My Daily Writing Project
Gets no love and I’m doing it anyway
My partner, AleXander, had the idea first (credit where credit is due). In the past, he has set himself a goal of doing a new collage daily for the month of October. For example:
This time he had the idea of using photographs from his life to create a new, short piece of autobiographical writing daily for the month of January. But as he waded into it, he realized that what he had was a one-off.
We live in what is a fairly roomy apartment by New York City standards, even so, the only place for both our workspaces is the living room so we work side by side. This makes for easy brainstorming. As soon as he started talking about his idea, I was struck with the idea of doing something similar but wholly fictional. Then I was further inspired by the crazy notion of doing fictional obituaries.
What a great idea!
Well, it has been depending on your definition of “great”. It’s been an interesting challenge, that’s for sure.
First, I realized I can’t use any photos of actual living identifiable people. I often use images from Flickr or Wikipedia Commons and those would not fly. Can you imagine finding out that your smiling mug posted by your college roommate on Flickr is now attached to someone else’s name, someone who never actually lived but now has an obituary online?
Yeah. No.
So Pixabay and friends it has been. It takes time to find just the right face, too.
Pet Peeve Alert: there are probably fifteen stock photos that get used over and over and over on Medium. See these below? Don’t use them. They’re overused and we’re all sick of looking at them, k?
Ahem. I digress.
Ok, so you see my difficulty, yes? Not only are these “free” photos part of everyone’s go-to for their work on Medium, but most just scream stock photo. So getting just the right photo for each day’s fictional obituary is time-consuming and really important.
But as soon as I see “the face”, I’m already on my way with a name and the beginnings of their story.
Then there are the details. Fortunately, there’s the internets. I don’t know as I could pull this kind of project off without fast, ready access to names, geographical placement, professional terms, and other details of my fictional lives. Creating these little gems isn’t difficult and there’s a lot of fun in developing the details of a life never lived on the fly every day.
Too bad next to no one’s reading them
Not that I’m surprised or anything. Fiction is a very tough sell in today’s world. On Medium and across the spectrum of online platforms, people gobble up anything that either promises to show them how to succeed or what to avoid in their personal lives. There’s sex, there’s survival, there are tips on writing, there are lists and lists and lists of Do This and Don’t Do That. Those are the pieces that really rack up the views, the reads, and the claps.
Who am I to talk? I’m reading that stuff, too. Hell, to some extent, I’m writing that crap! Moreover, even though I give fiction every chance in the world, the sad fact is that our brave new world sans gatekeepers means that there is a lot of bad fiction being published. I can’t tell you how often I start reading a short story and just give up.
So I’d have to admit this project is a bit of a vanity thing. It’s an exercise in keeping my fiction muscles from complete atrophy. I do it so I know I can still write fiction. That I still want to!
And today is the 23rd day of the month. I found today’s photo and have the name of today’s non-existent person so I’ll be getting right to work on today’s fictional obituary toot sweet. After today there are eight more to go. And, sure, there are about fifteen other pieces sitting in my draft folder that I’ll get back to, but I have to say that I like the discipline required to do a daily writing project. I mean, come on, I’m a Capricorn of German/Scandinavian descent. I can’t help myself.
What will I think of next?
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