Fantasma By The Numbers
“Agua Fantasma” was a short tale that took a long road to market -- 580 days to sale, most of them parked for a year at Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. I was certain the story was perfect for them, and I think my rejection was a near miss, but Hitchcock's loss was Pulp Asylum's gain, and I'm excited this tale of treasure-hunting greed and deception found a home with Billy Ramone's passion project.
This story is a personal favorite, and this is the second time I've told it. The first form was a backup story for Monster Frat House #1 (and only), back in my comic book days. The story is based on a family legend -- my uncle was supposedly lured to the desert under circumstances similar to my tale -- but I'm the only one in the family who remembers it. Maybe I dreamed it. Either way, the story reaches it's final form in “Agua Fantasma”.
This story took just less than thirteen hours to complete, in and around a still-incomplete novel, being written mostly in April and May of 2023. It was composed during a difficult time in my life, when I was living away from home caring for a family member, but I don't especially associate it with that time. I don't think any of those real-life events wormed their way into the story -- if anything it was the opposite, the story serving as a form of escapism. The timeline is wrong but I think of it as my unofficial prequel to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and when reading it I can't help but hear it in my head with the voice of Humphrey Bogart.
The silver linings department: “Agua Fantasma” definitely benefitted from a couple rejections, encouraging me to tighten things up, particularly around the ending.
Some production notes:
4/18
Notes, research, scaffolding for this flash story.
4/20
One of those days where I couldn’t get started, didn’t feel it. But I got 467 words to cover the first third of my 1000-word story. Will probably change them all. It’s a process. So a short session but not a wasted day.
4/23
Pivoted to a little work on this, so the day wouldn’t feel a total loss.
5/9
Lost the first half of the day going back to (a novel project), so I dusted off my short story. Liked what I read and got right into it. Story is “complete” but only the first half is polished, and I’m about 300 words too long. In a good spot to sand it down to 1000.
5/10
Late start, shitty results, cut your losses.
Seems like despair and disgust are an inevitable phase of every successful work.
5/14
Put on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and went for it. Finished a 1000-word draft.
5/15
Rita liked it, even my ending the first time. Gave it one more read and checked where I might hit the theme harder. Left it in a good place. Confident this will sell and wondering if I have a niche with flash fiction.
I might have cursed myself proclaiming my confidence the story would sell ... because it would take almost two years before it happened! But I found my treasure in the end, and maybe I do have a niche in flash fiction. This is my third flash publication, with more on the way.