What are books? - A Fifty Words Story
Purveyors of ancient wisdom passed down through parchment and prose.
Medieval monks manuscripts and King Henry's wives. Were there more than six? The ink tells a tale, our very own storyboard of life. From scrawls on walls to ancient books.
A silent killer? How many slayed for bible and koran?
This was my entry into @jayna's #fiftywordscontest. This is a great way to get back into writing, hone your writing skills or just try out writing. We are building a super supportive little community here now under the watchful eye of @jayna. I encourage you to give it a go and be sure to check out as many other stories as you can, leave a comment, upvote them if you like what you have read and support each other :o)
This week's prompt was "book", see @jayna's page for full details.
The picture I used above is not my own and the source is here
Thanks for taking the time to read my little story.
Peace out.
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This post was submitted for curation by: @theironfelix
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Excellent, @ablaze. Books, like any other weapon, can be very powerful and dangerous. It will depend on who writes them, what they write, and how they are read/interpreted.
Yes indeed @hlezama... Thanks for stopping by and supporting..
This post has received a 13.57 % upvote from @boomerang.
Interesting how you focused on telling the effects of the book in a story-esque atmosphere. To give life to them and draw them cartoony instead of stating outright (look I hate the phrasing "tell" and "show" with a passion, since "showing" is just a more fancy and nice-looking version of "telling"). Anyways, you go with one scrawled with information of some scandalous information. To then the religious texts being adored, for which the people, who were compelled by their perception of the book, saw it as an easy social justification for their bloody actions. Upvot'd.
Thanks for your in depth and understanding commentary @theironfelix.. Much appreciated... I was a little all over the place, but not easy to capture it all in 50 words :o)
I love the theme of this story, @ablaze. It's an interesting lens -- that backward look into history and the power of ink.
You asked for critiques. I would suggest making "monk's" possessive by adding an apostrophe as I have done. Other than that, I think this is fine as is. It poses some interesting questions.
But looking beyond this piece, in general, one thing I think is important for short stories is a strong sense of character. For 50-word stories, that is challenging. But I have one recommendation for you as you think about what to write: Make sure we (the readers) know who is doing the thinking/acting in the story. It can be first person ("I scanned the library's collection of ancient tomes...."), or third person ("Henry passed the stacks of ancient, dusty books, pondering the monks and purveyors of ancient wisdom...."). But one way or another, that gives us someone to latch onto. We see through their eyes. And if we can identify with a character, we can feel something and be transformed by the story.
My only other comment is to make sure you add spaces around your tags and mentions. :-)
Great advise there @jayna around sense of character and helping a reader to better engage with a piece of writing. Much appreciated... and sorry for other typos in second half, I always rush that bit! :o)
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"A silent killer" is one of the most profound things I've ever heard somebody say about a book. I've never thought about it that way. Now I'm left pondering...!
Thanks @vdux, glad that you got sometime from my 50 words
The power of books is undeniable; no doubt advocates of tyranny and dogma fear it. Unfortunately, they also use this power in favor of their undertakings.
I think I heard the phantasmal voice of a historian reading this out for me.
Thanks for sharing, @ablaze ☻
Thanks a mil @marlyncabrera Really appreciate the lovely comment and support