CLICK

BEHIND CLICK

November 21, 2018

When I created Click, my intention was to explore the relationship between two characters I had developed separately in other work. Now, this page exists to answer more questions about 'Click' - from what inspired the story to the writing process that brought it to the world.

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What inspired Click?

Click was inspired by a combination of factors. To set the scene, I was in my first creative writing class in college, we were required to write only realistic fiction, and I had just submitted a total bomb of a piece (not the good kind). I came off of that relative failure with the raging intent to prove myself on the next submission, and considering Click was my best piece all semester which then went on to get published, I guess my method worked. As for what inspired me when I actually began working on the story; I again pulled two characters from the same longer project I'd pulled Laurel and Damerin from (my protagonists from The Palace), and I decided to send these two, Gwen and Malcolm, on a father-daughter backpacking trip. I wanted to explore their relationship, and let them guide me through a journey that two people could have taken in any time, and in any world. 

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What was the writing process for Click like?

Okay, well, it starts with the same set-up as above: coming off of a piece that had bombed, I wanted one that soared. However, I was at first utterly stumped. I sat around for a few weeks (when I should have been writing) and waited until the Sunday before my Monday deadline to even start. It's not a strategy I recommend. However, in this case, it worked, because I had to rely completely on my characters to lead me on a journey, and I could focus only on the most significant moments. It was actually odd, how quickly the words poured out of me. While I think it was because I knew the characters so well already, it also might have been the time crunch. 

Either way, when I sat back after a few hours, the entirety of Click was on the page. I made some minor edits and submitted it to workshop, and after that, to publication. It really was a strange experience, and to date (as of 2023), it's also my favorite piece of published work. Perhaps the time necessitated that it be easily containable, or more focused. Perhaps it was my raging intention to write a better story than the last. Either way, I think that knowing the characters better made a better story, and according to my professor at the time, created a much more interesting use of verbs and adjectives, which resulted in much better writing. 

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Why the abrupt ending? (Spoiler alert, obviously)

Okay, I've gotten enough questions about this one to answer it here. To be fair, yes, the ending is abrupt. I get a lot of pushback on that. But that's also kind of the point. The story advances through scenes of gradual change in Gwen and Malcolm's relationship as daughter and father. Over the course of the story, they grow from estrangement to closeness. And that's all you need. That's why it ends. From the last scene of the trip, you already know their trajectory - so I leave it up to you, the reader, to fill in as much as you like of what remains between that scene, and when Gwen develops all of her photos. The point isn't what she's showing off to everyone at the end - it's the journey itself. There's no point in dragging it out any further. But if you really want more scenes, feel free to write them yourself - you have my blessing.