Posted by DLThurston in Short Stories on June 13, 2011
My wife is absolutely awesome. I say that because she put up with me yesterday as I went on an emotional roller coaster ride trying to get a short story started. Here was my rough schedule:
I know that I’m not the first writer in history to have that day, or that story. Where you just want to tell a story that’s running around in your head, but it just won’t tell itself right. It gets confused, jumbled, comes out all wrong. You start off with the wrong main character, the wrong voice, the wrong absolutely everything, and the only way forward is to go all the way back and begin again.
But there are two things that I’m happy about with yesterday. First: I saw and diagnosed the problem. Earlier in my writing, I might have been happy with the 900 word original, chalked it up to just being a short plot, and gone about editing it. Second: Ultimately I didn’t give up. In the end, I still might not be able to tell the exact story that I want to tell, but I didn’t just give up, tuck tail, and decide to completely scrap the concept. It was a rough day, but I saw it through to the end, and I think the third approach is going to make for a story worth actually telling.
So. Back at it tonight, and hopefully get things on the right track.
Determination, Frustration, Home Again, Not giving up, writing
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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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