Win Cash Prizes & Get Professional Feedback @ Flash Fiction Magazine
Learn More
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

101 Words

101 Word Short Stories

  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Volunteer

Coming Up for Air

January 5, 2022 10 Comments

By Jon M. Gluckman

Nothing shut up them dogs. They thrashed through the swamp grass like cheetahs after an elk. Their jowls flapped, wet as sheets on a line in the wind. Like Paul Muni or Paul Newman, take your pick, it’s in all them movies. I snapped the high end off a reed for airflow. Shadows loomed over the water’s surface, when all them skinny guards and bloodhounds splashed in. Movies lie. From the bottom of a swamp, a body can no more suck a breath through a hollow reed than it could through a Q-Tip. Breathing, I learned, is key to an escape.

Share this:

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon
  • Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Share on Nextdoor (Opens in new window) Nextdoor
  • Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

The Power of Imagery with Nina Schuyler

September 12 & 13 on Zoom
Enrollment closes Thursday, September 3 at 7:00 PM Pacific

If your descriptions are vivid but your stories still feel thin, this workshop is for you.

Join award-winning author Nina Schuyler to learn the difference between description, which tells a reader what things look like, and imagery, which carries plot, character, and meaning at the same time.

In just two days, you'll learn to choose images that hold emotion without naming it, pair them so each one deepens the other, and build patterns that gather meaning as the story moves.

Learn More and Enroll

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kevin says

    January 5, 2022 at 7:24 am

    Superbly authentic and atmospheric. Kudos.

    Reply
  2. Howard Humes says

    January 5, 2022 at 7:37 am

    Interesting. I liked the description of the dogs.

    Reply
  3. Nina says

    January 5, 2022 at 8:47 am

    I love how I can see the entire scene so clearly and also get a sense of your MC’s personality as well. Well done in so few words!!

    Reply
  4. Helen C says

    January 5, 2022 at 9:20 am

    Liked the atmosphere which you create!

    Reply
  5. Shoshauna says

    January 5, 2022 at 9:39 am

    I felt suffocated. Your story succeeded!

    Reply
  6. ascribe thinking says

    January 5, 2022 at 9:51 am

    Cheetahs in a swamp…after an elk…? Is that a play on how movies lie? Coming so early in the piece the image of fast animals of the african savannah animals after a north american animal was a detractor for me. But the gist of the piece otherwise is brilliant.

    Reply
  7. Kathy Carroll says

    January 5, 2022 at 9:56 am

    Fantastic voice, evocative and original descriptions (love the dog’s jowls!), and compelling storytelling! Wonderful flash!

    Reply
  8. Nancy Rule says

    January 5, 2022 at 11:16 am

    Wow, the mood of this piece is so real. I feel the need to slap mosquitoes away. And to comment on the obvious (I always wondered if people could breathe through those things! haha) Great Job!

    Reply
  9. Jai Gluckman Thomas says

    January 5, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    Fabulous! Can we get more?!

    Reply
  10. carl keefer says

    January 10, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    You had to see the movie.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search Stories

The end.