Articles by Glenn Stok
This is an example of writing fiction to tell a revealing story by using real life experiences. Short fiction stories can be used to teach as well as entertain. See how it's done.
I have a friend who likes to send me emails about interesting experiences he encounters every so often. He can take a routine day and make it into an enlightening experience with his ability to express his views with words.
I thought he should use his talent to write short stories. I told him that he has a knack for writing, and he should put his creativity to use with writing realistic fiction from his experiences.
That could be a handy way to get ideas for articles. Short stories of a revealing nature can be used to teach as well as entertain.
I’ll give you an idea you can implement to add content to your writing career. I never was able to convince my friend to do it, but he did ask me to show him what can come of it with one of the stories he had emailed to me. The example of a realistic fiction story below will show you how to do it.
He sent me an email describing one day when he took a walk and met a young lady sitting on a park bench. He wrote in vivid detail how he started a conversation and how it progressed into a friendly encounter.
I thought that email was spectacular! I told him he could use what he wrote and expand on it, maybe adding fiction to enhance the story. I explained that his way of writing might lead to other endeavors. Perhaps a film producer might offer him a job to write a movie script. You never know!
Don’t laugh. These things have been known to happen. Although admittedly rare, it won’t happen at all if you don’t put yourself out there.
He was very hesitant and didn’t want to put anything on the Internet in his name. He’s an odd fellow, but a good person. He suggested that I publish his story myself so he can see what happens with it.
“How about this for a thought. Take one of my emails and publish it in one of your writing accounts, under your name, and we’ll see what kind of response it gets.”
~ My Anonymous Friend
So instead of just publishing his short story, I decided to write this article explaining how one can use their daily experiences to write an essay about life as a realistic fiction story. I felt that one of the emails he had sent me would work well to use as an example. Of course, with his approval.
Without further ado, here is his short story:
On Sunday, I had nothing to do, and I was feeling lonely because I finally broke it off with my girlfriend after so many weeks of no attention. She always seemed to have something else on her mind lately, as if she had been seeing someone else. So I went to the park by the bay to watch the boats. I walked there from home since I get to meet interesting people along the way.
I passed a man walking a poodle that was wearing a bright-colored collar with bells on it. I asked him what the bells were for, and he said his dog had a habit of getting away from him. The bells help him find his dog.
Walking on, I passed a woman walking with a cane. She was old and frail but walking alone. I offered to walk with her, but she said she was going to turn around soon. She was just out for a two-minute stroll. Two minutes, I thought to myself. I hope I never get to that limit.
When I got to the bay, I sat on a bench facing the dock, watching the boats come and go.
After a while, the sun got a little too intense where I was sitting, so I went over and sat next to a rather nice looking young lady. The lady had a perfect figure, red hair, and was just a little shorter than me.
Naturally, I started a conversation. She seemed rather intelligent, wore just a little too much makeup, and lives only three to five miles from here. We talked for well over an hour. She said her name was Christina.
Somebody with a long white beard left the dock rowing a small rowboat. I smiled and said, “He looks like Walt Whitman with that beard.”
She didn’t reply. “You know,” I said, “Walt Whitman thought everything was cosmic.”
“Oh, really?” she said. So I quoted Whitman: “I celebrate myself, and I sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
I continued to tell her, “Walt Whitman thought that everything was part of everything else — everything was part of the universe. We are all cosmic beings.”
Christina said that she felt the same way.
The sun’s rays eventually moved onto our bench. I mentioned that in the past, a long, long time ago, people used to think the sun revolved around the earth. “After all,” I said, “the earth was God’s creation and therefore the center of the universe.”
She just nodded, and I was grabbing at things to discuss to keep the conversation going.
“Funny,” I said, “people mention ‘sunrise,’ but the sun doesn’t rise. The earth is turning. It ought to be called ‘earth-turn’ or something like that.”
She said, “Gee, I never thought of that!”
After a while, it got too hot where we were sitting, and I said, “Let’s go get an ice tea or something like that.” So we went to the Copenhagen Bakery across from the park.
I smiled when we sat down with a couple of ice-cold drinks and asked her if she knew where Copenhagen is. She said, “Belgium, isn’t it?” “Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark,” I had to tell her.
Before I knew it, we were talking about places she visited, what her interests are, what we had in common, and what our plans were for the rest of the summer. It was great to meet someone new.
Notice how he draws in the reader. He starts with a strong emotion of loss, hinting how his girlfriend’s attention had faded away. He describes his day with vivid images. Then he leads right into the experience of meeting someone new and how well they seem to relate as they sit by the dock watching the boats and talking about whatever comes to mind.
He includes some interesting tidbits of knowledge that has nothing to do with the storyline. But more importantly, it adds value in the sense that it shows how one can attract another person who knows nothing about you, yet.
His short story is a great essay that not only has meaningful lessons hidden between the lines, but it also can be the beginning of a full-fledged novel, in my opinion.
All it takes is talent, ability, and the desire to do it!
Glenn Stok writes many enlightening topics. See a full index listing on the home page.
