The Family Gathering!
For todays Tense Tuesday prompt we are exploring that time honoured ritual … the family gathering. Why is it an occasion that should be relaxing and carefree so often induces so much tension and stress? It might be Christmas, a birthday celebration, a summer barbecue, a christening, a wedding or even a funeral.
The Prompt
Write a short story about a family gathering where things don’t quite work out as expected. It can be a social event at work or a family holiday that goes spectacularly wrong, you choose.
Tips
- For this exercise it is probably best not to have too many characters, maybe a couple of main characters and two or three subsidiary ones.
- It can be any genre you like; even dragon families, zombies and aliens fall out with one another!
- You could make it some of your ancestors, how did family gatherings go wrong in times gone by?
OK, now stop trying to pacify Aunt Maud and start writing!
Malcolm Richardson has been writing creatively for the last ten years. After a slow start focussing on a novel, which is still only half completed he has concentrated on short stories over the last few years. One day the novel may be resurrected, but his current focus is entering short stories in competitions. Malcolm is a latecomer to blogging, but his Story a Day stories can be found here.
Make sure to post a comment below, with a link to your story.
Family holidays can be so stressful: https://storiesin5minutes.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/not-quite-a-merry-christmas-storyaday-post/
I’ve had a whirlwind of a day: I helped babysit my three-month-old niece, Alexandria; I accepted a job as a development editor with Penguin Random House in Indianapolis; and I finally turned one of the StoryADay prompts into a play, as I’d been wanting to write at least a short one all month. You can read it here: https://storiesbystolle.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/day-22-sis-bamboozle-bah-humbug. The password is 22.
Wow well done, looks like it’s been a good day for you today. The play was really good, and I hadn’t spotted the adoption coming until just before they made the announcement.
I had an inkling about what I wanted to do, but once I got there, I decided to add even more of a twist. I was recently a performer in a radio play, so I’ve been wanting to try to write more plays. Eventually, I’ll write a complete one.
A gathering that failed to gather?
http://susan-reads.blogspot.com/2015/09/meet-at-gate.html
Spooky indeed! I enjoyed that.
I definitely went to a weird place with this one.
https://unusualstrangeness.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/story-a-day-challenge-day-22-under-the-same-roof/
Oh dear, a dysfunctional family! And who was Dr Messner?
Ah, I may have gone a bit too subtle with that. Dr. Messner is a psychologist who’s studying a patient with multiple personalities.
Excellent prompt, Malcolm! When I began my story, I thought Aunt Becky’s not long for this world, and she isn’t, but not in the way I expected: https://sonyca.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/aunt-beckys-last-wish/
Thanks Sonya. I wasn’t expecting that ending, it was well camouflaged.
Sometimes I wonder about the things that go on in my head!
http://writerishramblings.com/2015/09/22/story-a-day-challenge-day-22-teenage-love/
Well done Kristi, another interesting story where you have to wait till the end.
Here is my go at this one: https://angietrafford.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/story-a-day-barbecue/
That was a bleak barbecue Angie. Impressive how you can convey so much in so few words, well done.
I hadn’t intended writing for my own prompts, but this scenario popped into my head after re-reading the prompt this morning. There’s maybe a much longer story in there somewhere, but it’s a start.
http://storyadayseptember2015.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/family-gathering.html
I think it works as it is, but I’d like to know what Mercedes has to say, too.