Seven years ago when I was a student taking a creative writing class at university I wrote a story called The Rain has Moved On, inspired by the Miriam Stockely song Perfect Day.
The story as I originally wrote it is a first person narrative from the point of view of a British soldier who served as a sniper in the Balkans conflict, training the Croatians to fight the Serbs in the 1990s. The story basically entails the narrator after a spring rain having returned from his adventures in the Balkans walking around London, his old home. The tale is juxtaposed with his memories of the Balkans. Certain sights, smells, and the like remind him of the fighting. For instance rain reminds him of how rain makes it easier to sneak up on the enemy.
I recently was seized with the idea of wanting to rework this tale for a short story contest sponsored by Writer's Digest. I've been toying with either modernizing the tale to being the narrative of a soldier fresh from the Afghanistan or Iraq conflicts or a British soldier fresh from the fighting in Europe in World War II (still undecided at the moment).
For some reason, though, while rewriting the story I couldn't help but think to change the period of history. I'm not certain how or why it came about that way, but it did. I can think of compelling arguments to write the story as a post-World War II soldier as well as post-Iraq soldier. I am undecided about which of the two historical period (modern times or post-World War II) seems to fit imagery in the story. Any help would be appreciated.
The story as I originally wrote it is a first person narrative from the point of view of a British soldier who served as a sniper in the Balkans conflict, training the Croatians to fight the Serbs in the 1990s. The story basically entails the narrator after a spring rain having returned from his adventures in the Balkans walking around London, his old home. The tale is juxtaposed with his memories of the Balkans. Certain sights, smells, and the like remind him of the fighting. For instance rain reminds him of how rain makes it easier to sneak up on the enemy.
I recently was seized with the idea of wanting to rework this tale for a short story contest sponsored by Writer's Digest. I've been toying with either modernizing the tale to being the narrative of a soldier fresh from the Afghanistan or Iraq conflicts or a British soldier fresh from the fighting in Europe in World War II (still undecided at the moment).
For some reason, though, while rewriting the story I couldn't help but think to change the period of history. I'm not certain how or why it came about that way, but it did. I can think of compelling arguments to write the story as a post-World War II soldier as well as post-Iraq soldier. I am undecided about which of the two historical period (modern times or post-World War II) seems to fit imagery in the story. Any help would be appreciated.
