How to Write a Vignette

It stands on its own like an individual piece of chocolate in a box of chocolates, each looking pretty and irresistible in its own tiny compartment.

In a way, a "vignette" is similar to "flash fiction" but there is a lot of drama packed into the latter. A flash fiction is a sharp explosive moment with great dramatic import squeezed into just a few pages.

A vignette, on the other hand, does not need to carry that kid of dramatic weight. It's a free-floating but honest and very personal meditation about anything significant that floats to the surface of your consciousness. Lilies floating on the surface of a pond comes to mind.

Here are some steps to help you write a vignette about anything:

Silently reflect about a topic that vibrates in your consciousness; that tugs at the strings of your heart.

Something that whispers into your ear: "Write about me…"

Such topics make good vignettes.

Draw an Association Diagram

Write the topic in the center of a blank sheet of paper and circle it. Let's say: SUMMER.

Surround this central "sun" with as many "planet words" as you can think of. What else comes to your mind when you think about that object, day, person, or thing?

For example, SUMMER for me also means the BEACH, SAND DUNES, the WIND, BOARDWALK, ICE CREAM, HOT WEATHER, RELAXATION, LOVE, PARTNER, DRIVING to the Ocean, etc.

Surround your main word with all these different related words that float up in your field of awareness. Connect these words in any way you see fit.

Construct your own Association Diagram. The more words are on the paper and related, the easier you'll be able to write your vignette.

Meditate on your diagram for a few moments. Lean back, close your eyes, and try to feel all the things, emotions and vibrations that your radar detector registers internally.

Then take a deep breath and start writing – DO NOT STOP until you write at least 100 words.

Don't worry about grammar or proper word choice or anything.

Just write "pedal-to-the-metal" until you feel you've exhausted all you had to share on that cluster of related objects of memory. That's also probably when you'd be done with your vignette.

You're done but not done since all writing is re-writing.

Leave your vignette alone for a while, preferably for a day. Then go back and edit it. Change the words or phrases that you don't like with their substitutes. And the chances are you're done. Congratulations!

Your vignette does not need to "win" and "argument" (like a political commentary) or force the reader to take a specific action (as sales copy should do). As long as it reflects the MOOD OF A MOMENT truthfully, it's going to serve its purpose well.

Here is a sample:

“As soon as my Honda Civic negotiates the corner of the Hammond Street I feel the salt of the roaring ocean on my face. “Rocky” I say, “make a wish!” My terrier barks with joy in the back seat as I pull up in front of Sherry's mint green bungalow. Has been a while, almost a year, haven't seen her. Yet there she is – holding our picnic basket, in shorts and tank-top that spell WELCOME. “Let's seize the day,” she suggests, and who am I to counter that? Off we go, straight down to the beach. The white seagulls (all shameless thieves!) diving low to grab my cheese sandwich. Two old men by the water bent like old olive trees, trying to decide whether the dark object in the distance is a whale or not. Noisy kids running like there's no tomorrow and splashing water like sprinklers. The hot orange sun, ice-cream clouds – the world is a friend and it tastes like fresh strawberries on my lips. I take pictures till I run out of memory card – imagine! On the way back we buy a huge watermelon from a roadside stand and eat it while driving back home. Sloppy and happy. “I'm dying,” I quip. “No,” she says, “you're crazy!” Why argue?”

Vignette as a Short Dramatic Conflict

Have You Written a Great Vignette?

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