Welcome to Week 11 of CU This Tuesday Writing Group! I did Monday’s Wordle at about 3:00 a.m. when I couldn’t sleep and I’m not even sure if I have the right Wordle here. I think it was BEAST in third person. Today in my writing, I focused on Dr. Binet, who I mentioned last week I was getting to like more and more. I think probably because, in order to really get to know the girls, I’ll need to do some research, so they’re sort of remaining on the surface level for now. Anyway, here are some ideas for how you could use this prompt:
A child communes with the monster in their closet because there is a much greater beast living in their home.
A father-son hunting trip in reverse of the usual—the son is the skilled hunter and the father would prefer to be at home with a book. What is the *real* beast they are hunting?
Writing prompt: BEAST in third-person POV
He could be a beast. The Werewolf, Dr. Binet used to call it—the creature Harry became in anger. At first it was a little bit sexy, the way he would become someone else, another being. The way he would turn his back on her completely—turn off the waterfall of attention she normally drowned in.
It was getting worse, though, to the point where Dr. Binet didn’t feel safe, didn’t feel the girls were safe, with this beast among them, in waiting. Was it him? Had he always housed this beast and was only now allowing it to display itself—to spread its full peacock tail to her? Or was this new? Was it her? Did she bring out the worst in all who touched her?
He had told her she lacked tact. This was in the beginning, when they still held hands. Or, when he held her hand as though it was a hand—a living thing attached to a body he desired. Now, they held hands heavily. He held her hand as though it was a ham sandwich he might want later in the day, or a handrail that kept him upright.
Dr. Binet can’t remember now what she’d said that first time he’d commented on her tact. There had been so many other times since. She had told Harry he was too sensitive. He was. But was she narcissistic for not finding flaw in herself? Shuffling the blame to him? Isn’t that what narcissists do? There were only two of them and they each had their ideas about the other. They were both right and they were both wrong. Dr. Binet knew she didn’t need a man. Why had she ever thought she wanted one?
Harry had torn apart their room the night before. This was to do with sex. The lack of it, precisely. Dr. Binet had suggested he was too eager, too careful, but also too forceful in all the wrong ways. He’d forgotten—in all the tiptoeing around their traumas, all the somersaulting over his ego—how to use his fingers. He’d jammed them into her like a ferret after a mouse in a hole in the wall. Like a sixteen-year-old boy who knew nothing of delicacy.
She’d mused then she hadn’t though it possible for him to disappoint her in any other way. She hadn’t intended to muse aloud.
Perhaps they were both just trying to break this thing between them? Neither wanted to be the one to walk away, to shoulder the other’s pain. Instead, they’d silently agreed to pick at the other’s threads until they both unravelled.
Afterthoughts
I’m kind of seeing this novel as a way to explore how the patriarchy destroys women from various angles. We have the girls who are all suffering from eating disorders but then we also have Dr. Binet, who is dealing with the ageing process, her uncertainty of herself professionally, and a potentially abusive relationship. Now the question is, what would be a suitable plot and ending? hmm. Let me know how your writing went! CU Next Tuesday!