Previous article: I participated in the 250-word Microfition Challenge at NYC Midnight, 2023/2024 #1
Don’t forget, this article was published well after it was written.
Here I am finishing day 2, Saturday December 9, 2023. Countdown:
Ouch !
So what happened today? Well I wrote my short story!
I admit I’m a little disappointed. I was delighted to find my idea, to rack my brain to do everything from A to Z, to think for long moments about the story, the progress, but it didn’t happen like that. When I talked to my husband about the genre and the action, he said without thinking, “You’re writing a story where it happens … and that’s it!”. It was just a mini-sentence with only 4 extra words, but it was perfect! He didn’t even think when he told me, it just came out. Suddenly, none of my ideas crossed my brain because I was only thinking about his. It worked so well and the flow of the story came so easily to me that I didn’t even need to think about it for more than two minutes. I had the basic idea, the middle of the story and the end without even bothering my mind.
So I admit, I’m a little disappointed in that regard, not having really found an idea but at the same time, I couldn’t have found anything better!
So I had my story in mind but also a problem. The genre is Ghost Story and all the definitions I found talked about humans sensing the presence of ghosts, of which the latter appear willingly or by obligation through magic. However, in my story, ghosts were the main characters and I hadn’t planned to include humans. So I wondered if I was going to go off-topic!
It was on the NYCM website forum that I found my answer:
The Inquisitor’s last sentence says: « In reality, as long as your story contains a ghost, it’s a ghost story. »
It was good ! I wasn’t going to go off-topic, I could start writing.
So I wrote. And here too I am a little disappointed. Since I spent my day yesterday reading advice on writing microfiction, learning the basics, the concept, the mistakes not to make, the things to take into account, how to use words, etc., I wrote my short story very quickly without exceeding the maximum number of words. First draft: 246 words! The hardest part was integrating the imposed word, FIT, because it means a lot of things. I finally succeeded after ten minutes and by integrating it not at the end as I imagined it would be so well positioned, but right in the middle of the story. Clearly, this does not serve the story, but completes a description.
Second draft. I quickly reread my story, I looked to see if it worked, but above all if I had respected the given genre. Because for a ghost story, it’s important that the anxiety builds, that the intensity increases throughout the story. That must be scary. And in 250 words…
My husband read it and didn’t understand my ending at all: « I don’t understand the last sentence. » My ending didn’t work! I changed two words and everything became clear. Phew!
The action of storing was present and my imposed word too.
So far, perfect, second draft OK!
Third draft. Read again, it’s correct.
Fourth draft. Print, proofread on paper, correct, change.
In microfiction, every word used is important, and every sentence must justify the story. We don’t really have time to say too much. But you still need to make your characters real and describe your world at least a little. The important thing to remember is that the less you add, the more there is. Because every word you choose will be so precise that it will say many, many things.
I turned short three- or four-word sentences into two-word sentences that meant so much more. I also wrote two sentences that didn’t serve the story in any way, that didn’t add anything at all. I deleted them, which gave me a nice little number of words that I could reuse to make the story more intense, more important.
This was the main part of my working day: proofreading my text to make it more powerful. So far: 236 words.
I also took a break, because it is important to know how to stop to better immerse yourself in the story and see faults, or on the contrary to say to yourself that it is perfect, or almost, and which can still be improved. So here is this very special moment of my day:
Back home with magic in my eyes, after frozen pizzas that weren’t very good but with friends it’s important, back to reading and writing.
Six words that I’m moving to another paragraph because it sounds better, a visual description that will add to the anxiety of the story, one less repetition, and one more sentence to reach exactly 250 words!
And it’s already 11 p.m., so it’s time to go to sleep. I will rework the text a little more tomorrow, with the little time I have left.
The end of this day:
Like I said, a little disappointed that I didn’t need to think through the basic idea. But it’s the game and it’s perfect, so I couldn’t pass it up.
The plot arrived, very quickly, too quickly for my taste, I would have liked to think more about it too ^^.
I also wrote very quickly, retaining the basics and codes of microfiction. I’m glad I used them so easily, it was great to be efficient.
I loved trying to rework words and sentences, making everything more effective, thinking more about each line. It was great!
Writing in English is still difficult for me! Even though I first wrote the text in French, I only worked on the English once it was translated. It doesn’t work at all in the same way between the two languages and finding the right English words and phrasings still remains a big challenge. But it was so good when I finally told myself that it was working and that I could do it!
I am happy with this day, with what I produced, with what I am capable of producing, with the fact that I have no desire to give up, quite the contrary! And above all, I tell myself that I perfectly understand the people who like this kind of format and that I think I will love it too! I want to write more often because the challenge is great and I’m learning so much!
One last little thing and then off to bed. A friend gave me a nice little gift from France, I’ll let you see for yourself ^^’:
« You are perfection itself. »
Next article: I participated in NYC Midnight’s 250-word Microfition Challenge, 2023/2024 #3
Péléane Léana - Vision Livre 