The Quandary of Harry Barstock by Steven Dilworth - Short, Drama, Supernatural - When a recently deceased man finds he has the power to go back and change his existence, the has to face up to his inner demons to determine the right path. 6 pages - pdf format

Writer interested in feedback on this work

It's a decent-enough story, however, the dialogue does much of the telling of this story, and being able to easily turn back the clock the way he does seems way too convenient. This could be down to a lack of explanation as to why he has this power. If it was normal, then everyone would simply keep turning back the clock until nothing bad happens.

Quoted from Storey_Matters It's a decent-enough story, however, the dialogue does much of the telling of this story, and being able to easily turn back the clock the way he does seems way too convenient. This could be down to a lack of explanation as to why he has this power. If it was normal, then everyone would simply keep turning back the clock until nothing bad happens.

It's not necessary to provide a reason why our hero was afforded this opportunity, because I don't honestly think this opportunity would ever present itself to anyone.  It is a fictional representation of how one person might deal with it if it did.  Would they overcome their deep-rooted insecurities to go back in an attempt to try to obtain that which they believed would make them happy in life?  Or, would their fears overcome them and end up giving in to their fate?  Harry found that he couldn't go anywhere but back until he made the decision, and when he did, the doorway to the past closed, and the way forward opened.

You can look at Harry's ultimate decision two ways:

1) He gave in to his fears.

2) Rather than rushing back blindly to change things because it's what he wanted, Harry took the time to reason that it may just be a temporary victory, only to end up going bad in the end, so he chose peace and tranquility in the afterlife.

Fair enough. It was necessary for me to know to better enjoy the tale, but each to their own. We all have our own ways of telling a story.

Quoted from Storey_Matters Fair enough. It was necessary for me to know to better enjoy the tale, but each to their own. We all have our own ways of telling a story.

So true.   ;)