Writing Process: "Getaway"

The flash fiction story "Getaway" was written in the "Outliner" method, one of the 3 ways to develop an idea into a story. That is: plotting the story in advance of writing it.

Of course, there are **spoilers**, so if you haven't read the story yet, do that first (flash fiction = a very fast read), using the link in the first sentence of this post.

IDEA

I did some quick freewriting to come up with the idea. I used the Otter.ai dictation and transcription app. Here is the exact transcription (errors and all). I dictated this as I sat in my car at a red light, using what I saw around me in the environment as quick inspiration:

"So I'm actually starting from no idea at all other than the fact that I want to have a, an outline plotter version that follows all of the steps in my three by three matrix, the three by three C's. So I'm seeing a tropical Cafe smoothie. So in a pizza, maybe something happens in a pizza shop, maybe it's a hold up I see a pre owned vehicle, so maybe there's a getaway vehicle associated with this. I'm seeing tires, maybe there's something that happens to the tire. There's a blow up maybe there is a person gets in the wrong car and jumps into the wrong vehicle when the the driver woman gets pulled in to being involved in this crime, that's the inciting event I think where that might end up is that this woman who is in in the car is actually an assassin a killer and the tables are turned on these two criminals so let me go with that."

                                                                                         [Dictation Transcript from Otter.ai]

As you can see from this actual transcript, the key is to just let yourself ramble. As you can see (bolded in the transcript), I used the word "maybe" and "might" to show my intention that this is just one idea, a subtle way of asking my subconscious mind to keep looking for more ideas, giving myself permission to ramble on. The tropical smoothie shop, the pizza shop, the tire blow up, none of that ended up on the story, but through this free-flowing ramble, the central idea came in a very quick burst.

TITLE

I decided to keep it very simple with the one-word title: "Getaway."

PLOT (NARRATIVE STRUCTURE)

I used the StoryBuzz 3x3 FictionMap narrative structure, illustrated below:

I wrote the outline in Evernote, using a few elements (Genre, Characters, and then a simple table with the 9 plot elements from the diagram above). 

GENRE

• Crime (mystery, thriller)
• Flash Fiction (1,000 words or less)

CHARACTERS

• Lilibet (Lily) Ready - driver
• Rhett Mortimer - robber #1
• Sal Cyprian - robber #2
• Arlie Braddock - original driver - now dead in the trunk

PLOT ELEMENTS

• Challenge (Act I)
• Complications (Act 2)
• Conclusion (Act 3)

WRITING THE STORY

And with that, I sat down, using the Drafts application because I wanted a very clean, uncluttered container that also gave me immediate feedback on word count since I tend to get wordy and I wanted to make sure I stuck to the "less than 1,000 words" convention for flash fiction. 

As you can tell, only some minor things changed in the final story, such as:

• The getaway vehicle described as a "red mustang" in the outline, didn't feel right at all as I wrote it (too small, too cramped, not right for "Lilibet Ready"), so I changed it to a red mini-van. 
  
  
• The original concept was that "Lily" negotiates more, that they pull her out of the car, tell her to get in the trunk. But in flash fiction, it is better just to cut to the action much quicker, so there are just a few lines spoken before "Lily" simply shoots the two robbers.
  
  
• Since I wrote the outline with a cinematic feel, I had included the concept of a flashback to show the reader how "Lily" tricked Arlie, killed him, put him in the trunk. That might be a possible way to write it and could be interesting. But it did not fit within the word count, and the reader doesn't really need to see it in order to fill in the detail. We know that somehow she did this. The key reveal is just that Arlie is in the trunk so this was in fact the original getaway vehicle, not a mixup.
  
  
• There is also one slight "cheat" in the 3x3 FictionMap outline. Do you see it? It's the "Conflict" step. In the actual story, I skip right from the "Crisis" to the "Change" (or maybe it is that the "Conflict" and the "Change" element are so intertwined that they can't really be cleanly separated as in the framework and the outline.) But that's all good, the 3x3 FictionMap is a "scaffolding" to help construct the story. 

Other than those minor deviations, the story flowed naturally from the plot outline, and there it was: "Getaway".

Resources

Here are some other resources that will be helpful as you write your stories.

MY FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE RESOURCE

The Writer's Treasure Chest - everything in one place, curated, organized, this is a great reference for all things writing craft, with tons of prompts, plot/character generators and other tools to inspire you to write great stories.

RELATED ARTICLES

Here are some articles that will be helpful as you work on all the aspects of the writing craft and your writing process: 

• Write Fiction Faster! — How to Speed Up Your Story Writing 
  
  
• Need a Great Idea for Your Next Story? Try the Story IDEA Formula
  
  
• From Idea to Story: 3 Methods to Develop Your Story Idea 
  
  
• How to Write Characters Who Stick in the Reader's Mind 
  
  
• What Makes a Good Story? — Great Scenes! Here's How to Write Them
  
  
• Make Your Story Sing — Write Great Dialogue!
  
  
• Flash Fiction: How To Use It To Supercharge Your Writing 
  
  
• Blast Through Writer's Block: How to Get Unstuck 

FREE COURSE, GUIDE AND WORKBOOK

Do you want to write fiction faster, while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook, which comes with a companion course with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.