Saturday 8 May 2010

Super Short Fiction

For those interested in writing fiction a good way to start is by writing Super Short Stories. These are also known as Drabble Fiction.

They are basically short stories with only one hundred words. Although this may sound easy, trust me, getting them right is tricky. However, they do have the advantage of being short; both for the writer and the reader. You can then expand on them later if you wish.

As an example, here is one of mine:


His hand reaches for the handle. The backdoor is unlocked. He smiles and enters the house, gently easing the door shut behind. He tiptoes through the kitchen and then the dining room and into the hallway.

He stops to listen.

She's in the lounge.

He opens the door, just a fraction; enough to slip through. He sees her. She's sitting in a chair. Her eyes are closed; her breathing gentle.

He's almost upon her. She still hasn't heard him. He reaches out his hands and then ... she grabs him.

"Ah, Mom," he laughs, "How'd you know I was here?"

A summary of my writing so far...

Over the years I've written screenplays, articles, short stories, and I'm currently working on a children's fantasy book. The novel will probably take up a lot of my posts, so I won't add anything about it in this one.

Anyways, I had no success with the screenplays and they are saved somewhere on my computer and maybe, just maybe, I'll get around to them again one day.

My first attempts to write articles and short stories, also met with no success. In fact I had plenty of rejection letters. But, as a writer, you really have to prepare yourself for them. They are part of the game and everyone who tries to get published will have a collection of them in a folder somewhere.

It's easy to give up after a rejection. Even easier to give up after twelve, but you shouldn't. If your goal is to be published one day, you have to learn to deal with those rejections and keep plugging away until you achieve your goal.

I did keep plugging away and, after a dozen rejections, I was finally published in a magazine back in 2001. Over the next few years I've had more success with publishing and have, to date, published close to a hundred articles, essays, and short stories.

In this blog, I'll try to share some of my experiences, some advice on writing and getting published, and also some short stories. With any luck, some of it will be worth reading. Yeah, one can only hope.

Forgot I had this blog.

Yep, as the title of this post suggest, I forgot all about this blog, or even the need to blog. However, I really should at least try to post some stuff, even if it's boring. Right?

I'll try to update every week or so, but can't promise. Now, what to post is another matter. Perhaps some writing related stuff as I'm, you know, meant to be a writer. Of course a few random thoughts may also find their way into the mix, too.