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I have this problem; I can't write a short story to save my life! I have to wonder if I'm of the same kind as S Andrew Swann, in that I am simply /not/ a "short story" writer. (Please read his comments in his "omnibus" if that makes no sense.)
I have real difficulty at building very short, single-scene stories, probably entirely because my mind always works in very large-scale thought processes. I can never seem to simply write about a character doing this or that. As a reader, I always want to know the "whys" and "hows" and "whats", and so, that bleeds over into my writing as well. I have many little ideas - small-scale scenes - in my head all the time, and while some of them would be really neat to see on paper, I can never seem to just do that singular scene. I always find myself trying to tell the background and history, such as where did the various characters come from, what caused them to be in this particular place at this particular time, and then, should the character do something as in some action, then why was he/she compelled to /that/ action rather than some other action instead, which means delving into some character psyche as well. So a single scene which I think should play out in a page or two at most, ends up being about twenty, and I haven't even told the original story yet!
As of late, that's been my latest challenge in writing. I've always had the scenes in my head. I've also always had the desire to take all those scenes to completion, which perhaps is just not possible in some cases. Some ideas simply have to be developed into complete ones, and cannot exist alone in their original conceptualizations. In less grand terms, because of my whole "background" problem, sometimes I turn simple ideas into ones that are much more complex than they need to be. /That's/ where my real problem lies, I think. Sometimes, I just need to skip all the background and historical stuff and tell the dern story! Let it be exactly, and /only/, what it is. Don't try and make it into more, because it's not /supposed/ to be. It's back to the KISS method, right? "Keep It Simple, Stupid"! I guess being an engineer, I tend to over-engineer everything, even my writing. :) Anyway, this story is the result of that continuing challenge, which is to actually write a short story that's /just/ the story.
This story is "furry" in nature, is it has anthropomorphic characters in it. It's kinda one of those "alternate timeline" stories. The best mindset to read this under is to imagine our Earth but with "furry" races sharing the planet with the humans. The setting, in my mind, was World War II, but unless you're a real weapon fan of that era, you probably wouldn't catch the reference, so it could almost be any war on any planet in any galaxy. I'll let you decide.
If you feel inclined to offer critique or comment, please do. I'm always open for input.
Disclaimer: I hate to have to put this on here, but this work of written fiction is copyright me. Please do not distribute, copy, alter, etc, without my permission. Having said all that, feel free to download and use it for your own inspiration, amusement, laughter, etc, etc.
I have real difficulty at building very short, single-scene stories, probably entirely because my mind always works in very large-scale thought processes. I can never seem to simply write about a character doing this or that. As a reader, I always want to know the "whys" and "hows" and "whats", and so, that bleeds over into my writing as well. I have many little ideas - small-scale scenes - in my head all the time, and while some of them would be really neat to see on paper, I can never seem to just do that singular scene. I always find myself trying to tell the background and history, such as where did the various characters come from, what caused them to be in this particular place at this particular time, and then, should the character do something as in some action, then why was he/she compelled to /that/ action rather than some other action instead, which means delving into some character psyche as well. So a single scene which I think should play out in a page or two at most, ends up being about twenty, and I haven't even told the original story yet!
As of late, that's been my latest challenge in writing. I've always had the scenes in my head. I've also always had the desire to take all those scenes to completion, which perhaps is just not possible in some cases. Some ideas simply have to be developed into complete ones, and cannot exist alone in their original conceptualizations. In less grand terms, because of my whole "background" problem, sometimes I turn simple ideas into ones that are much more complex than they need to be. /That's/ where my real problem lies, I think. Sometimes, I just need to skip all the background and historical stuff and tell the dern story! Let it be exactly, and /only/, what it is. Don't try and make it into more, because it's not /supposed/ to be. It's back to the KISS method, right? "Keep It Simple, Stupid"! I guess being an engineer, I tend to over-engineer everything, even my writing. :) Anyway, this story is the result of that continuing challenge, which is to actually write a short story that's /just/ the story.
This story is "furry" in nature, is it has anthropomorphic characters in it. It's kinda one of those "alternate timeline" stories. The best mindset to read this under is to imagine our Earth but with "furry" races sharing the planet with the humans. The setting, in my mind, was World War II, but unless you're a real weapon fan of that era, you probably wouldn't catch the reference, so it could almost be any war on any planet in any galaxy. I'll let you decide.
