Short Fiction Fun
Dear Maggie,
How is school going? What are you working on?
Sincerely,
Reader in Redding
Dear Reader,
School is amazing! It’s a ton of work, but it’s really helping me stretch as a writer, and the writing community is smart, driven, supportive, and talented. There’s no rest for the weary in this program, though. Once one project is finished, we’re straight on to the next one. I’m reading a novel per week, participating in several obligatory discussion board assignments, and writing one short story per month for workshop.
Short fiction allows me to experiment and take risks with my writing that I’m usually less willing to do in long form since the time investment for a full-length novel is so much more. Horror is a genre I usually shy away from, but I opted to try my hand at a flash fiction (under 1000 words) horror story for my very first workshop this summer. That story, “Monster,” was acquired by Tales to Terrify and will be produced for the podcast sometime in the next couple of months. I’ll let you know when it’s out!
This fall semester, our first module is on romance, mystery, and thriller, and we’re reading and writing widely in these genres. With my romance novels, I’ve thus far only written romantic suspense. I tend to enjoy the complex plot lines and suspense on top of the emotional angst and steamy stuff in my romance, but I challenged myself to write a rom-com for this workshop. I enjoyed it so much, I’m thinking of turning it into a full-length novel–once I finish the TSI books I’m working on, of course!
I thought I’d share the opening scene of the story with you to see what you think. Please do let me know, and if you have any other questions, send them to maggie@msmaggieclare.com. I hope you enjoy this excerpt from “Run, Harry, Run.” a runaway bride story featuring an emotional support dog and the hint of second-chance-romance…
Ellie O’Shea is supposed to marry Christopher Ellsworth Paige today, but she isn’t going to. The small, insistent warning bells in her head, the ones that started months ago, even before their engagement, have morphed into an obnoxious, blaring alarm by the time the organ music fills the vestibule.
As the first bridesmaid treks down the aisle, Ellie hyperventilates. Her mouth goes dry. Dark spots dapple her vision. The pressure in her chest feels like a vise squeezing out all the air, and she recognizes the hallmark beginnings of a full-blown panic attack.
“Oh no. Absolutely not,” Ellie hisses, gritting her teeth.
She breathes in for the count of four, holds it for seven, then exhales for eight. Her emotional support dog, Harry, leans his stout body against her leg in a show of concern, and her father glances at her, brow furrowed. Ellie’s best friend and maid-of-honor, Jill, fusses with her daughter’s flower basket, unaware of Ellie’s distress.
In the morning sunlight, the diamond ring on Ellie’s finger glistens. The five-carat rock- the-size-of-an-eyeball is too flashy, too conspicuous, too much for Ellie. The moment Topher had opened the box, sank dramatically onto one knee, and proposed in front of his entire friend group at a swanky restaurant downtown, she’d known everything was all wrong.
Of course, he’d mistaken the dismay on her face for surprise and interpreted her painful discomfort as awe. Trapped, like the proverbial deer in the headlights, surrounded by people who barely tolerated her, Ellie had panicked, but she couldn’t bring herself to say no and humiliate the only man who’d ever shown an interest in her beyond a few disastrous dates. In the weeks following, whenever she’d come close to calling things off, Topher would do something incredibly sweet, and her resolve would falter.
Maybe it would be okay, she’d told herself. Until she’d finally realized, without a shadow of doubt, that it would not be.
Harry, who looks adorable, if a little stiff, in his tuxedo harness and bow tie, shakes himself from head to tail. The matching his-and-her platinum wedding bands jingle but remain fastened securely to his collar. Paisley, the flower girl, grabs hold of Harry’s leash and bounces up and down on her toes.
“Almost time to go, Harry!” she squeals, tugging the dog to her side.
Jill whispers a few last-minute instructions to her daughter, tosses Ellie a frazzled smile, and disappears down the aisle.
Time has run out. Ellie has to speak now or forever hold her peace. Well, that isn’t entirely true. She can go through with things and then have the marriage annulled. But no. No, she can’t. Especially not after last night.
So, in a charming chapel, on the grounds of a picturesque lakeside resort, with over two- hundred guests in attendance, Ellie turns to her dad, takes a deep breath, and says, “I can’t do this...”
At the same moment, Harry pulls the leash out of Paisley’s hand, gives a short, sharp woof, and takes off down the aisle. Paisley falls backward onto her bottom with a yelp, basket flying, flowers fluttering. The wedding planner shrieks. Guests in the church gasp and cry out.
Once her initial shock wears off, Ellie fights the urge to laugh hysterically, hikes up her tulle skirt, and runs after her dog.
