Artwork by Paul PotThe Backstory

Full Disclosure: Every Tuesday night, I go to a local dive bar (though it’s reimagining itself a coastal, casual dining) with six very good friends — some of the best friends I’ve ever had, as it turns out. Almost every week, without fail, we witness some bizarre or entertaining or hilarious or insane behavior. And without fail, my friends tell me to write it down and turn it into a story or a novel. They want me to turn our weekly adventures into something.

I am discovering this is much, much easier said than done.

My blog has been stagnant for two weeks because I am absolutely stymied as to how to write a short story (which I struggle with normally) that would be entertaining but also discreet.

Luckily, delivered right to my inbox, was this article from Writer’s Digest.

https://www.chhooks.com/homeThe Article

It’s called “Sprinting Across Alligators: How to Use Vignettes as Stepping Stones to Build a Novel” by C.H. Hooks, who is the author of Can’t Shake the Dust (October, 2024; Regal House Publishing) and Alligator Zoo-Park Magic (2019). His work has appeared in publications including: The Los Angeles Review, American Short Fiction, Four Way Review, The Tampa Review, The Bitter Southerner, and Burrow Press. He has been a Tennessee Williams Scholar and Contributor at Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and attended DISQUIET: Dzanc Books International Literary Program. He offers seven tips for using vignettes as building blocks for a novel.

But what is a vignette?

Vignettes

A vignette is defined as “a brief evocative description, account, or episode,” meaning that a vignette is like a short story that “brings strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.” Piecing such episodes together and creating cohesion creates a longer work, like a novel. But they can also stand alone, like chapters or short stories. I’m after the latter, but more than open to the former. Lord knows enough has happened on about a year’s worth of Tuesday nights to fashion a novel from the material.

So how to begin?

The StepsMake a Reasonable Goal
Hooks suggests setting a goal based on the time available to write. I have plenty of time, but what do I want? Just a short story? A couple of short stories? A novel? I think for now, writing one short story and seeing the reaction to it would be good.
List What You Know
Hooks says, “Jot down a quick list of everything you know about your new project. Don’t worry about order, just get the basics of each character, and situations or scenes you know you want to occur, any important settings.” I think this is exactly where I should start. I’m starting to think that maybe the problem is there’s too much material and trying to put it all in one short story is overwhelming. I should get a list down of all the “noteworthy” events and go from there.
Grab Moments
Hooks recommends carrying around a pocket notebook to catch ideas as they come. He also readily admits the Notes app on an iPhone works just fine. I thumbed through my journals but was disappointed to find I hadn’t recorded as much as I though. I need to take a second, closer look and go through some texts, too.
Get Organized
The advice here pertains more to the writing process and deciding on structure. I’m so not here yet.
Start Small
Hooks really gets specific about building small pieces into a larger novel. I’m not entirely sure that’s my end goal here. But I agree with his approach to the vignettes: “Write into each of these vignettes. Try for one per day. Write as much as you can into your characters. Look around inside your settings to get to know the space. I think of each of these as vignettes to be written as small hurdles in the sprint.”
Track Your Progress
Again, this is more towards building towards a novel, so I might skip this step.
Reward Yourself
I like this step. Although, truth be told, I might reward myself a bit too much.The Plan

On my to do list: compile a master list of everything that’s happened on a Tuesday that’s worthy to be included in a story. Then go from there.

Check back here to see how it’s going

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