If you feel inclined to offer critique or comment, please do. I'm always open for input.
Disclaimer: I hate to have to put this on here, but this work of written fiction is copyright me. Please do not distribute, copy, alter, etc, without my permission. Having said all that, feel free to download and use it for your own inspiration, amusement, laughter, etc, etc.
Category Story / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 65.3 kB
I found a moment between bouts of frustration from lack of inspiration and decided to just kick back and read this story after checking the new submissions. I must say your writing style is profoundly different from anything I expected..though honestly I am not even sure what my expectations were. In honesty I probably always approach stories/novels written in first person perspective with a touch of apprehension as I think I was trained to view 'first person' as ammatuer on avg, though indeed there have been many a talented writer who used it rather succesfully.
I think thats what you did here, succeeded. You painted a picture and something beyond physical descriptions of a place or a time. You painted in the medium of emotion. I must say I especially enjoyed the dialogue, you definetly have a talent in dialogue, it reminds me vaguely of the short stories of Ernest Hemingway, one of my absolute favorite writers! You brought the different personalities and moods to life through the dialogue. And you definetly proved my preconceived notions of first person writing wrong ;)!
As for long, no I don't think it was. How I define long is excessive verbage that could be done without and still convey the intended meaning/point of a story. But I don't think you used exsessive verbage here, not in the least. Nor did the story drag or feel monotonous and endless. It had life, flowed well and kept your interest. That is how I define a succesful piece of writing.
The feel of the story itself reminded me of the writings of the Lost Generation..only with a lovely twist, ie the morphs. You made them fit into the story, they didn't seem awkward or written into a preexisting story template.
Kudos and thank you for sharing Sir Mick.
I think thats what you did here, succeeded. You painted a picture and something beyond physical descriptions of a place or a time. You painted in the medium of emotion. I must say I especially enjoyed the dialogue, you definetly have a talent in dialogue, it reminds me vaguely of the short stories of Ernest Hemingway, one of my absolute favorite writers! You brought the different personalities and moods to life through the dialogue. And you definetly proved my preconceived notions of first person writing wrong ;)!
As for long, no I don't think it was. How I define long is excessive verbage that could be done without and still convey the intended meaning/point of a story. But I don't think you used exsessive verbage here, not in the least. Nor did the story drag or feel monotonous and endless. It had life, flowed well and kept your interest. That is how I define a succesful piece of writing.
The feel of the story itself reminded me of the writings of the Lost Generation..only with a lovely twist, ie the morphs. You made them fit into the story, they didn't seem awkward or written into a preexisting story template.
Kudos and thank you for sharing Sir Mick.
Thank you, M'Lady Balaa, for the critique and comments. It is most appreciated.
I think my greatest worry with stories like this is not telling enough of the story that it would make sense, but then I end up at the other extreme of going into so much detail that the story gets lost in it all, and then it doesn't flow right.
Overall, I'm glad that so far, folks seem to think it's okay.
The one I sent you earlier "The Master Warrior" is much longer (about 30 pages or so) and about four scenes, so even though there's a lot more content there, there's also a lot more room to put in the "background" stuff.
I'll have to think about posting a few others here, just to see how people respond to them.
Thanx again for your comments Lady Ana. I hope that if nothing else, it got your mind away from your frustrations for a brief while. :)
I think my greatest worry with stories like this is not telling enough of the story that it would make sense, but then I end up at the other extreme of going into so much detail that the story gets lost in it all, and then it doesn't flow right.
Overall, I'm glad that so far, folks seem to think it's okay.
The one I sent you earlier "The Master Warrior" is much longer (about 30 pages or so) and about four scenes, so even though there's a lot more content there, there's also a lot more room to put in the "background" stuff.
I'll have to think about posting a few others here, just to see how people respond to them.
Thanx again for your comments Lady Ana. I hope that if nothing else, it got your mind away from your frustrations for a brief while. :)
Hmm... How do i start..?
Well, before i read this story, i had high expectations. I've read everything else on your page, the comments for pictures, your journal.. And from how you wrote in those, i was REALLY looking forward to read this story as well.
About the story then, what can i say?
