PURE FICTION

Highway to the Comfort Zone

Story of My HeArt Pure Fiction Challenge

The story I’m most proud of is a piece that I wrote a few days ago, Amelia’s Secret Place. I wrote this as part of a 30-day writing prompt challenge, and I almost gave up before I started because I couldn’t think of anything to write within the confines of the genres I feel most comfortable in. However, I decided to try something new and came up with this story. Before writing this one, I had some stories that I was proud of, but not for any concrete reason. Mostly it was because I thought it was cool, which doesn’t exactly make for a very long article. Amelia’s Secret Place is different though.

First, outside of creative writing classes, this was my first time writing something that wasn’t fantasy, horror, or sci-fi. For whatever reason, I’ve never had many issues with coming up with story ideas in those genres, not like I do with contemporary fiction. Since writing this story was well outside of my comfort zone, I feel like the practice has helped develop my writing skills, especially at writing dramatic scenes.

When it comes to building tension, I’ve gotten a lot of practice with writing those scenes and have studied how better writers do it to pick up some tricks. However, I never really had much practice with writing an emotional scene, like the one in the story. I thought trying to find the balance between the scene being lifeless and overdone was tricky, but I’m proud of the way it turned out. I’ve also gotten some good feedback on the article from some very talented writers, which helps me manage my insecurities and feel a little more comfortable calling myself a writer.

Thanks to KL Simmons and JA Vassili for this challenge! I’ve really enjoyed reading the other entries and how other writers have created their stories.