Over the last few days I've been posting some very short stories. I want to thank everyone that gave me feedback on them. It is always greatly appreciated.
I've been making up stories for as long as I can remember. I would tell them to my baby brother. I would tell them to my Grammy. I would tell them to my dolls. I'd even tell them to the family dog if he'd sit still long enough.
Then one day I began to write them down. And about that time I stopped sharing them too.
My family expected me to get married and have kids or to make a great career for myself. Being a writer wasn't considered a great career, so my writing got increasingly less of my time. Until it became nothing more than a hobby.
Flash forward to now. I'm not married and I have no children. I have a job that I love but it's not a career. And the one thing that I really want to be is a writer.
Here is where I run into trouble. I come up with lots of ideas and usually have no trouble starting them, but I have a LOT of trouble finishing anything longer than a poem. I have several unfinished projects that I've put large amounts of time into that remain unfinished. It's like being trapped onstage and not being able to find the exit.
Over the weekend I got to thinking about it and decided that I would take a few ideas and purposefully write something very short with them. No pressure and no chance of them getting so big they overpower me. And I used my blog for their unveiling.
I still struggled with the endings. The first one was difficult until I stopped fighting the symmetry that wanted to be there. The second one just didn't want to end. A fact that a close friend pointed out by saying, "I like it but I don't like the ending. I think, in part, because I didn't want it to end. It seemed like a very good beginning of something a lot bigger and I wanted it to be." Tell me that doesn't do something for the old ego. The third one gave me trouble because I hadn't really thought it through as much as the first two stories. The characters were still virtual strangers to me so I didn't know where they were headed. So basically I faked it. Hope it didn't show too much.
I think this battle with endings might help me in the long run. At least I hope so. You can expect more very short stories since this is an ongoing battle. Like I said, feedback is always appreciated. If you don't want to leave a comment then feel free to email me.
Thanks again for reading!
5 comments:
Keep writing, Princess. :-) You are great. I really liked the stories. :-) You'll be published one day, I just know it. :-)
As a writer, I've had the same problem you do with starting, but not finishing, long projects. I finally resolved that by deciding to just write short stories. There is nothing wrong with short stories. If you feel a compulsion to do something longer, you can always build the longer work out of short story bricks, like House on Mango Street. But my advice is not to push yourself to do the long book - that may come later, or it may not. Develop the short story skills first.
Wow! Great stories...you are very talented and so lucky to have discovered your talent! Wish I had some advice regarding the whole ending thing, but I have nothing.
Thanks for the link! : )
C,
Thanks! And no problem with the link. Your blog is thanks enough. :)
Good stories. :)
I have thought about doing some fiction on my blog, a continuing story, but have never gotten into it. Maybe someday. :)
Keep up the good work. :)
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