Writing Reflections: The Submission

Happy Saturday, folks! I tell you, between doctor’s appointments and work, it has been a hectic week for me, but it’s finally over. The weekend has finally arrived, and I can focus on relaxing, reading, and writing for a couple of days before the insanity starts all over again on Monday. So, thank you for joining me for another Writing Reflection. Today, I want to talk about a much more recent work of mine than usual. With the release of the Last Call Challenge results on Wednesday, I would like to turn my attention to my entry to that Challenge, titled “The Submission”.

As with all the fiction that I analyze, I will be leaving a link to the original work and providing a brief summary (without too many spoilers) below:

Today at 11:59 p.m. is the last call for submissions to the Fairy Tales Unhinged writing contest. Marissa has everything she needs to write the perfect entry: the idea (based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), her notes, and her pet rabbit, Buster, who served as the original inspiration for the story. There’s just one problem…she has a massive migraine. Between her throbbing head and the vomiting, it seems impossible for Marissa to get a story written with the last few hours that she has left until the contest closes. But following her own trip down the rabbit hole, anything seems possible.

This story actually has a few interesting sources of inspiration behind it. One is the Adulting Children’s Stories Unofficial Challenge that I had held just before posting this story. (A few keen-eyed readers even noticed the parallel!) Another is the short story collection that I am working to compile and self-publish (eventually, hopefully by Christmas 2027, but we will see), which will include a short story based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland called “Follow the White Rabbit”, which is available to read now here on Vocal. The final source of inspiration was an incident that I went through while an undergraduate student at UC Davis. My migraines were really bad back then, and I once had to write an entire essay while under the influence of one of these migraines. Fortunately, I had the entire essay planned with thorough notes beforehand because, by the end of writing it, I could not remember a single thing I had written, much like Marissa in “The Submission” (though I have never gotten the hallucination component of migraines, thank God). I actually won an award for that essay, so explain that one.

Now, with that background out of the way, let’s take a look at what went right and what went wrong. The story was definitely unique. I know that there were no other stories like it entered into the Challenge. The main character is well defined as someone who pushes herself no matter what to meet the challenge, even to the point of endangering her physical health, and who likes fantasy stories, given the contest that she has chosen to enter. Furthermore, the Challenge prompt says to “Focus on what happens when the clock is running out. Whether your characters seize the moment, hesitate, or let it slip away, let that sense of urgency drive the story.” From my perspective, I did just that: Marissa tries to write her story, but her migraine keeps getting in the way, and the fact that it keeps getting in the way influences what she sees and hears in her hallucinations.

However, it might be the uniqueness of my story that led to its downfall. It’s a story that not everyone might understand. Yes, readers will relate to the pressures of being up against a deadline—especially readers on this platform—but they might not understand the struggles of fighting against a migraine. They most certainly will not understand the hallucinations that can come with a migraine, especially since I took some liberties with that aspect to allow the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland theme to fit more neatly into the story. They might get confused, think that she was dreaming or—heaven forbid—that she was on something.

And, in truth, besides Marissa completing the story without knowing how she did it, nothing actually happens in the story. I take the readers on Marissa’s adventure in her own little Wonderland—her hallucinations—but nothing really happens. That isn’t necessarily a hindrance to the story; there are plenty of stories where the emotional aspect is more of a driver than a plot. Nevertheless, in this case, it still could have been a deciding factor when the judges of the Challenge chose to not award the story a placement.

I don’t know if I would change this story even if it meant that I could go back and get a placement in the Challenge. I like its weirdness and how it tells the story of a migraineur struggling to get something done. It feels very personal to me, even if I cannot relate to the hallucination aspect. I also like my attempt at something a bit crazier than I usually write. It was fun to do, and I think that I might try it again in the future. It might mean that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I can live with that.

What about you? Have you ever written something that might not have placed in a Challenge or contest because it just wasn’t their cup of tea? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

As always, if you have any piece of mine that you would like me to discuss, leave that in the comments as well!