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RR
29th March 2006, 02:23 PM
How to write a short story?

- Prabhu Ram


"Deliver us from clever art", he gave a dramatic pause and added "wrote Chuck Palahniuk".

He let silence rule and scrawled that on the blackboard, under 'Short Story Writing' which had been written in bigger letters.

"Gentlemen" he said dramatically, "there is no such deliverance. So you always start with a smart line. An insight..... a quip..... something sharp that catches the eye".

We had come from all over the country to listen to him that day. He was inaugurating the workshop. He was a big man with a large paunch, a scraggy beard, and bags below his eyes. His forehead seemed creased with anxieties but his eyes were bright and he had the impatient smile of a man who has a lot to say.

"Don't go on and on with your descriptions. You don't want your readers going, 'what the dickens is that' ?" , he paused and suppressed a grin. None of us caught his joke.

He must have become a little disappointed with us and he toned down his voice and said ".....don't try to capture the character in a description. Typical portraits and insights-from-first-impressions are marbles". He feigned a raspy voice when saying 'typical portraits' and 'insights". His voice became abruptly loud when he said "marbles". His whiskers moved clumsily when he changed the voice as if he was speaking out of them.

"Details irrelevant to the story add realism........says who? Don't bore the reader with details just to show you are a careful observer" he said.

"A string of conversations is NOT a story. Worse still, your bleeding thoughts outside of quotes....... that is SO not a story. And……", he walked down from across the room and continued “for God’s sake, don't EVER design a story so the reader may carry home a pithy insight......a thing-to-do….a lesson to learn. Heck ! You write a story that can be reduced to a line? Marbles!”

He looked around the class. I have no idea how we looked but he was eyes were getting more intense.

"Sex and Death........these are the only sources of poignancy. Everything is a variant, a euphemism and a manifestation of these........."

I drew in a short breath that was too narrow. ".........what about human themes like betrayal?” I thought.

".........and betrayal" he started and I jerked up in surprise “well betrayal is a little death. isn't it?”

And without waiting for the weight of the statement to sink he started gravely "and the most important of them all is irony. Make a clown out of a strong man. Show the improbable realities, the unbelievable drama that happens in every life and passes without mention.....trust me, irony is the easy part"

"....the tough part is showing the greatness of Man. His duty, his values, his ideas, his idiosyncrasies and why man towers over all beings in this world. And why some men tower over the rest"

There was a full reign of silence. I could say without looking that every eye in the room was fixed on this man, waiting for his next word.

He collected his books and was walking out, talking as he went, “..... other clichés like the last sentence twist....well, your choice" he shrugged. "....your choice.....there are no rules........no rules that you HAVE to follow.......except: keep it short. End it when they want more” he smiled and added “yeah, end it when they want more he paused, looked nowhere and repeated in a low tone, end it when they want more. All the best. "

He walked out finishing the awe inspiring lecture. Who would have guessed that in his coat pocket lay a crumpled telegram announcing that his mistress of several years had lost the battle with leukemia that morning?

***[tscii:0f2447e2f8][/tscii:0f2447e2f8]

Badri
3rd April 2006, 05:36 AM
:clap:

Aha!

The day will come when all the world would be reading Prabhu Ram and applauding, while I shall sit in the shadows and mutter, "I always knew the boy had it in him!"

What a wonderful story! How apt, how cleverly you've followed your "own" instructions!!!

There's the smart line
And just the right amount of description, and yet you painted the man by his words, his tone, his opinions
With no irrelevant details
Nor unwanted conversation
And you showed the greatness of the man, by stopping just when we wanted to understand more! But by ending where you did, you told us more of the man than mere paragraphs could've!

I live and learn, Prabhu Ram :notworthy:

btr
2nd February 2009, 11:52 PM
great! now I understand why and how.

great show and hope to read more.

madhu
3rd February 2009, 06:05 AM
Prabhu

I cant say this is your best story..

No.. certainly not..

coz..

for u this is just the first step.

