Category: Writing


Literary constipation

I’ve got a new story! It’s right here in my head. I think it even has a coherent plot. As a matter of fact, it is so detailed that I think I’ve only dug up a small part of it. This might turn out to be a lot bigger than the story I was looking for. But for now, I’m just trying to take a small bite and put together a short story that I’m happy with.

Problem is… the story is stuck. It won’t flow out of my head. I’ve been trying to write it down and every sentence feels clunky and awkward. I’ve tried several approaches and, in every one, I’ve come away feeling like something is missing. I’m thinking that maybe the story has gotten too big in my head and is refusing to be constrained to a mere 5000 words. I’ve promised it that if it will do this for me, and do it well, I’ll reward it by telling more.

So far, we haven’t come to an agreement. But I’ll keep poking at it until it we do.

Plotsa matta you

I submitted a story for critique to the Online Writing Workshop recently. It was one of those rare ones that shows up in your head almost fully formed and ready to be put down on paper. I was pretty proud of it.

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Odyssey

I applied to Odyssey last month, right after the New Year. Odyssey is a workshop for fantasy, sci-fi, and horror writers. It’s regarded as one of the “Big 3” (along with Clarion and Clarion West) and, from everything I’ve read, it’s an exercise in intensity. Six weeks of nothing but writing and critiquing with fifteen other writers, the instructor (Jeanne Cavelos) and a guest writer who is brought in each week.

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Blogging

Blogging, huh? I’ve never had much use for them. I’m a pretty quiet guy and it always seemed a bit pretentious to think that anyone cared about anything I might have to say. Twitter? Tried it. I had twitter block. I didn’t have anything to say even in twitter sized chunks.

But… I’ve noticed that I do enjoy reading other people’s blogs, even when they don’t have anything to say. So maybe there’s some element of voyeurism involved. Maybe there’s something I’m missing.

So, I’m going to try it. It may fizzle out like Twitter did, but maybe I’ll discover that it’s useful. There’s some attraction to putting my thoughts down, even if no one is reading them, and writing, of any type, is probably a good thing. Maybe this will turn into a catalyst for getting story ideas. Ideas are the bane of my writing existence and anything that will generate them can only be a “good thing”.

My plan is to mostly post about my writing. Maybe have some juicy arguments with myself over plot or character development. As I get more comfortable and feel like I have something to say, I might even branch out into other topics. Whoa! Slow down! Small steps!

There you go. My first post, mostly about nothing. Feels good!

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