Disney has a movie called "Meet the Robinsons" that makes a fantastic statement about making mistakes and not giving up. It's a little embarrassing that so early into my blog I have fallen to writer's block and frozen up. If something can be learned about this, then all is not lost.
Since the purpose of this blog is to improve and polish up my craft, let's examine what happened. Day 1 of the Three Minute challenge was great. I finished the story by deadline and was itching to write the next one. On Day 2 I drew from a story that happened in my past so I thought it would be easy and short, right? It was actually a frustrating experience because I struggled to include all the details. Day 3's story is listed below, and I really liked the premise, but again, I struggled to keep it 600 words or less. Also, by now, the goal of writing a three minute story has become more stressful than fun, so I start to avoid writing the same way I avoided homework when I was in college.
Lesson #1: Don't stress about the details. I could let the reader do all that for me. If I get bogged up in the details, which I have, then describing a story becomes overwhelming and tedious. The challenge in the three minute story is that there are no words to spare - and a writer should only put a word on the page if it's necessary and adds to the story.
Lesson #2: Make more reasonable goals. A three minute story was too much too fast, and a goal should be a mile marker that encourages further accomplishments.
So this week I will set forth a new goal that will embody those two lessons. Every day this week (Monday - Friday) I will come up with one line that describes a story premise. Examples can be found here at the New York Times best sellers list.
Today's one liner: A con woman posing as a paranormal investigator faces a real ghost.
Three Minute Fiction #3
Confessions of Caera Spencer
As an investigator of the Paranormal, I've seen some pretty strange things. How did I get in to a profession like this? Pour me another whiskey sour and I'll tell you. Although, you're better off tending bar. You're better off not hearing this at all.
When you're Ma and Pa don't have coin to send you off to school, you either join the work force as soon as you are able, or you set to the streets. Pickin' pockies weren't much my thing, but if you're going to make any way on the streets you do strange and terrible things to survive, but that's a different story.
I taught myself to read by going to church during the days. If I pretended to be interested in the words of the lord, Shepard Kieren would give me a bowl of soup and read passages of the holy scriptures to me. That's where I met the Countess Rosemary Blanche at her darkest hour. She was hopeless, desperate, but also rich.
The nice thing about looking poor, is that you're invisible to the rich. So the Countess didn't notice me listening in to all the spooky details of her plight. The ghost of her ex-husband was haunting her. So I plucked me a fancy jacket and show up at her house the next day.
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