BUT SOME wannabe writers write stories like it is.
They build up towards a punch line.
Single-mindedly.
Like, it’s the only thing that matters:
Tell a story straight to the punch line.
Well, most jokes need a punch line.
Most stories don’t.
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In fact, many stories are ruined by punch lines.
The best of modern stories open up their endings to bigger possibilities.
Punch line closes everything.
Ties, and tidies, everything, up.
But, for as long as the tidying up is earth-shaking and career-making, go ahead.
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A short story is a journey of a character from Point A to Point C, at least.
And maybe, at most, up to Point E.
Anything longer is a novella.
And a story from Point A to Point Z is, of course, a novel.
I think of flash and micro-fiction as a Point A to Point B trajectory.
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So anyway, most aspiring writers do not realize that writing from Point A to Point C does not always proceed in a straight line.
But single-mindedly, they just want to get the story out.
No art, no drama, no suspense.
Just tell it as it happens.
Tell it as it is.
From Point A to Point C.
Can you see how wrong this can be?
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A short story is not a police blotter.
A blotter is not a police story.
A police story is something else.
A police beat is not a police story.
A police story can be a great short story.
If it’s not a trite, clichéd retelling of some crime or something.
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What makes a great journey from Point A to Point C?
I don’t know—
a. Stopping to smell the flowers?
b. Counting stars at night?
c. Waiting for sunrise?
d. Groping at the cinema?
e. Finding a five-peso coin?
f. A visit to grandpa?
g. Only (a) and (c)?
h. All of the above?
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You get the point.
A short story is made richer by the details of the small letters that wannabe writers often ignore.
Handled mindfully, the small letters give you a chance to exploit the most basic plot:
Character is born (Point A, beginning), and dies (Point C, end).
Point B (middle), of course, is anything from living for a few hours, to living until 105.
The story is in the details.
And details are in the small letters from Point A to B, small letters from Point B to C.
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Can you opt to have no small letter between Point A and B?
Absolutely. Go straight A-B.
Can you use the whole small letter alphabet from Point B and C?
Absolutely, and more! Watch me:
A-B-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z-aa-bb-cc-C.
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My favorites are A-a-b-c-B-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-C, and A-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-B-a-b-c-C.
Only in insane situations are Distance AB, and Distance BC equidistant.
They are rarely successful without being boring.
And though a short story is not a joke, it doesn’t have to be boring either. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
