First Draft

Getting close to the end of a first draft of a short story I'm working on. I've actually had the ending written for a few weeks now. I'm writing to it which is kinda weird for me. In the past, I've usually wrote the ending last in anything I've written up until now. For some reason it feels like I'm holding string in my hands and it's tied to some anchor point ahead of me that I can't see. I'm taking steps, walking until I get to that point. Where the line takes me is something that I'm having to follow one step at a time. Can't tell if it's leading me straight ahead, walking to the left or right, or in circles. Definitely don't know how many steps it's going to take to get there. But, I guess that's part of the fun. I feel the journey should be just as fun as getting to the destination.

And on to the next step...

Short update

As I'm getting ready to head out to work (my paying job being that of a mail carrier), and eating my unfrosted strawberry poptart,  I realized I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been thinking quite a bit about the short story that I'm writing. I feel stuck. That I wrote myself into a corner. The threat of being too broad with the theme, or going off on tangents is very strong.

Here's my problem, my MC (Main Character) has made a decision out of rage and loss to destroy the heart of an alien empire. The MC, having been created by the alien empire, is being assaulted by a mix of emotions. Some that he's feeling for the first time. He wants answers for a crime they committed, but is trying to be judicial in the process. The problem I'm having is how much information is necessary to convey this without being too lengthy. It is a short story after all.

I guess the main thing is to focus on what attracted me to the story in the first place and stick to that.

A little is better than none

It's been slow writing the past few days because of commitments with family and work. I've only been able to write a few sentences. But it's a few more than I had a couple of days ago. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good hour or so in after work. 

Home stuff

Yesterday was the 4th of July. Didn't do anything special. In part because it was raining in the afternoon and evening. The wife and I did take care of a lot of home cleaning so hopefully our free time will be better spent doing something fun. 

Even though I wasn't able to get any writing done, I was able to read some short story nominees for the Hugo ballot. I read three out of the four yesterday. Hopefully I'll get to the last today. The three I read we're both beautifully written. All about relationships in some way (and heartbreak).

Three out of the four stories are ten pages or less. The last one is over thirty pages. I wonder what the word count is for short stories according to the Hugo rules? 

Hopefully I'll get some writing in today. I'd like to have the current story be done by the end of the month. July 30th to be exact, which is my son's first birthday. Sounds like a long way away, but I don't know how long this story is going to be. It feels like I'm discovery writing the thing, which is something I've never done before. Here's to progress. 

Progress

I never knew how much time I spent on just trying think about what I'm trying to write instead of just writing it. It feels more organic if I can spit out random stuff and try to direct into something useful.

This seems to be my process. Even when I was writing screenplays it always seemed to take a while because I would stop when I came across an idea I was trying to make clear instead of getting it out, even if it was something I could only explain in its simplest form.

I feel every day I need to push through the need to revise on the spot. I can always revise later. Consistency is the key for the moment. I need to rewire my brain to just get things out on the page first. I'll have to revise later anyway. Nothing's perfect the first time, but it can always get better... later.

Short Story Collection

The thought of doing something like a themed collection has always fascinated me. I wasn't sure if it's in me to create small stories that are engaging, short, while having a satisfying resolution. The shortest thing I've completed so far is a 100-page screenplay.

I've read several short stories. I think the challenging aspect is for them not to feel like they're excerpts cut and pasted from a longer work. Like watching a scene taken from the middle of a movie without any context of what came before.

I've read several of these and they seem like they're just that, where the endings feel like they should lead on into something else I wish I could keep reading. The one's I enjoy leave more of a lasting impression after I've finished them. Not wondering where the story can go, but how the theme of the story echoes in my mind for days afterward.

I'm trying to write a short story collection based on emotion. But, these shorts are created with science fiction in mind. I'm trying to go for five shorts. As of this writing, I have premises for three.

I understand that having a theme as broad as human emotions isn't very specific. What emotions to focus on? Is it one emotion over the course of each story or every story? More specifically, how emotive reactions are affected by extreme situations? By human and non-human alike.

I admit that I am nervous about tackling something like this, but if I can pull it off, I think that it will help me move into different territories, and most importantly, improve my writing. After all, that's the point. Better writing.

Today is Tuesday July, 1st. I surprisingly have two days off from work in the middle of the week. Not to gross people out with the gastrointestinal metaphor, but I hope to vomit(Sorry!) out these stories as quickly as possible.

Here are the tentative titles for these shorts:

1) Explorer 8

2) No-star Review

3) Reset Button

4) TBD

5) TBD

First post

Starting to get some time in to write now that I'm up at 5am to get ready for work. The sad thing is, as I'm on my way to work, all I want to do is write. Inspiration hits hard quickly in the morning, which is great, but then I have to tear myself away in order to make it to work by a decent time. Oh well. Just as long as there's something there that wasn't there the day before = progress