One Room - Many Doors
One Room Story created a box, a context, edges, a container for the story to exist. The prompt and the timeline created boundaries for the story that allowed the creative process to flourish, gave a general direction to free thought. This might be a paradox but really, what isn’t when you break it down. With a due date, things had to be organised to fit. He trick was to remain calm (unattached), to feelings of fear of finishing or in failure.
Conclusions
Laundromat
Faced with the challenge of writing a 500-word story from a prompt, I focused on a familiar space: the laundromat. Back when I lived alone in flats across Brisbane and Melbourne, I spent a lot of time in these noisy places—and met some interesting characters along the way. The story became a straightforward retelling of one such encounter, grounded in memory and place.
The Urn
After that more literal piece, I wanted to shift gears—something more abstract and emotionally resonant. “The Urn” emerged as a personal reflection on death. It served as a counterbalance to the first story: quieter, more internal, and layered with feeling.
Tomb
Still, something felt unfinished. Inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Isis” and the Gnostic phrase “As above, so below,” I wrote a third piece—more cinematic, action-driven, and stylistically bold. This one veered away from the minimalist tone of Raymond Carver and leaned into older, more ornate language, reminiscent of Guy de Maupassant (though I make no claims to be like either). It was the hardest to write, but also the most fun to read—so it became the one I submitted.
Though the stories are different, the general process of writing each was the same:
- Allow the open, formless subconscious free rein to express itself. Trusting in the subconscious and facilitating its expression i.e. automatic writing
- At a point, call on the more literal editorial aspects to organise things.
- Trust the process. Lots of authors say this. It works. It’s not great every time, nothing is, but it works.
These separate forms crossed paths in many ways but remained very distinct.
What makes a story finished?
This is the same problem you have when drawing. There comes a point when it’s time to stop and that point can be elusive. I read in a book somewhere that it is finished when the piece becomes “undeniable” (Irrepressible- aka Monkey Magic), and this rings true for me with the writing. It’s undeniable when it satisfies a few key things:
It generally makes sense. It’s good to have other eyes help with this.
It flows when read aloud. I know something is wrong when I stop at a phrase or can’t say a sentence easily enough.
The words are simple enough to convey the story without getting in the way. (I also don’t mind going just past the edge of my own vocabulary just for fun).
Write without want of reward. It rewards itself. Sounds a bit like bullshit, but the hidden satisfaction I get from the process is the joy I am seeking, fleeting as it is.
The Chosen One
So it is ‘Chamber’. I submitted it last night. It will be interesting to see how it stands against whatever is chosen for publication in RightLeftWrite. I’m making these posts to connect with people over writing so I’d love to hear from you.
Lastly
I’d love to read any comments, on the blog or the stories, what works and suggestions. Also anything it makes you think about, this is important. Everything is connected. A drawing of a boy holding a chicken is just the undeniable collection of shapes in relation to each other. I’m more interested in where something takes you than what you think of it.
The next prompt comes out soon so we’ll do this again.
You can read the story chosen for publication in RightLeftWrite here.