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Hi Chiara!
Oh wow, this felt so sad to me. I love the way you portray the person being Ace, I think it's so well written. It felt sad to me because it feels like even though they know who they are, they can't quite bring themselves to tell other people or try and explain it, so they just go along with what is being said, and no one should feel like they have to live like that. I've never thought about the idea of finding the one, and how that could be so harmful or upsetting to some people so I'm really glad you put it in there. It really made me think.
A lovely piece!
Shaza
Written for the winter in fairyland review event.
Author's Response:Hi, Shaza!
Thank you for coming to check out this collection as well! <3
I'm glad you liked this Ace portrayal! It is sad, but I believe not so uncommon, especially because there is this idea that everyone should find their S/O at some point, and it can be hard to accept that might not be true for you, and even harder trying to explain it to everyone else. Of course, each experience is different (and this is a very personal piece) but...
Glad you liked this, anyway! <3
Back for more fairyland reviews!
Oh wow, this feels like such a gorgeous meditation. A peaceful feeling of solitude in one's own mind, even if there are other people around. A positive type of solitude, like a clear mind. It's almost like you're describing the feeling of when you connect with another person and it feels like it's just them and you because of the understanding between one another, but in this case it's a person and a painting, and the person feels like this art speaks directly to them, there's a secret only they understand, and that's such a creative and moving take on the theme. It just feels peaceful and present and mindful. <3
Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again, Melanie, dear! <3
So glad you liked this one! Definitely a more positive, peaceful kind of solitude. :)
Glad you liked the connection with the painting here, how it seems to speak directly to the protagonist! <3
Thank you so much for the lovely review! <3
hey chiara, back for the winter in fairyland event!! (again :P)
there's a beautiful, wistful childish air to this one - really melancholy and wistful, like dreaming of simpler times and simpler lives, and that's only reinforced with the mentions of characters like alice and peter pan and it works so well: it reminds me of being young and reading those books and flying off inside my own head without another thought and just getting lost inside stories :P
it's such a lovely twist on the idea of loneliness: because while it is a lonely thing - you're (hopefully!) on your own inside your own head, haha - you're sort of not alone, too? because there's other characters, other worlds there, in dreams and those keep you company in a way. so i lovelovelove that because it's such a true thing to life and it's something we can all get on this site but it's also a twist on loneliness i don't think i'd have ever thought of :P
ahhh the writing in this was so soft, yk? so sweet and so gentle and so lyrical, almost, with the repetition and the longer sentences with the clauses running into each other. it really evoked that swaying, half-asleep dreaming sort of feeling which was so so beautiful to read :)
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again, Laura, my love! (I'm almost caught up with your reviews!!! [insert party emoji here] :P)
I'm so glad you liked the wistful, melancholy tone of this one. I was totally going for a recall to childhood, so I'm glad that worked for you, too! <3
Bold of you to assume one is alone inside their heads... :P (Kidding... I'm not that crazy... maybe... :P) Anyway, I'm glad you liked this take on the theme of loneliness!
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
Back again for fairyland reviewing!
Ohhhh my goshhhhh this was so sad and so awful and yet another wonderful (and heartbreaking) take on your theme. The feeling of panic and confusion a small child must have upon being separated from their parents in a crowd, and the way you show him just losing hope because he’s so small and the world is so big and he doesn’t know what to do. It is seriously just so heart-wrenching, I hate to even think about what that must feel like. Just missing that safety and security that another person brings. Lovely again!
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again! :D
It is absolutely terrifying for a child getting lost... I'm glad the feelings came through, even if it was heartbreaking... :/
Thank you so much for another wonderful review! <3
Back again for the fairyland review event!
Gosh, I just… your creativity with these drabbles, Chiara! *hearts in my eyes*
Okay, first of all, having read Fried Artichokes and Old Songs, I am familiar with the lovely way you have of incorporating cooking into your writing, and really embracing its significance to people and their relationships with one another. And how it’s not just food, it represents togetherness and heritage and memories. And so it’s so beautiful how you use it here in exactly that way, that it’s something that represents togetherness even when the person is no longer there, something that you can remember them by even when you’re alone, and how perhaps it’s bittersweet but probably the sweet outweighs the bitter and there’s something comforting about it because of the familiarity.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:You are too nice to me... <3
I guess there is a recurrent theme here, it is similar to Fried Artichokes in some ways... and yes, I can totally see food as a way to connect with people, and also to remember those who aren't here anymore... it is bittersweet, but also soothing and hopeful in a way?
