(ssf) dead baby

So, basically this spring my blog has been strangled by short short fiction. I realize this. Even though I have no sitemeter, I believe I have driven most of my readers away the past two months. And, yet, one last assignment remains. This one involved the instructor handing out a diagram of a fish that I need to find and scan. But, anyway, the gist of the assignment was to write a story that had an "outside" story and an "inside" story, where the "outside" story was what the story initially gave all appearances of being about and the "inside" story was a more psychological story that the story would turn out to be "really" about. Or something like that.

While she was explaining it, she talked with seeming admiration of a creative writing teacher she'd had who would tell students who didn't have enough of an "inside story" in their fiction that they should "stick in a dead baby." I spent much of the rest of the class in a vague snit about the idea of "stick in a dead baby" as a creative panacea for twentysomethings. (Don't get me wrong, I adore my ssf instructor, but: stick in a dead baby?!) So my story idea basically developed from that. The result is titled "Dead Baby" and is available as pdf here. As always, non-inconsolable-despair-inducing suggestions and comments are welcome, especially anything before class at 8pm EST Tuesday.

(ssf) real

The assignment for my most recent short short fiction class took the instructor like ten minutes to explain. I do like having assignments. I like assignments about either the form (i.e., a story that's a list) or the content (i.e., a story that's a prohibition). But assigning both form and content starts to get a bit overconstraining. The "form" part of this assignment was that it was supposed to done mainly as "narrative exposition," although it could be first person narrative. The "content" part was that the story was supposed to begin with two people approaching a store and then they are supposed to go inside the store for some purpose that is either achieved or not. Anyway, my story is called "Real" and is available as pdf here. Let me know if you have any comments or non-cruel suggestions.

I think the class is suffering short short fiction fatigue. Only four (of seven) showed up, and only two of us had stories, although another student promised to e-mail us hers. The assignment for next week is the last, and it took the instructor a full half-hour to explain, although in the end seemed both interesting and simple enough. Which does not necessarily mean I'll have time to do it.

(ssf) warren jay meanwell: the complete and annotated discography

This week's short short fiction assignment was to write a story that's a list. Given that I am supposed to be doing three presentations on different topics in the next eleven days, things are a little hectic here. The story was originally going to be titled "[artist name]: The Complete and Annotated Discography", but, despite various tries based on great suggestions from readers and others, I decided it was better without a name. So the result is currently titled "The Complete and Annotated Discography" and is available here. It feels suspciously like something I would have written at age nineteen, but then again I'm not sure that anything about me relevant for fictional production has so much improved since age nineteen as just changed. As always, let me know if you have any comments or suggestions that will not gut my joie de vivre or make me cry.

Update, Monday AM: I wake up to an e-mail that says: "Yes, that story is nothing compared to your others. Brave of you to post it, especially given that your others have been so good." To which all I can say is: (1) thanks for the compliment about my previous efforts [and my courage] and (2) you try writing a story that's a list. (Indeed, if you could try by Tuesday 8pm ET and would be willing to let me turn that in for my class instead, that might be especially helpful.) But I do agree with the person's basic point, I suppose. My other list-story ideas were, I'm confident, worse. At least it's short. Here, just read my shortbread story instead. Ugh. SSF is harder than it looks.

Update, Monday AM still: Revised (shortened). Title is now just "Discography" until/unless something better comes along.

Update, Monday PM: Title is now back to what it was when I started writing the story (post title has been changed accordingly).

(ssf) marshmallow

Okay, taking this short short fiction class turns out to have been a fabulously fun idea, even if sometimes a timesuck comparable to blogging at its most addictive. This week's assignment is to write a story that has something to do with a prohibition, violation of the prohibition, and consequences. In addition, the story was also supposed to include two distinct appearances of some "object," although I'm not sure I fully understood that part. I do like how we have specific assignments, although occasionally they feel a little more like improv comedy directives than writing exercises.

My story is called "Marshmallow" and is available here. Like last week's story, it involves academia, although again nothing autobiographical or quasi-autobiographical. It does, however, include a reference to an actual study from the annals of social psychology (albeit simplified in its details). And, as with one of my earlier stories, even though it certainly isn't anything I would label "erotic," I would still suggest you skip it if you are superprudish or my mom. Otherwise, of course, I'm grateful to anyone who takes the time to read it. As always, I welcome any fragile-writerly-self-esteem-respecting comments or suggestions.

(JECG: If you read this, this story is for you, and you know why.)

