I’ve reached the end of the honeymoon stage with my short story. I need to remind myself why I’m writing it. It would be (very) nice to have something published, but it’s chiefly an exercise. The only way to learn how to write a story of this length, is on the job.
So, I’m having fun, with serious purpose, throwing ideas at it to see what is and what is not possible. I’ve joked about trying out second person point-of view. This time I’ve done it for real (and discovered why it’s so unpopular.)
By the end of last week I had words, characters with desires and weaknesses, but no story. I didn’t know that was the problem. I just knew it wasn’t working and I didn’t know what to do with it next. It felt amorphous, and even with the weird POV, wasn’t much fun to write.
Half the work for me with fiction, is working out why something isn’t right yet. Once I’ve identified the problem, I can formulate an approach. In this case, something needs to change my character’s heart at the right pace. I don’t know what that something is yet, but I’ve made progress.
sophie beal 