Sharp Knife 11: Second-person present
Welcome back to “A Sharp Knife Is Safer,” where I write the same story 100 ways.
Today’s reader doesn’t want to read about the problems of the same sad white man. Today’s reader wants a relevant story, about relevant people. What is more relevant than the present? Who is more relevant than themselves? This is why the freshest fiction is written in the
Second-person present tense
In the summer between high school and college, you sell kitchen knives from a catalog. You can’t convince people to buy much, but you do convince yourself these are the best knives at any price. You do get your mom to order a jackknife for your dad’s birthday. It comes in the mail; the package is in the car as your mom drives you to the airport for a church missions trip. In the passenger seat you open up the knife to demonstrate the safety mechanism, and in the attempt you slice open your palm. Next summer you sell donuts from behind a counter.
Exciting. Relevant. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure without the Choose.
I’m working on a short story about fatherhood and anxiety, which I started accidentally when I was feeling boxed in and couldn’t find time to write. As some sort of revenge (?) I started narrating my mornings on my phone, and eventually I accidentally had most of a story there. And while I’m trimming away a lot, what I also accidentally have is a journal of raising my daughter, with all these details I had forgotten. It turns out you might want more than photos to look back on. So my point today is, and I’m the first to say this: if you’re a writer, and/or you have kids, consider keeping a journal!