 Short Stories: December 11, 2012 Issue [#5412] |
  Short Stories
This week: Unresolved Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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Another year has come and gone already and with it of course comes the set of goals and the rest, everything we didn't finish while we were busy living.
At some point along the way I have fallen off of nearly every bandwagon I was on in this past year for at least a day or two. I've lost track of most of the goals I had from this past year, or, more specifically, I have never gone back to adjust my goals to reflect the occasional change of circumstances.
I think that's the big thing about goals is that we forget to adjust them to keep ourselves continually challenged to do better, write better, be better.
As the inevitable year-in-year-out list of promises we make to ourselves about our writing are about to be front and center once again, with our New Year's Resolutions and the tasks they entail, I think my suggestion to you as a short story author and enthusiast is to regard them as fiction.
Now, I'm not saying that goals are unattainable, but certainly most of us have something on our to-do list which is, in all practical sensible uses of the word, a fantasy. That fantasy is perfectly all right-- in fact, I'm also going to double down on the idea and say that fantasy is necessary for any kind of success. We have to be able to imagine ourselves as being capable of some level of success before we're able to pursue and hopefully attain that success.
This year, I want you to take that fantasy a step further-- recognize it for the fantasy that it is, and write your way into making it a reality. I know you can; you wouldn't be reading this if you were not looking for a nudge of inspiration to come along, or for some suggestions on what to write.
I, personally, struggle with an irrational fear of... well, not only rejection, but even of success. I expect it and anticipate it so thoroughly that I often do not even try, and I know that's not wise. In my mind's eye, I can perfectly visualize the notion of sending out a story submission and receiving whatever response I may get to this action, but something in the process has been gummed up for me, and so something that many writers do daily or weekly becomes completely imaginary for me. "Wouldn't it be interesting if...?"
If.
And so, year in, year out, "This is going to be the year I finally..."
I've built such an elaborate fiction around this in my mind that I have recently decided I am going to unravel it and wind it back up and see what I can make of it. I've taken the fantasy, the fiction I've woven around why I can't do the most simple thing, and pulled it apart.
I hope for you, this New Year, that whatever fiction you've woven for yourself that keeps you from being as productive as you want to be, is something that you can isolate for the fiction it is, and that you can make the best of that particular fantasy. 
Until Next Month,
Take care and Write on!
~jay |
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Feedback from last month's editorial: "Down the Middle"
dejavu_BIG computerprobs  writes:
Excellent pointers in this newsletter, Jay! Thank you for including my story;'No Regrets', I am honoured! One way I try getting through middle slumps is to try finding an info dump in the story and putting it in 'real time'- gives characters chance to interact, or if only one character, to up his conflict/ emotional level.
Sometimes, it even leads to a better resolution of the story itself.
Always a pleasure, and thanks! I agree with your assessment on how to give that midstory lag a little less drag.
readsalot writes:
I get through the middle of the story by taking it by chapter. Chapter by chapter I put an event. Something happens in each chapter. I also put some side event and put emotion in the chapter. Now if you are not writing chapters take it by page. Think what you want to get on that page and then do it. I write over long times and I have found that it is very efficient.
Sound advice, but to go through chapter by chapter --or, in the case of a short story, which is the topic of this newsletter, scene by scene-- without any guide to where the story should go means it's very easy to steer the cart off the rails.
HABII OTHMAN writes:
Thanks for your news letter, it's really helping.
You're welcome. Glad you enjoy it!
Titch  writes:
thank you for this helpful piece
I plan a start middle and end to all my storys then fill in the spaces
this dos not always work as I intended and often I go completely off track but this is all part of the creative game
Very true, and while going off track can lead interesting places, if you start the story with a game plan in mind it becomes a lot easier to set things right once you head off on that detour. 
writergeorge writes:
I like to start at the end and work backwards.
For event-to-event story planning, this is not a bad starting point, though I think it's best if the core of the work is assessed all at once; where to begin is just as important, but I am finding that the more I know about the resolution of the story, the better I do in the execution.
Zeke writes:
I think the middle should set things up so the ending has more impact.
A sound ideal.
As always, I welcome your feedback, and I'll see you all in 2013!
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