It was a dark and dreary night . . .

There are three components to the creation of a good article: a pot of fresh coffee, an idea and rain. The first two are obvious, but the third requires a bit of an explanation. You see, if it is clear and sunny on a weekend morning, even the best ideas go begging because those nice mornings have to be used for something far more cosmic: a round of golf with my pals.

This month I pitched an idea to my publisher to share with you the process that I went through to generate a short story for submission to a writing contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. For me, the process of writing a short story is not easy. It called for a shift in my thinking from my usual research and essay writing to pulling on a lot of seldom-used mental strings. It was painful, yet fun. And it was a little scary, since I was going to allow a panel of judges to “grade” it, if you will. I don’t handle rejection all that well, so this was a big stretch.

The contest rules were that the story had to be an original creation, it had to have a legal theme and it had to be less than 5,000 words. I had tried and failed to get a story written for this contest in the past, so fearing failure once again I put my fingers to the keys one rainy Saturday morning. The story line is pretty simple: A man gets sick and dies, and his widow and family deal with the consequences of his death. I had to insert some twists and turns in order to make a story out of it, and I used a lot of dialogue to tell the tale.

I never write dialogue for these articles, nor in my everyday writing, so this was a difficult transition for me. I had to put words in peoples’ mouths that moved the story along, and I had to keep in mind where each character came from and where they were going. I knew the outcome, since it was my own invention, so like a treasure hunt I inserted clues in order to get the reader to say at the end, “I should have seen this coming.”

There is an old adage about lawyer jokes that they are all based on true stories. Well, this short story was based on a true story that was a part of a case I handled years ago. It was one of those cases that stuck with me, and I hope I did the tale justice. I used bits and pieces of many past clients and acquaintances to build my characters’ personalities.

It takes awhile to write a story that long. I can write about 600 words an hour, between thinking up what to write and my so-so typing speed. And I have a limited supply of creative juice, so that morning I wrote the beginning and the end, and then I wrote some crazy one-line filler material that would remind me of what I wanted to say in between.

After about four hours, my brain was fried. Luckily for me, it rained the next day, too, so I was back at it on Sunday morning. Mug of coffee in hand, I went about fleshing it out.

After I had completed the rough draft, I intentionally left it alone for a couple of weeks. Then one evening I opened the story up and just read it. I knew then that my work was only half finished. I had all sorts of issues with my characters, so I spent another couple of hours trying to get each one to be consistent. It was better but not good. I put it away again for a week. When I got back to it, I realized that the twists and turns that I had in mind for the plot were not very well presented. It was far easier to conceive of them in my mind than to convey them in words, so that session was devoted to ripping them apart and rewriting them.

Once I got it to the point where I was satisfied, I did a word count: 3,500. I didn’t think the story was unfinished, but I realized that I hadn’t been very descriptive. There is more to a story than just the plot, as my daughter pointed out. She wanted me to make sure I “painted the walls,” meaning that I should give the reader a glimpse of the surroundings. She is more of a student of the creative process than I am, so I took her advice and invested a couple of hours putting the white on the rice and the crack in the thunder. When I submitted the final story, it was 4,500 words, but it was also a wonderful release.

So what is the prize? The end-game, as my business pals call it. The prize is that the top three stories submitted get to be published in the Pennsylvania Lawyer Magazine, which is distributed to the 30,000 members of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. A small bit of recognition for the writers. And for the readers who actually take the time to read the story, maybe a small diversion from their lawyer lives, and maybe a wry grin or two if the story touches a chord. My hope is that only two other lawyers took the time to write a story. The results are due out in November, and if there is anything to report, I will let you know.

Christopher M. Abernethy has been practicing law in Hampton Township since 1976. He focuses on elder law, which includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and probate matters. He also is proficient in all aspects of real estate law and business law. He is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, and the AARP Legal Services Network. He can be reached at 412-486-6624 or by email at cabernethy@aaylaw.com.