Long-standing readers may recall that I started keeping a blog mainly as a writing exercise. Once upon a time, I wrote short stories; having fallen out of the habit, I wanted something to goad me into daily writing, and blogging seemed to fit the bill.

Recently, however, I’ve again been seized by the desire to write short fiction, and I’ve consequently spent the last few weeks mulling ideas for my first post-hiatus piece. While several interesting ideas have hit me, they’ve all seemed to structure themselves in my head as screenplays, rather than traditional prose. So, having no real reason to do otherwise, I’ve decided to give in to that urge, and draft my first short script.

I’ve banged out a bit of it today, but suspect it will be a while still before I’m ready to share with anyone. I will, however, pass along the root of the idea, an old zen parable:

One day, walking through the wilderness, a man stumbled upon a sleeping tiger. As he tried to sneak past, the tiger awoke, and began to chase the man. The man took flight, running as fast as he could until finding himself at the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, the man climbed down a vine and dangled over the jagged precipice. As he hung there, two mice, one white and one black, appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine. Suddenly, the man noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!

In short, the screenplay is a rough retelling of that story, set in the world of high-finance New York, and focusing around an unhappy young investment banker trying to adjust to life in the city. I can’t promise it will be any good, but I will say it’s certainly a bit out of the ordinary. You might as well stick around to see how it turns out.