Writing to a style

I've talked about the short story competitions in Writing Magazine several times but have yet to give it a try. The trouble is, I've other things to write up and there's no point in submitting an entry that isn't in the style of what wins. By style I don't mean just the length of the paragraphs or sentences but the real ethos of the thing. I have a check list for analysing short stories but what it can't do is give the feeling of a typical story. Again, the stories may have different scenes and outcomes but they will have a feel about them that is quite distinctive when you get a handle on it. Like any magazine, to find that ethos, I find it is necessary to read a number of their stories and to read them one after another, and maybe even several times. To send them the best story I've ever written without doing that is just a waste of time. I suppose what I want to find is the magazine's voice. Anyway, the latest competitions are for Historical Fiction and another with an open subject so maybe I'll do my homework and give it a try.

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Holiday romance flash fiction

The latest brief for a 500 word short story for Writer's Forum is one side of a conversation at the end of a holiday romance. No tears, no deaths, uplifting. I set about gathering ideas -
1. Two teenagers and the one comparing the holiday friend with someone back home.
2. Two middle aged from humdrum backgrounds finding a real interest in living.
3. Two old people who were sweethearts in their youth and have met again by accident in the hotel.
and variations of that.
4. A lesbian who has found out her orientation and must reveal it to her husband/family. Something like that would be more dramatic than the usual romance.

I'll expand on those ideas but as usual, the brief led me into other byways.

Someone who has been sailing and fallen in love with a particular boat is recalling the fun they had.
Someone, maybe a child, who has met and formed a relationship with and animal, a dog or a donkey. They can't take it home and want to say goodbye.
Someone from a city who has discovered the beauty of a landscape and is describing it to remember how it affected them.
Someone from a sleepy village who has discovered theatre, music, art, and their ambition is revived.
Someone in whom ambition had died and has had it revived by a storm and the persistence of a rescue. Bruce and the spider.
Outside the brief there are so many interesting possibilities for short story lines.

picture by Pam Pepper

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Listing a story

 I like to try the flash fiction competition in Writers Journal because it is always intriguing. This month it is to tell a story in a list. The editor suggested it could be a shopping list but I have a problem with that, a shopping list even a bucket list, only tells you what you intend to buy or do, but not how it turned out. That would mean the story would hang in the air.
I turned to think of what we write lists for, Christmas presents, wedding guests, telephone numbers. The telephone numbers reminded me of a thing I saw at university, it showed the names and telephone numbers of the girls the student had taken out in years 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The first page had only one name on it, Jean maybe. The second was full, including Mary Brown/Grey 361 ???. The third year there were less but included Mary WHITE 361 702. The fourth year only had MARY on it. That told a story after the event and I want to get something like that.
I suppose a wedding list could show
Invite Jean Grey
Invite Mary Brown
and show that Jean and Mary don't get on. Maybe that could be expanded or
A Christmas list with dates like the students note book with each present being scored off as it is bought
Sept.
John - a card
Larry - nice pullover

Oct
John - Handkerchiefs or socks
Larry - Scarf and gloves

Nov
John - Book
Larry - Handkerchiefs

Dec
John - Bottle of Single Malt Whisky
Larry 

It's an intriguing challenge.

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Traveled out

I've written the flight from the Northern Cape area to Cape Town. It was easy ass I've flow with an organisation nicknamed Fright Services but the other idea of computer versus mind travel has run out of steam. I tried different points of view and an extra character, and even a different start, which can make me sit up and take notice. The story of Brexit doesn't become dramatic at the referendum, it starts when parliament turns down the deal and you ask, What now? Anyway, I couldn't get it to conclude  properly, even well enough to convince myself it it was literary. It has so much going for it I'll put it on the back burner and dabble with it now and then. I've done that with quite a few ideas and it's amazing what they can become. 

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Travelling further

For the Writers Magazine short story competition with travel as the theme, I've written the story of the outback or bush pilot. The pilot is taking off from a place called Black Mountain in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa but is delayed by a brewing storm. The passengers on the ten seater include a pregnant woman who has lost two previous pregnancies and is going to hospital to make sure it doesn't happen again and a man with an important appointment. I don't know if 1700 words is enough or I'm trying to squash too much in, or I'm missing the real drama of the situation but it's not right and if I can't sort it, I won't submit it to the Writers Magazine competition.
The computer traveller Is comparing the worlds of the computer traveller and someone who travels in their mind. It's not an easy concept to get right (start, middle, end) but the first draft looks as if it could be quite a good tale. They stories are due to be submitted this week and I must get a move on but make haste slowly and make the story earn its keep.
I must admit, I am  not a fan of writing to a fixed idea but it is good practice to write to a brief. Writing a novel is just that. You have the basic idea and have to work that into a sequence of events that lead to a conclusion. Since the idea or story line is mine, however, I find getting the sequence right easier.

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Travel plans reviewed

All right, now we need to cut out the ones that might not fit the brief and those that have a long gestation period or just won’t work on hindsight.

1 Bus driver and passengers different thoughts as they travel, is a good idea but the travel element is thin. It could be in another setting - a café where two waiters see the couple in different ways because of the waiter’s backgrounds, or two writers tackling this assignment, which I like for another day as they argue over these ten options. For now, OUT

2. Bushveld pilot - Will do and only needs development but change the setting to Australia. IN

3. The clipper at Cape Horn could be in a storm. A pregnant woman. Two rivals of some kind. A miner coming back from the Yukon with gold and now wishing he’d never left to go prosp[ecting. This could be really dramatic and show how people pull together in a crisis. An indecisive captain and a strong first mate. ≤ 1700 words? Maybe not. Leave it out!

