I recently listened to Mignon Fogarty’s podcast “Grammar Girl.” That episode was about ‘Feghoots.’ I’d never heard of them, but she explained that they are short, mostly humorous stories that build to a pun at the end. It’s like a bad dad joke with a pun based on a familiar phrase or title. This week I’m giving ‘feghoots’ a try.
LaKeisha Novella stared at the blank page in her IBM typewriter like it owed her money. For three days she paced her apartment, creating story index cards and handwritten notes, but typed nothing. Drinking large amounts of strong black coffee gave her jitters and sloppy white-out corrections but no solid novel ideas.
With nothing to lose, she booked a weekend writing retreat at a small motel advertised as ‘a place to restore your writing mojo.’ Upon arrival, she thought the motel looked run down, but the cheerful retired owner caused her to relax when she saw a wooden sign he made that read ‘Please do not disturb the writer’s block.’ LaKeisha laughed, then frowned, then laughed again, because the only thing she wrote on the first day was her name on the title page.
On the second night, thunder rattled all the motel windows. When the power failed in her room, she took candles to the lobby. The rainy weather and candlelight flickering in the darkness brought inspiration. She began writing furiously about a woman trapped in a decadent Hitchcock-like motel.
By dawn, she had finished the story. The owner brought her a black coffee while enquiring how the retreat had gone. LaKeisha smiled. “I came here with writer’s block, but I’m leaving with a plot twist.”
The owner nodded proudly.
“Glad to hear my place worked out for you. That’s what I call a blockbuster.”
Fictionista 