Before Angus stood the most effervescent woman he’d ever seen. Without a word she burst into his kitchen and grabbed a clean plate, scraped up half of his ravoli and sat at his table.
“Come, sit,” she said, smiling.
Two constables met Angus at the door.
“Good evening. Are we interrupting?” asked the first officer.
Two nights later the group downstairs gathered again. Angus was watching the news while his ravioli cooked.
“The Benevolence laws have successfully harmonized society by attacking underground terrorism, fundamentalism and corruption. Now, federal lawmakers mandate that all citizens join a government sanctioned charity.”
There was a knock at his door.
Shouts came from below. “Police! Freeze!”
I’ve learned something about myself. The past week I’ve been so focused on finishing my latest Rembrandt Parable that I’ve neglected my blog. When it comes to writing, I’m not very good at multitasking. The only thing I’ve posted are the chapters of my micro-novel, which I’ve already written. That, and how difficult is it to throw up a 55 word chapter? It’s an ongoing experiment, but I’ve noticed that it’s attracted very little attention. I’ll have to see how it goes.
Having written that, I’ve finished my story, read it for an audience Sunday night and now I’m back to status quo. I think the story went over well, so I’m energized to work on the tenth story in the series. After I’m finished number ten I’m going to work on a novel that I wrote a year ago. It’s been fermenting in my computer ever since. I think it’s time to bring it out and see if it’s worth pursuing.
On a completely different subject, the other day when I was surfing the web I read about Abby Sunderland, a 16 year old girl from California who is attempting to sail solo around the world. I’ve been tracking her progress on her website, www.abbysunderland.com. I’m completely impressed with this young lady. After reading about her, I tried to remember what I was doing at sixteen. I certainly wasn’t so focused and determined. I suspect sailing around the world is far more of a mental discipline that a physical one. That isn’t to suggest she won’t be challenged physically. It’s just that there is a mental discipline required to attempt such a feat. I’ll be monitoring her progress over the next few months with keen interest. I hope she succeeds.
It must be Tuesday, Angus thought. He suddenly remembered his appointment. He logged onto his Wii to play ‘Call of Duty’ with his online friends. His only friends.
At midnight he logged off. He noticed a letter on his table from the Benevolence Department of Canada. A new law passed. It was time to join.
Angus retrieved his lone phone message.
“Hi. It’s mom. Call me sometime. For once. Maybe you can come for dinner. Bye.”
He rolled his eyes and turned on the TV. The news was on. “The Benevolence laws continue to cause dissent among fundamentalists…”
He dined on canned ravioli. Below him Angus heard a group gathering.
At five-thirty at night the entire city was shrouded in wintery blackness. Angus Free switched on the light of his apartment, the attic of an old house on Maplewood avenue.
Even in his work clothes he looked like the cross between an ostrich and a sheltie, tall and lanky with large eyes and wild hair.
I haven’t posted anything this past week because I’ve been preoccupied by a thought experiment. A couple of years ago I came across a book entitled “55 Fiction”. Until then I was completely unaware of the phenomenon. 55 fiction, othewise known as flash fiction, is a literary form where an entire story is told in 55 words or less. The book explained a few of the finer points of the form along with many examples. I was quite impressed with the precision required. It takes a clever author to do it well.
Earlier this month I found myself wondering if it was possible to write a novel where each chapter was 55 words long. The novel would allow for a more complex story, but with the precision of flash fiction. The benefit of writing a novel in such a form is that it allows a reader to engage with a novel in short pieces. It’s reminiscent of the cell phone novels that are presently so popular in Japan.
I wondered if I could write an episodic novel of 55 fiction, with a new episode posted each week for 52 weeks. The only problem is that we’re now entering the third week of the year. Once I decided to plunge into this experiment I began plotting and writing my novel.
The next post with be the first chapter of my literary experiment, “Benevolence”. I’ll add the second chapter a couple of days later until I’m back on track.
I hope people find it engaging. I covet feedback as well. It’s an experiment, so I’m curious to know how others will respond.
Enjoy!
I believe and artist shouldn’t be measured merely by public recognition and accolade. If success were thus defined then the painter Vincent Van Gogh and writer Franz Kafka would be abject failures. But history does not view them as such.
An artist is a success because they create. There’s an inherent risk to creating art. A creation may not become what the artist hoped to create. It may receive negative criticism. Those results, however, don’t make the work of art a failure. Every act of creation is a learning experience. We grow when we create something new. We grow when we persevere with our art. Everything of great value comes through perseverance. If the creation of art were easy it would become common and meaningless.
Considering negative criticism, it’s easy in comparison to creation. There is little risk to criticism. It offers nothing to the world. Criticism leaves nothing edifying behind.
Art is valuable simply because it is.
It recently occurred to me that one of the reasons people live such dull lives is that they are too busy watching other people on TV have interesting ones.
Amuse by definition means “not think”. Since there is a incessant growth in amusements, there are a whole lot of people not thinking.
The blue Conway Stewart 100 isn’t available for trade. It’s just part of the display.
