Saturday, April 24, 2010

Blogfest: Body Language

As if I don't have enough to do, I signed up for this blogfest. Today's is entitled "Body Language".

Today's mission is to write a scene "with NO dialogue in it" per Harley D. Palmer at the Lobotomy of a Writer blog.



My scene will be G-rated as some, maybe all, the other blogfest participants are YA writers.

Here goes. Let me know how you think I did.

Lani awoke in the middle of the night, her bladder too full, painful. Although the bedroom blinds blocked the moonlight and there were no lights on in the house, something glowed red above her.

Shivers wracked her body. Her heart skipped erratically. Her palms grew clammy.

She pulled her covers over her head, hiding beneath the flimsy protection. She knew what made the glow. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure why.

But she had theories. Scary, frightening, horrifying theories.

After several long moments, hoping the eerie glow had ceased, she lowered her comforter enough to peak over the edge. Her heart stopped. The glow was brighter, almost palpable...

Her breath stuck in her throat. She tried to talk but her voice refused to come out of hiding. So she shook her husband's arm.

Errol moaned and rolled to his side. His eyes opened a slit, heavy with sleep.

Lani pointed at the red glow. Then she rolled over and pointed at Errol's ceramic dragon, the beast whose nostrils flared, the one whose eyes glowed red.

Errol's eyes widened and he pulled her against him, into his protection.

Although she doubted Errol had magical powers to stop the dragon from crossing into their dimension, she soaked up his strength. At least this time her husband had seen the thing come alive. At least he would no longer think her crazy. She no longer thought she was crazy.

It was small comfort, however, when she realized she might be dead by morning's light.

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13 comments:

Unknown said...

Intriguing. I want more! LOL

Heather said...

Me too! I want to know what that red light is. The teens will be eating out of your hands.

It's hard not to write without dialogue. You picked a great scene. H

F said...

I think this was a cool way to get round the "no dialogue" thing... I found it quite hard to do. I liked this... i hope they survive, though... :s

Unknown said...

This story's been rolling around in my head for awhile. I'll have to write a full blown story with it.

When I get back from my hair appointment I'll visit all your sites and the other blogfest participants to read their scenes. :)

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Dead by morning? I don't know. I've learned never to underestimate a female. My feline warrior princess, Gypsy, has taught me that.

It you really set up the stage with suspense and dread, totally without dialogue. Bravo.

Come check out my entry, why don't ya? Roland

Andrew Rosenberg said...

I hate those creepy dragon things.
Stay in your own world!
Nice job!

Dawn Embers said...

Nice work. I like the ending, the feeling of not being crazy any more and how even she had begun to wonder.

Amalia Dillin said...

Very interesting! Nice work with the body language-- Even down to the creepy dragon with malevolent glowing eyes. I'd definitely have read on if there had been more!

dolorah said...

Ooh; scary. Love those kinds of stories. I got chills thinking about that dragon, and wondering if he was real or not.

Good work.

.........dhole

Anastasia V. Pergakis said...

Nice! I want to know what happens next! I love that I got to peak into the scene where the husband figured out she wasn't crazy! Great touch there!

Nancy J. Parra said...

Hi Ashley, that was cool-but left me wondering if she ever got to go to the bathroom. ;)
Cheers~

Unknown said...

Harley - Thanks! :)

My husband's ceramic dragons look freaky at night. I'm still wondering if I'm the crazy one.

Unknown said...

Nancy - I'm pretty sure she would have had to eventually. Unless of course the dragon ate them or took them back to its universe. One of these days I'll write a full blown story with this and we'll see.

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