A Different Kind of Point of View -- You Can Play, too

By Pat Remick

Speaking of Point of View... as we have been for the past few days, my husband and I recently entered the same monthly “Flash Fiction” contest sponsored by the New England Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and one of us won (and turned out to be a bad sport about it, too, I might add).

The contest rules are simple: Generate the opening of a story with a given sentence, but write no more than 100 words. Our sentence was: “I was glad to find that the ground hadn't frozen yet.” We took those 11 words and each used our individual "point of view" to generate a story. As you'll see in a moment, the results were very different.

And, in what I hope will be a fun experiment, you can weigh in on which one you prefer (the loser is hoping to win the popular vote). My goal in all this is to try to remind the writers and readers among us just how subjective the process of creating - and evaluating -- fiction can be.

I believe it is so important to keep this in mind, especially when we are trying to find agents, publishers and readers. Just because one person doesn't love our writing, doesn't mean another won't -- as long as we don't give up on ourselves. We all need to maintain a positive "point of view."
Now for the Flash Fiction smackdown. I've listed the entries in random order -- well, as random as you can get with 2 entries -- so have a read and decide which one YOU like best.

I was glad to find that the ground hadn’t frozen yet. Mother Nature loved me. Last night at the camp, Harold had humiliated me. “A pistol on the partners hunting trip? Idiot!” This morning in the woods, I’d emptied it into his body. Now a shallow grave, dead leaves across the top, maybe a few branches. Tonight’s snowfall would cover everything. One fewer partner. A growl on the left broke my concentration. A scrawny wolf appeared from the brush, then another straight in front of me, then another to the right, and one behind. Maybe Mother Nature loved Harold more.

OR....

I was glad to find that the ground hadn’t frozen yet. It makes it so much easier to clean up the blood. The sight of crimson tentacles spreading through the fresh, white snow would set the wrong tone for the New Year anyway. While most people have traditions like making resolutions they’ll never keep, eating black-eyed peas or buying a new broom, I like to start mine with a clean slate. Unfortunately, that means getting rid of the old by Dec. 31. Good thing the fireworks and popping champagne corks make it hard to hear my Glock do its work.

Now go back up to the box at the top right part of the page and vote for the one you prefer. (It's anonymous so no one will know what you think -- but I'd appreciate it if you'd pick mine.) Voting closes at midnight. UPDATE--VOTING NOW CLOSED. Or, if you'd like, go to the comment section and share your 100 words that begin with "I was glad to find that the ground hadn't frozen yet."