Free Fall Writing (Read: Base Jumping Without A Parachute)

It's been a few weeks since anyone heard from me in the blogosphere. But I am not ashamed about it at all. True, I should be a little more "involved" with posting these little snippets of "wisdom" from a writer-in-progression (or regression), but I have a valid excuse.

The fact of the matter is, I have been writing ... alot! Just not in the blogosphere.

Okay, so here's the straight skinny, boys and girls, and I think it is well worth talking about whether you are a beginning writer or someone in the middle (like yours truly), or a finely-tuned, thoroughbred, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Back in early July, I was already humming along with numerous story ideas. I even started in on the story about that elephant-shaped mountain in El Paso that we all hiked up to on Independence Day weekend. But then something happened that was rather serendipidous or perhaps even synchonicious (is that a word? I'll have to look that up ... but anyway, you know what I mean). You see, there was a member of my writing critique group that seemed to be struggling with finding the muse, and I was concerned a bit about her. Also, I was looking at the time constraints I had for my own writing and wanted to find out more on how to compose flash fiction. So, one day when work at the office was blessedly mellow (which is very unusual), I left the office in the charge of the genius (read: beloved bride) and I sauntered off to the bookstore.

My intent was to find a "how to write" book for my struggling-with-writers-block friend and also something for me that would enlighten me about this flash fiction writing craze that had come about in the last few years. Flash fiction, by the way, really isn't something new. It's just a new name for something that's been around forever. Back in the old days we used to call flash fiction, short shorts ... meaning, short stories that are usually around 1000 words or less. Someone in the beginning years of the twenty-first century decided to call it flash fiction and the term caught on and took off from there. Now the flash fiction concept sort of appealed to me, having spent a great deal of time writing a couple of novels that would take anywhere from several months to several years to bring them to near completion, all to have them end up sitting in a box in my closet. Flash fiction would be something that works well with someone like me who often jokes about having ADHD (I really don't), and certainly has very little time to write (being that I have a full-time, demanding small business along with a family and a life for crying out loud).

So, anyway, I digress ... but not really. You see, I figured, why not do some really short pieces and see where things go. Writing a story with fewer than 1000 words would make for some quick pieces and might work well with my tight schedule. Sure, it would be challenging to squeeze plot, description, characterization, and purple prose all into a very tiny box, but I was up for the challenge.

So, there I was in the bookstore, and I came across this book in the writers reference section called "Take Ten". And it had all these little exercises where I was provided with a scenario for a story, or a first line for a story, or the basic premise of a plot, or a rudimentary outline for a particular character, etc., and then I was given multiple options or "twists" to plug in with these various scenarios and premises. And to add to all of that the entire book was set up like a game or a contest of sorts where once I had randomly picked one of these exercises, I was given only ten minutes to write a story based on what had been picked.

This intrigued the creative side of my brain, but threatened the logical side (read: the critic). The creative side said, "Cool, this could lead to all sorts of neat little story ideas and would force me to do these stories quickly because I was racing against the clock." But the logical side of my brain said, "Uh, what are you talking about? Ten minutes to put something together without any thought put into it. You're out of your mind. Writing a good story takes planning and careful meditation on the story background, the characterization, the subtle weaving of simile and metaphor. Forget about it!"

But for the first time in a very long time, the creative side of my brain rebelled and cast off the chains which the logical side of my brain had shackled it with, and I bought the book. I was going to try it, by God, and the logical said of my brain be damned.

So, I went home that night and started looking through the book. I picked out one of the exercises that looked to me, at first, like it might fit with my genre of science fiction. It was one of these premises about writing a story about time standing still and everything and everyone freezing in place like they had, well, been turned to ice. I thought, excellent! Let's do it! This is right up my alley!

I set up the alarm clock, turned on the computer, picked my excercise ... and jumped.

It was like running off the edge of a cliff and plummeting thousands feet. Logically, I knew what this was about, this feeling I was feeling. Writing is best done when the creative side is allowed to free fall without a parachute ... but not to a certain death. Quite the contrary! That base jump into complete unknown creativity was the most life giving and exhilarating experience a writer can have. It was a rush. And when my alarm clock went off, I was amazed at what I had come up with in less than a thousand words. It was a very interesting story that, surprisingly, had nothing to do with science fiction or fantasy. Instead, it was a mainstream flash fiction piece about a surprising revelation uncovered amongst the relationship of long-time friends. It actually came out better than I could have expected. I even eventually presented it to my writing critique group, and they really liked it (and they weren't just saying that to make me feel good, either, as they are actually my harshest critics).

After that little experience, I did several more of these exercises. In fact, within the course of two weeks, I had written ten very interesting and very coherent pieces (at least I think so). Not all of them turned out to be flash fiction pieces, but the process of base jumping, of free fall writing, sent me into creative overdrive that has barely slowed since mid-July and I am currently at 18 new stories within a matter of just a few weeks all without causing dreadful harm to my business or my family life. In fact, the genius is actually quite content because it gives her time now to do what she likes .... painting.

As for my fellow critique group writer who is having writer's block. I have a little book for her and I am not so sure I am going to wait until Christmas to give it to her, either.