It was PERFECT! In EVERY way!! It's been years since i have read a story that i actually liked, in fact, i had kind of given up on finding a story that i WOULD like.... Everyone kept suggesting books to me that i got a hold of and started reading, but they gave me nothing. I found them boring and i just couldn't get into them even if my life depended on it:( I never even finished those books:s
But then, i find THIS story, and it was like magic.. Already from the first paragraph, i could see it all in my head. The story is so well written that before i knew it, that was ME in there! I was the one sitting by the little fire all alone... I could hear everything that was being said in my head, and i barely notised that i was reading... It became like a movie scene in my head and everything just happened on it's own. When the main character grinned, so did i. When he felt scared, i could feel the tention in my own body. When he finally relaxed, so did i...
After reading this story, i'm left with a feeling of wanting more. MUCH more! What happened "tomorrow"?? I'm telling you, if i could have ONE wish granted, i would want to be the main character in this story for real:D Comes good or bad, i still would take it... I've always wanted friends like that:p And experiencing this story made me want it even more:)
With this story, you became my favorite author:) Now you will be remembered by me forever:p
Well, before i read this story, i had high expectations. I've read everything else on your page, the comments for pictures, your journal.. And from how you wrote in those, i was REALLY looking forward to read this story as well.
About the story then, what can i say?
It was PERFECT! In EVERY way!! It's been years since i have read a story that i actually liked, in fact, i had kind of given up on finding a story that i WOULD like.... Everyone kept suggesting books to me that i got a hold of and started reading, but they gave me nothing. I found them boring and i just couldn't get into them even if my life depended on it:( I never even finished those books:s
But then, i find THIS story, and it was like magic.. Already from the first paragraph, i could see it all in my head. The story is so well written that before i knew it, that was ME in there! I was the one sitting by the little fire all alone... I could hear everything that was being said in my head, and i barely notised that i was reading... It became like a movie scene in my head and everything just happened on it's own. When the main character grinned, so did i. When he felt scared, i could feel the tention in my own body. When he finally relaxed, so did i...
After reading this story, i'm left with a feeling of wanting more. MUCH more! What happened "tomorrow"?? I'm telling you, if i could have ONE wish granted, i would want to be the main character in this story for real:D Comes good or bad, i still would take it... I've always wanted friends like that:p And experiencing this story made me want it even more:)
With this story, you became my favorite author:) Now you will be remembered by me forever:p
Well...uh...I guess...er...you liked it, huh? :)
I'm glad that the story moved you, and you were able to feel the character's emotions. As always, the author's entire point it to submerge the reader into the story, and I take your comments as I was able to do just that, which I'm extremely happy for.
I hope you like some of the other, written stuff as well.
I'm glad that the story moved you, and you were able to feel the character's emotions. As always, the author's entire point it to submerge the reader into the story, and I take your comments as I was able to do just that, which I'm extremely happy for.
I hope you like some of the other, written stuff as well.
I had originally thought about using this as the "first chapter" to a longer story, but there were two reasons I didn't.
One) the whole point to The Challenge was to write something that was "complete" and could stand on its own, as-is so to speak, and I think this story does that.
Two) I wanted this story to be mostly up-beat. War is a nasty business, and all battles, regardless of the "winner", have casualties. Continuing on with the story, I'd have to delve into the aftermath of the next day's battle, and the outcomes of it, and in truth, someone's (or a bunch of them, if not all) gonna die. For an author, this is a no-win scenario, especially that it turns what I wanted as a "positive" scene into a very down/sad one.
Certainly, the story leaves a lot to the imagination, and there's always the "what happens next?" issue, but I think that can be good for a story. It lets the reader's imagination go whereever it wants to, and lets them fill in the proverbial blanks however they want, without plaling my own "limitations' on it.
So, for what it's all worth... :)
One) the whole point to The Challenge was to write something that was "complete" and could stand on its own, as-is so to speak, and I think this story does that.
Two) I wanted this story to be mostly up-beat. War is a nasty business, and all battles, regardless of the "winner", have casualties. Continuing on with the story, I'd have to delve into the aftermath of the next day's battle, and the outcomes of it, and in truth, someone's (or a bunch of them, if not all) gonna die. For an author, this is a no-win scenario, especially that it turns what I wanted as a "positive" scene into a very down/sad one.
Certainly, the story leaves a lot to the imagination, and there's always the "what happens next?" issue, but I think that can be good for a story. It lets the reader's imagination go whereever it wants to, and lets them fill in the proverbial blanks however they want, without plaling my own "limitations' on it.
So, for what it's all worth... :)
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