Master Class: Tuesday
7 09 2010In less that one hundred words, write a complete story in the present tense. Your story should have one or more characters, a problem and a resolution.
Red Space Rocket
Mr O'Meara @ Western Heights College
In less that one hundred words, write a complete story in the present tense. Your story should have one or more characters, a problem and a resolution.
Goes a bit over, but that was necessary for the integrity of the scene
With a feeling of trepidation, Franco pushes the door. Before him is a small room, with nothing other than a small coffee table, that appears to be antique, and a bright kerosine lamp that scarcely shrouds the room with light. He takes four short steps into the room to survey the table. As he reaches down, a creaking sound resonates around the room, creating an air of foreboding. He’s trapped. In a frantic search for an exit, he sees it. Attached to the bottom of the coffee table is a polemic, just what he needs to destroy Churchin’s campaign. “But how do I get out?” he asks his lonely ears.
It’s a good piece and works well in the present tense. I do have to ask, what is a polimic? Is it like a McGuffin?
I was trying to type something in and I tried to correct it using spell check and it came up with a word called polemic. Which I realise I have spelled incorrectly! A polemic is a strong written or verbal attack on someone or something. So it probably isn’t used right in my piece.
Actually, it works reasonably well now that I know which word it is. In most cases, a polemic is a text designed to persuade people of a particular point. For instance, a novel might have story to enjoy, but its main point could be as a polemic: to convince people of a particular point.
So in this sense, it seems a little unlikely that a polemic would fit on the bottom of a coffee cup. But you never know. It might be especially punchy. I am more than happy to give you, the author, the benefit of the doubt.
I have the excuse of saying that my piece is clearly an excerpt of something. Which gives me a lot of leeway with this particular task.
I’m glad to hear that it works.
Actually, I took is that this was a complete story, as asked for in the task. A slightly mysterious story, but then you’ll get that in only one-hundred words.
Well, my philosophy is that a story never ends. There is always more to add to it, more ways to build on it.
And that’s a fine philosophy, but we do need to tailor our efforts to the size canvas that we have to work on. Just as there is action outside the framing of a photo, there is story outside what we choose to tell.
Which bit we choose to tell, and how we tell it in the space available, are decisions and, when we are serious about our writing, decisions to be treated seriously.
I do like your story, and it alludes to a larger story, but I do think that even a short piece like this is strong enough to stand entirely on its own.
I entirely agree with you on all of that.
My intention was to make it capture people’s interest in a larger story.
I can recall thinking, whilst at primary school, that a one hundred word story was massive. Now I find it too small to write anything vaguely interesting.
I really struggle with such a small canvas, too. Still, it’s good practice to be this careful with each word.