Thank you so much for another lovely review! <3
Back again for the fairyland review event!
I always admire people who can travel alone, and I love that you wrote this piece exploring that. Because while I don’t have the experience to relate to this personally, I can appreciate that for someone setting out to journey alone for the first time, it must feel like this — the excitement and anticipation, but also the hesitation, a bit of anxiety. That’s almost certainly what I would feel like, if I were ever brave enough to even do it. It’s a prospect that fascinates me, but there’s so much you’re giving up and leaving behind (and yet, of course, so much else that you stand to gain in return).
There’s something very brave about being willing to be alone like this, and something very freeing, I imagine, and that’s what I take away from this drabble.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again! <3
I've never travelled alone either, although I wish I have the courage to. I'm glad you thought the feelings were believable, the mix of excitement and anxiety... I can definitely imagine feeling ike that as well. And yes, leaving behind what you know is hard, but it's worth it for the new things you'll gain.
So glad you enjoyed this! <3
Back again for the fairyland review event!
Oh man, I relate so much to this feeling!! This is me to a T.
Introversion can result in a kind of unintentional or unwilling solitude, even loneliness. Because sometimes we introverts do enjoy and appreciate the solitude, but other times we do wish we could have more. And that’s what I really appreciate about this drabble, that you acknowledge that contradiction. That the introvert at the party, on the one hand, enjoys being able to just sit back and observe and relax; that she doesn’t want to be in the middle of things because it takes too much energy… but on the other hand, there’s a part of her that wishes she could, or wishes she was able, or wishes she wanted it the way other people do, because there’s something about her that doesn’t compel her to engage interpersonally the way others do (so easily, it seems).
And that whole ‘waiting until the time is okay to leave, but then realizing that maybe you’d like to stay another hour’ (as long as you don’t have to talk to anyone, funny, isn’t it?) — is so relatable and just spot-on.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again, Melanie! <3
I think that's a bit all of us introverts :P And yes, while you do enjoy staying on the side, just watching and relaxing, there is also that desire of interacting and wishing it was easier/ didn't require that much effort. At least it is like that for me.
And yes, staying one more hour is alright, as long as you don't have to talk to anyone :P
Thank you! :D
Hi Chiara! Back for more fairyland reviewing!
Ahh, a fun variation on your theme here! Something more positive, fun, cheeky, unexpected after the last few drabbles and the overall melancholy tone of the title and “solitude” theme.
But even then, while it’s a fun game, you pull out some of the creepier and more anxious aspects of it. Aside from the potential scariness of the dark hiding space for a child, there’s that inherent nerve-wracking feeling of not wanting to be found and caught, that comes from the competitiveness of it — the adrenaline, the nerves.
And that’s the whole point of hide and seek, the not wanting to be found, which is what makes this such a clever and cheeky use of the theme. Until it all becomes so weird that maybe he does want to be found, because it doesn’t feel natural to sit and hide alone, not like this (because it’s not exactly a relaxing solitude).
Anyway, I loved it, the positive but still weird aspects of solitude in this context.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again, Melanie, my love!
So glad you liked the fun twist in this one, I had fun coming up with it! :P
And yes, there still is this fear and tension, glad that came across!
