8 December, 2011
Another day, another activity for the Open University course A174 Start Writing Fiction.
Activity 3.7 asks us to write a story using 13 supplied sentences plus an 250 additional words. We can put the sentences in any order we like and can complete those sentences that end with an ellipsis.
The sentences are:
- Sarah threw the book out of the window.
- On Friday, it was all over.
- For years now, she had thought of doing this.
- They had ham and eggs for lunch again.
- Bravery, she knew, was often underrated.
- ‘If you even think it, I’ll …’
- The doorbell rang.
- ‘You’re so beautiful …’
- It was early afternoon.
- She recalled a particular phrase her mother had once said.
- Beyond the garden wall, there was a school.
- Her dress was the colour of wet slates.
- The mirror was set in a gold frame, and she remembered the day he had bought it for her.
Before this morning, and bear in mind I’m writing at 3.15am, I made six attempts at coming up with a decent piece of writing for the activity.
All of them were rubbish and were deleted.
There are two main problems. The first is that many of the sentences don’t fit my writing style and structure. It’s not insurmountable, but it is challenging to make my writing style fit that of the sentences.
The second, and much greater, problem is that several of the key sentences are overly sentimental and fluffy for my taste. It’s proving extremely difficult to make my ‘voice’ fit the fluffiness of the supplied sentences.
Anyway, after struggling with the activity for several days, I found myself awake at 3am this morning with a story in my head. I slid out of bed, fired up the computer and set it down before returning to bed.
In a fit of petulance and exasperation, Sarah threw the book out of the window. It flew out of the mirror behind her, dropped to the floor and skidded under her oak desk. The mirror was set in a gold frame, and she remembered the day he had bought it for her.
She’d always wanted a magic mirror. What she hadn’t bargained for was getting one that had multiple powers and a mischievous personality…From Mirror, Mirror.
It’s rough and not up to my usual standard, but I’m going to submit it for the tutorial anyway.
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I’ve received my new tutor’s feedback for Mirror, Mirror.
I was extremely pleased because the tutor had read the piece deeply, delved through the layers and picked up on all the nuances. Her feedback highlighted the ambiguities, the open questions, the use of absurdism and surrealism, and the unpredictable nature of the setting’s reality.
The tutor also looked in detail at the surface of the piece, which was useful, but it was her exploration and analysis of the depths of Mirror, Mirror that I most appreciated. I was wondering if my creative writing was too layered and too nuanced, but if just one person ‘gets’ the piece in it’s entirety that’s good enough for me. As an added bonus, she said she’d found the story entertaining.
I really liked your ‘fluufy’ piece. If that’s your style of fluffy, you should definitely do more. I’d like something along those same lines, but a longer tale. When you get round to it, offer it up as an ebook and I’ll be one of your readers.