(ssf) joy

The assignment for my short short fiction class this week was to write a story that begins with the words "This is going to be fun." With, as the instructor repeatedly pointed out, the quotation marks and the period. To practice doing dialogue, I think, except the last three stories I wrote have been nothing but dialogue, so I didn't want any more of that.

Instead, it seemed like a splendid occasion to see if I could write a shiny, happy story that would make readers feel all gooey and warm about humanity. Norman Rockwell with a word processor, that sort of thing. Not really. The result is titled "Joy" and is available here. It's about academia, but, in case this isn't obvious, it does not have any connection to anything autobiographical or quasi-autobiographical.

Anyway, the suggestions I've received via comments or e-mails for previous ssf-orts have been extremely helpful, so let me know if you have any non-despair-inducing reactions.

Update, Tuesday night: Minor revisions, in response to comments.

(ssf) they met at the library

As I said in my last post, the assignment was to write a 26-sentence story where each sentence starts with a successive letter of the alphabet. In addition, A Certain Kathryn has repeatedly asked me to write a short short story for her for her now long long past birthday. None of my previous efforts really suited that purpose. So I decided to start with the working title "Kathryn," and this story is what happened. I've since changed the title to "They Met At the Library." It's 354 words and available here. Although it's not exactly erotic, I suppose if you are either (a) particularly prudish or (b) my mother, I'd rather you not read it. (Sorry, Mom.) There's also a bonus reference to an earlier SSF post just for JFW readers. Class is Tuesday at 8pm EST, so let me know if you have any non-spirit-desiccating comments or suggestions.

Update, 2/1: Revised to fix an egregious spelling error with X word. Also pleased to see that Kathryn herself has offered her appraisal in the comments.

(ssf) process of elimination

So, the reason we had to write two stories this week for short short fiction was so we could read one in class and workshop it this week and distribute the other to be workshopped next week. "Shortbread" is up for next week. The story we did this week was from an assignment where we were supposed to write a story that had at least 5 named characters and was no more than 500 words.

I wasn't going to post the story I wrote for this because, even though in principle I wrote it to stand alone, it makes way more sense with four facts as background:

1. I wrote it immediately after the first meeting of the short short fiction class.

2. In that first meeting, we did the whole "she was the kind of person who..." writing-class exercise (recounted here).

3. In that first meeting, we also read this one-page story "The Colonel," which the instructor said was arguably the most famous short short story and arguably responsible for the whole recent renascence of short short fiction writing.

4. My own reaction to "The Colonel" was that, while I thought it was a good story, it was also exactly the type of story I really don't have any interest in ever writing myself.

Anyway, my story is called "Process of Elimination" and is available with "The Colonel" pre-pended to it here. Going both above and below the parameters of the assignment, it has 6 named characters and comes in under 375 words. Yet still includes profanity, innuendo, and death. Non-cruel comments and suggestions welcome.

The class, incidentally, so far seems like its going to way more fun than whatever else I would otherwise be doing with my Tuesday nights the next two months. I was worried that the class wouldn't get my story, but they did, and they laughed at all the right places when I read it out loud, and so now I'm feeling that same rush I feel when I'm teaching and a lecture goes over really well.

The instructor also gets a big thumbs-up, as she turns out to have a gift for making everyone feel enthusiastic about everyone else's story, such that I think other people left feeling the same kind of glee and comraderie I did.

(ssf) shortbread

I was just talking to someone who asked if I was going to post my short short fiction class offerings on my blog. At first my impulse was no, with the rationale of it not being something I want to inflict on the public, but then I realized that it really can't be much different from already inflicting this blog on the public. But then I decided I would only post them as PDFs, so that the casual or inadvertent observer of JFW wouldn't just have it thrust upon them unawares. Showing someone your short short fiction is not quite so intimate as showing them your etchings, but still.

We were supposed to write two stories for this week. One is called "Shortbread" and currently weighs in at a portly 415 words. Whatever longtime readers of this blog still exist may recognize that parts are based on an old post. If you want to read it, you can click here. If not, fine. Better, even, maybe. If you have any constructive suggestions between now and 8 EST, let me know. Please note: "You suck and your stories suck even more" is not a constructive suggestion.

Update, 5pm: Slightly revised in response to comments.

Update, 7pm: Penultimate line revised. I'm beginning to worry that short short fiction might not be very compatible with certain obsessive tendencies of mine. The brevity allows one to fuss over every word.

Update, next day: Okay, so I revised it again. It's down to only 406 words now, though.