Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
Wish I’d been braver. I knock.
Nineteen.
Kim opens her door.
Eighteen.
“Pete? Are you crying?”
Seventeen.
“I’ve always loved you.”
Sixteen.
“I love you, too.”
Fifteen.
Now she’s crying.
Fourteen.
Wish we had longer.
Thirteen.
I raise my phone: “Seen the news?”
Twelve.
“Can’t cope with it.”
Eleven.
She doesn’t know!
Ten.
“It’s started.”
Nine.
Her eyes go wide.
Eight.
“Really?”
Seven.
I nod.
Six.
“You came here?”
Five.
I nod.
Four.
“Why?”
Three.
“To see you.”
Two.
“Kiss me.”
One.
Her hands on my face.
Zero.
Our lips –
Simple and superb.
Wow! So much told in so few words.
Thank you!
I agree with Hari and RJ. This type of writing is actually what first got me interested in flash fiction, that and having little time and energy to write longer pieces, but the writing was certainly the ‘pull’ factor.
Thank you.
Start writing longer pieces. Do it jigsaw style: some of my books come from pieces jotted down over a decade or so. I also have stories that have been in progress for the last 30 years.
I never thought of doing it jigsaw style! Do you usually plan it first or do you just write stuff and try to piece things together later on?
I never plan stories. Eight out of ten I never even see coming: the storymaking engine in my head borrows my fingers for a while and all I have to do afterwards is tidy up the prose that fell onto the page.
My personal belief is that you never write the wrong thing for a story. You’re just writing something for a different story that your mind needed to get out of the way. Which is why, after 40 books, I still have two dozen folders stuffed with wonderful and occasionally baffling fragments – some being scans of scribbled notes from 35 years ago!
Just write. Never stop. Have fun.
Wow, and I thought Romeo and Juliet had a short love life. This one is infinitesimal. But just long enough to make an impact. Great story.
Thank you!
Love this. A brave style Jae and for me it works brilliantly. Short sharp and packed with emotion.
Thank you, Hari.
Can’t really call it ‘brave’. As mentioned before, it just fell out of the storymaking engine in my head onto the page. All I did was tidy it up a bit.