Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I don't know if you're all patient enough to keep reading

Well those excerpts I just posted are not in chronological order. Now I give to you the beginning of my story, let me know if it reels you all in.

Getting a drink thrown in my face has been my biggest wakeup call to date. I was just standing at this bar when some girl walks up to me and I just tell her that she’s got some love handles. I was just trying to give her a wordup. Better me telling her, than some gy pulling on them later that night and making her feel like complete shit. So this girl reacts as follows:

She raises her cranberry vodka drink, splashes it in my eyes and yells “fuck you, you skinny mother fucker.”
At that point I just retreat to my frineds. They always stand near the corner of the bar when they aren’t playing pool or ordering Miller High Life bottles from the one waitress Kristen, the one whose’s got the asymetrical red haircut, the one I tried to make out with once in a drunken rampage, the one who won’t stop texting me once a day.
So after the crazy bitch tries to blind me with pure berry ethenol, I retreat to the smoke balcony. Now the thing with smoking is—I love to hate it. I mean deep down I wish I’d never started up again. I treated a lot of people differently (including my mom, Sherrie) when I started up again but didn’t feel like telling them. It’s hard for me to admit that I do things that I don’t necessarily wish I did.
So I head out to the smoking area, which so happens to be the fire escape for the bar, and there I see this waif of a girl. I mean it seems to me that most girls have problems, most girls I know have either thrown up a meal or snorted a line, but this girl was a tad bit more pathetic, this girl just so happened to also be a smoker. So I’m out on there and this girl, she says her name’s Kellie—“ie at the end.” She seems alright, she seems different. At this point I just want to shake one pointless year of dating and have a one-night-stand or whatever. I mean I figured that this nypmpfy- fairy girl would offer me at least one entertaining nightso I went up and asked for a light.
She fumbled around for a bit in her purse. She had long curly blonde hair and a nose that that more character than beauty. The sort of nose that distroys an otherwise beautiful face, but is refered to as being “interesing” and “ethnic.” I couldn’t tell at the time but upon closer inspection I could tell that her nose had a tiny stud peirced into it.
“It’s alright if you don’t have it,” I said as I leaned down, my Marboro still pursed between my lips. Just then my buddy Reagan came out onto the escape. He said that he wanted to move to some other bar, he suggested a place down the way that served two dollar pitchers.
“Yeah that sounds alright,” I said, my face still close to the nape of Kellie’s neck.
“How about we meet you over there in ten minutes once we’re done here?” Kellie said.
“That’s fine,” Reagan nodded in my direction. He headed out leaving Kellie and I alone.
“What kind of cigs do you smoke?” I ask. I can tell that I’m younger than her. I’m not sure how exaclty I sensed it at the time, but some how I knew that she was at least a year my senior.
“They’re Newport Lights, I know, It’s sort of girly, but I’m a girl.”
“And a very pretty one at that.”
“What?” she asks.
“I said you’re a pretty girl.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Where are you headed to after this bar?” I asked her.
“I don’t really know, my friends tend to leave while I’m out smoking, they figure that I’ve already left.”
“that’s not very kind of your friends.”
“Girls just aren’t too kind.” That was the statement that made me think that Kellie was like Fern. I thought she was enlightened and atune with masculine ideologies and ideols, hell Fern had pinups plastered all over her apartment wall. She used to say that she appreciated beauty, I have to say though that the girl never really let on to be bi-sexual, besides the time I caught her makingout with her girlfriend at the bar, but that was because they were wasted and Sarah doesn’t know when to layoff. Well Kellie and I never made it over to meet up with Reagan, but he underrstood once I told him the next day about what’d happened.
“I played it like you taught me man. I said, ‘hey have you eatten yet’ and she said ‘yeah I ate but it’s pretty late and I can eat again.

5 comments:

  1. ooooo, I like it I like it a lot. I believe that best attribute of this story is the language which reveals how honest and sincere this character is. He doesn't sound like he's hiding anything and he very hilarious. I really enjoy reading this piece, he seem like an ass at the beginning but in some crazy way I love his character and I think it is because of the way he set himself up in different situation having an idea of how it's going to play and if it don't goes the way he expect it he don't let it bother him (drink in face). However, after the drink part kind of bother me, I don't know if it's just be but I felt he would probably would have mention the drink on his clothes or reference. Because it made me think about sitcoms in which this situation happens and they act like it never did which is not realistic. other than that, I would love to see him being thrown in a crazy situation.

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  2. This story did reel me in...I was immediately drawn into the story because of its conversational tone. I felt like I was reading a diary.

    I got the sense that this guy is a total douchebag and isn't even aware of it. He's very mater of fact about his judgements and seems pretty self-absorbed. Not only does he make pretty harsh judgements on the women who frequent this bar. I really started hating this character, especially at the end. I wanted to tell him to get a life, haha.

    Its certainly an interesting start and it got me hooked! Keep on writing!

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  3. The character is definitely one that makes me want to keep reading and learn more about. In that, he's different, like he's hateable but in some twisted way he's spellbinding, as if I want to think he isn't aware of how offensive he is and it isn't really his fault. It's because, I think, he's so rough around the edges and yet direct enough to show that.

    He's different, and there's something about a character doing the unexpected in light of social etiquette that makes them attractive despite those negative emotions.

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  4. Yeah, I think the character builds trust with the reader right away...he's so brutally honest we know that we can tuck in and watch things unfold behind a guy that is volatile and full of interesting commentary. I like the language a lot, I like how some of the sentence go on in a stream of thoughts and imagery (like "They always stand near the corner of the bar..."). It definitely comes across that there's not much this guy cares about in life, he just notices things and brushes them off just as quickly...like in the Fern tangent of thinking. I'd be curious to see if anything can actually phase him/shake him out of his own world (if that's what you wanted to do).

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  5. I also found a lot to like in this story. The conversational tone, the personal style of narration and some of the descriptions work well to construct the character in the piece. My main issue with this being your beginning section is that essentially nothing happens in this part aside from meeting at girl on a balcony smoking a cigarette. The story begins with him having a drink thrown in his face but that incident is peripheral to where the story seems to be going. It does indicate that he is something of a dbag, but that comes across in almost every line he says or thinks. I would like to see the story start out more on the point. I'm interested in the character but would be more drawn in if he started out in a more interesting situation. If the first meeting her has with this girl is significant to the story, it can always be explored through a memory, or something he thinks about. The voice of the piece works well and I like it. Try to eliminate cliches wherever you can to make sure the voice stays as unique and strong as possible. Good start.

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