When it comes to writing, I like to play with form.
I’d point to “The Spindle of Necessity” as perhaps the pinnacle of my “playing with form” — the story is a four-part Socratic dialogue, complete with scholarly introduction (and, had I the room under the word cap, it would have had footnotes!) — but it’s not my only unconventional piece of writing.
One of my favorite pieces of writing is also one of my least seen — it’s a story written in the form of a memo from the Attorney General. I’ve written some marketing copy at work that reads as though it came from an alternate history — I’ve treated the world of Watchmen as real, and some Galaxy Quest marketing copy makes sense if you accept the view that there really was a Galaxy Quest television series that starred washed-up actor Jason Nesmith. 😉
Of late, I’ve had a story form rattling around my head. I have the characters, I know where they are, I know how they interact, but the thing I’m not clear about? I have no frelling clue what they do.
It won’t be a long story, by any means. Longer than a drabble, certainly, but probably no longer than five hundred words. The form, in some respects, dictates the length, like putting together a puzzle.
I’ll let the idea rattle itself around in my head, until it finally “reveals” the story itself to me. Some day soon… :h2g2: