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Terror In Towyn

by DerekH 

Posted: 20 September 2004
Word Count: 256
Summary: A piece of flash - hopefully to go into the collection that Shay is organising. Be good to know what you think.


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Terror in Towyn


What an end to a perfect day. We trudge back, worn out to contentment. Faint sounds in the distance; swirling screams, manic laughter, runaway trains rumbling over wooden scaffold mountains, and the man with the plastic horserace jabbering, faster than my ears. The sunlight has faded, and the evening now seems enchanted. The trees are lit from below, orange and green. The soothing breeze strokes my bare arms and legs. Smells of cut grass and salt and sugar and hot fat mingle. Our goal is in sight, the neon sign flickers above the open door, we enter and wait.

We leave smiling, and I cradle the steaming parcel in my arms as we shuffle through the long wet grass, across the loose gravel, and up the metal steps. Inside the smell is older, a memory of the morning, sunshine and bacon, now faded and mellow, welcoming. We gather round the table, and unveil the feast. Shiny forks stab through to soggy words. No talking, no stopping. Then I see it. Or do I? Unsure, I focus. The background blurs. The terrible creature now sharp and clear; all twisted, limbs contorted, black eyes bulging, body grimly curling. She can’t see it, but she sees me, sees my eyes shocked and wide. Her mouth hangs open, her actions frozen, her eyes ask the question. I have to answer. Spill the words out. All at once. Faster than the plastic horse-man. I've got to stop it. I blurt it out.

Mumthatsnotachipitsafriedwasp DON'T EAT IT!






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Comments by other Members



Account Closed at 16:03 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Derek,

I found this difficult to follow till I got to the last line! I wasn't quite sure if he was coming or going and who he was talking to.

In fact, looking back, it's the goal that threw me. I didn't get what it was, thinking it was the fair so couldn't understand what they were waiting for.

Shiny forks stab through at soggy words. = newspaper words? Why the at?

Also the she was unclear till the end as the mother isn't mentioned before.

Otherwise, I loved the smells, sensations, tastes that ran throughout this piece but for me I needed a little more explanation.
Elspeth

DerekH at 17:49 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Fair enough Elspeth, I tried a bit of an experiment with this one, to see how much would be clear from without an explanation. I guess the experiment failed...oh well.

I will look at the whole thing again.

Derek.

<Added>

Oops I've no idea where that "from" came from (there's another!)

Account Closed at 17:51 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Goodness Derek, don't just rely on my judgement. (I can be pretty thick sometimes) Wait for a few other opinions!
Elspeth

DerekH at 18:03 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
I didn't intend to change it instantly Elspeth...but what you said is enough to make me question what I've written and read it over again. I won't change it unless I feel it needs changing.

Be great to get more opinions.

Derek.

eyeball at 18:44 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
I think this is great, Derek and definitely not a failure. The atmosphere of summerholidayhadagooddaygoandgetfishandchipbacktothechalet, all falling over itself is very evocative of childhood, and the moment of tension before you realise what the thing is flows beautifully into the punchline. For some reason, I believe this event occurred in Dymchurch. :) Sharon

DerekH at 18:55 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Sharon, thank you very much for the compliment, you certainly seem to have got exactly what I intended.

I'm so glad you liked it.

Cheers,

Derek.

Dee at 19:42 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Derek, I really like this but think it needs some work.

Please let me take you there.
This is author intrusion, and too adult for your narrator.

The breeze strokes my bare arms and legs, and smells of cut grass and salt and sugar and hot fat, mingle.
This is wonderfully evocative but a bit screwed. ‘mingle’, dangling on the end, interrupts the flow. What you’re saying – I think – is that the breeze is bringing the mingled smells of…
I think you should either drop ‘mingle’ or restructure the sentence completely. And ‘softly soothing’ … beware of too many adjectives. You’re more or less saying the same thing twice here.

a memory of the morning, sunshine and bacon, now faded and mellow, welcoming I love this.

