Week 2 Writing Exercise

I am catching up on this assignment so I have had the opportunity to use these exercises on my story in progress, “A Vessel of Value.”

I think the exercise that may have given me the most direction, or redirections as it has turned out, is There’s a Party…..57 Page 150

As I re-read the beginning of my story, and asked myself what the occasion was, it was a little unclear. There really doesn’t seem to be one. It seems to be mostly set-up and backstory. The only event I can think of is that Beth is re-plotting a plant. Later, the event turns into a visit from a handsome acquaintance that may become the climatic issue but I’m not sure yet. It’s not what I intended.

What surprises me is that it’s not the direction or the purpose I had when I started. I’m sure this is common but instead of following the story wherever it’s going, I think I may still want to explore my original idea or conflict. I really have a sense of the message I want to imply and I don’t think it centers on this relationship.

I may need to keep writing in this direction to get through to the climax and resolution that I’m looking for and then do some editing. I may just re-think my story scene and elements and see if I can come up with a scene or chain of events that don’t need as much work so I can spend more time on what I think is important to the story. Basically, I need to “Get to the point” so I can focus on the point-so to speak.

The problem I’m having is the limited length. I’m having a hard time setting up my story in a sensible order with believable events and still get my conflict and resolution worked in nicely too.
I am also surprised because I have spun off two pretty good stories from this original idea through the exercises and now that I can focus on my goal for the story, it’s becoming complicated. With the exercises, I did what was suggested, and threw my character into some situation and let the story go in whatever direction and it worked nicely. Now that I am trying to fit my story to my intent I am having difficulty.

I may continue to try and fit the square peg into the round hole with the draft I’ve started or, scrap it and start over. I could use one of my earlier stories, elaborate a bit, clean it up and call it good too. That would probably be the easiest. The story, “A Place for Peanut” is pretty much already a complete short short story but, I wrote it in about 2 ½ hours. It just went in it’s own direction and worked. I think trying to make my original point through a story in 2000 words or less seems to be more of a challenge for me. You may have noticed that I write much like I talk, a lot. Learning to condense and still be clear is a nice goal.