(This is a mirror site of my webpage karenjcarlisle.com)

Saturday, June 1, 2013

A (Self Imposed) Writing Challenge...

I am supposed to be working on another short story at the moment and have finished most of the research for it but... while all of that information is perculating through my brain and I have a rough idea of the plot basics, I am finding it hard to actually write the prose for it, just now. 

Recently on one of the FB pages I follow, this photo was posted: 


It had a caption: What's the story behind this? 

I took this as a challenge... 
I would write 2000-ish words based on this picture and endeavour to finish the story in two days - no matter what! This was an exercise in trying to work around writers' block and finishing to a deadline. 

I just needed to check some dates and information of the penny farthing (which was actually known as the 'ordinary' bicycle when it was popular). The name penny farthing only really came into fashion after this time. 

I decided to use this exercise to try to stick to a different style of writing, making this a story not involving supernatural creatures or gaslight/lamp or steampunk themes. I had to rewrite several paragraphs, as I kept slipping in gaslamp creatures and then having to remove them.

While The Wager not my favourite short story, I am happy that I achieved the writing exercise as I had prescribed it. It was completed in two days and totaling 2060 words. I would have loved to have used another 1000 to 1500 words and delved more into the Uncle and Miss Elizabeth Symes, and given a more steampunk slant.. sigh...

It is good to try different styles of writing every now and then. 



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