This series focuses on stories that are both enjoyable and do something that I find interesting from a technical perspective. This week, let’s look for dramatic tension in inanimate objects.
Sessile sea sponges never really struck me as having much potential for dramatic tension. We Ride the Stillness, by Deborah Walker and published in GrendelSong, proved me wrong. It’s a great story, and it somehow manages to create genuine conflict and tension from a bunch of completely immobile critters so biologically simple that Aristotle thought they were plants.
Seriously, I’ve read a lot of short stories, and a surprising fraction of them don’t even manage to work in any dramatic conflict between people. I mean, people fight with one another trying to order pizza.* So you’d think writing conflict into a story would be easy, but it’s not. And not only does this story have conflict in spades, it has it with sea sponges. That’s an amazing technical achievement. And it’s good, too! Go read it. It’s worth it, and you’ll probably never see another like it.
* While tension does improve drama, it has the opposite effect on parties. This site might help reduce some of the pizza-related tension at your next gathering: http://calculate-this.com/how-many-pizzas-buy-calculator
You’re on your own when it comes to topping choices, though.