Some notes on this week’s post

This week, I decided to do something a bit different.  Some months ago, I posted an update saying that I wanted to start using this space to exercise my writer muscles in different ways than I have been.  Since then, I’ve only posted chapters of the main project I have going, but yesterday, I was struck with an idea.

I mentioned short stories being one of the styles of writing that I wanted to give a shot, so when the opening lines of the piece I have for you this week popped into my head, I set to it, just to see where it goes.

I wish to make it clear that this is not exactly a finished product.  It’s not definitely an intrinsic piece of the fictional world you’ve been exploring with me of late, but you’ll note it’s very easily compatible.  It has nothing to do with Kari and Tomas’ quest, and even if it is in the world of To Save What’s Lost, it doesn’t necessarily happen at the same time as our friends are journeying south.

Now, let me tell you what it is.   It’s a first foray into testing the notion that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” an effort to see just how long a thousand words is and what can be conveyed by a piece of this length.  I feel it does have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but there’s also a great deal more I could do (or have done) with it.  You’ll note it’s written in a different person and tense than the body of TSWL, which was another aspect of the experimental nature of this piece.  I generally cringe at present-tense fiction, but about a third of the way in, when I looked over what I’d written and back at the picture I was drawing from, I saw the picture in present tense, not past.  As I went deeper, I found it fit nicely with the perspective of the bodyguard, a person who is at her best when she’s in the moment at hand.

For a first try, I’d say I’m rather proud of where I landed.  It remains kind of a snapshot more than a proper story, but at the same time, I could’ve gone on.  Regardless, I enjoyed doing this, and if y’all find you enjoy reading it, let me know and I’ll see about making this a more regular thing.