Blue

How does one encompass compassion in a short story?

When I received the email regarding Quinnipiac’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) contest, I remember glancing over it quickly, then stopping as I reached the bottom of the email. This prompted me to read it again, except more slowly. The fact that I could respond to the prompt about Compassion with any medium that I wanted had grabbed my attention, as I love exploring various ways of writing. In addition to the prospect of receiving a few prizes, I found this as a perfect opportunity to consider aspects of our society where compassion may be lacking. Even though there was a chance my work wouldn’t have won, I still wanted to submit a piece, as I hoped that my entry would provoke its readers to think about the presence of homeless people across our country.

I also decided to explore childhood innocence within my story, as I believe children see the world with completely different eyes, often disregarding social norms or opinions of adults. Through this, I started to develop my concept and decided to write a short story. Fiction novels have always had a significant role in my life, and I hoped to improve my writing by creating a short story. It wasn’t until I had finished the story that I chose the fitting title, “Blue.” 

“Blue” was selected as one of the first-place winners of the contest and I had the opportunity to present it to a group of the university’s English professors. I was commended for my story and it was published in the university’s 2018-2019 The Little Bobcat Handbook as an example of fictional short narrative writing.