I will see u in the top in writing ...someday

and I think I wont be able to tell that

u r at the top..

coz I know...the Sky is not ur limit

:clap: :clap:

pavalamani pragasam
3rd February 2009, 08:24 AM
ahem.. a grand theory..a grander exposition..a naughty undercurrent..not the only manner/style of story-writing!

P_R
3rd February 2009, 07:12 PM
Thank you btr.
Thank you madhu, you are being very kind.

btw don't be misled by Badri's comments ;-)

Thanks Mrs.PP. At the time of the attempt I tried to call it "structural comedy" i.e. without punchlines, without situations, without repartees etc. but yet with a sense of absurd inescapability and a meta-level storytelling. The latter is kind of thematically inspired by the film "Adaptation" written by the screenwriting genius Charlie Kaufman.

It is the story of someone trying to adapt a novel into a screenplay to produce something 'different' and ends of going through an 'adaptation' himself, living through cliche, breaking his own rules. That too not in a regular cliched ironic way but in a way that goes into the heart of all that is dismissed as cliche and shows it to be a 'real event/life' with its idiosyncracies and absurdities.

pavalamani pragasam
3rd February 2009, 07:16 PM
:)

directhit
3rd February 2009, 07:21 PM
wow PR :clap: :clap: :clap:

P_R
4th February 2009, 03:12 PM
wow PR :clap: :clap: :clap: :ty:

Shakthiprabha.
4th February 2009, 03:24 PM
Perfect :thumbsup:

and well taken twist in the end, which leaves us with plenty of imagination, to each his own, based on their independant creativity.

:clap:

P_R
4th February 2009, 11:02 PM
Thank You SP :-)

Wibha
5th February 2009, 05:48 AM
Excellent PR :thumbsup:

P_R
5th February 2009, 03:57 PM
Thank you Wibha :-)

Querida
26th August 2009, 01:23 AM
Hi PR,

Overall it was a good read.

I just have some thoughts to share:

1) I think it would have been effective if for once throughout the piece you mentioned that he stuck his hand in his pocket, or patted his pocket...or given some indication of the ending line...because without that little indication I felt the last line...not necessary even with its emotional weight.

2) I think that your "short story instructions" were well constructed and researched, I admire it, because I struggle with making clear, cut observations/instructions myself. Hence why I feel overwhelmed when I want to write a review of movies and why I enjoy reading yours and other hubbers' movie reviews because you can be pull out a quote or scene or minor detail and then extrapolate on its quality/message.

3) I liked your eye for detail, just as in "complications" the clumsy whiskers, the expression of the eyes, the modulation in voice are all made real and the character so much more human.

4) Lastly, I think it would have been better for the narrator not to comment on the lecture as awe-inspiring...cause that makes the reader turn a critical eye to the lecture and therefore not easily swayed by its indeed poignant content because we have been told what to think.

These are just my opinions and I hope they either help or at least amuse :) There is no question in my mind that you are a skilled and talented writer, and I hope you will continue writing and sharing your pieces with us.

P_R
26th August 2009, 12:56 PM
Dear Q, Thanks for your commends and comments.


1) I think it would have been effective if for once throughout the piece you mentioned that he stuck his hand in his pocket, or patted his pocket...or given some indication of the ending line...because without that little indication I felt the last line...not necessary even with its emotional weight.
True. I would have thought along those lines if I was indeed writing a real short story. This one is just designed to follow faithfully the prescriptions it sets out for itself as it unfolds and end up in its current form.So to say, the story's success lies in its failure. :-)


3) I liked your eye for detail, just as in "complications" the clumsy whiskers, the expression of the eyes, the modulation in voice are all made real and the character so much more human.
Ah...you incorrigible old-timer, you. :-)


4) Lastly, I think it would have been better for the narrator not to comment on the lecture as awe-inspiring...cause that makes the reader turn a critical eye to the lecture and therefore not easily swayed by its indeed poignant content because we have been told what to think.
I am so so glad you felt that way. That was precisely what I built into the design in having the narrator interject (not just this comment but in general his other comments). That the ' sources of poignance' and the attempt to show 'greatness of man' are both in the story and yet the narration doesn't let the story get there.