ Conference, where I practically skipped out of Lee Martin’s brief session with a piece of fiction in hand. With the arrival of this new book, the affair has now become downright torrid. I’ve committed to Flash Fiction Fridays, when I will compose a flash piece, hell or high water, based on a writing exercise from the Field Guide. Some of these may even sneak their way into Tweetspeak. The first? A he said/she said tale. After seeing–and hearing about–the aftermath of an odd incident on our street, I imagined how a fictional “he” and “she” might process the event themselves.

_________________

He said: She had to be drunk. She said: You don’t know that. He said: What other woman hits the accelerator in her own garage? She said: It could happen to anyone. He said: She drove through the wall and the backyard and landed in the woods. She said: Cars are powerful. He said: She was sloshed. She said: Maybe she got a cell call. He said: Nope. She said: She’d been working all day. He said: Don’t we all. She said: Her kids were yelling in the backseat. He said: They were at daycare. She said: You never get their voices out of your head. He said: Someone could have been killed. She said: A woman never gets a break. He said: My God. She said: There was laundry and curriculum night and a mother with Alzheimer’s. He said: You’ve gotta be– She said: And the boss’s mean emails and her back hurting and her breasts sagging to her waist. Husband spending more time with college football than his own kids. And– He said: The cops made her walk the line. She said: Why couldn’t she just be sober and overwhelmed? He said: They led her off in handcuffs. She said: Lucky bitch.

Photo by utkutavil, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Tania Runyan, author of A Thousand Vessels.

_____________________

Purchase The Novelist, by L.L. Barkat now!

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Tania Runyan
Tania Runyan
Tania Runyan lives in Lindenhurst, Illinois, a sort-of suburb, sort-of small town, where the deer and the minivans play. She's a 2011 NEA fellow and mama to four poetry books—A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, Delicious Air, and What Will Soon Take Place—and three (much cuter and noisier) human children. Tania is also the author of five non-fiction books—Making Peace with Paradise, How To Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, How to Write a Form Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay. Visit her at TaniaRunyan.com
Tania Runyan
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Filed Under: Blog, Fiction, poetry teaching resources, writing prompts

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About Tania Runyan

Tania Runyan lives in Lindenhurst, Illinois, a sort-of suburb, sort-of small town, where the deer and the minivans play. She's a 2011 NEA fellow and mama to four poetry books—A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, Delicious Air, and What Will Soon Take Place—and three (much cuter and noisier) human children. Tania is also the author of five non-fiction books—Making Peace with Paradise, How To Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, How to Write a Form Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay. Visit her at TaniaRunyan.com

Comments

  1. denise says

    September 7, 2012 at 8:58 am

    I. Love. This.

    Reply
  2. Maureen Doallas says

    September 7, 2012 at 9:50 am

    Wonderful, Tania.

    Reply
  3. Tania Runyan says

    September 7, 2012 at 9:57 am

    Thank you, Denise and Maureen!

    Reply
  4. Vickie Greenway says

    September 7, 2012 at 10:01 am

    I enjoyed this! Keep writing more!

    Reply
  5. L.L. Barkat says

    September 7, 2012 at 10:25 am

    I loved “you never get their voices out of your head.”

    And the way these two people keep agitating towards their own viewpoints, using each other’s words to get there.

    It’s a wonderful mirror of what perhaps happened in the other woman’s garage and life. Brings it into a new space where we can think harder about it, maybe even in relation to our own situations.

    Really love this, Tania.

    Reply
  6. Megan Willome says

    September 7, 2012 at 11:45 am

    Yes, there have been days–recent days–where jail might have been an improvement. Meet interesting people, lose weight because the food’s so bad, only responsible for my actions. She knows.

    Reply
  7. Jon Lewis says

    September 7, 2012 at 12:53 pm

    The whole way through I wanted to know if the garage door was up or down.

    Reply
  8. Donna says

    September 7, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Tania…. love it! (I found myself choosing up real sides in this! SO on HER side that I’m convinced she was more right than wrong, all these things really DID happen and that’s WHY the other she she was drunk… ;o) )

    (LOL JON!!)

    Reply
  9. Tania Runyan says

    September 7, 2012 at 10:06 pm

    Thanks for the encouragement, all! Glad you enjoyed it. And Jon, I’ll let you decide about the garage. . .

    Reply
  10. Diana Trautwein says

    September 7, 2012 at 11:03 pm

    this made me laugh out loud – what a fun way to tell a whole lot without many words. thanks for it!

    Reply
  11. Tania Runyan says

    September 9, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    Thanks, Diana! These flash stories are a true joy to write.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. THIS WEEK’S TOP 10 POETIC PICKS | TweetSpeak Poetry says:
    September 13, 2012 at 9:17 am

    […] would you like to write a piece of flash fiction? Consider entering NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction Round 9: Pick A President. The premise is simple: […]

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  2. Fiction Friday: The Bra | TweetSpeak Poetry says:
    September 18, 2012 at 11:08 am

    […] to Writing Flash Fiction, I continue to be amazed by how a simple writing prompt can suddenly open a new world of characters, events and emotions. After just a few minutes of writing, I get to meet people I never knew […]

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  3. Tweetspeak Exclusive: Yet Another Emily Dickinson Daguerreotype Discovered | TweetSpeak Poetry says:
    September 25, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    […] Tweetspeak staffer Tania Runyan discovered the new daguerreotype by chance at a yard sale near her Chicago home, only two images […]

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