#3 Postcard - Killing Clubs

   

 Tournament lost and a spectator loaded into an ambulance, Abby was banned from golf until further notice. 

     "I'm a nice person, really, and I love the game," Abby insisted, "but when the club disobeys. It has to die."

     "If you stuck with killing clubs and not people," the therapist trailed off. 

     "But I didn't mean to."

     "Look, expelling aggression is healthy just not when it impacts the health of others. And your aggressive temperament was increasing exponentially." The therapist clicked her tablet and showed Abby a montage of tantrums starting with a nine iron pounded into the ground and ending with a putter soaring, twisting into a crowd of spectators.

     "If I don't change, I'm going to be banned and lose my endorsements,” Abby bemoaned.

     "Which is why I suggested the charity game and art project which benefits domestic violence victims," the therapist reiterated.  

     Abby felt weighted under the measured, judging stares of the spectators while she played, poorly. After three bogeys, she was determined to make this last hole a par. Her grip tightened around the putter as the ball skirted the hole and again after a second tap. Abby instantly raised the club for a pounding as the crowd gasped in an audible collective. They held it as Abby’s club paused mid descent. She marched pass the spectators to the silent auction table and rammed the club across her raised thigh. The bent club was added to her sculpture "Dead Clubs."

~JRogers
8.25.2016

***

Today's story prompt comes from the Story Shack: Flash Fiction and Illustration Magazine which has a flash fiction generator that breaks the story down into categories.
Word Count: 250
Genre: Adventure
Character: an Art Therapist
Material: a golf club
Sentence: "I'll deal with you later."

These prompts gave me a fun idea for a story but I was stumped by the genre classification of adventure. What did that mean? According to Children's Literature Classics, adventure stories are dominated by fast paced action. While useful to define adventure stories, it doesn't tell me what elements need to be included to write an adventure story. I need a recipe with clear ingredients like the ones listed by Elizabeth Sims in her article How to Map Out Your Hero. Based on the idea I already had, I mapped out my plot to keep me on track while writing.

1. Something goes wrong. => Abby loses a golf tournament.
2. Why is this a problem? => She lost her temper and threw her club injuring spectators.
3. Someone is chosen to solve the problem. => Abby required to go to a therapist.
4. Identify the challenge. => Only gets angry playing golf. Jekyll/Hyde syndrome. 
5. Refusal by the hero. => Abby doesn't think she has a problem.
6. Acceptance of challenge. => Forced to watch video montage of tantrums and realizes she has a problem.
7. Hero encounters danger. => Abby risk losing backers.
8. Helper or mentor arises. => Therapist suggest solution. 
9. Setback occurs. => Charity tournament mishap.
10. Hero regroups and has breakthrough.=> Creates art from killed clubs.
11. Foe is vanquished. => Anger is managed.
12. Hero has fixed the problem. => Returns to tournament circuit. 

That's a lot of information to cram into 250 words. But one of the first tricks I learned about flash fiction was to start in the middle of the story, plot point #6.