Sororal

…is the name of today’s story at Fictive Dream.

Throughout the month of February 2022 I will be showing you illustrations I did for Flash Fiction February 2022 at Fictive Dream, an online magazine devoted to the short story.

Here’s the image editor Laura Black chose for this story, Sororal, by Kathryn Kulpa.

And here is the artwork with the banner. Take a look at this image. And then…

Read the story at Fictive Dream.

6 thoughts on “Sororal”

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. I was thinking of something I read about trees in a row – the front ones shelter the later ones, who grow taller or stronger. Here I think these trees represent how memories fade or are made, depending on how you read the line. I like the ideas of trees, or memories, reinforcing each other, and how the meaning is there, no matter what direction you go in.

    2. Claudia McGill Post author

      Oops, I answered the wrong story here. Back to Sororal rather than New Year’s Eve! Though I think there are similarities. Once again, it seems to me that there is a merging and disengaging, going on at the same time, a sort of progression that teeters back and forth. I also like the color scheme of this picture, that warm reddish color being to me a color that denotes not anger but strength of feeling.

  2. Laura Black

    Sororal by Kathryn Kulpa is a disquieting story about identity. The merging and disengaging you mention is certainly a feature of the story and so well reflected in your illustration. The shades of red and pink are warm yet that black stroke reminds that all is not well. I love it. Thank you very much.

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. I think when the story involves uncertainty of this kind, I feel an image to reflect it should have repetitions, contrasts alternating, and always something to interrupt the flow. It keeps the viewer from taking the whole picture in at once but maybe makes them work across the image. That is what I felt about this story, too, there is a need to navigate through the reading as the character(s) also do in life.

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