Article: Writing Exercise – The Backward Story

 

A long, long time ago and in another realm, I experienced one of my all-too common strange dreams: I had written a flash fiction story –

Backwards.

In other words, I had taken an existing story and arranged it so that the last paragraph became my first paragraph, second to last paragraph, my second paragraph, and so on. Then I submitted it to The New Yorker, where it was accepted –

Only in the dream, though – that part of the dream was simply wishful thinking, I’m afraid. This was the same dream where I was peeling a long double-skinned potato.

Go figure.

But I found the idea intriguing enough that I thought I would try it with one of my own flash fiction pieces, “*Time Nymph*”:

______________________

 

Nymph**Time

Splash.

Goddess, swim the seven sisters, navigate your vessel, all time, whirling, all time...

Split of split seconds:

It’s time; it’s about time.

 

~^~c~^~h~^~i~^~m~^~e~^~r~^~a~^~

 

– Us.

We signal acceptance of time bent slightly forward and stretched eons backwards. Unknown Strangers gently guide Nymphet through future red giants – or is it past present blue dwarfs? – bodies reeling through galaxies, chrysalis birthing –

“What is this wonder, these flowing ripples kissing All?”

– like a ballerina’s...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~~~~~~~~~~

~^f~^p~^p~^p~^p~^f~^u~^r~^a~^a~^r~^u~^t~^s~^s~^s~^e~^t~^u~^e~^t~^t~^s~^u~^i~^n~^e~^i~^

~^~f~u~t~u~r~e~^~p~r~e~s~e~n~t~^~p~a~s~t~^~p~a~s~t~^~p~r~e~s~e~n~t~^

~^~f~u~t~u~r~e~^~

~^~future~^~present~^~past~^~past~^~present~^~future~^~

 

One day – future perfect? – time tricksters suspend An Other over swirling currents, toes poised for time/space continua –

Laser time, razor-honed present imperfect.

They remember, once afraid of passing time and time not yet, time pluperfect.

Sapphire years.

They are one time traveler. She breathes in ecstasy of the future yet passed, glimmers of past once future. Seconds once ephemeral, millennia now prisms. Day Halos. Nymphets sparkle like –

Liberation.

I am nymph**time, buoyant and light. We do front flips, back flips, spin side to side like a shooting top, do head and handstands. Anything is possible in time which is not now: ballet, grace, en pointe –

Superior Being.

I slice through past and future, no longer wavering; the fear rendering One discombobulated in present time empowers in other time.

TIMELESSNESS.

 

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This product of an already very strange story is, indeed, very unusual, but I do think that writers can learn much about their writing, fiction, and characters from this exercise –what, exactly, I don’t know.

I may have made a few minor tweaks.

I don’t recommend this exercise for long fiction or traditionally structured fiction, though, but if you can pull it off, kudos to you.

I’m not quite sure I did.

By the way, the original is posted here.