TITLE: YA
GENRE: Secret
Hushna had called her a bastard.
Anala's gouge bit into the spinning wood, throwing off a satisfying spray of dust. She reveled in the spicy aroma, ignoring the faint twinge of guilt she felt at being reckless enough to breathe it in. The low chatter of metal against wood soothed her heart in a way nothing else could and she needed that. Besides, nobody would care if she got sihr sick, and anyway it took years to accumulate that much sihr in the blood. She took another careful pass at the wand on the lathe, thinning the shaft to the long, convex shape that best suited casting. It was a shape her mother had shown her years ago, and Anala took pride in finding that shape in every wand she turned. The act of creating that simple beauty was like enfolding herself in her mother's arms.
She missed hugging her mother.
Miss Snark's First Victim
Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThe unusual name, Anala, sihr sickness, carving wands, all lead to fantasy.
Fantasy.
ReplyDelete"Sihr," "casting," even the name. These are fantasy words to me.
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteThe names, "sihr", making wands.
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteShe's a wand maker
Fantasy
ReplyDelete'sihr' , casting, and wands are fantasy
FANTASY
ReplyDeleteThe names, the wands, the mention of casting, the "sihr" all point to fantasy in a fully imagined alternate world
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteThe mention of the wands and casting. But it could be Magical Realism too. :)
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteDefinitely fantasy.
ReplyDeleteFantasy
ReplyDeleteFantasy
ReplyDeleteI suspected based on names but knew for sure when it was mentioned that she is making a wand.
Of course the wand may be nothing more than a prop or an item sold at a Ren Fair.
Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteFantasy-
ReplyDeleteThe wands and casting give it that feel.
Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteWhat other genre uses wands?
FANTASY
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, something with Middle Eastern elements. (I cheated on that by looking up sihr to see if it was a real thing.) That plus wands equals magic which equals fantasy.
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteWands, spells. The lathe with metal tool-tips gives an intriguing contemporary feel, though.
High Fantasy
ReplyDeleteAll the big, strange words gives it away. :)
Fantasy. A little disjointed because of the first line moving straight into the wand-crafting description. Though I do like that she's creating a wand rather than just using one. That's not something you see every day.
ReplyDeleteFantasy - names and wand.
ReplyDeleteThe first sentence doesn't seem to have anything to do with the second paragraph - making it feel like a shock tactic. The reader needs a bit more info to understand why begin called a bastard makes her want to carve a wand.
FANTASY
ReplyDelete"Sihr sick" was my first definite clue.
I didn't like how the first sentence had nothing to do with the rest of it. As the previous commenter said,, it feels like a shock tactic or an empty attention getter.
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteShir, wands
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteSihr, wands, the unusual names of the characters.
Urban fantasy.
ReplyDeleteWands, a made-up word sihr, casting which presumably refers to magic. The low chatter of metal against wood made me think of an electric woodsaw, putting this in modern day, thus Urban Fantasy.
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteShe's making wands, although, I suppose she could work in the prop department of some Hollywood studio.
Nah.
Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteWands, casting, Sihr sickness, and other unusual names all point to fantasy world-building.
Fantasy, because of the mention of sihr disease, which I thought was a typo at first. I like the writing in this entry and would read more. Good luck, Sarah.
ReplyDeleteNo surprises, it's fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the feedback :)
I love the culture/setting - what little I see in 150 words! Really hope you get published!
ReplyDelete