March of Microanalysis Day 18
Microfiction Entry Day 18:
Professor Farmington’s greatest contribution to herpetology and theology was discovering that snakes shed souls as well as skin.
This is not a story. Sorry, legions, I screwed you on this one. It's a beginning, and that's all. I'm really interested in this idea, and I will likely try to write an actual story around it someday, but there is just too much set-up and no execution in this version for it to count.
For starters, who is Professor Farmington? Man or woman? Good or evil?
Was this so-called discovery a great revelation? Was it shocking? Did peer-reviewed journals mock it?
How did the theological community handle the announcement? (Badly, I'd guess, based on previous reactions to scientific advances).
And how do the snakes feel about all this? And where do their little sloughed-off souls go? Does some low-caste demon wander the earth, picking them up so he can take them to Hell's soul recycling/refining facility? How do the rates compare to those for aluminum cans?
Lots of questions. Too many. A proper story would have been able to answer some of these questions. The moral here: microfiction is not kind to complexity. Tailor your message to your medium.
Through March, I'm posting a breakdown/analysis of the microfiction I posted on the corresponding day in February. This is probably only interesting to you if you care about the mechanics of writing, or if you know me personally.