Two Weeks Before
I’m going to enter that short story competition even if I’ve never written anything before, and I’m going to win.
And after I’ve won I’m going to see my story anthologised, and once it’s been anthologised I’m going to be asked for more, stories that is, which will be published in Granta, The Paris Review and The New Yorker, and once they’ve been published they are going to be collected in a book, which will be received with praise that will be printed on the back of the paperback (of course there’ll be a paperback), praise using words like ‘assured’, ‘groundbreaking’, ‘breathtaking’, and ‘minor masterpiece’.
And once I’ve won an award or two, I’ll go away and write a novel funded by something like MacArthur or Guggenheim, a novel which will not only please the critics but the general public as well, leading me to being named the ‘voice of a generation’, and I will win more awards just as my subsequent novels will too.
I’ll be the most admired, imitated, influential and respected novelist of my generation, my immortality secured by a magnum opus of breathtaking scope and ambition, a flawed masterpiece that will live forever.
It can’t be too hard. I’ve read The Oxford Book of Short Stories and The Oxford Book of American Short Stories. I’ve read Hawthorne and Poe and James and Conrad and Mansfield and Pritchett and Cheever and Carver and Munro. I know the form. I know about twists in the tale and epiphanies. I have a first in English Literature from an ancient university. I’ve read the Canon. I subscribe to The London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, Granta, The Paris Review, The Believer, McSweeney’s. I’ve visited the graves of Eliot and Wilde, and attended workshops and seminars and lectures on the craft and development of the modern short story.
I can’t lose.
Two Weeks After
I lost.
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myothervoices 
Sensational! It wasn’t about winning. You showed confidence in yourself, and not being afraid to try.
Interesting to see it from that perspective. I was thinking he was over-confident and lost because of that.
🙂
It was an empty story ..so showed the blank pages..left it for the imagination for those who picked and read..and left..
And what kind of story do you think he/she wrote?
it was a travel in his heart about how feelings made him..turn into a person he wanted to be..but never was
I’m not sure he had that kind of self-awareness unless of course he wrote something that showed that but was unaware he had
sort of unseen yet not invisible..well feelings are hidden
I sense a definite arrogance, but also a sense of hopefulness. Like the hope and the dream you have to have to take on any creative endeavor, but also the misguided belief that knowledge will make you good when really it comes down to heart. A nice effort. I really enjoyed it 🙂
Glad you liked it. I was going for arrogance/over-confidence. I hope the hopefulness made the ending a little wistful
I’m sure all of that goes through the mind of every short story writer who ever hit send.
Definitely somewhere in the back of their mind, even if their suppressing it.
Reblogged this on dan powell – fiction and commented:
A comic/tragic look inside the over-reaching mind of the emerging short story writer.
Thanks a lot
Lovely story . I can relate to it . . If you know how to nail a hammer you can build a mansion . That’s confidence . Just that the learning curve should be straight . The protagonist got little carried away . I like how your characters have voices of their own .
Yeah, he got carried away, but don’t we all?
yup we do . This is the time we need the person called mentor . Unfortunately not everyone is lucky to find a good mentor . How I wish ‘he’ would have got a mentor to save him in time because the amount of enthusiasm and hope he nurtured , a win for him would have meant surpassing all limits as ‘he’ was not afraid of taking risks . Some good litt. was almost there ready for creation .
Yeah, but if he’d had a mentor this story wouldn’t exist
yes . My comment was the after effect of reading the comment 🙂 . The story makes me think this .
See I got carried away and the typing error changed the meaning . I wanted to say that my comment was the after effect of reading the story which is beautifully written . The almost good litt that I was referring to was the litt that the hero of the story would have created if he had won.
As much as I don’t admire the arrogance, your description of it is great – a wonderful consistent voice. So arrogance lost. Will humility step in and try again?
I’m sure he’ll come up with some reason why he didn’t win. They didn’t understand, my story was beyond them etc. Thanks for the comment
brilliant!!
Glad you liked it
I definetly think that you could have something going there. I am trying to become a really good writer myself. If you want to visit my blog it is http://heftyjournie.wordpress.com/
Well I hope you’re neither like this guy or end up as unsuccessful as him
No I really do think that you are doing well, as numbers of how many are commenting your blog so keep up the good work!
Thanks
Hey I was wondering if I could guest blog for yah if you like we could guest blog for each other?
hahaha
Thanks?
This article was definitely assured, groundbreaking, breathtaking and a ‘minor masterpiece’. I commend you for capturing — so accurately — the inner voice we authors are beset with hearing, regardless of the cruel realities of our own limitations as artists.
I liked it a lot. And rest assured, I’ll be back to read/hear more of your other voices.
Not really sure what to say to that. Glad you liked it? Thanks? Hope you come back and read more anyway
The best rejection letter I ever got was from a respectable poetry magazine.
I had sent some of my poems in and, after a few weeks, I got an letter back from them.
I was very excited but when I opened the letter I was greeted with a small piece of paper on which was written:
I don’t think so.
That is quite good, though a bit ambiguous. Depending on the pronunciation it could be quite cutting or quite uncertain
Yeah. It tormented me for a while but the fact that there was no follow up suggested that it was the former meaning rather than the latter.
Well, never mind. Keep at it
Thanks. 🙂 It was 15 years ago.
15 years is nothing
Yeah. One long slow breath.
Brilliant.
Cheers
When you follow a mold, or live someone else’s blue print of what constitutes a writer, you will always be disappointed. Every writer’s journey is a unique and exciting, and we should each embrace ours.
True, but when these templates are shoved in our face…Maybe blurbs on books should be blanked out and optional
confidence is always good, even if we fail!
I suppose it could help you get over it better
It’s true that it isn’t about winning. Most of us don’t even have the courage to enter a writing contest. 🙂 Props!
I’m not sure this guy cared if he won or not. Imagining it was enough
This was great! I like the voice that comes through here, loud and clear. And I have a feeling that this person won’t give up easily, which is a great quality to have in this life. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog, and for the “like” on my recent post. I am happy you enjoyed it, and I appreciate your visit to my site.
I suppose. As long as he tempers it with a little bit of humility.
Reblogged this on acelass's Blog and commented:
Haha…I love this:)
Thanks for the reblog. Glad you enjoyed it
This made me chuckle. I know that feeling all too well. You nailed it with that last line.
Glad it did. Hope you’re not as cocky as this guy, though
Haha not necessarily cocky, but definitely always more confident in my writing than I should be when entering a writing contest.
Aren’t we all, even if we say we’re not?
Well I’d hope so! I don’t want to be the only one!