The following was written at about four this morning, but I, in an example of supreme boneheadedness, kept it in edit-mode limbo until just a few minutes ago. Read on:
Yes, folks, it only took two years and change, but I did manage to submit a complete story to this month's TG Mixed Tape.
I imagine the feeling of "What the hell have I done?" will follow in due course, but for now, I prefer to ride the high.
Strange thing, flash fiction is. (Yoda is my copy editor). It's my first foray into the genre, and to say I greatly underestimated the amount of discipline it would take to produce those 500 words is understating the truth. It is far easier to write 5000, believe me. But then, there's a saying I heard recently: "Any damn fool can be complicated. It takes a genius to be simple." Or words to that effect.
As I am wont to indulge in the sort of florid verbosity even Dickens would have found excessive, it could be painful to say the least to pare a sentence down to the barest minimum.
"Murder your darlings?" My dear, I had to murder them, cremate them, and burn the ashes, but I got my 500 words. Whether the resulting story, which I have titled "One Small Letter,"* survived the ordeal is up to you, the reader, to decide.
As for me, I need sleep. I can't express it more plainly than that.
*since changed to "Vowels"
Comments
500 words ...
... for a complete story is very hard. Every word has to justify its existence. I once wrote a couple of none TG stories for a competition which had to be love stories and they took me a very long time - all for nothing :) I even managed a whole courtship, marriage and the death of one partner in one of them. I was proud of that :) So congratulations, Rachel.
Robi
I look forward to your story
:)
much yayness for getting an entry done.