Metacognition: Short Story

Oh, short stories. 

Writing in such a small scale is quite the challenge. You have to develop the characters, construct a setting, add pressure, and create a plotline in a limited amount of space. I feel like I got too wrapped up in the word limit while writing. I feel that I could've better developed the ending if given perimeters of a word limit after it was finished, but it also really helped me stay on track. I wish I had the ability to just sit down and know exactly where I'm going with my story and know every sentence and know every word. 

I really struggled with coming up with a conflict. I had all these different ideas that I couldn't bridge together in story form. I didn't want to write a sad story. I didn't want to write a shallow story. It's really hard to find a medium between the two, writing a story with depth that isn't excessively dark and twisted. 

Luckily I didn't have many problems with the creation of characters. I switched narration between drafts 2 and 3 because I needed to find a way to more smoothly transition through time gaps. To find the new voice, I actually did type out an interview with my character using the questions on the website. It surprised me how easy it was to switch into the voice of the character after knowing exactly who he was.

It was from the voice I was able to discern where I should go next with my story. I tried to think what situation he least wanted to be in, to create more and more pressure. It came slowly, finally after taking a few failed ideas and running with them, I was able to develop a final idea for my story. I wrote the last sentence first, and developed the middle of the story knowing exactly what the last sentence was going to be. However I do wish I had focused more on the middle of the story. I wanted to build a stronger connection to the characters, so the pressure placed on them seemed applicable and real and the readers sympathized more. 

Overall, I think I struggle with structure the most. I know I mentioned this in my poetry metacognition, but my thoughts when writing (and in general) are sort of sporadic. I need to focus the most on building bridges and connections, so my writing develops a strength that will manifest within the layers of the story.