4. Missed travel connection is a romance for People’s Friend but it might answer the brief. Might! But does it depend on travel? I think it does. It might be a bit weak in plot, though, and need a lot more to give it tension over the word length. OUT

5. Aliens kidnapping Mrs Boniface. Not really travel OUT

6. Would be Astronauts - This could be set in many situations and travel is not an essential element. OUT

7. No away games. I’m intrigued with this. Why will he not go away? A sick parent? Travel sickness? I had a look at the old story but it’s not even the lower limit of 1500 words. OUT

8. Computer travel might be a bit thin but it is travel based and I’ll give it a bit more thought to get the two people at odds and maybe a triangle. A father that needs attention or maybe they are planning a getaway and become absorbed in the travel and that puts them at risk of capture or violence from the gang. IN

9. Lifts to an interview changing his out look – Too thin. The idea could be made to work but I’m not sure how, offhand.

10A. Mrs Boniface in Germany. I like this but need to really work in it. It belongs to an Oakhaven episode so for now – OUT

10. Two writers discuss 5 and 10A. I smile when I think of this one but it is not dependent on travel and really is for another day. OUT

So, we have 2 and 8, the outback pilot and the computer traveller to get on with.

3 would meet the assignment but is too long. 10A will be an Oakhaven episode and I like the idea of the aliens trying to Kidnap or duplicate a Mrs Boniface but finding she is too domineering and pushing off, leaving her two selves arguing.

I won’t dump any of these, they just go on the back burner.

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Booking a travel story

One of things I dislike about doing my thinking for a story in a bolg is that when I submit the taale to a competition like the travel tale for Writers Magazine, I can't stick it on here or even in the web page. I will put them on when they have been rejected or printed but in the meantime all I can do is lay out the structure.
For the Travel based tale I made my list:-

1. On a bus, the driver sees his passengers and the route but this is set against a passengers view. A young man and a young woman get on and we have two stories about where they are going and what they do. Maybe one is cabin crew and away a lot and between the driver and his passenger wee see two sides of their relationship. The girl wants to travel and the cabin crew chap is sick of it. Somewhere in there is a story.

2. I had a tale of a pilot in the South African bush taking a pregnant woman and a chap who had an important engagement and one or two others but had to divert to avoid a storm. It could be developed into something tense. Arguments between the pilot and the man and worry about the woman.

3. They are on a clipper round the Horn. Not easy, but it could work and it is travel based.

4. Someone has missed a connection. Either having overslept on the train, or talking to a prretty girl and more interested in asking her for coffee than getting to his interview. Is it about travel or a romantic encounter that could become a romance? I don't think it's really about travel.

5. Space travel. Two aliens come to take Mrs Boniface, the doyen of the local intellectual group in the village back to their planet to do a series of talks on earth's art. Either they get so fed up with her and change their minds, or they make a 3D print of her and Mrs B and her replica fall out and the aliens leave. I like this, but is it travel? Maybe for another day.

6. Two teens want to be astronauts but they need maths and science and one is really arty and wants to design a more elegant robot. Travel? Not really, it's about following your dream.

7.  Someone in the team doesn't want to play in away games. I have a story somewhere aboout someone being lucky he didn't get picked for the team. His replacement married the team mascot and look what life is look for him? Again travel?

8. He is travelling but on the computer. Tomorrow, I think I'll go to Florence. Add it to the pile of possibles.

9. He thumbs lifts to get to an interview and that affects what he will do. This one needs mo0re thought but it could be a good story.

10. Two writers are discussing this story and go through some of the ideas. They could do Mrs  Boniface as they throw ideas about. This has potential especially if it is about Mrs B travelling on the continent and dealing with Foreigners. It would come in anecdotes - she could find a body - but what would be the end?

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Conversations

I am working at a story for a Writing Magazine competition that will be all dialogue. Not so easy. No adding, I said, or Jim came in and mentioned. The action has to come from what people say. So, when do we have that situation? In a car going somewhere - 'Watch that truck!' 'It's parked in a driveway' etc. The first thing is that it needs to be clear who is talking. I did a bit in America for Bees in my BOnnet where the three people were from different areas in America and that was easy, You all and so on. If I stick to two then it will be easier. They can be going to visit and discuss their friends, how they met etc. and make a drama from there. They could be going to something like a funeral and discuss how the person died and how they had been treated by their family. Thinking like that leads me to a discussion at a will reading, where there could be an argument about who did what, or make that a discussion about where to scatter Jim's ashes, the discussion would follow his career and marriage - maybe the discussion could be a second wife and a first, that would have drama built in. A common accent and a refined one. Do the women agree or fall out? Already uncertainty! It might not be so bad after all.

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A sting in the tale

I'm still twisting and turning about this tale with a twist or a sting in the tail for Writers' Magazine. I had three quarters of it written as a flight from the outback but the twist was weak and I gave it up. I'll get back to it another time. Anyway, I found another draft in my files but, while the twist was in the last line, it was more one of those throw away lines than loaded in the story plot. The story is too good to misuse so I dropped that for a better opportunity, went back to my draft files and found a tale about someone on a bowls club committee. If you're one of those people who don't like to let the team down and find yourself stuck as the secretary, treasurer, or competition organiser for a bowls, golf, football, sailing, WI, or any other kind of voluntary club, you'll relate easily to the story. A friend of mine who had been secretary of the Probus Club for thirteen years got so desperate he told everyone he was moving two hundred miles away the month before the AGM. The new secretary followed his example after three years. They both still live in the village and the new secretary is starting to look desperate. I've alreaady given too much away but I've managed to give the story a better twist.

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