Thank you so much for the lovely review! <3
me again for the winter in fairyland event!!
ahhhhh this one is so painful, yk - because i think we've all been there: that awful, heartstopping moment when you see someone you used to be so close to who just... ignores you or even just looks through you as though they don't know you or perhaps even never knew you at all, and you're left with that sense that you're the one it still matters to? and it can be so surprisingly devastating to find out - or to believe - that they don't care or don't remember what you remember, and this ughhh, this just sums that up so perfectly in that image of the ~moment, when she looks at him and he looks at her - or past her, or through her - and then she leaves because it's too much.
and i lovelovelove the notion of the vicinity: that they're so close and yet so far. that they're in the same space but never touching again, that almost they can't touch - like they're in separate bubbles and neither one of them can poke through those to reach out. it makes their whole relationship feel kinda doomed and lost, but almost inevitable, as though they were never really going to find each other again. and there's something really beautifully melancholy about that.
and the loneliness, again: the solitude but this time kinda unwanted, unasked for - and it comes across as almost not that she's alone but that she's not with him, in a sense, and that's the loneliness: the loss of a friendship or relationship which she misses.
ahhhhh so sad but so lovely!!
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again! :)
This one is sad, yes... the poor girl, being completely ignored, as if she doesn't even exists... it can be truly painful... :(
And yes, that's what I was going for, the contrast between being physically close, but emotionally so distant... and the loneliness that comes with a breakup/losing someone you cared for...
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
hi chiara, i'm back again for the winter in fairyland event!!
omg okay so i really didn't expect the direction you took this in, haha, i was thinking it was this beautiful reflection on the insignificance of individual lives on earth and then you spun it round and i loved the reflection that kinda created from this story: the idea that this story is thinking about someone else thinking about these things, but i'm now sitting here wondering about insignificance and it all becomes very circular and i like that. it's very clever and very neat - creating a loop like that :P
i loved the thoughtful nature of this one - really introspective, really philosophical in the way it approached the idea of insignificance and meaning of life and things beyond - and the vastness of the universe compared to our single, individual lives. i could just imagine looking up at the night sky with all the stars and the seemingly endless dark expanse of it and wondering about all these big, mind-bending questions - the kind of questions we'll never have answers to. and that was really cool and such a thought-provoking thing to do.
loved it <3
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again, my dear! <3
Glad you liked the twist in this! If we spend so much time wondering about other lives in the universe, then maybe if there are other lives in the universe, they wonder the same things we do, no? :P
I'm glad you liked the introspective nature of this one and all the questions about the universe and the insignificance of life. Glad it was thought-provoking!
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
hey there again - back for the winter in fairyland event :)
so i'm a huge huge huge fan of using clocks and time in writing stuff - because it can be anything you want: ominous, impatient, patient, quiet, loud, interrupting, exciting... it's such a flexible motif to use and i always love seeing what different people do with it, yk? and i love it here: the sense of it being constant, always there in the background ticking away and counting the day on and on and on, whether or not the narrator wants it to. it's just there and it just keeps going. it brings this lovely pace to the drabble too: this rhythm to it, slow and steady and almost metronomic.
i love too how the feeling of the ticking clock varies in each section: the first one it's almost impatient, counting down the hours until the narrator can leave work and go home - and the way the time seems to tick down quicker with the way you go through the hours rather than through tick-tocks. and then second one feels so much more patient, lazy and tired and so much slower with each tick and then tock on a different line. it's so cleverly done and it allows the emotions in this one to come through so strongly and so neatly and i love that.
the opposing wants, too, were so lovely: the idea of wanting two opposite things at the same time is so familiar and so human and really shows the narrator's tiredness and lethargic feelings.
my favourite line though was the swollen river metaphor: it's so elegant and so beautiful and so clever and i lovelovelove it.
laura xx
Author's Response:Hello again! :D
I love using clocks in writing, too, pretty much for the same reasons, I guess... :P And yes, in this one I wanted to focus on the inevitablity of the passing of time, I guess? Metronomic is the perfect definition for this, I think!