On a general note, I think you use too many semi-colons. For instance:
Then I see it; or do I? Unsure, I focus; the horror, the terror, all twisted limbs contorted,
I would write this as:
Then I see it. Or do I? Unsure, I focus. The horror. The terror. All twisted limbs contorted,
Except that ‘twisted’ and ‘contorted’ are saying the same thing. You might want to say ‘All twisted limbs and contorted body.’ But the horror/terror belongs to the narrator and the twisted limbs belong to the wasp… so they don't quite connect...

I hope this helps… the story has great potential.

Dee
x


DerekH at 20:51 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Dee, You’ve given me plenty to think about, thank you. I know I'm a bit random with those semi-colons (so I'm especially grateful for that advice).

The intrusion, probably unnecessary, I may lose that.

Yes this line is sticky - "The softly soothing breeze strokes my bare arms and legs, and smells of cut grass and salt and sugar and hot fat, mingle." What if I split it, lose the softly and drop the last comma - "The soothing breeze strokes my bare arms and legs. Smells of cut grass and salt and sugar and hot fat mingle." ?? I like the mingle bit at the end...I don't know why. Or should I split it with a semi-colon…aw go on…please ;).

I think, for the moment, I'm going to stick with the "twisted limbs contorted" I know it's technically wrong, I knew when I wrote it... but it sounded right (I may change my mind before long).

The terror and the horror do belong to the narrator, but they are also titles he gives the wasp "The Terror" "The Horror", maybe I should write it as such to make that come across…unsure.

This piece has received a mixed bag of comments. I wrote it in my head whilst falling asleep last night (didn't put the light on to write it down, so as not to wake my wife... so ended up repeating it over and over in my head...correcting as I went...hoping I'd remember this morning) so no wonder it's a strange one ;). I usually wait a while before posting, but this one went straight on, fresh from the land of nod.

Thanks for all your help Dee, very much appreciated.

Derek.




Dee at 20:58 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
"The soothing breeze strokes my bare arms and legs. Smells of cut grass and salt and sugar and hot fat mingle."

Yes... I like that a lot!

x

DerekH at 21:02 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
Cheers Dee, Will fix it soon (seem to have lost some options on my profile page..think I've been a bit too busy on the site or something ;).

Derek.

crowspark at 21:59 on 20 September 2004  Report this post
This reads very well Derek and the overall effect is impressive.
I particularly liked, "Shiny forks stab through to soggy words."

Not so sure about, "Can I still hear the man with the plastic horserace, rambling faster than my ears?"

Bill

DerekH at 00:03 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Bill, You've got me sussed...because I did jam that line in, just to tie in with the line "faster than the plastic horse man" (which I liked and understood but thought no one else would) near the end. (not sure I should have admitted that)

If I could only think of another way...(any hints gratefully received :).

Derek.


<Added>

I got hung up thinking about that line and forgot to say thank you Bill.

Silverelli at 04:40 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Fantastic, Derek.
Also,"Mumwatchoutforthebrokenglassit'llcutyourmouthup!"

The plastic horse men are quite busy, huh? Time for them to joust...FOOD FIGHT!!! Okay, I'm getting carried away.

I bought your hook right from the get go. Especially the 'manic laughter', I'm always willing to follow where that is coming from.

Adam


ShayBoston at 09:39 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Derek,

I liked this, though I agree with some of the other comments about the lead up. Seems a bit too 'busy' at the start. A sense of lots of action before the twist, when (perhaps) if it was a little slower it may have been even more effective.

Love that line! Reminded me of a speeded up version of Peter Kay's 'mumgeddaspoonmibiscuitsfellinmibrew'.

Shay


DerekH at 10:26 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Cheers Adam, I'm not sure anyone knows who the plastic horse man is...I know what I mean, but I'm probably the only one, which is entirely my fault.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Derek



DerekH at 10:31 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Cheers Shay, more to think about. I'm hoping to get stuff ready for the collection, so I'll be trying to polish as much as possible. Will also attempt to write new stuff (so I can weed out the dodgy ones).

Glad you liked it.

Derek.

DerekH at 10:34 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
"The plastic Horse Man"...I think it has a ring to it...almost as good as "Captain Magic's Nosh Cabin" :) Maybe the plastic horse man should have a story all of his own...



Anj at 20:12 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Derek,

I love "We trudge back, worn out to contentment". Know just how that feels. Like Bill, love "Shiny forks stab through to soggy words".

