All Stories, Literally Reruns, Writing

Literally Reruns – The Old Man by Scott Sharpe

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I admitted to Leila that I’d forgotten this story from way back. For me that just proves the value of Literally Reruns – It packed the same punch the second time of reading.

I found this one way the hell back there, where squirrels are served for dinner, and where monsters lie in unmarked graves. Scott Sharpe’s The Old Man hasn’t dulled with time (loose pun intended). It’s a quick hitter and it remains every bit as rough and tumble as it was when it first appeared in the opening month of LS’s existence.

The story also has something I have yet to see happen anywhere else in the comment section.  The following question was posted and posed by Drema Caykendall ten months later:

“Our teacher read this to us and I wanted to know if the old man done this to her many other times because she had no reaction” [?]

Q: All right, Mr. Sharpe, although you answered it well the first time, do you have anything to add to the answer you gave Drema?

Q: Was the first draft of this piece much larger, then rendered down into something in which nothing is wasted?

Leila Allison

***

The Old Man

Scott’s response:

Q: All right, Mr. Sharpe, although you answered it well the first time, do you have anything to add to the answer you gave Drema?
A: I loved Drema’s question because it made me travel deeper into Callie’s mind than I’d previously ventured. What I found there was an acceptance of evil. It’s likely that her despair was so great, that even though the Old Man met justice, she never again found the light in her eyes. Something in Callie was irreparably broken.
Q: Was the first draft of this piece much larger, then rendered down into something in which nothing is wasted?
A: The first draft of this story was much larger – almost twice as long. I enjoyed the challenge of telling a complete story in less than 500 words. I found that instead of making the story weaker, it strengthened it considerably. Sometimes, less is, indeed, more.

Published by literallystories2014

2 thoughts on “Literally Reruns – The Old Man by Scott Sharpe”

  1. Hi Leila,
    As with your stories, you continue to knock it out the park with your selections and questions!

    And Scott, I think a few writers should read your comments about less being more!
    Cheers guys!
    Hugh

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