What to Write This Week (15)
This is part 15 of the What to Write This Week series on The Caffeinated Writer. Each week, you will find a writing assignment inspired by a published story or essay. Paid subscribers get access to every post in the series and the full archives, plus additional notes on story structure.
You know the Tolstoy line about unhappy families: “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Depending on the translation, it may be “all unhappy families” or “each unhappy family.”
The same may be said for couples. Channeling The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, and White Lotus, this week’s reading demonstrates how one couple’s specific and unique unhappiness can make for a great story.
Read Night Walks by Nadim Silverman.
Write a short story or flash fiction about an unhappy couple on vacation.
If you’d like more direction, follow these eight steps. (You will also find the editorial notes on why this story was selected for publication by Fiction Attic Press at the bottom of the post).
In the first paragraph, reveal the setting.
The couple makes a discovery.