I write versions of micro stories

Title: cinderella

Author: Charles Perrault (popularized version)

source

Cinderella a young lady maltreated by her stepmom and stepsisters but remains kind-hearted. She attends a party with the help of her fairy godmother who created a ball gown. She won the heart of the Prince but at the stroke of midnight she ran away loosing her glass shoe along the way. The prince used the shoe to find her leading to a happily ever after.

Her broken back bore dreams, a shoe fits. Happily ever after

Explanation

I really wish as a reader, you will be able to understand the message I’m trying to convey here. However, that’s the whole point of using narrative ellipsis to omit details in the story. So that your mind can fill in the blank spaces.

The phrase “broken back”, dwells on her struggles and all the suffering she had to pass through in the hands of her stepmom and step sister.

“Shoe fits” talks about the search for Cinderella by the Prince.

“Happy ever after” she was later found, married the prince and became a princess .

Her life, a caged bird; her shoes, the breakthrough for her.

Explanation: the metaphor here was comparing the tragic life of Cinderella and the freedom she lacked. She was like a caged bird.

While the shoes was her breakthrough into gaining not only her Prince Charming but also a kingdom. She became a free woman, free from the clutch of her stepmother and step sisters

At the stroke of midnight, the magic disappeared but the prince love endured.

Explanation: I will say the ambiguity here is the “magic disappearing”. A literal loss of her magical transformation back to her old ragged clothes or we can say the prince love was the real magic.

source

Title: snow white

Author: Brothers Grimm

Snow White, a beautiful lady is envied by her wicked stepmother who tries all she can to kill her. Luckily she’s saved by dwarfs. The stepmother used her magic powers to disguise herself and gave her a poisoned apple but she was finally revived by true love first kiss.

Haunted. Saved. Poisoned apple, breath froze, true love first kiss, life revived.

Explanation:

Some key moments of the book are suggested through symbolic words. Details are also omitted, so that readers can fill in the blanks with their own imaginations. That’s why it’s a narrative description.

The forest, her refuge. The apple, her temptation. her beauty, her curse

Explanation

The forest was the only thing that could hide her away from the queen’s wrath. So, it became her refuge.

Snow white beauty was the only thing that made the evil queen come after her life. That’s the reason it became a curse to her.

The apple was a temptation to snow Whyte because she loved it so much. Unfortunately, it took her life.

"Who is fairest?" the mirror asked. A bite answered, silence followed.

The magic mirrored asked; who is the fairest of them all,

She replied with a bite.

Her white faded

Explanation:
The ambiguity “her white faded” is seen when she bite the poisoned apple that was offered to her by the step mother in disguise, trying to take her life. The rest is left for the readers to determine the outcome through their imaginations.

Back in high school we were taught “figures of speech” although that was in poetry. So, I won’t say some of the words were strange to me. But what was hard for me was putting it down in writing. Ellipsis seem a bit similar to telegram but this one is much harder. Ellipsis, metaphor and ambiguity was explored in reinventing the Cinderella story.

I really wish I’d a paid attention in class, maybe I would have performed better but I’m still proud to say that these techniques applied in task 2, sharpened my storytelling by emphasizing brevity while enhancing reader engagement

cc: @joslud and @solperez