DON’T THROW IT AWAY - Story of a Story

I’m always telling people to keep everything they write, however dire, because it will come in useful some time. Les Hausen sent in the following little story for publication in The Muse when he’d just joined Writing Life. Sadly it didn’t make it. Looking back on it now, he knows he could make this 250 word story much more meaningful. Read it here and see what he says at the end.


MIMI (November 2004)
It was just over seven years ago; I came home from work to find this black and white mangy kitten, no bigger than my hand, has taken residence in my kitchen. It has been called Mimi by the kids, they are much noisier than usual. They are in fact far too excited, running around pleased as punch, after years of asking, and me saying “NO WAY” they suddenly get what they want. I look at the wife in total disbelief.

Over the next few months Mimi continues to wreak havoc around the house. Our elderly dog is in need of therapy and so am I. Mimi sets about sharpening her claws on the carpet, the curtains, the sofas, in fact everything she can get them into; not that anyone notices, apart from me. For some reason she now insists on sleeping on our bed at night and won’t settle until I put my hand on her and gently stroke her. And what makes it worse is I now quite like it.

Then I get a call, “Come home quickly!”

As I pull into the driveway Mimi is not sitting on the Apex of the porch roof as usual and the kids and wife are sobbing. They take me to her, she is curled up as if she is asleep although of course she will not wake. The sadness is overwhelming. I feel sick and start walking away. They want to bury her in garden, so I tell them to go ahead, bury it wherever they want, I want no part in it.

© Les Hausen 2004

Les’s thoughts in July 2005: “I found the biggest difficulty at the time was restricting the word count to 250 words. Although the benefit was that it did make me think hard on how to get all the salient points included, but without the waffle.

“If writing again I don’t think I would want to restrict the word count, but write a similar story line and fill it out, develop the background more and explore the emotional strings that are attached.

“To me the story is about how we humans develop relationships, some we are willingly drawn into and others so very reluctantly. To explore the foundations from what makes our initial pre-conceptions to how these change over time. The effects on us as they die.

“In the case of Mimi it was weird, even though she was so very naughty, rebellious over a six month period she took over the whole house. She was a cat with attitude, however she was also adored by the whole family and neighbours both male + female and of course myself.

“Since writing this I feel that I have honed my skills on the structure and format of the storyline to be able to write this more fully without the waffle.”

Les, July 2005.

Bernie: I agree. You can give Mimi all sorts of mischief; make it very descriptive and full of characterisation with the conflicts presented. Keeping even the worst pieces means you not only see what great progress you’ve made with practise, but you can use each one as a starting point for something much bigger and better. After all, it’s often the lack of an idea that stops you writing.