Writer-In-Motion Week Zero
#WriterInMotion is a month-long event where writers draft a short story based on a prompt (more on that below) and each week revise, first on their own, then with peer feedback for the second and third drafts. Lucky raffle winners have the opportunity to revise the third draft based on a professional editor's feedback, and I was fortunate enough to win one of these coveted spots.
Each week I'm going to post a revised version of my 1k flash fiction piece here on my blog, and write a little about my challenges and triumphs as I write and edit my way through this process. I'm excited about the upcoming month, and what I'll learn about flash fiction and my own writing process. Since I'm a Rebel this year, I'll also be counting my time spent writing these blogs and the time writing the story toward my #NaNoWriMo counts, along with my revision of my newest project #GreenDeath. Be sure to subscribe for each week's story updates!
The Prompt
My Initial Thoughts
As a science fiction & fantasy writer, my first instinct when I saw this picture was apocalyptic. A woman trapped on a roof trying to flag someone down before she's consumed by whatever is destroying society, and humanity along with it.
While this felt too tropey the more I considered it, in order to blog my entire writing experience for #WiM, I recorded my thought process leading up to the point where I flipped the idea.
First thoughts (From 10,600 meters in the air):
Please see me
Don't leave me
Apocalyptic
Flagging down rescue chopper
Alone
Desperate
Rooftop
Trapped
Now, how can I flip the apocalyptic trope? No virus/zombies/aliens but something which leaves her alone and trapped in a building. Has to happen fast. Or has she been alone and trapped for days? Maybe play off of triffids? Look up carnivorous plants. How do they come to life? Space radiation? Human engineering? Gene splicing?
What was she doing before the apocalypse?
How did she escape the fate of everyone else? (death) Was she in a specific area that was locked, like a bathroom? Or in an office and she decided to hide instead of evacuate?
At this point, I decided to put my notes away and let my subconscious work on the tropey issue, because brainstorming wasn't getting me anywhere. Every avenue I explored all led me further down the tropey rabbit hole. I slept on it and my subconscious figured it out, because when I sat down to write this post, and I studied the prompt picture, a new idea took shape.
It's shifted from apocalyptic to post-apocalyptic, and I'm not sure I'm even going to specify the cause of the apocalypse in the flash piece, but the idea has formed and I'm ready to start writing!
I can't wait to share it with you.
Schedule
About C.M. Fick
C.M. Fick is a writer from British Colombia, Canada. She's recently finished her 6th ms titled #GreenDeath, launched QueryConnection (a forum for querying writers to workshop their query letters), and is also a co-host and admin for the Twitter event #Write4Life.
When she's not writing, managing forum business, or networking with other writers, she's running around after a 5 year old who rules her life.
This is her first Writer-In-Motion.
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