Subject : Truth in Pastel Green Author : Carly Date : 4/5/2002 12:07:19 AM

Come in please. You paid for this. Now it is my job as the artist to keep you standing there in front of the easel, gaping like a damn fool fish at the Royal Exhibition of Ponds. You cannot walk away. Oh, I could tell you 'whodunnit'; I could have a small sign posted outside the door of the studio, and you could gratefully read it,like a plaque at a funeral parlour. You could walk in and pay your respects to your great aunt, even if you don't really remember what she looked like. But that wouldn't be doing my job. It is my task to make you see the blood on the hanky that the old lady slips into her pocket as she stumbles down the path. I've done her up in pastel green; that way, you won't suspect her. She'll just blend in with the edge of the forest. You won't notice that she's carrying a hatchet - you won't see the shape of it in the folds of her flowered dress. When you walk out of the studio and over to the coffee shop for bagels and latte, I've got to make you say to your friend 'Gee! I thought it was the guy in the foreground, with the blood slathered down the front of his t-shirt!' I've got to make you marvel at that. What's more, I've got to make you believe it. Oh, you'll figure it out sooner or later - somebody will tell you - they'll say 'You know that wasn't true, don't you? She made that up; it's just a picture somebody did for the cover of her book.' That won't matter to me - I'll be long gone. By the time you know it isn't the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I'll be well into the first draft of my next story. I'll be cookin' up more lies to entertain you with. You'll be able to say - 'Oh, I don't believe a word of it, but I sure did like that story.' You might even feel a desperate need to walk back into the depths of my canvas and sob in the arms of every stranger I've introduced. Should they still be strangers, then I must once again take up my pen. THIS IS THE CHALLENGE POSTING: "An artist's job isn't the truth. An artist's job is to enthrall you for as long as we've asked for your attention. If in doing so we stumble across a truth, that's even better." Do you agree or disagree with that quote and how does your perception of your job impact your writing? Entries can be in the form of a short story, personal essay, or poem. Maximum length should be less than 1,200 words. The contest will run from April 1st to April 10th. Voting for the winner will be open to everyone (you do not have to enter to vote) who critiques all the posts. In other words: you have to critique the entries in order to vote for the winner. We will announce the winner on 4/15/02 and that person will receive a free Gold Membership to the Writer's BBS. http://www.writersbbs.com/inkspot/threads.cgi?forum=genfic