The In-Between: A Novella

A very special thing happened to me this past Friday: I finished the first draft of my novella; I'm calling it The In-Between.

Years ago (when I was an undergraduate art student), I remember saying those words to my painting professor - "...the in-between..." I said, mid-sentence; I think it was in reference to one of my assignments.

Back when TiVo was popular, I had used it to splice a string of commercials together, cutting out the actual TV show (the main event - the reason one suffered through the commercials). When my classmates, followed by my teacher, walked into my studio (to critique my assignment) I had them take a seat; I told them - in some forgettable manner - that we were going to watch a video I had put together.

When I pressed play - and the commercials began - there was a strong sense of expectation in the room. It took about two minutes of toothpaste jingles, drug promotions, and clothing ads for someone to finally say, "...is this all just...commercials?" In those two-something minutes, the atmosphere in the room had grown quite awkward; I'd like to say there was also an increasing feeling of general disappointment - of having wasted time, or even of having been "tricked". When one commercial neared its end, a sliver of hope emerged before being crushed by the beginning of the next commercial. Personally, I was curious how long everyone would watch before figuring it out; I had to bite my tongue to not give it away.

When discussing the piece with my teacher afterwards, I had described wanting to create the feeling of being in "The in-between (of something)." "The in-between," she repeated with interest. I had to admit, it was an interesting notion - if not an unsettling title for something that was to come about 8 years later. I had never forgotten those words.

Anyways, I'm letting the first draft "simmer" before I do the re-write, at the suggestion of Mr. King in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. A hard-copy of it is sitting in my writing desk's only drawer; I'll probably wait a few weeks before pulling it out again. In the meantime, I plan to write at least one, if not two, short-stories to enter into the short SHORT story competition hosted by WRITER'S DIGEST (deadline, November 15). I won't describe what my story, The In-Between, is about - or what inspired it - just yet; only that, it's the first story that made me think "I HAVE to write it." If you'd like to peek at the "visual collection" for the story (aka my Pinterest board), here's the link:

The In-Between: A Novella