I'm glad the contrast between the two sections and how the passing of time is perceived differently worked well. Glad you liked the opposite wants, too! And the swollen river metaphore! <3
Thank you so much for the lovely review! <3
hi chiara, me again for the winter in fairyland event :)
this is one of the shortest in the collection, i think, and i love how simple it feels: short and sweet and it works so well that something titled 'silence' is short and simple, kept succint - as though every word breaks that silence in way and so matters more than in other things.
and this is beautifully written: i love the image of the narrator lying on a bed, alone and quiet, taking a moment to herself, perhaps even with the curtains shut to really cut herself off from the outside world, just thinking - about nothing and everything, her mind just wandering from thing to thing without direction. it feels still, the way you write it: with the longer sentences and the clauses running into each other through the commas.
i love the phrase 'the voice that can be heard only in silence' - it's such a beautiful phrase and i love the idea that you can only hear your own voice, your inner voice and perhaps your innermost thoughts and feelings, when everything else is quiet around you and you can just have those moments to think and allow the voice to speak up. and it contrast so beautifully to the theme of silence throughout this drabble.
also i lovelovelove the touch of mentioning hugs - a nice link from the chief snowball hug instigator <3
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again, Laura! <3
Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked this one, too, and the image of the protagonist just lying down and taking some minutes to herself just to let her thoughts wander... I think everyone needs that at times, am I right?
Well, you know me, I love hugs... :P Here's a big snowball hug for you!!! <3 <3 <3
Love,
Chiara
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MEEEE???
(Yep, more fairyland reviewing!)
I love how even though this is obviously very sad, there's a feeling of hope and faith -- it's so bittersweet -- the grief must still be there, and it's a sad scene, as loss must always be, but there's such devotion here in the way she lovingly tends the grave and keeps the flowers fresh, and there's an uplifting sort of feeling at the end where she imagines the wind is him caressing her and thinks maybe he's really listening. And there's a significant part of her that probably does think he's still there, because of the way she talks to him. Not just visiting the grave for appearances, but actually having an otherwise mundane "conversation" with him about the details of her day, as if they were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table.
And in that way, it's a lovely ironic kind of twist on the "solitude" theme, because yes, she is alone in the sense that she's lost her partner, but there's a strong implication there that she's not *totally* alone after all, or at least, that's not how she sees it.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hi, Melanie, love! <3
Yes, this is a sad one, but more in a bittersweet sort of way, and I'm glad that came across. There is definitely a sense of hope in it, even if the grief is still there (grief never really leaves us, does it? Even if time does help...) And yes, in some ways she does feel like he's still there (and maybe she's not quite as alone... I like your take on that! <3)
Thank you so much!!! <3
chiaraaaaaaa back for the winter in fairyland event!! :)
so you know how much i love rain. and writing about rain. i think atmospheric rain is perhaps too much a Thing of mine, haha, but there is - so this is exactly up my street and omg it's so so beautiful and so evocative and i love it. i think this and the ocean one are probably my favourites - though i doubt that would surprise anyone tbh :P
i lovelovelove that you start with the way the rain sounds as it hits on the tops of buildings and then move into how the outside looks: the streets and the sky and the birds. sound with rain works so well and it starts almost softly, with the mention of rumbling, before it gets louder with the rain clattering on things - and it brings the whole image to life through the sound of it and it's so so good. the way you pull the reader back with you through the glass windows, almost, is so lovely: it goes from being loud with the rain to having this quiet and stillness about your writing, and the image of sitting there, warm and comfy with the fire and tea, is such a lovely, soft, really comforting image and i love it - and it contrasts so well with the rush of the rain outside and the birds braving it, wet through :P
the stillness in this is beautiful, too - it's not quite loneliness: again, like in previous drabbles, it's a loneliness which feels intentional, contented, in a way which loneliness perhaps isn't, but as solitude it's perfect. it's a gentle, happy thing and i love that so much. the calm, the softness, the sense of peace in that second paragraph especially. it's so so lovely.
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again, Laura, my love! <3
I mean, who doesn't love atmospheric rain? (And your writing? Although that's irrelevant... :P) And yes, I can see how these two might be your favourites... :P
I'm so glad you liked the descriptions in this, all the sounds and the contrast between inside and outside! Those poor birds, though... :P
I'm glad this worked as quieter, happier kind of lonely. So glad you enjoyed this one! <3
Big snowball hug,
Chiara
i'm back for the winter in fairyland event :)
haha i guess it had to be, for q, right?? all things considering :P but, yk, i love that you've done that: with this overarching theme of loneliness lockdown is perfect as a subject for that and i love the way you sort of distill all those lockdown feelings into this: the way life became/becomes so repetitive with the same things happening every day, the way food shopping becomes such a massive expedition and a treat, almost, the way the numbers you hear on tv in briefings and updates are almost worthless because they're just numbers - but they were people once, and there's something really almost cruel about that, the reduction of it. and the way you think endlessly about what will happen in the post-pandemic life: so many questions, so many things to wonder about, so many uncertainties, so many dreams and questions that it's almost hard to get them all in order.
