Last week, a little piece of flash fiction about chips that I wrote saw the light of day.
The story came about after reading George Saunders’ A Swim in the Pond in the Rain. If you haven’t read it yet, put it on your list and skip it up to the top. I won’t get into the book itself (there’s so much there to get into!), but he has a number of exercises for writers in the appendices, one of which involves writing a 200 word story in one sitting, while limiting yourself to only using a max of 50 different words. It’s a fun exercise, if nothing else. Give it a try sometime.
This story of mine, about the crunchy chips, came about after encouraging a pal of mine to try the exercise out. I wrote the first draft as an example for my buddy, but it then took on a life of its own. With a little help from the Neutral Spaces workshop, I whipped it into shipshape, and the good folk at Sledgehammer Lit gave it a home. Thanks for that!
Some days, he did. Gary couldn’t get enough of the new limp chips. So tasty, so not crunchy. So not painful when he mashed them up with his soft, weak teeth. He’d lick his dry lips with his pasty pale tongue and shove another handful down the hatch, his long fingers dusted with fiery fiesta flavour flakes.
Hope you’re all staying cool this summer. It’s a hot one alright! Cheers.