Looking in the Mirror
August 10th 2010 12:30
Looking in the Mirror
For the first time today when I looked in the mirror I liked what I saw. She's strong and I like the fire behind her blue eyes. She's got smooth flowing red hair that's slowly turning blonde, bleached by the sun's rays. She's got long well muscled legs that someday would be great in a martial art. You can tell by her grin that she's a little bit evil, but it's easy enough to look innocent. She could sit there all day and make cute faces; she'd have the whole world kneeling before her by the time she was done. Or maybe not, who knows?
Marla
When I look in the mirror now I question everything. I question my heritage, my faith, my parents but most of all I question my queen. I question the woman who raised me, who sent me to a thousand lessons and bought me a thousand pretty dresses. I question the long pretty curls that she insisted I keep even when I wanted to cut my hair in half. I question the dresses she bought me and her pretty necklace, the emerald I lost in the river. I question if all these gifts were just her trying to keep me distracted from the truth. I suppose she didn't realize that the greatest gift of all was the secret in my bedroom; but then again picking locks wasn't part of my lessons.
All those pretty curls are gone; my hair wasn't really curly anyway. It sits at my shoulders now when it's down but most of the time I keep it in a bun. Hair gets in the way when you're out in the woods hunting rabbits or deer or even men. I don't have any really pretty dresses here-the one I was wearing when I jumped into the river got wrecked, of course-but I like the plain ones at least as much. At least I know the people who gave me these ones actually care.
Sometimes when I get ready to go hunting I put on all my gear and pick up my sword, then I stop to look in the mirror. With my hair in a bun and my hunting clothes on, I barely look like the princess I am. With sword in hand and quiver on my back, I look like a huntress out for blood. But my blue eyes look dull and lifeless, and I don't quite look right without Logan by my side. It seems that I have no friends when I look at my lonely self, even though everyone in the village cares for me. But none of them mean half as much to me as Logan always did.
Maybe in ten years when I look in the mirror there will be a handsome man behind me and a baby in my belly, but first I have to find my best friend and my purpose. When I looked in the mirror at home I saw a girl destined to a long life of misery in the court system, married to the ugly man the queen chose for me. Now I look in the mirror and see a lost girl looking for her purpose. Someday I hope to look in the mirror and see a woman raising a happy family, living in a kingdom where everyone is judged and treated fairly.
I have to make the future I want to see in the mirror. And for now I will have to look at a girl that barely seems to be me.
(The first paragraph was written by me about me; the rest is from Marla's point of view, a character important to my latest novel-length project.)
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Comment by RedParrot
Link in usual spot.
Love the new colours, picture and wording at the top. Having said that - I always had a Xena-like thrill reading "For Sparta!" every time I clicked on the link.
This week's FF is long (?!) ... around 760 words. I had ideas about making it shorter and, had I taken the time, I think the piece would have ended up sounding quite Elgin-esque. As it was, I felt quite pinched for words using as many as I did. Entirely possible that I under-did their conversation but there we are.
Funny story ... I ended up trying to describe the concept of "writing with prompts" to someone at work. It really doesn't translate well to the non-writer. I ended up trying to explain "why" and "how do you figure it out" ... sadly, I wanted to find someone to discuss the concept of how amazing it is that you can actually take a random word and ... well ... make it fit. Sort of like all random words actually *DO* fit if you take the time and have a universe.
I liked both of your pieces ... yours and Marla's. It made me think about the special relationship women have with mirrors and seeing who you are / who you aren't / who you could be. I think other people are a "mirror" as well ... you can see yourself through the eyes of others and see something different.
I'm loving that others are leaving messages. That's really terrific!
Hope all is well,
Cheers!
RP
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
I'm glad you like the new colours. Part of the reason for the change is that I really love the pictures I took of the swans and I just had to put them on display. Another reason is that the fairy isn't mine-it's a picture Errol found, and he made the banner as a present for my 300, 000-and I needed a banner that was for Fictional Worlds proper. This banner is one I'll be able to put up all over the web.
I actually explained what a prompt is to a friend of mine just now. He's not very smart and he's not a good reader or writer-though he does have potential, it'll just take a lot of work-but he kind of got it. He said 'so it's just something to make you think' and I think that's a really good way to explain it to other non-writers. For us we might try to work in fictional worlds but a lot of other writers would use it as thinking material, as well as journalers.
I'm glad you liked my pieces. My own was too short and I'd said all I needed, and Marla's a very insistent character. It would have been all her piece if I wasn't the one in the picture. Marla likes to have things her way and she's very eager for me to start working with her-not on her main story right away but on scenes, backstory, family history. It's pretty cool.
I really like your piece. It shows a lot about her character and a lot about Elgin's. The conversation was a bit short but it still worked quite well. And I really like the last line. It's really great the way Elgin made her feel beautiful and see his point without outright saying it. Another excellent piece. It probably would benefit from a little more work but it's very nice nonetheless.
I'm also really glad that other people are joining the conversation. I do want to have a community here at Fictional Worlds. I blog partially to connect with other writers at any point in their careers, and partially to help those writers, as well as to share my journey. And I can only help so much without reader feedback-or writer feedback as the case may be.
~Dianna