I think I have mentioned before that I have found the romance writing community to be the most generous and friendly professional group that I have ever been involved with.
In addition to being so generous with their time and support, they are also an incredibly talented bunch of men and women.
I’m thrilled to have met three wonderful authors who have also become good friends – Eva Scott, Noelle Clark and Susanne Bellamy.
We’re working on a new project – a four short story anthology called A Season to Remember. It will be out in late November and it will be FREE!
Keep checking any of the authors’ sites for more details.
I tend to write long works.
That’s why I gravitated to writing newspaper features over news stories (look I’m on my third paragraph and haven’t got to the good bit yet!).
It’s also why I gravitated to long-form novels. Moonstone Obsession is 94,000+ words, Warrior’s Surrender is 105,000 and Moonstone Conspiracy is shaping up to be over 90,000 words too.
So when my darling husband found out that I had signed on to write a short story his reaction was:
Can you actually write a *short* story?
Hardy Har Har…
Very funny Mr Carter
Now, what was I saying…
Oh yes.
Writing a short story has been a wonderful challenge. And this is what I have learned over the past month.
You have to be focused on the essentials. Whose point of view is it from. How do we get into their head? How do they see the world? Those questions will colour the approach to your story.
Word choice matters. This is true of long-form fiction as well, but it is vital in short stories. In in three or four words you’ve conveyed as much detail as the reader needs to know to convey a moment in time, an emotion or a location. In longer works you might have spent time developing that theme.
Story arcs are more like sharp ellipses, rather than gentle curves. Related to the point above, the action of the story takes places on a shortened time scale dictated by the length of the story. The romance genre is an excellent case in point. Out of necessity romance short stories have our hero and heroine falling in love, or at least acknowledging attraction much quicker than in a full length novel. So too the action – major events happen at a much faster rate.
Short stories require discipline. You can take six months to write an 80,000 word novel and people will nod their head sagely (yesssss, that is a long novel isn’t it?). But there is no hiding when writing a short story. Once you have plot and commit to a word count per writing session, you should be able to turn out a first draft in two to three weeks.
Short stories make a nice change of pace. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing Three Ships. It’s allowed the creative juices to flow while plots and dramatic way points for my full length title percolate in the back of my mind. Short stories also allow authors to try new things such as a different genre.
I finished (near enough) the first draft of Moonstone Conspiracy at the end of June and I gave myself July for Three Ships. I’m going to enjoy a few days break and begin revisions for Moonstone Conspiracy. I’m definitely going to commit to writing at least one new short story a year. I already have couple of short ghost stories that I’m mulling over for 2015.