How I finished my first fiction story

I have published my second story!

The story is called “La carta bomba”. It is about the sacrifices made by a teenage couple on their way to university.

This story has a science fiction element. But it is not futuristic science fiction (about spaceships and aliens). This story follows the style of Chinese science fiction, where the use of this element is subtle and intimate.

Finally, Anna Brullas has made the illustration of the story :-)

You can read “La carta bomba” here.

This story is special for me because it was the first story I was able to finish in my life (although it is the second story in order of publication). In fact, finishing this story was such a creative impulse that, a few months later, it helped me to create the Gestalt’s Garden. And, thanks to that, now you can read these words :^)

Why was I able to finish this story?

Before this story, I made many attempts to write fiction stories. But I never managed to finish any of them. They were too big and ambitious creative projects for my abilities and motivation at the time. What allowed me to finish this story was the combination of the following ideas.

1. Write the shortest possible story

My favorite stories are novels (between 50,000 and 110,000 words) or, at the very least, short stories (between 1,000 and 7,500 words). When you decide to create a story, it’s very tempting to want to write a novel or a short story: it’s the experience you want to replicate.

The problem is that the bigger the story, the more time you need to finish it. The question then becomes: will you maintain enough motivation to finish the story, or will you run out of motivation halfway through? In my case, unfortunately, I always ran out of motivation.

My solution was to write the shortest possible story to maximize my chances of finishing it. For “La carta bomba,” I decided that my goal would be to write a flash fiction story (less than 1,000 words). Ultimately, it ended up being about 2,800 words, but at least it stayed manageable.

2. Solve the plot before you start writing

At some point in the process, you have to solve your story’s plot (consciously or unconsciously). This can happen:

• Before you write the draft.
• During the process of writing the draft.
• After writing the draft (during the editing phase).

In my case, I really enjoy discovering the plot and characters while writing the story. In fact, planning the plot beforehand “steals” some of the magic from the writing process.

But, the most painful situation is discovering—during editing—that the plot is wrong. The more you’ve written a story, the harder it is to make profound changes because it involves revising and rewriting a larger number of words. This situation is like if you had built a building and, only at the end, worried about whether the foundation was solid or not.

You can minimize this pain by writing a short story (as it is “cheaper” to modify the story structure because you have fewer words). However, what really avoids this pain is to «solve» the plot beforehand: define the plot before writing a single word of the draft.

For “La carta bomba”, I defined the plot beforehand and made sure that the story could be written in a few words. This forced me to have only two characters, one location, and a few scenes. However, while writing and editing the draft, I modified the plot a bit, but these were minor changes.

3. Write about what you already know

The writing process can be divided into three phases:

1. Preparing. When you prepare the information and ideas you need to write about.
2. Writing. When you write the first draft.
3. Editing. When you revise and proofread the first draft.

To write the first draft, you must have the information and ideas you will use in the story. Otherwise, you will have to stop writing to look for (or create) those ideas and information.

For example, imagine you have decided to write a hard science fiction story about how to terraform a planet. Then, you would need to know how terraforming works. Otherwise, you won’t be able to write that story with the rigor that hard science fiction demands.

The problem is that, even if you’re writing a flash fiction story, if the preparation is costly, you’ll need a long time to finish the story.

One solution—to save preparation time–is to write about topics that you already master: ideas that you already have prepared as a result of your personal experiences or previous interests.

In my case, for “La carta bomba,” I didn’t have to prepare anything. I chose topics that I already mastered, such as: sacrifice, going to university, existential doubts, the process of hacking a game console, etc. Even the science fiction element—which I don’t want to reveal to you so as not to make you spoiler—is an idea I had already thought of long before I decided to write this story. Thus, at no point did I need to stop writing to prepare.

4. The motivation to finish

You can have everything going for you—knowing the right method, planning your writing sessions, having the preparation done, etc.—but, if your motivation fails you, you won’t finish your story.

Why do you want to finish your story? You need a firm answer to this question to stand up to the most challenging moments of a creative project.

In my case, I have many superficial reasons why I want to finish my stories: I enjoy writing and publishing them, and it’s a way to get myself known. But, in addition, I have two deep reasons for doing so:

• It’s a healthy way to manage my creative energy. I have a great tendency to fantasize and start many (too many) creative projects. The problem is that if I don’t limit myself, this urge to create turns into an anxiety to create. Starting my creative projects with a strong intention to finish them calms and channels my creative energy.

• It gives meaning to my life. The act of creating something that has an impact on the world—and may even continue to have an impact after I am dead—gives a lot of meaning to my life. And achieving this impact is only possible if I finish the projects I start :-)

Conclusion: Finishing the story was amazing

Following these tips, I defined the story’s plot in about forty minutes and then wrote the draft in about three hours. I did this whole process in one afternoon to avoid the risk of losing motivation the next day.

The result?

Finishing the first draft was amazing.

From that moment on, the story took on a life independent of me. And what’s more, I could read it and share it with others!

This creative milestone happened about three years ago when I was still finishing my PhD and was very uncertain about what would happen next. Since then, I have sporadically edited the story until I reached the current version.

Today, by publishing “La carta bomba,” I am not simply enjoying finishing a creative project or maximizing my online visibility. I am expressing my conscious intention to take care of myself and give meaning to my life.

And you, why do you want to finish your creative projects?

You can answer me in the comments or directly to this email :-)