Perspective
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Mya Can Write A Short Story...Really...or Else...
Lately I have been so obsessed with short stories and my seemingly inability to write one. Okay so there are a lot of things I can't write but I like to try. At one point, I used to be able to write short pieces but that has faltered over the past two years. I want to go epic and world build and build up and as I have found out that is not always a good thing. So after sending off my latest novel (btw that would make two novels that are looking for publishers) I decided that maybe something short would be in order and set up a personal challenge for myself. I have twenty days to finish a short story. I have to do at least 1k per day. Well this is day two and I'm doing fairly well on MF piece (sorry but heh, both novels are MM). It's about a sorceress with a gift for bondage and the sorcerer who is better at it. So far, I'm having a ball.... My aspirations may go up in smoke in a few days, but I am going to give it a shot. Here's to ShoStoWriMo...or Short Story Writing Month :\
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4 comments:
Wow, I have just the opposite problem. Around 30k I get pooped out and have to pull teeth to extend my story. I think I'm too obsessed with word count. On PF I'm just trying to let it flow and not worry if I make my 60k goal until I'm finished. My advice would be to finish, then you can chuck stuff if you're over the word count a little. :D
Short stories are tough. I admire writers who can do them well. I've written a lot of them (five collections), but I'm not as comfortable with short stories as I am with novels. A novel gives me plenty of room to develop characters and throw in a red herring or two, or a plot twist here and there. Short stories are more focused. I'm usually not entirely happy with my short stuff, but I have an enormous sense of accomplishment when I finish one. Good luck with it, Mya!
Sage, around 20 k I am ussually in the 'let's really have fun' stage. As for my plan, I am using a *gasp* Outline for this one and am to trying to keep the minichapters tight at around 5 pages each. One can wish though right? On Day three with a goal of 4k :D
Ray, while I haven't read any of your short stories yet, I do have 'Bestial' on pre-order :D and if it's a mega-novel you will not hear a complaint from me. My feeling on the matter of short stories is that they are good for folk who either want a quick, reading fix or who just like to savor the short piece. I prefer novel lengths because they allow the reader to just lose themselves within the tale. All a short story does is make me hungry for more. I was so relieved to find out that "Ravenous" was going to have a sequel because I wanted to know *more*. Now I'm not saying an author has to put out the Star Wars Library-equivalent of related fiction, but I was so pissed that Clive Barker did Cabal as a short and Imajica as a tome...oh well...
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