This week you can read my first piece of flash fiction over at Sarah Potter Writes. Sarah writes speculative fiction, sci-fi and fantasy, but her blog is an eclectic delight of fiction, haiku, photographs and more. Thanks so much to Sarah for inviting me to be her October guest storyteller. Please let me know what you think of the story and check out some of Sarah’s other posts.
Andrea Stephenson writes fiction, including short stories and The skin of a selkie, her first (as yet unpublished) novel. She finds inspiration in nature, the coastline and the turn of the seasons. During the day, Andrea is a libraries manager, but by night she is a writer, artist and witch.
Her story below is inspired by the activities of the Order of the White Feather, an organisation active in World War One, with the purpose of shaming men into enlisting by encouraging women to present them with a white feather.
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WHITE FEATHER
Her friends giggled as they nudged her forward so that she could present him with the feather. He accepted it as if it were a gift, blushing and looking at the ground. Her friends couldn’t know about the balmy days that they’d shared as children. They couldn’t know that as a young woman she’d cherished his…
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Harvesting Hecate 
Fabulous story. What a horrible practice. Makes the heart ache.
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Thanks Carrie, yes, it still makes me angry after all this time.
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Very nicely done, Andrea 😉
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Thanks Dianne 🙂
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Excellent short fiction piece, Andrea! It left me wanting more which is always a good thing. Is this something you would ever develop further?
Nice job!
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Thanks Jill – I’ve never written flash fiction before – I usually can’t fit a story into so few words, but this one came more or less fully formed!
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Just popped over to Sarah’s and read your flash. As usual, great writing, Andrea. If you don’t get a bite from an agent/publisher soon for your novel it just proves one thing: they’re all idiots. Go the self publishing route – we all want to read your book 😉
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Thanks Jenny, maybe I need you as my PR person!
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Love the feather idea. They float magically to so many different concepts. Charming story Andrea. Huge hugs!
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Thanks Teagan.
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Wow! What a poignant, gut-wrenching story told in so few words!
Admiration all around (with a little “wish I could do that”)
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Thanks Dale – well, it was my first flash fiction and I’ve been writing stories for years, so it took me a long time but I finally did it!
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Wll…I am duly impressed… I can’t
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Sorry….responding with my phone! Pressed send instead of back…was saying…I can’t even imagine attempting and succeeding as you did…
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Thanks Dale 🙂
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One of the great things about reading other bloggers is to learn so much from them. I didn’t know about the White Feather during WWI and find the idea cruel. Flash fiction is a hard genre but you do a good job at painting a short but effective scene here, Andrea. The feelings are there and the restrain gives them even more strength. Sad and beautiful.
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It was cruel Evelyne and I find it hard that so many women responded to it. Thanks for your kind comments about the story 🙂
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Loved it Andrea- a poignant piece of writing !! and your introduction at Sarah’s is wonderful!! Congratz!!
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Thanks Cybele, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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I think flash fiction is difficult, but you have done a wonderful job with this piece. Nice!
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Thanks Kate, I’d planned a longer story, but this one just came out 🙂
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Wonderful flash Andrea, congratulations! I’ve commented over on Sarah’s blog too 🙂 As you know, I’ve recently discovered a love of writing flash. Being a memoirist by nature, writing fiction is a huge jump for me and I freeze at the thought of writing it but flash helps me overcome that. I look forward to reading more from you…and I also can’t wait to read your book 🙂
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Thanks Sherri, I’m still in awe that you can do it so regularly – you’re very versatile in your writing – memoir, flash, poetry 🙂 This one almost felt like a fluke because it just appeared 🙂
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Ahh..thank you Andrea, but you are very kind. I wouldn’t call yours a fluke..although they can so often be quite exciting….but more like the beginning of many more wonderful flashes to come 🙂
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Love the story which I read over at Sarah’s place. Beautifully written Andrea. I touched on the practice in my second book.
I don’t if you’re a rock fan Andrea but you might appreciate Marillion’s Childhood’s End/White Feather which has some nice lyrics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8fQxFY3WH8
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Thanks Roy. I am a rock fan as it happens, I never had this album so didn’t know this song, but I do have the single of Kayleigh, which I still think is a great song 🙂
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I didn’t know about this practice. Beautifully written, Andrea.
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Thanks Letizia.
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So well done, Andrea! I also left a comment for you on Sarah’s blog. 🙂
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Thanks JM 🙂
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short and powerful Andrea 🙂 very well done. I have had to read a lot about WWI including several novels and short stories for research (for my first novel -the one that now lies gathering dust in a bottom drawer). I have to agree with an earlier comment you made – it still makes me angry too.
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Thanks Yolanda – time to get that novel out of the bottom drawer, it would be an ideal time to publish it with all of the commemorations taking place 🙂
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It will have to be rewritten and I don’t know where the energy for that will come from 😦 Feedback I got from three US agents was that it is populated by ‘too many characters’. Ah well…I hope you get good news soon Andrea re: your novel. I am in a celebratory mood 🙂
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Sometimes we just have to let them go, or wait until the characters demand our attention again in the future 🙂
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