Workshops 10/29

"Perfection"

This story had kind of a creepy, desperate vibe. I really like how we don't know exactly what is going on until the end. I feel like the first page provided a lot of buildup, and the reader was rewarded in the last paragraph. The realization that he hand was only a stump was both rewarding and surprising. The prose were really tight, and the flow was very smooth. This seemed like a mystery and a horror all at once, very Poe-like.

"Promise"

I really like the personification of the fear. I think it was very useful to make it a character, because it allowed for the reader to really understand that this protagonist is consumed by her feelings. The ending is less than satisfying, but I feel that was kind of the point. The message here seems to be that the Fear is a lifelong problem. Though this character is better in the end than she was in the beginning, the reader realizes that the Fear will plague her for the rest of her life.

"In Hours of Autumnal Sleep"

I have never read a story like this one, so I suppose I don't really know how to take it. It is formatted like a piece of prose, however, it feels like a poem. I like the combination of the two forms of writing. I felt like this was a very unique take on a relationship between two people. "'I'll tell you what,' you say. 'This is what,' I say," is an example of how these two people are different. Maybe, in a way that it is hard to explain in words, their differing speech patterns show the reader that they are very different people.

"Cute Without the E"

This story's narrator was incredibly unique. I had never read a story from the point of view of an inanimate object before, and I think that it is a fresh take on a story about a creepy murderer. I like the idea of having a less-than-serious narrator with such a horrific topic. I think that this is an interesting way of exploring the psyche of a serial killer, especially in how he is so reverent to his weapon. I was a little disappointed in the end. I didn't think there was enough build-up and reason for him to be discarding his weapon so nonchalantly.