i lovelovelove the way you use the rhythm of this drabble to create that same feeling of repetition and confusion, with the repeating questions throughout it, and the punchy, one-two syllable words in the final paragraph detailing how life is in a pandemic. it's so so good and so clever because it makes it so evocative with that sense of things keep going on while nothing changes.
the last line is so so lovely, too - the mention of next year, because that was so much of the hope in 2020: that next year would be better (and, well, we'll see how 2021 goes, i think, before passing any judgment :P), and it sort of sums up the kind of hopelessness of it all: that you can't think about a time soon, you think about next year - that bit further ahead, when maybe things will be different.
so so lovely <3
laura xx
Author's Response:Well, Q couldn't really be anything else... I did basically describe my lockdown experience here, and all those elements have definitely been a part of it... it is extremely cruel (but also inevitable) how lives get reduced to numbers... and you do wonder about what the post-pandemic will be like... I'm still wondering that...
There was this great expectation for 2021, wasn't there? So far it hasn't been much better, but still hoping in the second half... :P
Thank you so much for the lovely review (and sorry for the quick answer...)
Love,
Chiara
Back for more fairyland reviewing!
Oh my gosh. I feel like that's my reaction to every single one of these drabbles. And this one, like... how??? Chiara??? Where did you even get this idea, it's amazing and so sad.
The image of this old man riding a carnival ride alone to try to capture a feeling, some kind of happiness, some excitement, some thrill, like he's just trying to feel something. And we don't know why he's alone, but we know he has nobody to share this experience with, and that's really part of the thrill, isn't it? I thought it was so poignant how you describe him being completely silent on this thrilling ride while everyone else screams, but in mentioning they're screaming as if in a competition with each other you remark on the very social aspect of these rides and these experiences. The screaming really is kind of a way to show how much fun you're having, to know that your friends are feeling the same thrill as you -- it's a way of communicating. And he has nobody to do that with!
The way this ends is melancholy and absolutely heart-wrenching. Hands in his pockets, the thrill and happiness completely gone. </3
Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again! <3
Yes, this one is very sad... sometimes it's just so hard as adults to find things that excite and emotion us... I'm glad the image of this man worked, as well as the contrast between him being silent and everyone around screaming, and how it emphasizes on his loneliness, and the melancholy once this moment of thrill is over.
Thank you so much again for the lovely review!!!
omg okay okay okay: here for the winter in fairyland event.
chiara, this is so so clever and i love it. like, really, i do. the way you use piano in both of it's meanings, the way the music surges up to the loud, brash sound of forte, then goes quiet again, and then entirely silent. it's whimsical, it's musical, it's a story which swells with the music, almost, because of how you write it, with the short, sharp, harsher words 'violently', 'break', 'shout', 'war', all in the paragraph with forte. it's so evocative and such a beautiful image and ughhh it works so so well and it makes me smile, yk, because ahhhh it's exactly right.
i love as well the way it starts off with the music quiet and soft - it feels like the music is a secret then, something not to be shared - and when it rises, it feels like it's becoming a competition or a statement, a kind of 'here i am!' moment, and then it goes back to being something secret again - but that second quiet feels more like something's been satisfied, contented in a way which the first one wasn't, yk? ahhhh it's so emotional, and it's so clever how you've written it and i love how it shows this kind of growth, this real sense of the narrator and their music and the kind of things they say with music - how perhaps it's the easiest way for them to speak most clearly.
laura xx
Author's Response:I'm so glad you liked this one, and the way the sections reflect the different tones of music! I'm glad the word choice worked and the different feels of piano and then forte and then piano again!
And yes, music can speak in a way words not always can, right? And I guess it is easier for the protagonist to express themselves through their music.
