Charli Mills’s theme for this week’s flash fiction is futuristic. In her preamble leading up to the topic she discusses the idea that writers may well share some strengths but clearly not necessarily all be the same. She’s fascinated by strengths and how we use them and clearly likes to test herself by choosing a topic she feels isn’t one of hers: writing about the future.
I read all this – no, to be honest, I’ve had quite a week – I scanned her post last week until I got to the topic, played around with inventing my star wars name (distracted by novelty) and then let the blank page in my head irritate and intimidate me until there was no time left, but to get on with the task over lunch today. Sigh. Clearly being futuristic is not my strength either.
What turns out to be fascinating though is – at this point, having written the piece below, I then went back to read her scene setting post properly.
In there she briefly discusses Donald Clifton’s concept of working with strengths to get the most out of people in the workplace, rather than that traditional focus we have of pulling everyone up on what they’re bad at.
I’ve always been a non-conformist. Fortunately, whilst much of society doesn’t appreciate that, those recognising the need for change and progress sometimes do. I’ve been recruited with my ‘rebel’ personality profile deliberately by two large organisations who wanted to shake up the status quo. My unwillingness to put up and shut up or simply accept ‘facts’ most likely saved my life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer because I tend to make my own mind up about things rather than be a sheep.
Anyway, not sure if this makes sense to anyone who thinks in a linear way (not my strength!) but finally I pulled out my own “StrengthsFinder” questionnaire to remind myself what the Donald Clifton model would put as my top strength and it is “Individualization” – “People strong in the individualisation theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person.”
I guess this means I’m also keen that others also respect what is unique about me.
Without having read any of this I had already written my 99 words, subconsciously worrying about a future where there’s no room for the individual and where being different would continue to be punished. I hope I’m wrong.
In 99 words (no more, no less) write a futuristic story that looks ahead.
Rebel Rebel
“Well? Which do you want? Time’s up..”
Reili may as well have picked one at random. She hadn’t enough credits to enter the Utopiverses. The damage to her arm had reduced her choices to live the remainder of her life as a warning to others – the insights they gave children in order to control their behaviour.
Having disobeyed the ‘restraints’ and injured herself riding that 21st century museum exhibit she was destined to be a lesson to all non-conformists.
Now at the junction of the quantum she only had the dystopiverses to choose from.
“That one..” she sighed.
Lisa Reiter - Sharing the Story 
July 10, 2014 at 8:44 am
What a great post with wonderful comments Lisa. i have really enjoyed reading through the discussion. I love the opportunity you took for sharing some Bowie magic too – well done! I tend to scroll through Charli’s post first too! I go straight for the prompt so I can mull it over until an idea pops into my head or I work something out. (This fits perfectly with Anne’s precrastination/procrastination post too.) Once I have written my piece I go back and read the post. I usually like to save reading all the responses until Charli compiles them. It is lovely to see all the different ideas. Like you, I don’t want to be influenced by what others think her prompt means. I did always like to have my own thoughts and write my own take on things anyway. But as you say, we have been reading all our lives, forming relationships and watching others – all of which contributes to our work.
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July 10, 2014 at 10:38 am
I’m glad it’s not just me then! I feel I need a few days to let the topic just ‘sit there’ and then I carefully read Charli’s wonderful scene setting to double check I haven’t missed something. Sometimes that means I tweak one or two phrases!
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July 10, 2014 at 10:43 am
I always try to make it fit my educational theme as well. The last two topics of history and future were an easy fit, and I’ve begun to think about ‘water’. I’ll have to see how the idea flows!
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July 9, 2014 at 6:37 am
Rebel, rebel–yes! Sounds like we might have a mob of non-conformists filling the ranks of the Congress. 🙂
Interesting discussion about influence verses inspiration. I’m not sure why, but other people’s acts of creativity (art, photos, poems, stories) inspire new ideas for me. Which is part of the reason I wanted to write flash with other writers. I like that we are all different (that shared Individualization) and I see strengths in each writer’s responses. It’s important to have a non-competitive writing environment that allows freedom of expression thru practice. There’s plenty of competitions and even writing queries feels competitive!
