The Story Behind the Story: Missing

For Round 2 of the 2014 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge, I was assigned to write a mystery that took place on a mini-golf course and included a bullet.

I knew immediately I didn't want to write a murder mystery, which would be the logical choice for any story involving a bullet. But I didn't want to spend time and words on proper police procedure and crime scene investigation. Also, I'm not a big fan of blood and guts.

So what kind of mystery did that leave? I quickly settled on a missing child. The plot quickly took shape from there. The characters, though, were another story. Not the main characters--Kate and Randy and little Jeremy came to me almost fully formed. The supporting characters, though, were another story, especially Joe and Elliott.

In my first draft, Elliott was incompetent, being carried by the more capable Joe--who was gristly and disgruntled. But Elliott nagged at me. I heard him in my head telling me over and over that he was young but he was able. He had to be, to rise to the position of manager. So that was the first change: Elliott got good at his job. Joe, then, became less of a hard-ass. His job became much easier, much less stressful, now that didn't have to carry his boss.

I submitted Draft 2 as my official entry, and I admit to being fairly satisfied with the story. The judges generally liked it, too. But they felt it could be more suspenseful.

Enter my helpful group of Scribblers, who I tasked with ways to increase the suspense in the story. Voilà! The current version of "Missing" was born.

Click here to read "Missing."

The Story Behind the Story: A Friend in Need

NYC Midnight strikes again! This month's story, "A Friend in Need," comes from my first round assignment in NYC Midnight's 2014 Flash Fiction Challenge. For the second year in a row, my first round prompt was to write a romance. (I think it's a conspiracy.) This one had to be set in an emergency room and involve a mop.

I struggled mightily to get out a draft. Even as I typed, I knew what I was writing was crap. But I submitted it anyway. Then I brought the story to my writer's group, told them I hated it, and asked for ways to fix it.

The group--and the NYC Midnight judges--pointed out that the sensory details I had included were all visual, all about color. All that color distracted from the narrative. I needed to add other senses into the narrative, especially sound and smell, for balance and realism.

The group also pointed out errors in E.R. procedure and policy in that first draft, such as Anna's memory test Anna and Jake being allowed to accompany Anna into the exam room. In my revisions, I fixed the memory test but still allowed Jake to accompany Anna, even though that wouldn't be permitted in a real hospital. Call it artistic license.

I made other changes, too, based on their feedback and the feedback from the judges. It's not the best story I've ever written, but it's much improved now compared to that first draft.

Click here to read "A Friend in Need."

The Word of the Year

Photo by chromatika/iStock / Getty Images

So we're two weeks into 2015 and I still haven't chosen my word of the year. Usually I at least have a list of candidates before the previous year ends. Often, I have the word chosen before midnight on New Year's Eve. This year, nothing. Not a clue.

Most years, I have an idea of what lay ahead, a list of specific goals to accomplish. The challenge is to come up with a word that fits those goals. When I look ahead at 2015, though, I see nothing. I have no idea what the year will hold, no goals demanding my attention. Sure, I have a list of things I'd like to do eventually, but none of them is a pressing need.

If anything, 2015 looks like it will be a year of waiting: waiting to see what happens with the dog, waiting for the townhouse market to improve so I can sell my place without losing my shirt, waiting while I build my savings so I can afford a down payment on a new townhouse, waiting to hear back on short stories I sent out on submission, waiting, waiting, waiting.

““There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
”

— Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Given that, I seriously considered wait as my word for the year, but it didn't sit right. Wait feels passive, sedentary. I want a word that's active. I want a word that will inspire motion but not require a destination. I want a word that will inspire me to do things this year that will result in a clearer vision and specific goals for next year.

I want to spend the year moving forward.

So I guess that's it then, isn't it?

My word for 2015 will be:

forward

(Picture Jacques Louis-David's painting of Napoleon Crossing the Alps here.)

The Story Behind the Story: Boy Trouble

Literary agent Janet Reid is an invaluable resource to aspiring novelists, such as myself. I thank the day I discovered her online presence. I follow her on Twitter, I read her blog, and I subscribe to her Query Shark blog, in which she ruthlessly dissects queries. She is strict, but she is also a writer's biggest cheerleader. I bow at her feet, and I soak up her wisdom like a sponge.

The Sharkly One, as she is often called, periodically runs flash fiction contests on her blog, contests in which her readers are challenged to write a 100-word story that incorporates five words related to whatever topic or book she's chosen. Talk about putting the flash in flash fiction!

I've participated in a couple of these contests. Let me tell you, as hard as it is to write a 1,000-word story, writing a 100-word story is exponentially more difficult.My Fiction First story for this January 1st is one of those entries. This one is from 2012: a 100-word story that uses the words double, trouble, bubble, twin, and spin.

It's probably a sign of my age: I saw the words double, bubble, and twin and immediately thought of the Double Mint Twins from those old gum commercials. That's where my story begins.

Click here to read "Boy Trouble."

What a Year

Every year, on or around January 1st, I choose a word for the year, a word that serves as a theme for the year or that sums up my goals for the year. It's a testament to the kind of year I had that when I sat down to write this annual recap, I could not for the life of me remember what word I chose. I had to look back in the blog archives to find out.

Turns out, my word for 2014 was seek. Apparently, I believed wholeheartedly in the concept of "seek and ye shall find." But that's not quite how the year turned out. I spent a disproportionate amount of the year seeking payment from a delinquent client. I spent that interim time between being owed the money and finally receiving payment seeking ways to make ends meet. And all of that redirected my energy from what I wanted to seek to what I had to seek. So by the time I started thinking about writing this reflection, I was feeling pretty frustrated with my year.

The more I thought about it, though, I realized my year was actually more successful than I remembered:

I finished Drafts 3 and 4 of The Novel and entered it in a couple of contests. The feedback I got in those contests was mixed, but the experience helped clarify for me the type of writer I want to be. So The Novel is on the shelf, and I'm plotting The Next Novel.

I learned how to write query letter and found out I'm actually pretty good at it.

I learned that filling the empty-feeling parts of my life takes some addition (volunteering at the animal shelter; joining a book club; joining a new writers' group) and some subtraction ( distancing myself from certain people and patterns; purging my house of stuff I don't need).

I finished last year convinced by my vet that my dog wouldn't survive the winter. Nobody told the dog. He's still kicking. In fact, he's curled up next to me right now, and even though he's moving slowly these days, he's not showing any signs of going anywhere any time soon.

So, on the whole, I'm feeling pretty good about my year, and that feels like a good way to start the next one.

Happy New Year!