Every week, Reedsy posts a few short story prompts and anyone interested in writing is welcome to submit a story or write it for fun! A few weeks ago, they posted the contest: #292: Colour Your World with Kobo Writing Life. And the prompt that inspired me was: Center your story around an artist whose creations have enchanted qualities. I did not enter the contest, but the prompt did inspire this story. You can read the story using this link, A Perfect Non-Magical Performance, and through the ‘Short Stories‘ tab from the Home Page of this website.
A Bit About the Inspiration
Initially, when I thought of ‘artist’ and ‘enchanting qualities’, I imagined a painter and a painting. I love the idea of paintings coming to life, but that felt done. As a result, I mentally scrolled through various artistic expressions and considered pottery (imagine a chunk of clay trying to mold itself against the potter’s intentions). That felt a little like the Disney movie Fantasia. There is the standby of a writer (imagine the characters coming to life or the author being sucked into the story). This, too, felt too obvious.
And then I settled on a musician, who is a siren, attempting to get through an audition for a human school of music while trying to control her magic. The ideas started to percolate and they were fun. I imagined the character playing or singing and despite her anxiety over the audition, she’s more worried about her magic breaking out. There were lots of opportunities for conflict and tension, so the brainstorming began.
Now that the story was set, I just needed a song for her to play. I wanted something inspiring and personal to the artist, but also hopefully relatable to the reader. I considered
- Never Enough (The Greatest Showman)
- This is Me (The Greatest Showman)
- It’s Okay (Nightbirde)
- And the BGT (Britain’s Got Talent) 2024: Sydney Christmas’s
- Tomorrow (Movie/Musical Annie and written by Charles Strouse),
- Over the Rainbow (Movie/Musical Wizard of Oz. A ballad by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Yip Harburg)
- My Way (song written in French–Comme d’habitude–by Jacques Revaux, Gilles Thibaut, and Claude François and adapted into English by Paul Anka.)
Each song was equally inspiring, but ultimately Over the Rainbow and my main character’s journey to this moment in her life (auditioning for entrance into a school of music) was the best fit. The imagery captured in the song’s lyrics resonated with the character’s desire to leave the magical community behind and learn music from humans. As a siren, her magic works in symbiotic harmony with music, but she feels that sirens place too much focus on the magic and their music is monotonous. Her dream to cross from the magical community to the human world was easy to work with the song’s lyrics.
As a writer who brainstorms, creates a loose outline, and then discovery writes, the ending surprised even me. Spoiler Alert: she doesn’t get through the audition without her magic busting out. (Which is what I expected.) But what happens, felt true to the character’s journey. I obviously won’t tell you as I want you to enjoy the story. So if your interest is piqued, then head over to the Short Stories tab on the home page and check it out. Alternatively, you can use this link: A Perfect Non-Magical Performance.
K. M. Wray 