Didn't like the exclamation mark at the end of the first sentence - seems too directive, too insistent. I could've done with something between "we enter and wait." and "We leave smiling". Felt as if I'd missed something, even though I knew what it would have been.

Reading other's comments, I gather the climax was at one stage broken glass in the chips. Personally, just to be awkward, I preferred the broken glass to the wasp.

Like others, I love the run-on sentence, and the tiny details. Who was it said that fiction is in the detail? You can go too far with it, but you haven't.

Great stuff.

Take care
Andrea



DerekH at 20:27 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Andrea, Glad you liked it. I'll look it over with your comments in mind...great to get feedback.

Sorry but the "broken glass" was purely down to Adam...it's always been a wasp (that part of the story is based on a real event so I'm keeping it :).

I don't know who said that fiction is in the detail... but I'm happy you didn't think I went too far (I have to stop myself sometimes)

Cheers,

Derek.



anisoara at 21:50 on 21 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Derek,

What a surprise that was at the end! And I loved the way you ran all the words together. I had to pick them out carefully, but that I think was even part of the enjoyment - it delayed my getting to the punchline.

I had been wondering what was in the bundle, so when I read about the soggy words, while I stopped to think for a moment, that did answer the question and I admired 'soggy words'.

I suppose if anything, I thought it was going to be something even more horrible, like it wasn't fish and chips they were eating at all, something grotesque like human body parts (did you see the Guardian article about sidewalk vendors selling human flesh on the street in Moldova? Apparently they were collecting their 'meat' from the hospital. Unbearable to think about.)

And I liked the way you held back 'her' identity until the end, as I had assumed that it was a grown up couple until then. All the meaning became clear to me all at once in the last line, and I liked that.

Thanks for the read!

Ani

DerekH at 00:03 on 22 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Ani, Thank you for reading, it's great to hear that you enjoyed it.

Derek.








<Added>

No I haven't seen that article...it's a really sick world sometimes isn't it.

bjlangley at 13:32 on 23 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Derek, I like this piece, it captures the excitement of the day well in the first paragraph. I guess that the plastic horserace is the 'donkey derby' type thing, where people put balls in holes to make their donkey move - first to the end wins, motormouth commentator ever present. I thought maybe horserace needed hyphenating? Likewise when he returns at the end I thought it needed to be 'horse-man'. I though tying it back to something in the first section was very effective.

All the best,

Ben

DerekH at 14:15 on 23 September 2004  Report this post
Thanks Ben, Yes I wasn't sure about "horserace", but I think you are right, so I'll change that. (BTW - I think you got what I meant by "plastic horse-race"... but the one I've seen was horses rather than donkeys...I had wondered if anyone would know what I was on about, so that's good)

As for "Horse man"...I meant it in a childish way...like "Sweet-shop man" but again I think you're right...

Thanks for all the helpful feedback and I'm glad you liked it.

Derek.



scottwil at 02:02 on 24 September 2004  Report this post
Good stuff Derek, nicely evocative and I enjoyed the twist. I wasn't sure if they ended up in a caravan or not?? Maybe a clue as to the environment.
I know you've changed it but I'm afraid I'm still baffled by 'the man with the plastic horserace'.

Best
Sion

DerekH at 14:04 on 24 September 2004  Report this post
Cheers Sion, Glad you enjoyed it. Yes it was a caravan, the only clue I gave was the metal steps...someone else thought it was a chalet...either way I'm happy, I just wanted to get the holiday feel across.

As for the plastic horse-man (or man with the plastic horse race), so far I think only Ben got it... I always knew it would be hit n miss whether people got that or not. I don't know whether to change it, for some reason I've grown very fond of the plastic horse-man since writing this... but I shouldn't be writing just for me...or should I? not sure...

Thanks for reading and for the great comments,

Derek.

(BTW - For you and anyone else still wondering - The plastic horse-man is the guy that runs the horse-race stall on the fairground...people sit at the stall and each seat represents a horse; you put your money in and watch the plastic horses 'run', while the 'plastic horse-man' rabbits away ten to the dozen... if your plastic horse wins you get a prize.)
Do you know what I mean now? I know the description was vague "plastic horse-man", but it was meant to be a name given by a child, like " Candy floss man or sweet-shop man.

