Sunday Speculations: Contemplating a Short Story Plot

A new week has begun and I have a couple of things to finish before Friday, July 31. One of them is a science fiction story with the working title of The Search for Intelligent Life. I am not happy with that title, but it does suggest the plot of the story. The story must be over 1,000 words and I have written over 500 all ready.

In the second half of the story the main character is transported to a planet that does not appear to have intelligent life on it. In this case appearances are deceiving. I have to figure out a way for the main character to discover the intelligence that is on the planet. I think I will have her ship's Artificial Intelligent unit transport her to a beach located on the edge of an inland ocean or fresh lake. On the land side of the beach is a jungle.

The problem I am encountering is the descriptions. In the first half of the story she, the main character, had a conversation with the ship's AI unit about the lack of evidence of intelligent life on the planet. I need to figure out how she discovers the sentient (intelligent) creatures. I also have to decide on a title for the story. I do not like the working title, the only reason I used it was to keep me focused on the plot.

An Afternoon Nap Refreshes a Writer

An afternoon nap
a refreshing retreat
rest both mind and muse.

I took a short nap this afternoon. I sit down on the couch and I fell asleep sitting up. Normally this is not the best way to take a nap, but today it was refreshing. I do not know how long I slept. I do not remember dreaming. The doorbell woke me up.

The doorbell ring once. It was a long single ring and it woke me up. There was no one on the front porch and no notes stuck in the screen door. I suppose the doorbell could have been a dream, but it sounded so real that it woke me up. This happens every once in a while, but usually at night.

I think I have gotten used to the doorbell ringing at weird hours, so it does not bother me anymore. I used to worry about it; however, now I just take it as another odd or weird occurrence in my otherwise mundane life. I think I should use the doorbell ringing as part of a story. Perhaps my muse is attempting to send me a message for a plot, which I have ignored.

The mystery of the missing Spoons

I want to know what happened to all our spoons. Mom and I used to have two complete sets of flat ware. Now all we have is knives and forks, with a few mismatched spoons. We are missing both teaspoons and tablespoons, but we have fewer teaspoons then tablespoons.

All right, the logical explanation is that someone inadvertently threw into the trash, which is probably what happened. However, a logical explanation doesn't make a very good story. I am looking for a plot to a story about spoons. A story where the spoons get thrown into the trash is boring and not a good story.

Therefore, rejecting the logical explanation what are some other good explanations for the missing spoons? I suppose it depends on the genre of story. In fantasy stories elves, gnomes or some other fantasy creature could steal the spoons, but why would they take only spoons and leave both the knives and forks behind.

If it is a science fiction story, you replace the elves and gnomes with aliens from another planet or star system. However, we have the problem of motive of why they only take spoons. Those are intriguing speculations for a writer of fantasy and science fiction.

Today is Tuesday, December 4, 2007

12 Qawl 164 B.E. - Tuesday, December 4, 2007 about 7:23 AM PST

Today is Tuesday, December 4, 2007, but for some odd reason I woke up this morning thinking it was the 5th of December. Yesterday, was Monday, December 3, but I woke up thinking it was the 4th. I suppose it's going to be this way the rest of the week. I'll be a day ahead all week long. I must admit that is a good plot for a short story or flash fiction piece.

In the story the main character would wake up thinking it was the next day, he or she (I haven't decided which would be better for the character or the story) would go to the day's first appointment and then find out it wasn't the next day at all. That's as far as I've gotten on this idea. Once the character arrived at the appointment, then what would happen. That is an interesting question.

I've never been a day early for an appointment. I have been several hours early for an appointment. A couple of months ago Mom had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and I thought it was in the morning, so we went. The receptionist didn't tell us any different and we waited in the office until the got us in. The doctor told us when we got in the office. I don't know how I got the appointment written down wrong, stress I guess. Now you know what stress can do.

I could use that experience in the story. The character gets to the appointment and no one tells him/her of the mistake until after the appointment is over, but by that time the character has missed another appointment. The more I think about this the better I like it. There a a lot of ways to approach this type of story. I still have to figure out a twist to the ending (among other things). I'm not sure I could take the character through an entire week of something like that, but I could do a single day or a portion of a day.

What is Flash Fiction?

3 Qawl 164 B.E. - Sunday, November 25, 2007 about 3:29 PM PST

One of my 101 Things to do in 1001 Days is to write a Flash Fiction story everyday. This brings up the question "What is flash fiction?" The website http://www.writefromhome.com/writingtradearticles/197.htm defines Flash Fiction as a story of 500 words or less. Since this type of story contains all the elements that a longer story or novel does, you have to incorporate those elements quickly and compactly. This is sometimes difficult and sometimes easy.

Writing flash fiction is fun. I have found that it focuses your attention on the elements and nutshell descriptions. Long descriptions use words that aren't available in this type of writing. This means that sometimes you have to presume that the reader knows a little about the surroundings. For instance, if you are writing a story about turkeys you have to believe that the reader has some idea of what a hen house, poultry enclosure or barnyard look like.

Writing flash fiction helps improve your technique. When writing conversations the word "said" can't be used all the time. If you have to indicate who is talking then use the character's name with some sort of action that carries the plot along. For anyone who has never written flash fiction, I suggest trying it. Do not give up if your first attempt exceeds the word limit. Simply rewrite. Remember it is easier to cut then to add words later.