Today in my writing class we had to write a Flash Fiction story between 6 and 10 words. It was based off of Ernest Hemingway's Flash Fiction story which goes, "For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." He made a bet with these other writer's that he could write a fictional story in six words. They didn't believe he could, and so they agreed to each pay him ten dollars. If he won, the revenue was his. If they won, he would match the price to each of the writers. He wrote his six-word Flash Fiction on a napkin and passed it around the table.
Ernest Hemingway became a few bucks richer that night.
The point of a Flash Fiction is to tell a story, but in an ambiguous way. It's supposed to leave you wondering, or have some sort of moral to it, but it's left to the reader to figure out.
So, I wrote mine: I want to start over, but I never even started.
One of the guys in my class laughed, and another girl said, "I like that!" My professor nodded and sort of looked confused. She's Polish; I'm not even sure she understood what I said.
I wasn't even fully sure what my Flash Fiction meant, but isn't that the point? It left me wondering, and I liked that. I also liked the fact that these words just flew out from my pen without even a thought controlling them. That, right there, is how I know I'm a writer.
I read a book by Stephen King my Junior year of high school entitled, "On Writing." He described how writing can be considered telepathic. The thought starts in your head and goes off your pen and onto the page to be communicated with whoever cares to read. I always found that interesting, and this exercise in class made me think of it. I didn't necessarily think of the Flash Fiction I wrote, it just sort of appeared, and it made its way to my paper.
What a concept.
The more I thought of what this meant and why it appeared, I thought of two situations.
1. I want to start college over, because I knew right off the bat this isn't where I was going to stay. It's sort of like getting into a relationship you know is going to end. And then it made me think of him. Ugh. He always told me how we wouldn't stay together when we went to college, but for some reason I thought I could convince him otherwise. Clearly, I was wrong. But, this lead me to my next thought.
2. I want to start over, but I never even started. It's like that longing to have someone but they don't even know you exist. You could be in love with them, and they have no idea. You wish you could start back at the beginning, but wait, there was never even a beginning at all. But this doesn't necessarily apply to me, not right now anyway. It did make me sort of wish I could start over with you-know-who, though. Except, instead of agreeing to hang out that night he asked me to, I would have started off by saying goodbye.
Maybe my Flash Fiction doesn't mean anything at all.
Aww Paige! I understand how you feel. I know I want to write, but learned that Lyndon State is not the place to cultivate and advance my skills. It's difficult. To write do we even need college? Especially for the writing you want to do. I'm not sure if earning a degree will increase your creativity, but it may help you learn how to publish a novel. Have you thought about writing workshops instead? Good luck. =)
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