So glad you liked this one! <3
Love,
Chiara
Back for fairyland reviewing.
Chiara, I am screaminggg, okay? I feel so indicted by these drabbles, they're so relatable and insightful and incisive. Seriously they are stunning, and you're telling me you did 26 of these???
I enjoyed your use of E-words here beyond just envy -- excluded and estranged. And that being the theme, that that's what envy does, just drives a wedge between you and the person or thing you envy (like, I can't think of one time when envy has actually been a productive emotion, though it is so incredibly human).
The bit about "it's all in your head but the resentment is real" brought to mind Dumbledore's "of course it's happening in your head but why on earth should that mean it isn't real?" Because feelings ARE real. But the feelings might warp your perception of the facts.
ONCE AGAIN, you with these hard-hitting final lines. "It's just you with your envy." Like after all of said and done, you have even less than you had before, which is some serious irony, and the envy itself is all you have. Vicious irony. I love it.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Aww, Melanie, shush, you make me blush... <3
Yes, that's what envy does, it creates a barrier between you and the people you're envious of... it is a really awful emotion, but yes, a very human one as well...
And yes, if it happens in our heads it doesn't mean it isn't real (Dumbledore has some great lines, doesn't he? :P) And yes, envy does sort of leave you empty-handed, which again is so very sad... :/
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
chiaraaaaaa omg i love this one so much!! (for the winter in fairyland event)
this is so so beautiful and so peaceful and the rhythm of it all is so soothing. the way you write it is phenomenal: there's a real steadiness to it, an in and out push and pull to the words and the rhythm of the clauses and sentences, and it's so evocative of waves surging in and out on beach somewhere. it's a slow story - it reads slow - but it's exactly how it should: slow and steady and patient, and it's such a soft story, really gentle and i lovelovelove how you've brought that across through all the description and the word choice and everything. it's not the easiest thing to do and you do it so so well here.
the description is so so good too. i love the way you run through all the different elements of being outside on a beach: the waves coming in, the sand getting wetter as the tide comes in, the breeze in the air, the sun in the sky, and then it's back to the waves. hypnotising is the perfect way to describe it, really, and i love the way you use the rhythm of that second paragraph with the repetition of the clauses and the three-syllable words to create that feeling of the waves on the shore. it's so beautiful and so delicate and so clever. my favourite line, though, has to be the description of the sun over the water: the idea of nature blushing is a beautiful, gorgeous anthropomorphic image and i lovelovelove it so much.
beautiful.
laura xx
Author's Response:Laura! Hello again, my love! :D
This one is definitely one of my favourites! I love the sea, and I'm so glad the descriptions here felt evocative and that there was a soothing rhythm to it, I was totally going for that!
So glad you liked all the elements here, from the waves to the sunset. Sunsets are something magical, aren't they? I loved the idea of nature blushing, I'm glad you liked that, too! <3
Thank you so much again, you've really spoiled me during the event! <3
Big snowball hug!
ah chiara, this is i think the saddest one!! (back for the winter in fairyland event)
i really love how so often when you write sad, angsty things, it's not so much about the big drama of sadness - the kind of sadness which is crying and screaming and tearing hair out stuff - but the softer, more subtle sadness: like here, it's a solemn sadness, a sadness which is almost more regret and frustration and an exhaustion from trying to remember and a bit of guilt that perhaps you can't say what they want to hear. it's so clever and it's so emotional without being big or over-the-top and it works so so well, because it just makes me ache, yk, and it's just perfect for this.
i love how compared to some of the others in this collection, the loneliness here is something which has both happened to the narrator - in the amnesia - but also something the narrator wants - to be left alone, not trying to remember and feeling like they're disappointing people. it's a lovely contrast of things and i love that sense of wanting to be alone: sometimes people do, sometimes you just need some down time, and after the way you build up the narrator's frustration with the repetition in the previous paragraph, the mention of relief makes the emotions in this crash down and it's so so good.
amnesia is a hard thing to write, as well, even if it's something which gets used a lot, and i love the way you focus on the idea of not remembering and how that makes the narrator - having suffered that loss - feel: the guilt, the anguish, the exhaustion of dealing with (for her now) new people, the frustration, the uncomfortableness of being told so much in a short space of time. it's so good and it's a lovely twist on the usual amnesia story - which is generally from the people visiting.
