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November 03, 2005
The Origin of Bar Fly
I really like this story because it’s one of those writing prompt stories that started with a writing prompt then sprang to life fully formed in one writing practice.
Every now and then, writing happens that way for me. A prompt or a line or an idea triggers something in the muse and suddenly we’re off and running with me typing as fast as I can to keep up.
“Bar Fly" was like that. The prompt was “Night is falling but you are not at home." Seems harmless and random enough, right? Then I had this vision of a woman sitting at a smoke-choked, noisy bar. Since she called it smoke-choked and noisy, I figured she didn’t want to be there. So the question became – why is she there? If night is falling, why isn’t she at home? (Because I would be at home.) Then I realized she was watching someone. Who? Oh, she was watching the man she loved have dinner with…Oh, he’s having dinner with his wife. Ouch and shazam that’s juicy, I thought, we’re running with that! (In some writing class somewhere, I heard that with writing you should follow a version of the old broadcasting dictum: “If it bleeds, it leads." Basically if the situation is fraught with emotion and complications, you know you’re on to something.)
And so we were off on a very productive, enjoyable writing session.
The story changed some after the original flurry of typing. For instance, the editor of Verbsap cut it quite a bit. But the story is still basically the same, and it still feels like it sprang to life fully-formed from just a simple line: “Night is falling but you are not at home."
Mysterious are the ways of the muse.
Posted by Selena at November 3, 2005 07:13 PM