My very own pulp fiction

I finally got a short story of mine published on a magazine. It's called A Bad Conception. I spontaneously wrote the story at midnight up to 3 A.M. in the morning. I don't know what came over me. Few days prior, a friend suggested via Twitter that I probably should write down my inner contemplative thoughts into a story and somehow I managed to come up with something. Actually, getting a writing of mine to be published has been one of my dreams for as long as I can remember, but I was never confident enough in my writing ability.  I took a chance and submitted it and the managing editor of the magazine thought it was good, so it got published.

The receptions that I got from my friends who read it were pretty unified. Most of them are confused and don't quite understand it. But that's exactly my purpose. I don't wanna spell everything out explicitly. I want each reader to have his own opinion about the story. It was fun though to hear everyone's take on my writing. The most fun part, however, was to see the illustration that goes with my short story. It was pretty interesting to see how the artist would represent a two-pager into one picture. And I really like it. I think the artist really grasp the point of the whole gibberish.

In this story I experimented with layers and structure. Just like the title, A Bad Conception, the story flows from A to B to C. At first it was A and B talking about C. Then it was B and C talking. Lastly it's C talking to herself in a contemplative manner. The final part might tie the whole story up as a meta-fiction, but then again, it's all up to the readers to interpret. And if you pay close attention to the story, every character at some point shares a similar action that might act as a red line and clue the readers on whose story it really is, yet it still opens up many possibilities for interpretations. 

A Bad Conception touched on pop culture and social media phenomenon with a little bit of social commentary. It is "Inception" about Twitter. And not to compare myself with the great J.D. Salinger, but I took a page out of his book by using phrase repetitions to reinforce the characters. If you like a straight linear story, my story might not be for you, but for those who don't mind to turn that screw in the brain a little bit, I hope you like it. But if you finish my story, perhaps you'll also get my message. You actually don't even have think much in the first place.

Check out my story in NYLON Guys Indonesia September - October issue if you're really curious.