In the first stage, I mentioned that a poem was effectively a descriptive piece of writing or in other words a story.
I also suggested that a simple poem of no more than three stanzas (verses) would be enough to give us the beginning, middle and end for a short story idea.
Those first three stanzas took less than 10 minutes to write. They gave a simple beginning, middle and end.
Instead of using something so raw, I thought we’d investigate the idea of adding a bit more meat to the bones; a little more information, in rhyme. The original three stanzas will be in a darker colour to make them stand out. I will only add three more stanzas.
‘A Fighter Pilot’s Day’
Klaxon’s two-tone screams
pierced the morning air
Eager ground-crew teams
aircraft to prepare
.
Jack took off in his plane
a fighter in the air
He’d be shot at once again
at fear again he’d stare
.
A German ‘ace’ called Schmidt
espied the lead Spitfire
His weapons button hit
sent rapid streaming fire
.
The dog-fight was Jack’s worst
his craft was torn apart
Damaged by a burst
of bullets at the start
.
Jack’s plane dived towards the land
and o’er the coastal town
This end he hadn’t planned
as he glanced around
.
Landing would be hard
to miss the town he’d try
A field was Jack’s last card
he accepted he might die
…
I believe that’s the basis of our experimental short story. Using this method, I would allow two days to write a short story and retain the working title used here. In my next stage, I’ll make a short list of the ingredients I’d consider, combined with the information supplied in the poem.
Please bear in mind that the poem has only taken about 20 minutes to put together. A lot of writers might spend much longer just toying with their first line of a story.
If anybody out there thinks they could produce a short story between 1000 – 1500 words based on this poem, please have a go, and we’ll give them an airing.
Thank you for reading, and as always, all comments are welcome and will be answered.
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