Posted by DLThurston in Short Stories on May 23, 2011
What is it about me and writing challenges. Nanowrimo. #5MinuteFiction. And now this:
For those who don’t want to hand-copy bit.ly links, the link heads over here. The idea of the challenge is to follow in the literary footsteps of Ray Bradbury, who would write and submit one short story a week. If you’re looking for someone to emulate, Ray Bradbury is certainly a hell of a person to choose, if for no other reasons than offers like this Hugo nominated one. But also because he’s one of the most prolific writers in the history of the genre.
Now, in part he’s been so published because he’s damn good, but also because he pushed and tried to get published, and because he just made himself write.
There’s a clear problem with the challenge, and that’s the problem that I’ve clearly failed on it before. In 2009 I attempted a project based on Jonathan Coulton’s Thing a Week where I endeavored to write a new short story every week. I failed. It’s part of why for 2011 I chose to write a new short story every OTHER week. Clearly, at least at this point in my output, I’m not ready for writing something new every week.
What’s that? #5MinuteFiction? Okay, yes, I’ve taken up doing that, but for some reason I don’t tend to count that. Please don’t tell Leah Petersen. Why don’t I count that? To me that’s more of a writing exercise, some mental gymnastics, which is a lot of fun but triggers different parts of my brain than writing for publication.
Fortunately there’s a secondary challenge. A monthly challenge. So: challenge accepted. With the following rules imposed on myself:
Basically, write one story intended for publication rather than a story intended for free distribution each month. And submit one story (or, ideally, two) each month.
Going to be tough starting mid-month as I am, but I’m not going to let that be an excuse. And if I can get to a point where I feel more prolific, maybe I’ll up the challenge to 2 of each a month, or even take on the weekly challenge again in 2012.
Damn you, Day.
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DL Thurston's short fiction is available now in the Steam Works anthology, and coming soon in The Memory Eater and The Old Weird South. He also contributes regularly to the group blog Unleaded, Fuel for Writers and the online 5 Minute Fiction writing challenge. He lives in Annandale, VA with his wife and two cats.
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Thanks to your help The Memory Eater anthology has been funded on Kickstarter, and will soon be available for pre-order.
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