Flash Fiction

In English Class, we had to write two different short stories about two different characters, and then choose one to turn into a screenplay, short graphic novel, portrait, and animation, in that order. I chose my story about a young girl named Caroline, which can be seen below. From that, I drew and formatted the graphic novel (to the right), which ended up being four pages long and would later serve as the images for the animatic.

Pretty

Caroline can not believe the kinds of values people have. Sure, you can get an A on your test, but somehow it’s all about how absolutely darling you look in your school photo. Is it that difficult to acknowledge that your daughter is both positively adorable and an intelligent, hardworking student? She frowns and resigns herself to answers of yes, Dad and you’re right, this is the best one yet.

If only she were less cute. Then Dad would have nothing to compliment Caroline on but her actual accomplishments, things that took effort and skill, right? She makes a quick decision, and excuses herself to go to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Caroline looks down at the hair scissors she retrieved from the cabinet. They are invitingly shiny, and practically brand new. It’s been a while since her last haircut, and her hair is so long now that she can sit on it with little effort. In the mirror, it flows down behind her shoulders, dark, glossy, and positively adorable. The warm lighting of the bathroom makes it almost glow with health. This, she thinks, is the problem. With all this beautiful hair, how can anyone focus on her intelligence?

She lifts up the scissors and snips off a single hair experimentally. It drifts gently to the floor, and rests, forlorn, on the tiled surface. The small wooden stool Caroline is standing on rattles as she shifts her position to get a better view of the farther-back part of her head. She gathers all of her hair in front of her right shoulder, holding it in her left hand and the scissors in her right. She hesitates though, reluctant to make such a permanent change on a whim.

Making up her mind, Caroline closes the blades, almost hacking at the thick bundle of hair with her tiny scissors. It falls to the floor in a messy heap of dead cells, making Caroline wish she’d had the foresight to lay down a towel, at least, for cleanup purposes.

After every strand has been cut, Caroline admires her reflection in the mirror. Her hair falls unevenly, laying midway down her upper arm on the left and just above her shoulder on the right. It looks as though it was cut by an excited preschooler, and that’s just fine for Caroline. Now, she thinks, she can be intelligent without the distraction of being cute as well. She opens the door to the bathroom, and, beaming with as many teeth as she can show at once, runs off to locate her father.

I’ve never enjoyed creative writing, so writing this story was very tough for me. Because of my dislike I haven’t practiced enough to be a good creative writer, so I ended up uncomfortable with the quality of my story. On the other hand, It’s probably helped me so that next time I have to write a story it won’t be as painful.

The graphic novel was slightly more fun, because I loved coming up with unique formatting, and I enjoy drawing. However, it was still a challenge to communicate the story itself through that medium.