Make Time: January Short Story Challenge

[Kyle]

I'd like to do a group project where we each write a short story that focuses on time. It can be about time travel, the superpower to manipulate time, the effects of the passage of time, how to cook with the most misunderstood spice-- whatever you want as long as one of the themes of the story is time. There's really no rules to how you want to interpret the theme.

Your story can be as long or short as you want. If you want to crank out a novel, that's fine as long as you start and finish it in the month of January. If you want to spend a few minutes to jot down a witty haiku, that's fine also. You want to write a five word super short story? Also acceptable. If you want to write multiple pieces in different forms- poetry, short story and visual art. Also fine. As much or as little as you want.

Here's the only rules:

1- Start the work after December 31 and finish it before February 1.

2- The work(s) must have time as a prevalent theme.

3- Do not reveal or post your work until we're ready to compile everyone's work after February 1.

This was inspired by Mike's story prompt a few months ago- so thanks to him for the good idea. So who's in?

[Mike]

Yup.

[Mike]

Is anyone else doing this? I have so many words written, but they are so disjointed yet.

[Tahlvin]

Would love to but don't have the time.

[Eliahad]

Is anyone else doing this? I have so many words written, but they are so disjointed yet.

Maybe! I'm thinking my creative project might be trying to write more music, though. *tears*

[Kyle]

I have it outlined and plotted. I was going to start this week, but have been unfairly waylaid by illness. So I'm definitely going to start, and hopefully finish at least a rough draft this month.

[Kyle]

I might make this a January-February challenge. My pneumonia has laid me up and now I've lost over a third of the month and haven't written anything- and I'm behind on work so can't write anything right now.

[Mike]

Solid plan.

[poorpete]

I had a free evening so wrote up an idea that's by laying about my brain for a while. I might have time to shape it into a story with like classic storytelling techniques, but if I don't have time, I'll still share the rough story-as-it-comes-to-me layout it's at now.

[Kyle]

I haven't abandoned this, but we do need to make it a two month challenge.

[Phoebe]

If you make it all the way to March or June I will join you! Dangers. But I do have this book idea that keeps spinning around in my mind, and the problem is it's just certain scenes and concepts and I don't know how to translate it into a full story with plot and resolution. I should mention that time and its passage, the question of whether it has power to heal or not, and its significance at different times of life is one of the key themes here but it's hard to express that at the moment.

The basic gist is that a younger mom and older guy live next door to each other. He is suffering from grief and she is suffering from trying to maintain her career as a painter while raising two young boys after a recent and still traumatizing divorce. He's a very straight laced and traditional guy who does not want to seek outside help for his problems, but he has developed agoraphobia in the wake of his long time spouse's death. The new young woman who just moved in next door with her boys is loud and disruptive in a way he doesn't approve of in a neighbor, but initially he develops a bond with her boys, who are losing that relationship with their grandparents now that they've moved out of state. Mom is doing her best but also drinking more than she should to cope, and she stuck in a stagnant place where she can only make money selling art she doesn't feel like doing anymore, and the new direction isn't working.

By the end of the book these two adults have developed a platonic relationship that is genuinely loving but nothing weird or romantic about it. Most importantly, they find the unexpected source of support they need to get through these problems in their lives.

I keep toying with different ideas about conflict and resolution that will show the significance of their relationship, and make comment on the type of friendship that is important for happiness, while also showing how each character has gotten past the thing that is blocking them for moving forward in life happily. I'm trying to come up with some type of conflict that arises about 2/3 of the way through weaving together strands of conflict that interact, but I don't like any of the current ideas and don't know how to resolve them properly. I'm trying for a structure where conflict builds up seemingly naturally through the progression of events in mom and older dude and boys' lives, and then it's one of those deals where all the conflicts come to a head around the same time and interact with one another. Tricky.