Thinking about the short story
I have more work to do on my story before I start kicking it out the door, of course, but I also thought that I might START to delve into something I haven’t played with since my Greenwich Village days, 20 years ago: the short story. Most of what I had done was flash fiction (thought it wasn’t called that yet), but I’m getting some AWESOME feedback - better than expected - from my writing class, and these 2 pages vignettes I’m writing are good fodder for a short story. I’ve taken what I know, too, and made it unique. One short story was originally conceived as backstory for one of my very characters, the black out of 76 (77?) in New York, and it involved building tenants and a super… my dad was a super, but nothing like the character I created. Nor is my character anywhere there, but I got a good feel for the scene from “writing what I know”.
Ditto a first person narrative about a husband finding out his newborn baby has Down syndrome. Not that I lived it exactly the way in the story, and an older son in the plot helped, but the woodpecker I created to distract the husband and hone his anger and disappointment on, well, THAT creature really DID exist, and I swear it pecked at my house just like in my story.
Going to smooth the piece out and grow it, and post it…or perhaps just pitch it or put it out there. Or maybe it belongs in The Writing Show’s 1st chaper of a novel contest? Hmmm….
Wow–you’ve got a lot on your plate! If you’re a fantastic juggler (I’m not), best of luck to you. Make sure to give your stories the time and room they need to breathe and become alive. The best thing is (in addition to you writing) is that the ideas are coming. Woot!
I’m a SELECTIVE juggler…I can juggle a lot when it comes to ME, lol!!
I’m only writing 2 page double spaced assignments, so I’m not sure if I can really handle short stories. I fall in love with my characters and rarely can bare a short stay with them. The other appeal of the short is that it keeps me storytelling - my favorite part of the process as opposed to editing (blech!) or research (eh).
A woot is always good though! Thanks, Pam!