Short Fiction

Every story we write shows the writer where he or she needs to improve. The short story, The Last Friend, has been sitting in the tomb (my writing drawer) for several months. While the reader of this blog could page back and find information on this story, let me save you some time by sharing a brief synopsis here. The story centers on two characters: One is an African American woman who has signed a major recording contract and is about to leave The Lou (St. Louis) behind. The other character is a man who goes by the initials of AZ and has kept a secret from her. He is the angel of death and he has been tasked with taking her life before she leaves. The story is written in first person with two points of view, which alternate back and forth.

The challenge I was and am faced with is making the voices of these two characters distinct. What I want, and what a writer should be able to do, is have the dialogue read without having to say who is saying what. This does not always work as I remember reading some works where I would get lost in the dialogue and have to spend time figuring out who is who and who said what. Never the less, that is a goal and it has proven to be quite daunting as of late. I hope to have this story out sometime soon, but I need to work on making these voices clearer .

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates to blogs and stories that I write.