I thought that doing the 100 word pieces once a week would help, and I think that they may have actually done so – but scaling up hasn’t been the easiest thing in the world. That piece that I was working on last week, for instance: hit about 1,100 words and then I realized that I needed to think about the framework some more if I wanted it to be a coherent 5,000 piece. Which is kind of funny, because I’ve routinely cranked out a couple of thousand words a day for almost a decade. Just not all on the same theme, and with a different purpose in mind.
But I endeavor to persevere, as the man put it. This looks like something that I can maybe place a story in:
We will reopen for fiction submissions on June 1 and remain open until June 30. We can't wait to read your stories! https://t.co/j31iTXvT2S
— Liminal Stories (@liminal_stories) May 11, 2016
(Via @emccoy_writer)
…and if I’m smart about it I won’t feel like I’m trying to rush and hit a deadline (the other problem I was having last week). Well, that’s why they call these things ‘adjustment periods’…
Cool. Make it so.
Reality is a pretty big crutch for a writer. It’s harder create a world from whole cloth.
I disagree. I don’t think that it’s even possible to create a world from whole cloth. Regardless of your setting or your characters, a writer must draw from reality to make the story accessible to readers. Consider Spock’s discussion with Dr. McCoy in Star Trek Four. McCoy wants to talk about what Spock experienced when he died. Spock replied, “It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference.”
Every writer must draw from reality to create a common frame of reference, otherwise the reader will not be able to derive meaning from the story.
Working within the confines of a “real” setting can be much more challenging than imagining other worlds. Making the mundane interesting, without the benefits of dragons or magic, requires just as much imagination and attention to detail as describing the scale patterns of a dragon or the incantations of a wizard. Every writer can benefit from learning to find a compelling story in places that most people would consider ordinary and dull. If you can make two people meeting in a supermarket interesting, your writing will be much richer and more layered when you take on other genres.