Alsena's Living Tales

The haunted history behind Nahanni Vally inspired the setting. In this short survival story, a mother-to-be is in love with her new husband; however, her evil ex-husband abducts her and drops her off pregnant in Nahanni Valley — a place notorious for death. Her new husband takes to the mountains to find his beloved wife and future child wrapped in a forest of haunted dreams.

Apple by Alsena L. Martin

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Life and Fiction: Creating “Thin Air”

By Alsena L. Martin, February 2, 2024

As a fiction writer, I encounter elements I must fight for to keep in my stories. On occasion, my villain will burn through the plot and setting. What’s a writer to do? Thankfully, innovation and literature work well together. Each comes from deep respect, relentless detail, attentive edits, and piles of hopeful dreams. “Thin Air” is a fictional story about two siblings who get called home to care for their mother. The daughter’s fowl ex-boyfriend realizes she is back and starts causing trouble. Beyond the grove, the mother’s visions and communications with astrological forces change everything.

For this story, I wanted to mentally recreate the rustic 2019 painting The Storm Approaching the Farm by Robert Wynne. As I imagined the torn-up barn, a wild wind whirled just outside my window, and I knew I had my setting. I imagined myself inside the painting, nesting inside the dilapidated barn. Slowly, I started to hear my character’s thoughts, and my ideas began to flow.

The mother in the story is a retired veterinarian who was traumatized after work one night. It’s unbelievable what people will do for drugs. The writing process took me through a lot of consideration for suspense. I used a diagram of the imaginary property to note where the actions would take place and how each character related to the setting.

Reconstruction should be beautiful, but it is a nightmare for those going through difficult times. As much as we want, we cannot call upon prophetic or astrological forces to warn or even help us rebuild. Many victims become depressed and angered. Others use poetic therapy to balance the stress. Whether it was my real-life stress during the writing process or one of my character’s mental states, I knew poetry and dream exploration would be a great start.

In John Dufresne’s guide to writing fiction, The Lie That Tells a Truth, existence has no bounds.

But death is the central truth of our existence — the sadness of our core. Everything we love will vanish. We can’t hold on to anything. It is this tragedy that accounts as well for the beauty and nobility of our lives because in the face of this knowledge, we go right on loving, trying to hold on to what we cherish, defying death with hubris and with faith” (Dufresne, 61).

Every writer has their treasure, a part of the storyline where it all begins. I firmly believe in keeping the point of inspiration within the storyline in some way. It keeps your mind centered and focused. However, I must pay attention to the plot twists and the theme. As a writer, I have learned to let those treasured areas twist, rot, and blow away. The reflections, heroics, strategic moments, and emotional collapses pull the theme through the narrative, and sometimes, renewal.

I want my work to inspire and give the reader a memorable experience. I use different sub-genres for each story to enhance the narratives with a realistic approach. With dreams, I want the reader to see what happens when the character awakes. Abstract or not, what the mind recalls is essential.

If I were Eve and I finally woke up only to realize that the story of the apple is different than what I experienced, would anyone agree that the lesson is the most important? What if one day, a voice noticed Eve talking to the snake, and she was telling her slithery friend not to eat the apple all at once because the snake would choke on it? The voice might see she needed to learn this lesson, too. So, this voice recreated the message, “You too need not eat the big apple from the tree all at once, dear Eve.” In other words, whether one relates to the snake or Eve, it is a good lesson in how much we eat, what we say, and pretend to know — don’t bite off more than you can chew. I want my work to resonate and provide new insight for my readers.

Abstract fiction and dreams have been a passion of mine for a long time. In dealing with dreams and visions, timing is essential to the collection. The first thing I do is span out and consider the year, events of the time, the season, the location, the time and temperature, and the technology that is there or the devices that may not be in that time frame. Sometimes, I will walk and think of the ideas that swarm for the most resonant option. In the other stories, I focus on the theme.

In The Ink’s Howl short story collection, there is an overall Sci-fi genre. Each story has additional sub-genres with various elements that overlap. Much like a website navigates through many layers, a short story collection flows with many elements, reflections, and dilemmas that leave the reader…

Thank you For Reading!

Bibliography:

Dufresne, John. “The Lie That Tells a Truth.” 2023. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Print.