I'm thinking of writing a story about him and Captain Magic (another favourite, from "Captain Magic's Nosh Cabin"...a mobile burger bar off J22 of the M62)- "Captain Magic meets The Plastic Horse-Man" has a nice sound to it ;)


Dee at 21:17 on 25 September 2004  Report this post
Derek, this is so much better. You’ve really worked on it. Think you’ve got the twisted limbs right now.

Only thing is – and it’s an extremely picky point:

Behind us faint sounds in the distance

Think about dropping ‘Behind us’. It doesn’t add anything to the meaning of the sentence…

Otherwise – I think it’s ready for your public now.

Dee
x


DerekH at 21:50 on 25 September 2004  Report this post
Hi Dee, Much of the rework was down to your advice, thank you very much. You've been a big help, and I'm glad you like it more now. I'll have read again and look at the "behind us" bit.

Cheers Dee,

Derek.



ShayBoston at 22:06 on 25 September 2004  Report this post
I agree, this was good initially, now it's very good. The build up is more measured.

Shay


DerekH at 22:28 on 25 September 2004  Report this post
Cheers Shay, I'm glad you think so. I hope it's good enough for the collection. I'm quite happy with it...I think.

Derek.

Dee at 11:31 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
My, Derek, you have got this nicely combed out now, haven’t you. It’s really sleek. Definitely one for the book.

I wonder – this is just a suggestion that I’m not even sure of myself but – have you thought of putting those last three words in capitals to show his rising panic?

“Mumthatsnotachipitsafriedwasp DON’T EAT IT!”

Dee
x


DerekH at 11:39 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Dee, It's funny you should say that, because that's how I originally wrote it...the only reason I changed it (And you may think this is silly...) is that I thought that, in such a short piece, the words in capitals might stand out and draw someones eye...giving the game away.

I was just being daft, wasn't I... I'll put the capitals back.

Derek.

Dee at 11:47 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Good point, Derek. Have you tried printing it out to see what it looks like on paper?

Dee

DerekH at 11:53 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
No...but looking at it now revised, I think it's fine...the garbled "Mumthatsnotachipitsafriedwasp" should be enough to protect the twist.

<Added>

Hmmm...now I'm having second thoughts... I guess I'll have to get this new printer set up after all...

Dee at 12:01 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Try it in italics.

<Added>

Whoops! Hit the wrong button. Meant to add that italics can give an impression of urgency rather than simply shouting.

DerekH at 12:13 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Thanks Dee, It looks right like that...to be honest I didn't know that italics could be used for that purpose, but you live 'n' learn eh...

Derek.

DerekH at 13:52 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Dee, question for you...

Do you think I should chop this up more...to build the pace of the panic up to the ending? - "Her mouth hangs open, her actions frozen, her eyes ask the question. I have to answer, get the words out all at once, faster than the plastic horse man."

I can see how it would work in shorter sentences, rather than seperated by commas, but I'm unsure if it would give the right effect, or even be 'correct'.

"Her mouth hangs open. Actions frozen. Eyes ask the question. I have to answer. Spill all the words out at once. Faster than the plastic horse-man."

What do you think?

Derek.

Dee at 14:23 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Well, the urgency is in his actions not hers so how about:

"Her mouth hangs open, her actions frozen, her eyes ask the question. I have to answer. Spill the words out. All at once. Faster than the plastic horse-man."

Notice how I’ve split up Spill the words out. All at once?

Do you read your work aloud? I’ve recorded a few of my short stories for the local hospital radio and it became very noticeable to me that some words or combinations of words sound slow while others are much more pacey.

It’s difficult to say ‘spill all’ quickly. However you say it, that combination slows the pace of the sentence. It’s not much, and in another line wouldn’t be noticeable, but it’s maybe worth thinking about in this one.

Dee
x


DerekH at 15:16 on 02 October 2004  Report this post
Good advice, Cheers Dee.

<Added>

Yep...I think I like it better this way. I'll come back and read it again later to be sure.


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