Most of the short stories in the Legacy Collection are pieces I tried very hard on. I put a lot of thought and care into them. I played and experimented with themes, characters, and big ideas. And while I submitted some of them for publication a few times over the years, they only collected rejections.

Then there’s “A Rose of Success.”

This story came from an imitations of style assignment. The kind where you read a piece by a famous writer and either rewrite the content of the story in a distinctly different style, or write an original story while imitating the other writer’s style. Most of the times I’ve done this exercise, it was only an essay or short story we had to imitate. Professor Williams decided to assign a whole book: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.

I didn’t read it. Still haven’t. Couldn’t even tell you what it’s supposed to be about.

At the time, my classwork involved a lot of reading assignments. Since Professor Williams wasn’t going to test us on our reading, I didn’t bother with it. Didn’t want to risk mixing up the events of Frankenstein with Madame Bovary (even without reading the latter, I imagine that would be quite the crossover). When our stories were due, we also had to turn in a reading journal. It was just a few passages we were supposed to select along the way and annotate with observations about Flaubert’s writing style.

I put it off until the week before it was due. The passages I chose for my journal? All completely random. Just like the scene I chose to imitate. I flipped through and skimmed until I found something that sparked an idea, then ran with it. Didn’t think much about it while I was writing, either. These weren’t going to be read out to the rest of the class. Professor Williams had a problem with most of my writing anyway, so why bother trying to impress him? I just got it done and put it out of my mind to focus on my next totally original story.

When Professor Williams finished grading our pieces and handed them back, he was unsurprisingly unimpressed. Overall, he said, the reimagined Madame Bovary scenes were better. Honestly, I tuned out for a little because a) not relevant to me and b) I had new writing ideas I was quickly trying to get down in my notebook. But I half-listened when he started talking about the imitation pieces. They were disappointing, he said. Most people imitated Flaubert’s typical sentence structure and his love of big words, but ultimately fell short of nailing his style.

However, he said one story got it right. So right, in fact, that after he finished praising it, he decided to read the story to the whole class as an example.

I was so focused on the ideas I was adding to my notebook that it took a while for me to pay attention. But some part of my brain caught on a familiar sentence as Professor Williams read. I was just startled at first. I tried to replay what he’d said before so I understood why we were all talking about my story. And then it hit me:

Professor Williams liked the story I wrote. He read it with such uncharacteristic glee and enthusiasm, I was confused about where I was.

This is such an odd story. It’s the purplest prose I’ve ever written. I used a word I never use and absolutely hate saying it out loud because it feels like fumbling a sip of water and dribbling all over yourself when you say it: ablution. And I put it in the story twice.

But the worst part about having it read to my classmates: the entire second half of the story is the central characters having sex.

Why would I write such a thing for a class assignment? Well, when I found my random scene to imitate, it happened to have a lot of sultry, suggestive language. I don’t know if that scene ever headed into the bedroom since I only read as far as I needed to do the assignment. I imagined it did, though. Since I didn’t want to think too hard on this piece, I thought “imitating sultry language = writing about people doing the deed.” Given how things turned out, I’m not sure I’d change a single thing about my approach if I had the chance.

That said, having to hear Professor Williams read that to my class was agonizing. I blushed so hard, my ears hurt from the burning and started sweating. I nearly cried because I was overwhelmed by his weird praise for my use of dramatic irony. It wasn’t just my imitation of style he liked. He liked the story itself. I tried not to think too much about the fact he only liked my writing when I tried to write like someone else.

But he made a point to tell us that as good as my story was, no one in their right mind would ever publish it. No contemporary publisher would accept an imitation of Flaubert’s style.

“A Rose of Success” was published in Port City Review in 2015.

Themes in the Story

The dramatic irony Professor Williams praised so much comes in the form of the narrator being oblivious to his wife cheating on him. It was very different for me to try writing a story where the narrator is in denial, but it was a fun theme to explore. We often try to make our protagonists likably clever. Otherwise they might read like they constantly bumble into one plot point after the next. It’s a good stretch of your creative brain muscles to write a character who doesn’t want to acknowledge what even the reader can see as obvious.

Inspiration From Other Works

Madame Bovary inspired the style of writing by necessity, but the tone and story took some inspiration from “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “Midnight in Paris.”

I thought about how John and Jane are shown coexisting at the start of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” As Jane says to their marriage counselor, it feels like there’s a large space between them that keeps filling up with things they don’t say to one another. That line has always stuck with me. For this story, I wanted to create the same sort of feeling as the source of the disconnect between the narrator and his wife.

I also thought about the moment in “Midnight in Paris” when writer Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) realizes his fiancee is cheating on him during a conversation with Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) about his manuscript. She says Hemingway (Corey Stoll) read it, too, but he had some thoughts on the plot:

Stein: “Well, he doesn’t quite believe that the protagonist doesn’t see that his fiancee is having an affair right before his eyes.”

Pender: “With?”

Stein: “The other character. The pedantic one.”

Pender: Pauses. “Yeah, it’s called denial. Thank you.”

His manuscript pulls a lot from his real life. The protagonist is based on himself, the protagonist’s fiancee is based on his own fiancee (Rachel McAdams), and “the pedantic one” is his fiancee’s old college friend (Michael Sheen). Even though he carefully observed and translated their interactions into fiction, Pender was oblivious to the affair until that moment.

What I really love about that scene is there’s no dramatic reaction. He’s not even paralyzed by shock. He takes a quiet, reflective beat. He sees the truth for what it is. There are no excuses or alternate explanations he wants to entertain. He simply accepts the evidence was there the whole time, but he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it.

