Every evening, she kissed the king’s tablecloth before he dined. Every napkin, every fold of fabric smoothed by many hands under watchful eyes, to ensure no poisoning could take place. The food tasters were the lucky ones, getting almost a full meal out of a parade of tiny nibbles from numerous platters. She felt safer, somehow, heading back to her room in the east tower before the meal was even over, until the one night she lay there looking up at the ceiling as a tingling overtook her lips and tongue, an invisible cold like icy fingers sliding up her neck.
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.
Gripping. Well done!
Wow! It made me wonder who knew she kissed the tablecloth, and who wanted to harm her.
I enjoyed the story but that last sentence is really long. Having “And tongue.” as its own sentence might have added to the suspense. I think you needed a comma between cold and like, it doesn’t read right without one.
I like it the way it’s written! Beautiful rhythmic prose.
Intriguing!
Nice. Your story held me in suspense. Lovely description too.