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi, Laura!
Yes, this one is definitely one of the saddest... I've never had any direct experience with amnesia, but I imagine it to be terribly hurtful and frustrating...
Yes, I guess quiet sadness/angst is more my thing... :P glad you like that!
I guess it is both things, the loneliness because the protagonist is separated by the people around them because of the lack of memories, and the craved physical loneliness when the other people leave and the protagonist doesn't feel the pressure of remembering anymore. I'm glad that was effective!
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
Back for more fairyland reviewing, and ohhhhhh my word!!
I am completely in awe. This drabble is compelling and haunting. In that first paragraph I get the full feeling of the exertion and effort and exhaustion, and the fervor of all the external forces, pushing her to go on even when she feels she can't, and definitely doesn't want to, because she feels there's no other choice. It's uncomfortable to read (in a good way).
And the interesting thing is, it could literally be about a dancer, and the physical demands of the profession and the abuse on her body and the toll that takes... or it could just as easily be a metaphor for so many other things, or life in general -- the dancer and the dance, all the demands on her, performing no longer for herself but for others.
And that last line -- again, with all of your drabbles, you have delivered these hard-hitting final lines that just make you go "Wow." This one was so sad and chilling.
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hi again, Melanie!
Thank you so much, I'm so glad you liked this one too! I guess it was supposed to feel uncomfortable...
I meant this quite literally, as a writing of the Rite of Spring, in which a girl is sacrificed by making her dance herself to death... but it can definitely be interpreted in a more metaphorical way for many aspects of life.
Thank you so, so much again for another great review and for your support to this collection, it means a lot! <3
Big snowball hug,
Chiara
hey chiara, back for the winter in fairyland event!!
ahhhh this makes me miss florence so so much, yk: wandering around all the art museums with my sister, surrounded by paintings and statues in the corridors, people everywhere, and a sort of quite murmuring which fills every corner and crook. it was so calming and so gentle, even when the paintings were violent, haha - but you've captured that sense so so perfectly in this: with the mention of getting lost in the paintings, in the scenes; and finding something somewhere, big or small, which you love even though perhaps other people don't care because it's not something famous, and just looking at it for ages.
i love how this one brings back the idea of being alone in a sea of people: of a kind of intentional, patient, quiet solitude - this is a really reflective solitude, too, one where you think about things (or perhaps don't think, but in a careful, calm kind of way) and take your time. the idea too of finding a painting which speaks to you - which perhaps reflects something of you or something you like - is so so good and the idea of feeling that instinctively, within yourself makes me think so much of mirrors, for some reason. but like, kinda seeing something familiar or resonant in a painting somewhere random.
the lost little painting, with no author and no title, is such a sad, lonely kinda image - but i love how then, when the narrator's standing there, watching it and studying it so closely, it feels kinda like two lost things finding each other and understanding each other, and there's something lovely about that image :)
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again!
Fun fact, I've only been to Florence once, for only a few hours, and I've never visited the Uffizi... need to rectify, I'm a terrible Italian... :P
I do love visiting museums and getting lost in the art, though, and I'm glad that feeling came across in the drabble! :D
Yes, this is also a kind of "alone in a crowd", but very different from the Crowd one, because here it's a seeked out solitude. And I loved the idea of that one painting that just speaks to you, and I love your description of two lost things that find each other, it's a lovely image indeed! <3
Thank you so much!
hey chiara!!
omg so a short story: the only time one of me and my sisters ever got lost was when my sister sat down in a bookshop to read and we accidentally left her there, because she was so concentrated on reading she didn't notice we'd left. when we got back, she was still there :P it's not at all the same, but the idea of accidentally getting so caught up in something - toys, books - it's all the same thing: when you're a kid, it's kinda overwhelming, yk??
and i loved that you used that in this, with the idea of being lost and alone. it's a simple kind of lost - it's kinda a mundane thing, a child getting distracted and wandering off - but it's scary when you're the kid who gets lost, haha, and i loved how that came through: his desperation, his excitement when he thinks he's found his dad, and the horror and tears when he becomes convinced he's lost them forever. ithe way you write it, with the shorter sentences and the really blunt language: 'forever', 'never', makes it feel so final and so certain.
