I only have one more story to write for the ‘write one short story every weekend jam type thing’ that I have been doing.
I will be glad to be done, since it is slightly stressful coming up with something new every weekend and then having a bunch of strangers judge it and pick it apart. On the other hand, it is pretty fun to push yourself and just see what you are capable of coming up with. And maybe it’s even a little fun to have a bunch of strangers pick apart your work, while you pick apart theirs. The hope is That in the end any story that comes out of this process will be that much better. You have passed that first draft, first read hurdle, and you can really try to send it.
I still find that writer’s block is not a thing. At least not for me. I can pretty easily come up with a handful of story ideas for any given prompt, toss out all the really bad ones and run with the sort of okay one that I have left over.
It usually takes me a couple of hours of jotting notes and stray lines to come up with something approaching cohesive, but coming up with new story ideas or scenes, or characters, or situations. That’s not really a problem.
That doesn’t mean that I write fast though. Many people in the competition would write a couple of stories and choose the one they liked best. A weekend is just enough time for me to write one sub 1000 word story and polish it up to any sort of presentable state. If I thought I had a few thousand words to work with, maybe I would write faster. Long dialog scenes or detailed action scenes. Stuff that can really get away from you if you have no hard word cap to deal with. That’s that sort of stuff that can really flow out of you when you get going. Or, to be more specific, If I really get going. I don’t know how you write. Maybe you are one of those fast people.
Over the past year, I have only finished a couple of stories. I have two that are on the verge of done, and another two that need a bit of work but are otherwise humming along fine. But, like I said, I don’t write fast. I like to take some time and consider words and phrases. Try on different ways to describe things. Rewrite a single sentence 7 or 8 or 25 times until I get it just right.
I do think that, for the most part, my stories this year are better, or more workable than last year. It’s tough for me to judge. I think I have less trouble getting them out, at any rate.
Well, it’s time I submit my story for this week. Wish me luck.