Voting for Flash Challenge: March 2017

[Lipinski]

This was a fun challenge this month. It was great to see all the stories, a lot to choose from.

Do I need a photo I.D. to vote? I'm not allowed to drive because the authorities didn't like me driving with my pet buffalo in the passenger seat. Something about a 1200 pound beast being a distraction.

As for a passport, I was not born on this planet so it has been hell trying to prove I exist.

So if a photo I.D. is needed I don't have...Oh. Wait. I have a library card with a picture of myself showing me when I was 12.

Kidding aside. 'Good job' to all the writers who participated. And 'good job' to Daniel.

[kailhofer]

Instead of commenting on a specific story from this month's entries, I thought I'd write about how I came up with the idea for mine. Before starting any story, I mull over ideas as they come to me, in this case prodded by a prompt. I rarely choose the first one that pops into my head (although it happens occasionally). It might be the fourth, or fifth or sixth; but it's always the one that won't go away. I then let the idea ruminate for a day or two, often jotting down a few scraps of ideas about characters, plot and/or location, so I don't forget them.

In the case of this story, the first things I decided on were the "mistake" (I didn't know yet how the MC was dealing with his error, per the prompt), the characters' names, the timeframe and location. Now I felt I knew enough about the situation to begin writing. As is often the case--and it happened with "Double Play"--I had no idea how the story would end before I started writing. That's fine with me. I like letting the characters tell the story without being hindered by my single-mindedness toward the tale.

How about you? How did you come up with the idea for the story your submitted?

Your question also crosses over into how one writes the story, at least for me it does. I seldom have my story figured out when I first start. I might have a general theme or target in mind, but not more than that. Usually, the opening sequence of a scene pops into my head and I write that down. It's usually pretty short, less than a hundred words. It's not even a whole scene--just an opener, an image or action to hook interest. The next day, I fumble around, trying to find a direction I want to go, and honestly, what music I want to play when writing to help give the story the right feel. That generally gets me to between 200-300 words. Then I think about it during drive times to and from work and generally figure out how I want to end the story, without writing it down. Then, the next time I sit down I either come up with the bridge in the middle or go finish through to the ending I figured out. Often, the ending changes from where I thought it would go.

During the editing process, the story becomes more focused, and frequently changes the ending a bit. It did for me, in this one. I thought the ending I had wasn't strong enough, so I rewrote until I was happy with it, going back and changing things to support it in the earlier parts of the story.

As for subject matter, my wife hates dirt in a home. Before she went back to school and became a successful paralegal, she cleaned houses. So, I was trying to edit and format stories for the next issue of Aphelion and she was cleaning the den where I was working, making a heck of a racket with the vacuum, trying to get every little spec of it around me, and breaking my concentration. (It's possible I'm the messy one in our house.) Watching her, it struck me that it could be a fun challenge for myself to write a story about dirt and dust, but then, how do you make a tragic mistake with dust? That was tricky. I like characters best who are flawed. The prompt for this one showed it should be a big mistake that one has a hard time living with, and may shape their life trying to make up for it.

Thinking about those things gave me the plot for my story.

What about the rest of you?


PS, I should really add that I was helped by how human Daniel made his excellent challenge prompt. Mistakes and regret. That was right up my alley.

[kailhofer]

So you really put a lot of time crafting a story. You allow your inspiration to come from your sensory experience around you such as your wife cleaning or the music you choose to listen to or maybe how you feel and you draw from that.

Also, the story sometimes winds up different than you originally planned.

When I write, if I outline and figure out everything before I write, I don't write. It stops being fun, so I stop writing it. It strangles the creativity, but on the other side of it, you have to know where you want to wind up or you won't get there. Yes, you might not hit the exact mark you were aiming at with the plot, but you will be in that neighborhood.

For me, it's a delicate balance of preplanned and seat of my pants dreaming to forge a story. It keeps it fun and achieves the goal I set when I started it, which is rewarding.

And you break up the scenes when you work on them and work on one for awhile and then put it down to rest from it and gain a fresh perspective next time.

It's a little less structured than that. Usually, when I actually sit down to write I go until I can't think of anything else, not because I deliberately chose to stop. Yes, I definitely wait to edit until a different day--I think that's vital for a good story edit--but usually I write until I'm out of gas on it. Now, my subconscious works on it all the while I'm not and I think a lot during the drive, but that's brainstorming and daydreaming with the plot, not actually writing.

First, I've learned from this and so thank you. Second, you really had to make a big effort to put this kind of time into your story, with all the other wrap up work your doing as editor.

I'm really honored.

I'm glad I could help you. Editing flash and shorts together now that Kate stepped down is a lot of work. Heck, shorts is a lot of work in itself, and I have to admit I'm looking forward to after the May issue, when none of this is my responsibility anymore. Until then, I'm just plugging away as I can.

Anyway, I have to make a flash index page for the next issue. Later!

[kailhofer]

Writing well really sounds complicated. Should people take a class and study it before writing a story or is writing the best way you can okay here and just try to get better.

You could study. You could do a lot of things. There's a ton out there to help.

More locally, Aphelion exists above all else to provide people a place to write and improve their craft by doing that writing. You can write in the challenges, you can read through the old forum threads for advice on situations you may be having trouble with in your writing, or you can write and submit stories for the zine version of Aphelion. All of that can help a writer improve.

Heck, read the 600+ stories in the Flash Indexes here in the Fun and Games folder. All of those were people submitting in these challenges. See what they've done, find something or a writing style you like, and see where you can try something like what they did.

Participating just like that at Aphelion has helped over well over 200 writers improve to the point they turned pro. That's why Dan Hollifield has paid the bills to keep this site and forum running, advertising free, for 20 years.

Above all, just keep writing and sharing your writing with others. The act of doing it and the feedback you get can be invaluable as you progress through your writing career.

[Lester Curtis]

Hope I'm not too late; just sent my votes.

Some really exceptional work this month!

[Lester Curtis]

Writing well really sounds complicated. Should people take a class and study it before writing a story or is writing the best way you can okay here and just try to get better.

We have our own pile of resources here (and it is kind of in a pile)--the Writers Workshop subforum. Start at the top and just check each topic. Lots of stuff there; some more useful than others, perhaps.

Some of these give links to other very good sites with bountiful instruction on every aspect of writing.

I've put a few of these there myself; I make it a practice to use free resources where I can find them.

Just root through the pile; you'll find some good stuff.

[Lester Curtis]

Looks like I was the only one to vote Eddie's story for first place. Ed has made remarkable progress as a writer, but that can happen if you work at it as hard as he's been doing.

That one hit all the buttons for me. Everything began as a cipher, but the character built in parallel with the hints of what he was doing, so you learn the what and the why in perfect synch. I couldn't get as far as liking the guy, much less condoning murder, but I could perfectly understand it all.

Then, the whammy--I hadn't known if he was going to get away with it or not--and the twist just came out of nowhere. As surprise endings go, this one gets a ten. Of course, he had to finish what he thought he'd already done.

I suppose that if this were being scored by the old method, the story would get a lower score for meeting the challenge because this guy wasn't entirely regretful. Aside from that, though, it's got what counts: out of the whole pack, this is the one I most clearly remember, and I won't forget it soon.

[kailhofer]

Is this one getting archived?

Yes. I will get them in the archives in the next few days.

[Megawatts]

Congratulations to the winner and to everybody that entered. I had a death in the family and because of my daughter's death I don't feel like writing much. I'm sure it will pass. But for now I can't.

I have to remember that the sun also rises as I'm sure it will again from me.

[kailhofer]

I've added these stories to Flash Index II.