In our class with Nii Parkes, when asked about what makes a great short story, he said it was about turning a regular situation on it's head. Doing something completely unpredictable with the mundane situations that we can all relate to. I thought back to some of the African Short stories that we've been reading and his advice does seem to apply to quite a few of them, although perhaps not recurring and ordinary moments in our lives, I can see how these would appear as normal acts that have been turned upside down to a West African.
If I was to write a story like this, I would use something that I know very well and do very often, once a week I take care of the kids at St. John's Wood Playground. Right now, I'm thinking about using some influence from the short stories we're reading to turn this situation on it's head.
Yusef walked out of his office, "Alright kids, everyone outside"he said. He beckoned us over with his finger as the kids jumped out of their miniature chairs and flew out the door, all eyeing the jungle gym.
"Okay listen up, I don't want any of the kids getting hurt today, especially not David. Seriously though, if David comes out with a single cut on his finger by the time he goes home, I'm gonna ask the school to never send you over here again." He commanded us, with blatant disregard for our concerns or questions. "Alright, good talk" he said with a smile, as he turned and went straight back into his office.
So I'm going to try and add some of the mysterious aspects of The Tail of The Blue Bird with the writing styles of some chosen authors from the Book of short stories we're reading.
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