VOICES - Black Hawk College

“Yes, there is,” a voice said.
“No there isn’t,” he wrote.
“You stay out of this,” a voice said. “Listen to me. This is no good.
This is nonsense. You can’t bring reality into fiction like this. There’s no
need for it. This isn’t about you.”
“Of course it’s about me,” he thought. “Everything I write is about
me.”
“I’ve noticed,” a voice said. “But if you want to have success as a
writer, you’re going to have to get over that hump. You’ve got to learn
to characterize, plot, structure––build the story from the ground up.
What kind of writer do you want to be?”
“A great one!” he thought.
He smiled. “Great,” a voice said. “And you can be, but this isn’t the
way to do it. You have to work at it. You can’t just sit down and type,
willy nilly, whatever thoughts come flying into your head.”
“Why not?” he thought.
“Because,” a voice said. “It just––it doesn’t work that way!”
“Why not?” he thought.
“Very funny,” a voice said. “But I’m serious. This isn’t going
anywhere.”
“Yes it is,” he thought.
“No, it isn’t,” a voice said. “And get control of your damn commaplacement,
would you?”
“What if I don’t?”
“I swear to God,” a voice said.
“What?” he thought.
“Okay,” he wrote. “Come on, guys.”
“Are you threatening me?” he thought. “Because I’ll kill you.”
“Bring it on,” a voice said.
“Okay,” he wrote. “This has got to stop.”
He stopped. “I need a fucking break.”
Too bad, kid. Truth be told, there are no breaks, in the Twilight
Zone.
“Whoa!” he thought. “That’s awesome!”
“No,” a voice said. “It’s not. It makes no sense.”
“Sure it does!” he thought. “Think of the implications!”
“I don’t want to,” a voice said. “They don’t matter. Look, just
because you somehow managed to turn this thing around and make it
into a story doesn’t mean anything. You still have no idea how you did
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