Journey’s End
by Amber Averay
Check out Amber’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheEnchantmentSeries
When Jeanelle of Scribble City asked if I would be interested in taking part in the Spooktober 2022 challenge, I was excited to give it a try, and nervous because I am notoriously long-winded and struggle with short stories. Combine that with an offering each day of the month, and I began wondering what I’d gotten myself into.
Ok, I can do this. Easy. One story per day. It’s only a month. Only a month…
Well, the first couple of days were amazing. I turned out stories I was proud of, and they were relatively short – short for me, anyway. But as the next few days rolled around my submissions gradually grew longer, and while still proud of the stories I was creating I worried that they were steadily growing.
Flash fiction, Jeanelle reminded me, it’s called FLASH fiction for a reason. Remember that.
So I nodded and kept mentally repeating to myself, Flash. Short. Small. Neat. Creepy or with a twist for Hallowe’en month. Got it.
But of course, my saying keep them short, sharp, and shiny is different to actually ensuring they were so. Even with Jeanelle patiently (and frequently) reminding me, and reminding me, and reminding again, each offering started doubling and tripling in length. And while I was still pleased with the majority of the stories and how they turned out, I began to really fret about the length. Too long, cut parts out! But I can’t, or the purpose of the tale is gone. Maybe I can rewrite it, condense it…but then it’s rushed and silly. I am fooling myself. I can’t do SHORT. Not flash short. I’m too long-winded. I’m struggling…
Of course, Jeanelle assured me that I was doing fine, I could do it, she knew I could, and that the whole point of Scribble City is to Write Now, and Write Often. Just take an idea, and get it down.
One of the later submissions took me a while to complete. I messaged her, Finally finished! She replied, I’m sure only half-joking, How many pages is it? 20, or 30? With prim dignity I replied, Just over 2, actually.
Amber, I know you know this, but FLASH fiction. FLASH. You’re doing so well, but please remember the concept of FLASH lol
With a plaintive wail I replied pathetically, But this IS flash fiction for me! I am accustomed to churning out books with 500-600 pages, so a 2 page offering is snappy and short and flashy and please don’t make me cut anything out because I’ll stare at it for a couple of hours, remove ONE word, and then send it back.
She accepted that this was my final submission for that particular day – perhaps because she was sick of my complaining or just didn’t want to hear that I’d been reduced to frantic desperation and descended into deep self-doubt!
However, all jokes and self-deprecation aside, I am so grateful to Jeanelle and Scribble City for the Challenge of Spooktober, the encouragement and support to keep going, and the absolute blast I’ve had trying to write short stories and sharing them with her, and all of you. I’ve proven to myself that I can (almost) write flash fiction, and that doing this with my greatest friend and younger sister was so much fun. Thank you to all who took the time to read our stories, and hopefully enjoyed them.
Happy Hallowe’en!
See you for Spooktober 2023, and keep your eyes open for posts and stories before then…
P.S.
Journey’s End was written in good humour, and I hope you read it that way! Jeanelle is the most supportive, encouraging and positive person in the world – and while I DO complain a lot, she never loses that cheerful, assured confidence in me and my ability to write. Without her, I’d not have had the courage to tackle Spooktober! 🙂
Scribble City: Write Now 