Novels, whether they be 200 or 400 pages, can be a big undertaking. So can short stories in some respect. I like to put just as much focus on short stories as I do novels. But, on occasion, there have always been a few ideas that are a wild spark that cannot be tamed. Something that needs to be written at that moment before the fire of it dies out. That's the drive that I love from writing short stories.
On one side I will have a story I need to spend some time on, even check out a couple of books from the library for research.
On another, I'll have stories that I have to challenge myself to write in one sitting or write it before the week is out. The majority of these stories have only one or two scenes and are purely dialogue -driven.
For novels I work at a slower pace. It took me six years to flesh out the plot and characters for Mr. Dead Eyes. For Wearing Donnie Torr it took me two years but also was a hundred pages longer than my first book.
For right now, I want to take the road of Stephen King and Ray Bradbury. I'm going to start selling my short stories to magazines. It's what you have to do for exposure. At the moment I have 35 to 40 short stories under my belt. By year's end, I hope to have 150. So who knows? Open up your favorite magazine, scan the table of contents and you just might find one of my short stories...
1 comment:
awesome idea, selling your short stories to mags. I am impressed, much luck.
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