Tiny Stories

"She loves me," he said

As he plucked the last petal

And watched her walk off

"Cheers," said Jane to Jim.

Clinking cups on a white beach,

Prisoners now free.

He only typed "yes,"

But the crash took less time.

Now she had none left.

"Will you marry me?"

Diamonds, her tears, and a "yes"

Their dreams coming true.

His arms spread out wide

Looking at the conquered slope

His journey complete.

While thinking about the Tiny Stories assignment, I decided that I wanted to take a minimalist approach to the actual writing of the stories.  I did this because I felt like it would challenge me more creatively.  All of my stories are actually haikus.  I did this because I felt like the point of the assignment was to be inspired creatively by all kinds of images that we see, and I feel like art is inspired by the glorious and awesome, but also the simple and the every-day.  I think of the poetry of William Carlos Williams who wrote tremendously minimalist poems about objects like wheelbarrows, but did so in such a way that has inspired countless people.  One of the reasons I love his poetry is that it is so open to the interpretation of the reader.  It serves as another testament to the idea that normal objects can serve as objects of incredible amounts of inspiration.

I was also inspired by many of the stories that we read as part of the assignment such as the Tim Burton short stories and the six-word stories video.  Both of those examples used very few words to evoke lots of emotion and paint vivid pictures either physically or in the readers' minds.  I took a similar approach to writing my own stories.

Another reason why I decided to write stories as haikus is because I feel like artists create art about all phases and experiences in life.  I tried to create a story about a vital or key human experience or emotion.  The first story is about heartbreak, which I feel like everyone experiences at least once in their life, even if it isn't necessarily in love.  The second story is about freedom, second chances, and fresh starts.  In my own personal life, I have experienced feeling trapped by my own mistakes, by other people's rules or actions, and by my inabilities.  The third story is about tragedy and what can happen when we are careless with our actions.  The fourth story is about happiness and love and finding something that makes you forget about your past heartbreaks.  The last story is about triumph and achieving a goal through hard work and perseverance.  There are, of course, other human emotions and experiences that could also be portrayed.