Not Naming, Not Knowing

by Bacopa Literary Review 2021 Fiction contributor Shuly Xóchitl Cawood

I never know where a story will go when I sit down to write. All I ever have is a situation. I don't know the backstories of the characters--I learn as I write, figuring out their secrets, their fears, their losses, and what brought them to the situation in the first place.

When I started to write “Not Naming It” (which was of course untitled at the start since I didn’t know what the story was about), all I knew was there was this young couple, Marisol and Elton, and they were buying a farm in the middle of nowhere after being city dwellers, and there was a cat involved—a cat that one member of the couple didn’t want. Even in the first draft I wrote, this was the first line I set down on the page: “The cat came with the farm. A stipulation.”

Why was this cat important? And what would make two people give up the life they had and move to the middle of nowhere?

I found out as I wrote. Now this story is part of my second short story collection, and the stories are all linked. In some cases it took me a while to figure out how some of these characters knew each other.

Not knowing is the fun of writing to me. In all other areas of my life, I want to know as far in advance as possible about everything. I can’t stand not knowing. When I was in the dating world, I would try and guess what would be the reason for the breakup that was likely to come eventually. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t guess correctly. When I met my husband, I couldn’t figure out what would break us up—though I did try.

Sometimes it’s best not to know in advance. In writing, that is definitely the case for me.

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To learn more about Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, go to www.shulycawood.com.

Read Shuly Xóchitl Cawood's "Not Naming It" (pp. 80-85) and other fine Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, and Prose Poetry in Bacopa Literary Review 2021