So, as some of you might’ve already noticed from my post earlier this week, I participated in the first round of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge 2015. I considered not writing about my experience since I already shared my story with you, but what the heck. I’ll go ahead and tell you all about it.
First, as a quick reminder, the NYCM Flash Fiction Challenge is a writing contest where writers are given three prompts (genre, location, and object), and then 48-hours to write a 1,000 word story–AHH!
The whirlwind weekend kicked off last Friday night. At 10 p.m. (MST), I opened my email and looked at my assignment:
My first thoughts when I saw these prompts?
Action Adventure:
An underwater cave:
A dumbbell:
Yeah, I literally laughed out loud when I saw “dumbbell” as the object I had to use in my story. I mean…really? Seriously? Ugh.
I decided to ignore that lovely problem for the time being, and started the challenge off like I always do: a brainstorm session with my mom (my go-to supporter/editor/counselor during these contests). For about an hour, we bounced ideas off of each other. All I could think about was sunken pirate ships and buried treasures…which had to mean my competitors were thinking about them too. So, I dug deeper and forced myself to think outside the box.
Finally, I came up with a concept I loved.
Once I began writing on Saturday morning, the words tumbled out of me with little effort. I wrote and wrote and wrote, eager to get a first draft done so I could share it with my mom and start to refine it.
Unfortunately, after about eight hours of work, I realized there was a big problem with my action-adventure: There was no action.
I decided to finish the first draft anyway and go over to my mom’s house so she could read it and give me feedback. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought? Maybe I just needed to make some slight adjustments to salvage it? Maybe there was still hope?
My mom finished reading and sat back in her chair. “Well, it’s fine. It’s…fine.”
I almost screamed. It wasn’t fine. It was an absolute disaster!
I forced myself to take a deep breath and troubleshoot the story’s main problem. “I know there isn’t enough action in it, but I don’t know how to add more while maintaining the characters and plot. I can’t just leap into things without explaining…” I trailed off as a horrible realization struck me:
This story wasn’t going to work.
I had to find a new idea.
I had to start over.
After I breathed through a bout of panic, I told my mom, “I think I need to scrap this and come up with something else.”
She agreed a little too enthusiastically. “Oh?” She shoved aside her laptop with my old story on it. “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know.” I buried my face in my hands and closed my eyes. I felt so lost and frustrated. I had known action-adventure would be tough, but not this tough.
Suddenly, a train flashed through my mind.
I looked at my mom. “I think I want to write about a train crash.”
“Er…”
“Inside an underwater cave.”
“Uh…Oookay.“
Despite my mom’s uncertainty, I felt confident. The concept was so absurd, I knew it could work. I mean, most action films are absurd, right? So crashing a train in an underwater cave seemed totally feasible. Actually, it seemed awesome.
I went home, rolled up my sleeves, and got back to work.
By noon on Sunday, I had a decent first draft. I called my mom and she came over to help me edit it. As she read through the story for the first time, I felt sick to my stomach. If she didn’t like my train wreck concept, then the entire weekend would be, well, a train wreck.
Thankfully, she loved it.
Hallelujah!
I spent the rest of the day fine-tuning my plot and characters, chopping my word count down from 1,500 to 1,000, and figuring out how to use that ridiculous dumbbell prompt (if you want to know how I decided to use the dumbbell, you’ll have to read the story 😉 ). I also spent a good amount of time acting out the train crash to ensure I got the physics right…Yeah, I’m sure my mom wished she’d a camera to record that epic performance.
By late afternoon, I had a decent enough draft to send to my beta readers. Once I fixed the problems they pointed out, chopped out a few more words, and gave the story a title (“La Jolla“) I submitted it.
Then I promptly collapsed from exhaustion.
It was, as always, a crazy 48-hours, but I ended up with a story I’m proud of. Yes, it’s ridiculous. Yes, there are some logical flaws in the plot. And, yes, the dumbbell is a bit, well, dumb. But whatever. I had fun writing it, and I hope people have fun reading it.
If you’d like to check out “La Jolla,” go ahead and click here!
Congrats to all those who participated and submitted a story for NYCM’s Flash Fiction Challenge 2015! It’s not an easy challenge, so everyone deserves a giant pat on the back.
Jen's Pen Den 
I’m impressed that you were able to do so well, especially after you’d already spent time on a different story. Once I start writing for these things, I’m pretty much married to my idea 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! It was a bit of a disaster, but I ended up having fun with it. 🙂
I used to be that way (refuse to abandon an idea), but I’ve learned to listen to my instincts. If a story isn’t working, then I need to be willing to let go of it and move on…It stinks, haha.
LikeLike
It’s great to have that support from your family too – it really helps x
LikeLike
It makes all the difference 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jen,
Always love your writing, but this post had me rolling around laughing. I have many similar images flying through my head. I also had the same approach right up to Saturday evening. I really should have “dug a little deeper”. You inspire me to dig a little deeper next time around. I am lucky that \I too have a supportive mother!.
LikeLike
Thank you! Always happy to entertain :-p
It’s so tough to dig deep when the clock is ticking. It’s easier to go with our initial instinct, and then stick with it (even if it isn’t working).
Thank God for mothers, lol. I don’t know how I’d get through an NYCM comp without mine! Happy to hear you have that support system as well.
LikeLike