17 Comments
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EllenPepper's avatar

“Turns out people don’t like guns as much as they think they do.”

Isn't it ironic? I guess gun-loving depends on the context. 😁

I enjoyed this story.

Charles Bastille's avatar

Thanks, Ellen. The characters took over again. The story didn’t turn out as originally planned. Maybe I’ll try again with a different crew, lol.

EllenPepper's avatar

I’ve found that some stories tell themselves and all I can do is transcribe them as they flow through my mind. They know how they turn out better than I do.

I’m good with that. lol

Charles Bastille's avatar

Yeah, most of my fiction ends up at least partially written by my characters. With short stories, sometimes it’s all of it. That is pretty much how this turned out. I tend to outline my novels a bit, but the characters still get involved and sometimes make me switch directions.

EllenPepper's avatar

It’s like they're telling their own stories and you’re just the stenographer, right?

I’m all for it. Makes my life easier. 😏

Plus, the characters are better storytellers, in the long run.

Roberta Houle's avatar

Ellen. I can’t comment anything better than yours, because you conveyed my thoughts very well.

Chris Resists's avatar

I was told that "Civil War" was a very bad film, and that I should not bother. If it inspired you, perhaps I should give it a chance?

Charles Bastille's avatar

Civil War wasn’t a great movie. If you can see it free, there is one scene that makes the entire movie worthwhile. They could have edited around the scene and make it a ten minute movie, with just that scene, and it would have done the job. The scene with Jesse Plemons as a soldier overseeing a gravesite was grim but, in my opinion, extremely effective.

I was inspired much more by One Battle After Another. My story has nothing in common, really with either of those movies. They were inspirations, and that’s it. Thanks again for the comments.

Chris Resists's avatar

Appreciate the guidance on “Civil War.” I may go and try to check both of those out.

Chris Resists's avatar

This is a great story. Very compelling. As soon as I started reading, I could not stop.

I am very fond of how you introduced the characters. Just observational details, and dialogue. But more than enough to illustrate deeply that these are just regular people who have been shoveled involuntarily into an impossible, shit situation.

Just like all of us.

More blood and horrors are coming. I think plenty are seeing those horrors presently. If you haven't had to come to terms with those horrors, face-to-face, like I have not, then I think we are privileged.

Charles Bastille's avatar

Thank you for the kind words. I was hesitant to write it with the perspective that violence is not the answer, because there is no guarantee that it might not become so. But sometimes, stuff rattles around in my head, so I write it down and release it into the wild. Thanks again.

Chris Resists's avatar

I agree. Violence is not the answer. But we would be fools to not gird ourselves against it. Violence is the only language this regime speaks.

The violence isn’t “coming.” It is already here.

Brandon Ellrich's avatar

Love the perspective. Bank robbers are people, too. Haha

Roberta Houle's avatar

A reader has to be on top of things to find all the nuances in the story.

Charles Bastille's avatar

I sometimes worry about that because I hide a lot stuff "between the lines" with a lot of my fiction. Or add an obscure Easter egg. I don't even do it intentionally. It just sort of permeates into the stories. Sometimes that results in a big miss. I did it in my short story, "Hijacked," but I think that ended up a miss because nobody really noticed (or they didn't care!)