This weekend, I thought I’d share a simple story prompt with you, inspired by the lovely flash fiction The Last Long Night, by Lina Rather, originally published in Daily Science Fiction and later republished in Flash Fiction Online.
An accomplished musician who happens to be a student in my Flash Fiction Intensive noted the steady tempo of this story. The story’s even rhythm carries through from the first sentence to the last, and the author accomplishes this steady pace even as significant plot points shift the narrative.
In novels, one alters the pace by compression and contraction, balancing scene and summary. We also use dialogue, action, interior monologue, and other means to create an ebb and flow (for more on this, read The Art of Pacing). So it was interesting to me to hear a musician’s perspective on “The Last Long Night,” a brief narrative in which the pace remains steady throughout.
Read The Last Long Night. Then write a sci-fi flash fiction. Or, to take it further, write a sci-fi flash with a steady tempo, wherein the plot points do not alter the pacing.
Need a bit more direction? Use the first line of each paragraph of Rather’s story as a model or inspiration for the first line of each paragraph of your story. This is a kind of roadmap that can help you find your own story’s direction. Use the roadmap below only until you no longer need it, and you find the story is flowing along on its own.
Rather’s story begins, “Two months after the last broken transmission from Earth, somewhere in the unexplored dark, we found a voice.”
Begin your story by filling in the blanks:
(Length of time) after (event), somewhere in (place), we found (thing).
Paragraph 2: At first we thought it was ___.
Paragraph 3: But there was no more ___.
At this point, you may break away from the exercise and just keep writing. Or if you want a little more direction, continue using Rather’s story as a model:
Paragraph 4: A question posed by one of the characters
Paragraph 5: An unrelated line of dialogue by another character
Paragraph 6: When __ found __
Paragraph 7: Another line of dialogue
Paragraphs 8 & 9: Something mysterious and frightening occurs
Paragraph 10: Something makes the situation more difficult or impossible
Paragraph 11: Someone takes action
Paragraphs 12-15: Something disappointing happens
Paragraph 16: The next day, we found ___
Paragraph 17: Someone takes action
Then just keep going....see where it takes you!
If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy other posts in the What to Write This Week series.
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