It’s Week 78 over at Trifecta, so here’s yet another one-word prompt story. “Pedantic.”
“It’s dull.”
“What?”
“Your story. Dull. Boring. Dreary. Pedantic. Drivel.”
“So, you didn’t like it?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Just that I think it’s shit.”
“What the hell, man?”
“Hey, you asked me what I thought of it. I’m just being honest.”
“Yeah, and an asshole.”
“An asshole who is happy to be brutally honest with you.”
“Apparently so.”
“But seriously. You can write better than this. This is uninspired. I’ve seen what you can do. Who were you trying to fool with this stuff?”
“What? Fool? Why the hell would I be trying to fool anyone?”
“Beats me, but this bit of ‘story’ that you handed me an hour ago is nonsense. Unimaginative. Dull. Bullshit. Pedantic. Did I use that one already?”
“Yeah, you did, actually.”
“Well then, I guess it counts double. Go rewrite it. Better yet, throw this away and start from the beginning. Forget you ever had this idea.”
“Fine. FINE. I’ll scrap it.”
“Good.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Hmph. Fine.”
“Please, just…try harder this time.”
“Alright. But you know something?”
“What?”
“Next time I ask myself to read something I wrote, I’ll do it without all of this talking to myself nonsense.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“Good. Now, shut up and let me write.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, I know.”
The Swords of the Ancients 
18 Comments
ha! This is so good (:
Thanks, Draug! I loved yours.
Dialogue-only pieces are a challenge and you rose to and surpassed it. I didn’t know it was one person until the very end. Great job!
Thank you for linking up! Please don’t forget to come back to vote!
Thank you! Got my votes in. Everyone did a great job this week.
Haha! This is great! I thought it was a jerk of a friend until the end. So true though, we are more horrible to ourselves than anyone else could be anyway 🙂
Exactly. I’m glad you liked it!
Reblogged this on The Cheese Whines and commented:
I’m pretty well an asshole to myself when it comes to critiquing my own work. If it weren’t for the fact that I’d never get to write again, I’d take me up to the top of a tall building and shoot me while setting myself on fire while hanging and impaling myself at the same time. That’s how much of a jerk I can be.
Thanks for the reblog! It’s always hard to figure out how to deal with your inner critic.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Just that I think it’s shit.” This sounds like something Steve Jobs said all the time… either (whatever he was talking about) it was shit, or else it was brilliant. Interesting dialogue (with oneself).
I’m firmly of the opinion that you don’t have to think that something is good to appreciate it. It does help, though. Glad you liked it!
Great dialogue. I get the feeling the person is speaking to himself…that’s what we all do, isn’t it?!! Nicely done. :))
Thank you so much! I love writing dialogue-only pieces. There’s a beautiful ambiguity to them.
Well done! I think I’ve had this same conversation with myself. Nice job!
It’s definitely a bit autobiographical. Thank you!
Hehe. This is really funny. Thanks for giving me a laugh.
Happy to help! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
brilliant! loved the genius bit of making it internal dialogue – great job! 😀
Thank you very much! It was fun to write.