An Experimental Short Story – Trapped
“Trapped” is an experimental short story. I’ve always been fascinated by dialog. When I started writing, I read a lot of Ed McBain and Elmore Leonard, both whom I feel write amazing dialog. McBain, for example, has long stretches of dialog between multiple characters with no tags and yet it’s apparent who is talking, even when there are three or more characters in the conversation. And Leonard’s characters all have unique ways of speaking that not only set them apart but gives insight into the character.
This got me thinking about what dialog can convey. Can it show emotion? Can it describe without being stilted? With no tags or description can a reader know who is talking? Can the reader come to know the character only by what that character says?
I decided to try writing a short story that was dialog only. But rather than a conversation between two people, I decided I’d do an interview. Only, I would write the dialog of the interviewee without the questions from the interviewer. The reader would not see the questions. They’d have to infer the questions from the answers. Also, there would be no physical description. Would the dialog convey sense of place and time? Finally, no characterization, so would the dialog tell anything about the characters?
This story is an interview of two characters. One is the criminal, and one is the detective who caught that criminal. Who is the reporter? Pretend it’s you. You’re asking the questions and this story is the answers. What questions? That’s for you to infer.
I hope you enjoy “Trapped” and I hope you’ll drop some comments and feedback on whether this experiment worked. Did the story accomplish any of the above? Let me know what you think.
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