Saturday, December 10, 2011

41st Six Sentence Sunday...who's delusional here?

From The Falstaff Vampire Files, just after dusk, alone in a shed just behind her ex-lover’s house, Kristin sees a huge, old man emerge from a crate. He introduces himself as Sir John Falstaff.

Falstaff did seem appropriate to his age and girth, but he had picked an unusual figure to impersonate, or fixate on--not Napoleon or Elvis--but Shakespeare's Falstaff, a character from literature! Unusual.

No harm in talking to him--he seemed harmless. Had there ever been a journal article on delusions of being a fictional character? A flicker of self-interest ran through me at the thought of a journal article on this subject, and I must have showed it in some way because he leaned toward me.

I tensed up, remembering the months when I worked in a full-fledged mental hospital.

For more fun in six-sentence snippets, check out some (or all!) of the 160 authors at Six Sunday.

12 comments:

  1. Fantastic character developement, I love it.

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  2. He seemed harmless - and she used to work in a mental hospital?? Delusions of being a fictional character—don’t all writers believe they are their characters? Or, that their characters believe they are the author, more like it.

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  3. Thanks, Alix, Jessica and Sassy! Your kind words are particularly welcome because I suddenly see about 10 ways to re-write this stretch of words and it's too late--LOL!

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  4. She's braver than I am. Or maybe just more curious :)

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  5. Good point, Eleri, she may be dangerously hypnotized by his supposed harmlessness.

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  6. Careful, girl. He's leaning toward you--he's a vampire--he's maybe a little hungry after his nap!
    Great Six!

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  7. Don't let him get too close! :D Great six as usual, Lynne. :)

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  8. Thanks, Gem and Siobhan/Meg, good point! Alas, Kristin doesn't believe in vampires...yet!

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  9. One of those times when you wish you had the heroine's cell phone number so you can text, "Run!" :D. Very interesting take on the vampire impersonating a character...

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  10. Good point, Angela, it's the "don't go up in the attic" syndrome....hear that once and she's just got to go there! The trick is to make it seem sensible and not just dumb or perverse--LOL!

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