Thursday's Children 3/28/13

A weekly blog hop

where writers come together

to talk about whatever inspires them.

A few days ago I was going through old files and came across a red folder.

Its contents are horrifying. HORRIFYING, I TELL YOU!!

12th grade Creative Writing class papers!

Wow. Just. Wow.

Side bar: How many of you are

zooming in to try and

make out the date? lol

I apologize to Mrs. Royer for having to read that crap. She was very nice and encouraging –one of my favorite teachers.

My writing was pretty minimalistic, not a lot of description or detail. Reading it now, I think, it reads like a kid trying to tell someone a story, but they’re too excited to take a breath. In fact, Mrs. Royer marked run-on’s as my biggest problem. One five page story had 11 of them.  

That story is titled, The Frightening Experience of Chantel DuBois. Yes, I was also taking French. The story is about a woman who witnesses a murder. She believes the murderer got a good look at her and that her life is now in danger. I was going for edge-of-your-seat suspense.

But then, right in the middle of said suspense there is a quite jarring sentence.
Here is a snippet. See if you can find it.

The next morning when she woke up she remembered everything vividly, and hoped it was only a dream.
As she was eating her breakfast there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she asked in a shaky voice.
A man replied, "Delivery."
I guess she figured if it was the murderer he would have answered, "The murderer--"
So, she opened the door, and it was the man she saw in the alley. He raised the knife high above his head and came towards her. 

Did you find it? 

The only explanation I have is that I was a big fan of Saturday Night Live, and an all time favorite sketch was Landshark.

If you're too young, and not familiar with Landshark. Click here to watch a clip.

Another story in the folder was about guilt eating away at a boy, until he did the right thing. Hmm, wonder where that came from? A personal demon maybe?

There was also one called, The Last Friday. It's along the lines of an end of the world story, featuring a family running for shelter. I know what spawned this idea.

As a child I was constantly worried about the world ending, or losing all my family and friends. This was a result of a traumatic incident at age 11, that has left me, to this day, with an incredible fear of religion.

I have toyed with the idea of writing a post about what happened. Maybe it would be therapeutic? Maybe it would help others to understand my fear? And just maybe, somehow, the culprits could stumble upon the post and realize how it felt through my eyes?

So ... anyway ... I did find inspiration in these old stories. How about you? Have you ever written about a traumatic experience? Did it help?

One more thing, because I can't end this post sounding like a Debbie Downer.

Here is the opening line from another paper in the folder:

Have you ever had the delightful experience of eating hot chicken wings?

Do with it what you will. lol.