Photography
In Spring 2023 one of my colleagues, Matthew, challenged me to write a flash fiction piece.
I had never written flash fiction before. I’m a novel writer. Even the short stories I write challenge me to stay within the usual 3,000-word limit. Now, flash fiction is even more limited, to 500 to 1500 words. I took the challenge just to prove to myself that I could do it.
Sometimes, when I’m out shooting photos I come across places that intrigue my curiosity, my imagination.
I wonder about these places, … about
a forest and the animals that live in it,
a house and the people that own it,
a staircase, and those who climb it up …
Then, stories plop into my brain, characters evolve, and my imagination starts to come up with stories.
Sometimes I’m smart enough to write them down.
Bob Stromberg, an author and comedian calls these incidents ‘grabs’ and he taught me to interrogate them, write them down, and see if they make it into one of my stories or books.
While we strolled through the Old Town of San Jose on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico I shot a picture of this staircase and it became one of these places, and my ‘grab’ made it into the following story – The old staircase.
Enjoy!