WRITING, CREATIVE NON-FICTION
What should a short story look like?
Reflecting on some lessons I learnt from Kurt Vonnegut.
It was late at night. I had just come home from a long day at work, to rubbish piling up around my full bin, a busy wife, and a crying baby.
I hadn’t written short stories since my carefree secondary school days, but I had to draft a short story of 5,000 words. I was already behind schedule on a fiction manuscript, but I really needed to focus on the short story first. The deadline for that one was soon approaching, and I really needed the money.
But first things first. It was time for the baby to get out of my tiny little apartment.
I strapped on the air mesh baby carrier round my waist, carried the bawling and struggling infant onto the bouncy seat, and pinned her tightly to my body. My wife was now released to feel human for a while again, to eat, bathe, and rest, well, at least for the time while I was out with our infant.
Five (or is it six?) kilos heavier, I stumbled out of the door.
Right on cue, and because her “inner GPS” informed her that she was being taken for her routine walk around the neighbourhood, my little infant fell contentedly silent. She looked happy to be taken for…
