A couple of weeks ago I opened up the hard-backed notebook I use for long-hand first drafts of stories. In it, I found a piece of flash fiction that I didn’t remember writing - all complete and ready for editing. Also, a semi-finished drabble.
Admittedly, the cover of the notebook was covered in an unidentifiable and incredibly sticky substance, so it’s possible this was the work of some ectoplasm-exuding creature from the pit rather than a more benign Elves-and-Shoemaker situation. But really? A story’s a story. I’ll take what I can get.
I polished up the flash, dispatched it off to a highly-respected journal and… it got rejected, which somewhat spoils the fairy-tale narrative angle. I’ve also left the notebook prominently on the table at night since, with pencils, sometimes next to small piles of sweets or fruit, but the Ecto-Elves have not returned.
In all honesty, the story was in my handwriting. And, after reading it, I did have vague memories of having started it some weeks earlier*. But the experience of finding an unexpectedly-complete piece of writing is surprisingly joyful and I would like it to happen more often. I am, fortunately, catastrophically forgetful so this is easier to engineer than it otherwise might be.
The other element necessary for success - in this specific regard - seems to be writing a lot. I still need to work on that one. However, I suspect that a podcast I listened to recently might be quite helpful.
Thus far the podcast - The Writer’s Mind - has only one episode, but I’m hoping for more. In it, Sean Levin (of Writing Maps fame) talks through writing tips, techniques and prompts. Most critically, the podcast includes several five- or ten-minute silences for the listener to scribble out as many words as they can. These do not - or in my case did not! - end up as complete stories. But they are there as sections of description, ideas, and avenues-to-pursue for future-me to stumble upon.
There is an argument that I could just set aside a ten-minute slot each day to scribble furiously without Sean whispering into my headphones. I may also try that! Somehow, I find it easier to follow an instruction to do something that I do to issue it myself. If anyone has any similar tricks for causing writing to happen, I’d love to hear them. As it is, I shall be trying to litter my notebook with gobbets of words, like laying down wine for the future.
And if some of those pieces grow unexpectedly into finished works? Even better.
* I never did work out what the weirdly sticky stuff on the book cover was, though. I cleaned it off and hoped for the best.