For the story I had in mind when I wrote “A Rose of Success,” I wanted to do something similar. The narrator doesn’t come up with explanations for his wife’s behavior or accuse her of anything. He goes along with what she says, observing the dots but refusing to connect them.

There are also many details in the story that I pulled from my own life, such as the description of the “cabin in the country” they used to vacation at. It’s based on my parents’ cabin in Northern Michigan, where I spent most of my childhood summers.

How I Feel Reading the Story Now

It’s hard not to cringe at the style of writing in this story, even if it was intentional. Many of the sentences are exhausting in their length. But once I got past that, I noticed some details that change how I interpret the story.

Now, I know 2015 Amanda pretty well. I know she wrote the story with a straightforward wife-cheats-on-husband situation, and most people just debated whether he was truly oblivious or in denial. But 2025 Amanda wonders if it might be a story about a couple exploring potential bedroom kinks and fantasies. And that’s a much more fun angle to consider.

From the very beginning, we know the narrator is very observant with an eye for detail. He knows his wife’s bedtime routine so well, he knows what she’s doing by simply listening with his eyes closed. He keeps meticulous track of household projects, recalling exactly how long ago he painted the bedroom and listing what still needs to be done in their backyard. There’s distance and disconnect between him and his wife, but no hints at neglect or secrets. If there was even a tiny detail that might suggest his wife was truly having an affair, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t have examined it in (Flaubert-level) detail.

The main reason we have to believe she could be having an affair is the excessive string of events she describes to explain why she had to “work late.” It’s so much bad luck, of course neither the narrator nor the reader believes a word of it. But again, there’s no detail to suggest an alternative series of events for her day. While her story is almost definitely made-up, it might not be a lie exactly. It could be part of a scene to act out one of their fantasies—roleplaying as the wife having an office affair without really having one. For all we know, she could have spent the whole time she was “working late” getting ready for their spicy date night.

This interpretation does get a little shaky when the narrator says he wants to believe her sincerity is real and not “a practiced art she perfected over the years.” However, there aren’t any details on what kind of work she does. All we know is she has a boss and a secretary at an office. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that could be a reference to her work rather than a habit of lying to her husband.

Nothing happens between them that night, but things definitely get going in the morning. His wife repeats her story of the long, awful day working late, and the narrator is more receptive to it the second time. He even mentions that she knows morning is the best time to exchange kisses. This is a couple that has communicated about when they’re both more likely to say yes to sex. And they do.

Then there’s the part where they start the next round of sex outside and get caught by a neighbor. What might ordinarily happen in that situation? They’d feel embarrassed, maybe a little ashamed, and the mood would be totally gone? But that’s not what happens here. If anything, getting caught increases their excitement and they just take it back inside. Almost as if they were trying out sex in a semi-public space (their backyard) to see if the reality of possibly getting caught in the act was as hot as their fantasy. (Of course, I don’t think they wanted or expected to be seen by the neighbor’s child. Maybe we can chalk that up to the narrator’s wife took the day off work, so the neighbor kid should have been in school?)

But if all this is just bedroom play and there’s no actual cheating going on, why would the narrator ask his wife not to work late so often anymore?

Since this story was written to imitate Flaubert’s style, it’s worth noting that a lot of dialogue happens off-page. Some conversations are described in general terms with only a few key lines delivered as dialogue. Many happen without any kind of description. It’s possible one of these off-page discussions was a debrief after the affair roleplay. They could have discussed how it did help them end their dry spell and whether they’d want to do a similar scene again. It’s almost implied when the narrator worries about whether they’ve only found short-term success.

So his request that she not work late as often could mean they’re both open to repeating the scene because they both enjoyed it. Then her answer and the narrator’s response feel much more optimistic and like a reference back to them confirming that mornings are the best time to try initiating something.

Of course, if “A Rose of Success” had intentionally been written with this subtext, it probably would have been much more obvious. It’s certainly much more fun to read it this way.

I hope to see you back here Wednesday for the full story—and I’d love to know which interpretation of the story you like more.

Set the Mood

If you like creative add-ons to fully immerse yourself in a story, I have some suggestions. While I didn’t necessarily have these on hand when I wrote the story, they’ve definitely enhanced my experience rereading them.

Soundtrack

When I think of music to pair with this story, I can’t help but choose a song from the “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” soundtrack. I know I listened to it a lot while writing “A Rose of Success,” and it still fits. The song for this story is “Lay Lady Lay” by Magnet. (Click here to listen on Spotify.)

Scenttrack

Based on the title of the story, you’d probably expect some kind of rose-themed candle to pair with the reading experience. But I don’t think floral scents suit the mood here. For this one, I actually like The Emerald Isle from Mythologie. It has notes of salt on driftwood, tree sap, and ocean air, making it smell like a deep, clarifying breath taken somewhere along the coast.

Regardless of which interpretation of the story you have, there’s a sense of lightening by the end. Their problems aren’t all resolved in a single day but progress is made. If the wife is cheating, she considers ending the affair. If it’s all harmless consensual roleplay, they’ve found something that works for them. Either way, some of the tension has eased and they’ve turned into a new chapter for their relationship. I pair this scent and this story to evoke the feeling of a fresh day full of possibilities.

Affiliate note: I’m a Mythologie Candles affiliate because I use them all the time—especially for writing and editing. This means I may earn a commission if you purchase through my link. I only share products I personally use and love. Thanks for supporting my writing!