I started writing short stories this spring so i could try and experiment and work on characterization or structure etc. in a small controlled setting. I've had reasonable success so far. I've completed five short stories. Three are making the short fiction pro rounds right now. So far all have acquired at least one personalized rejection, which is awesome. It's a place to start. If my very first story (excluding the horrible one I sent to MZB's anthology back in the late 90's) sold, I'd be over the moon. But realistically I'm still learning. My third story, my tenth story, my hundredth story. Somewhere in there I'll make a sale (or I'm doing something very wrong and I need to reevaluate).
My goal for Clarion was to write six short stories. I'd space them out one a week. It's a small goal. I write stories between 2-4k right now. But at the end six short stories to send out was a very good thing. I've made some starts. There's a regency Cinderella twist playing in my back brain that hasn't quite found the right gown for the ball. There's a faerie story. A military sci-fi tale. None of them are quite finished.
Now my writer's groups deadlines are bumping into my Clarion ones and I need a short story by tomorrow.
Which is precisely why my brain added about 4,000 words onto my novel. Mind you they aren't tidy words. I've got a lovely scene where the two main characters meet, and some knife fighting and some mystery. It might be the first chapter, with a hole or three in the center still. At least the novel ticker jumped up a little. Now I need to plow through and see if I can break 1,000 words on the latest short story start before I crash.
Maybe tomorrow will give me brainpower for both, but the short story absolutely HAS to come first. You hear that brain. Short story!