Is the 21st century museum exhibit perhaps a bike? 🙂 I have a feeling Reili will find a way to non-conform even when damaged and forced. It might be easier for those in control to have compliant sheep, but it’s richer to have rebels in the mix.
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July 9, 2014 at 9:33 am
I wonder if all the conformists are busy writing text books and other reference materials!?
Maybe the rest of us write to express that which is different about us or to express our perceptions because they’re not totally explored in the rest of our lives. It feel like that for me at time – that writing is like a good conversation with the absolute best listener!
And yes, Reili couldn’t resist pulling the bike from its display and riding down one of the museum corridors. Clearly out of practice, she took a bad fall!
As for reading others – influence or inspiration – examining that more consciously, as an avid reader I have read plenty of great fiction which will already be a big influence. However, reading the quality of some of the other congress can be intimidating (enough to freeze me as some of the interpretations are so far from my starting point!) so I ignore it for this exercise as I do want to practice the skill!
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July 8, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Come on, Reili, include us on your journey!
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July 8, 2014 at 10:23 pm
This is the first flash fiction I have read of yours and I was intrigued enough that I wanted to know more. Is this a character that you have written about before? I can definitely relate to the rebel archetype.
I’ve been a black sheep rebel my whole life even when I didn’t realize it. I think being born a red head when it wasn’t popular may have had something to do with it. That and wanting to be a writer, I don’t think any of us could ever be completely conformists. The best writers speak the truth and many don’t want to hear that. The shear fact of the stigma growing up wanting to be a writer and for most people getting told they need to be realistic (except for those rare few that grew up in a creative and loving family). Even when I thought I wanted to be like everyone else I knew I never would be. I learned to keep my head down when I was young but yet I still spoke out on occasions where I either didn’t know any better or trying to save my brother and sister; I was the oldest. In the beginning I think more of my rebelling came out passive aggressively, by not doing something I was supposed to do.
Ah well, rebels are more fun anyway. =D
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July 9, 2014 at 9:37 am
No I haven’t written about this character – consciously – though there’s an obvious big dollop of me in her!
I love the way some people are exploring Charli’s exercises with the same set of characters, but I think it’s such early days for my fiction writing, just coming up with an idea to fit the prompt is stretch enough!
And you go rebel! Are we all perhaps better at expressing ourselves because we’ve had to – to demonstrate we don’t fit a ‘mild’. Not sure it has always been more fun but it’s certainly more interesting! Lxx
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July 8, 2014 at 6:54 pm
It’s a good point that – whether reading others helps stimulate you or puts you off. This time Amber Prince’s piece gave me an idea but on other occasions it feels quite intimidating to try and ‘compete’ – I know, it isn’t a completion but that ignores my gene pool… What is interesting is the overall dystopian feel to these pieces. The rumble of the future’s jungle drums is getting louder and louder, Carruthers.
PS Like Anne, wishing Reile the best…
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July 8, 2014 at 7:47 pm
Heart – Sleeve – all on show! Thanks both of you. Just writing up some ‘black sheep’ stuff for my memoir – it can spill over a bit!!
I think the point about getting inspiration from others though is also a good one. Many successful writers advocate reading as training to write, but I’ve decided these little exercises should be a stretch towards more confidence that I can have an idea! And, perhaps more importantly for me, an exercise in relinquishing perfection..
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July 8, 2014 at 5:37 pm
Oh poor Reili, hope she finds her way round this somehow.
And I think I sometimes go through a similar process to you with the prompts: get an idea based on what I think it is, then realise I’ve missed read it, then go back and look more closely and see that yes, it does fit.
And the fun of these prompts is that we do all approach them in our own idiosyncratic way.
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July 8, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Yes, the variety astounds me, because of course, I only have my own ideas! I do like the surprise of reading the compilation after the event – When I had time to trawl through everyone else’s responses first, I found it actually put me off because I lost a sense of my own interpretation (and feared I could never match the quality either!) Definite benefits too from procrastinating on this kind of thing – I knew I would waste hours dithering if I sat down to it before the eleventh hour!
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