— Fiction —

A Modern Short Story

A quirky yet believable character was presented in such a way as to garner sympathy and interest from readers. The character lived in a world familiar to his or her audience, under conditions not unlike their own. This character was by all reasonable measures a good person, but subject to the troubling doubts and desires common to life in our time. When this character met unexpected but not exceedingly dire circumstances in the form of a minor disruption to daily routine, he or she was led to reassess a complicated past decision. That decision led the character to the position he or she currently occupied, perhaps in the form of romance or a job. Whether the choice made had been correct or not remained ambiguous, although the character felt largely satisfied with the outcome of his or her decision and the opportunities it had delivered. In the end, little changed in the character’s material situation. The reader was left with a feeling of positive if abstract growth, and avoided the lingering sense of mistruth that accompanies a too-tidy resolution in fiction.