'even his sister's' lololol ah siblings :P we never like to see our siblings get lost - however much we tease them beforehand and then afterwards, once they're safe and calmed down :P
i lovelovelove the contrast between this drabble and the last one: the idea before of wandering aimlessly, with no particular destination, taking your chances almost, and getting lost unintentionally and finding it terrifying, is so so good when read back-to-back. both about being alone and separated from all those parts of your normal life, but in very different ways :)
laura xx
(for the winter in fairyland event)
Author's Response:Hi, Laura, my dear! <3
Aww... well, it's good that it wasn't anything too dramatic... :P but yes, children tend to be captured by those things very easily :P
Getting lost as a child is so scary, and you really think you're lost forever... poor boy... :( glad the feeling came through and that it felt age-appropriate.
And yay for siblings! :P They'll tease and they'll fight but at the end of the day there's always love and care, right? ;)
Thank you so much for another lovely review! <3
Back for more fairyland reviewing, and oh my gosh, where do I even begin with this drabble?? It's SO GOOD. It's so compelling and thought-provoking, and with that last line a little bit guilt-inspiring. That you -- I -- we -- everybody, anybody, could take a moment to connect with someone, "but you're already late," so you don't. That hits so hard because it's so true. I do it all the time, it's so relatable. And not out of disliking people, just the rush rush rush of life, doing things and yet sometimes feeling like you're doing nothing.
I really loved the way you captured that feeling of being alone in a crowd -- I couldn't have articulated it better myself. You really nailed the feeling and all the contradictions of being surrounded by people, maybe even interacting with them, but at the same time being so disconnected. The coexisting, the parallel lives (such a fantastic way of putting it, because parallel lines will never intersect), the white noise. And I thought "nothing in common and everything to share -- or maybe the opposite" was such a brilliant observation!!
Really, really wonderful writing!
<3 Melanie
Author's Response:Hey, Melanie, my love! :D
I mean, this is another one that come from experience, and that I think everyone can relate to at least a little... we are always running, always rushing through life, no time to stop and look around and interact with the world around us... it's sad, but it's how our society works, I think... :/
I'm so glad the feeling came across well, and I am quite proud of that "nothing in common and everything to share" line :P
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
hey chiara!! back again for the winter in fairyland event :)
ahhhhh this is so sweet - but so bittersweet again, like so many of these drabbles - and i love that hint to it: the last line which has this sort of kick to it, where the narrator says how they miss their mum. it's melancholy and soft and it changes the tone of everything that came before in the drabble so, so perfectly. it's a really lovely twist to it - and i like how it's not exactly specified: whether the narrator's mum has passed away or simply isn't nearby and it's been a long time since they saw each other, and it almost works better: the bittersweet nature of it is left up to the reader to decide but it still hurts a bit, as it should do.
it's been a long time since i baked anything, haha, but i remember what kneading was like: long and hard, really having to push into the dough, and i love that you used it in this drabble. it feels like a metaphor for hard work but also a hobby: the idea of it being relaxing, soothing; a way to work tension out of your body. and the idea of recipes handed down through families - it's something i love and i love all the more because there are recipes my mum has which me and my sisters will take with us and it gives this lovely sense of a link to the past. and here it's such a simple thing but it's a little thing which links the narrator back to their mother, which makes the feeling of missing her all the deeper.
loved it, of course!!
laura xx
Author's Response:Hi again, Laura! <3
Yes, bittersweet... I couldn't help the melancholy twist, I'm sorry... :/ In my head the mother had passed away, but it could definitely be interpreted both ways.
I find baking so peaceful (not that I do that often, but when I do it's just a very soothing sensation...) And yes, I love the idea of recipes being handed down in the family! It is a way to keep our loved ones closer, in some ways...
Thank you so much for another wonderful review! <3
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