When we started to plan our summer activities, I began to realize that it wasn't going to be all that easy to get a short story written every other week for the blog I write with Wade Peterson, Black Coffee Fiction, http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com We are going to be out camping and traveling. Where will I find the time?
I've been too lazy this winter, simply dipping into a store of stories I've written over the years. I still have several left, but now I need to get busy and work ahead.
Where would these ideas come from? I was struggling to find a story this past week when I remembered newspaper columns I wrote years ago. I began to look through them and found so many stories. The one I published today "It's Coming", is based on a trip I took to Texas.
I was at Galveston when hurricane warnings were issued. I had to drive back to Wisconsin chased first by the hurricane, then torrential rainfall, followed by a blizzard. It was one of the most harrowing experiences in my life. But I was able to re-work it into a good short story. I left out some people, added characters, even changed the car I was driving. For some reason, a Camero worked better than a Chevy Nova. I changed the ending...after all, I survived the experience remarkably well. The heroine in my fictional story is not so lucky.
That is what I have observed throughout my life. Good news does not make good writing. The worse the experience, the better the story.
So now I have my source for stories. Best to get to work and write them before summer comes.
I've been too lazy this winter, simply dipping into a store of stories I've written over the years. I still have several left, but now I need to get busy and work ahead.
Where would these ideas come from? I was struggling to find a story this past week when I remembered newspaper columns I wrote years ago. I began to look through them and found so many stories. The one I published today "It's Coming", is based on a trip I took to Texas.
I was at Galveston when hurricane warnings were issued. I had to drive back to Wisconsin chased first by the hurricane, then torrential rainfall, followed by a blizzard. It was one of the most harrowing experiences in my life. But I was able to re-work it into a good short story. I left out some people, added characters, even changed the car I was driving. For some reason, a Camero worked better than a Chevy Nova. I changed the ending...after all, I survived the experience remarkably well. The heroine in my fictional story is not so lucky.
That is what I have observed throughout my life. Good news does not make good writing. The worse the experience, the better the story.
So now I have my source for stories. Best to get to work and write them before summer comes.
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