Published! Twice! Okay, it’s the local community college’s literary journal, but you have to start somewhere, right?
“Candy” is also the story that won my acceptance to Odyssey, so it’s been busy.
Category: Writing
So, I’ve been working on this story recently… well, story might not be the right word. Idea. I’ve been working on this idea. It’s a really cool idea and I’m almost absolutely sure it leads to a story, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find the path from here to there. I was getting more and more frustrated with my pages of disconnected scenes and aborted beginnings.
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I’m working on a short story that I plan to send to Odyssey as part of my pre-workshop homework. The basic premise of the story is a man who has power, but as a consequence, his sensations, physical and emotional, are dulled. He must decide whether the power is worth the cost.
I’m in! I’m in! I’m in!
*Happy dance*
I just got the word that I’ve been accepted to Odyssey. I’m so psyched!
Is it June yet?
I’ve been struggling along with the story I mentioned in the last post and it’s still being stubborn. I think maybe the issue is that I’ve gotten too hung up on this plot thing.I don’t know if it’s a bad thing or an okay thing, but I just don’t write that way. I’m not an outliner. My stories don’t line up like neat little dominoes, each one tipping over the next. I usually start with a character and let it tell me what it wants to do. Sometimes that’s interesting, sometimes not. I usually know pretty quickly which way it’s gonna roll.
So here’s what I’m gonna do. First, I’m going back to the last story I was revising, the one that caused me to realize that I’m terrible at plotting, and I’m just gonna let it do its thing without obsessing over the plot. Then, I’m going to submit it to OWW and let them tell me whether it is decent or not. If I get ten critiques that all say ‘OMG that’s not a story, there’s no plot’, then I guess I’ll obsess about this plot thing some more.
Next, I’m gonna take this story I’ve been working on and write it from the character, the way I usually do. This guy is cool as hell and if I can start feeling him, I think this story will flow and maybe even – fingers crossed – be good.
Wish me luck.