A short story has the ability to provoke a magnitude of insights and emotions, at times more so than a full-fledged novel. In addition to this, as their name suggests, they are short. That's right, the longest of short stories may clock in at an unimaginable ten pages. What's not to love about them? Such power can be compacted in such a brief story. Immediately after hearing that we would be writing one for English class, I was excited. I couldn't wait to tackle this important yet easier challenge. I thought it would be like a delightful spring-time jog through a park: brief, wonderful, and still a decent workout. I could not have been farther than the truth.
Right from the get go, I was stuck. Our preliminary job was simple: to create a setting, or a world in which our story will exist. My problem wasn't that I had trouble creating this setting. No, making this scenario was easy. I had seen plenty of movies, read many books, and studied many aspects of this world in my sixteen years of living. I believe that I understood the themes of our world to a passable degree, or enough so to formulate possible insightful settings. Instead, my issue was that my creative brain was working against me. I was unable to choose a foundation for my story that I was completely satisfied with. For two hours, I sat in front of a blank computer screen as the ideas appeared and disappeared in front of my eyes. There was too much opportunity, if that makes any sense at all.
Once I had decided on my setting, which happened to include a homeless person in New York City, things lightened up. Next we were given the task of actually writing the story itself. This included character development and the creation of the actual plot. This creation was where I found the most enjoyment. This part of the story writing process is where the imagination thrives. This entire world that you can create simply by a few strokes of the keyboard, it's surely something. Your own vision is created, and that liberty is lacking in much of our lives. And so, I crafted my story with two things in mind. Opportunities of further insights, and the whole "Form Is Content" shin-dig that we have been butting our heads with throughout the entire year. As the plot extended, I learned more about my own story than I had previously imagined. I was satisfied.
The next few steps were the grind. From then on, it was a battle of constant revision. The purpose of these revisions were to clarify, structurally stabilize, and to provide a greater emotional depth. That last part was the most difficult. It was stressed that we should add a continuous pressure on our characters to further emotional depth and to provoke a change in our characters. I divined that the pressure should not be blatant and obvious, but rather subtle and lingering. However, I struggled. I could not find a suitable way to dump all this pressure on my character without feeling like it was a bit too much. Many revisions were made in my story in which I deleted numerous parts where the pressure was too obvious and too forced. It was difficult for me to find that healthy balance, but I eventually achieved what I was aiming for.
As a result of this process, I something quite interesting. If you are aiming for the top tier, aiming to create something worth recognition, any creative piece requires intense thought, a surprising amount of depth, and at times meticulous correction. Even with the amount of time that I invested into my short story. I believe that there are even more opportunities for my story to be polished and perfected. I just haven't found them yet. However, watching something you created grow and develop into something worth showing is truly a satisfying feeling. A short story is no jog in the park, but instead, it is a marathon. The whole twenty-six miles and then some.
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