Short Story Writers http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415 BlueNinja103 For those with the attention span of a three year old, like me. Or those that just like to write shorter stories and cover a wide variety of topics in one big book. Is there a running theme to your stories, or are they just a random jumble of your brilliant ideas? Need help, opinions from other short story writers, or a cup of a certain virtual caffeinated beverage? Discuss your short stories here! Thu, 13 Oct 2011 05:05:12 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_38358 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_38358 Aklo I am planning on doing a series of short stories this year, starting with really short ones around 500 words and working up to longer ones of 10.000 words or more. I do plan of having some sort of framework, short pieces that I will write between to connect the various stories. Not planned a lot yet, but the common denominator in my stories would be that they all have supernatural creatures in them (I nearly always write magical realism, horror, fantasy, sf or fairytales anyway), and the framework would be about a world where these creatures all live together. The framework is just for NaNo I think, I intend to use the seperate short stories for various short story contests in 2012. How about yours, Blue Ninja? Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:11:41 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_41036 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_41036 khailibowen I'm going back and forth, trying to decide if I want to do a collection of short stories or try to tie them all in with chapters and transitional words. I have only written short stories, and I can only envision my plans as short stories. There will be a FMC who is a psychotherapist who is in every story about superhero's who are really people who are mentally ill with delusions of grandeur. It seem easier for me to keep all the stories separate, but we'll see. I still have 18 days to decide :) Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:14:54 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_46972 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_46972 fyca It looks like I'm going to be a rebel short story writer again. I am planning on doing a project I'm calling Duets, where I will have two randomly selected characters operating in a randomly selected setting or situation. I was hoping that it would not be considered a rebel idea, but they are telling me it is. I'm not yet sure if I want to try to use a recurring character or not, as that kind of defeats my purpose. Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:57:43 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_49740 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_49740 BlueNinja103 I call my stories C.R.A.P. (Crazy Random Amazing Possibilities) They're all based on a What If? question. I want to write a story where something really crazy happens, and then move on to another random, crazy event in no particular order. The one similarity they all share is the SF genre, and most are about Time Travel. Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:55:36 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_51973 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_51973 BlueNinja103 There's nothing wrong with being a little rebellious at times! Or a lot! Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:56:13 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_51979 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_51979 BlueNinja103 I like the short story contest idea. Do you know of any good ones I could enter some of my work in? Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:57:22 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_51997 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_51997 wordcorruption I'm definitely on this list! I'm tackling a lot of different projects and most of them will probably be shorter stories but I am perfectly okay with that. I am happy with my short stories and I enjoy writing them a lot. Fri, 14 Oct 2011 06:36:50 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_53575 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_53575 Aklo Not unless you write in Dutch, I'm afraid... Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:46:12 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_55194 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_55194 Miss Bells Ah, I thought I was the only one. HOORAY!!!!! I love short stories. I'm good at them, and most importantly, I'm much more likely to actually edit and revise them instead of getting scared and never looking at them again. I have a collection planned, but I haven't actually gone so far as to think many of the stories through. My stories are generally around the 2-3k mark though, so I want to write at least one that is 5-6k. BlueNinja - if you want competitions, check out these sites... http://www.writingcalendar.com/ http://winningwords.org.uk/deadlines/ Some of them you need to pay to enter (these are the ones that pay you if you win though) but there are some free ones too. Writers' Forum also has a really good short story comp where you can pay an extra £5 for feedback, which I can't recommend enough. Really good value for money. I'm so glad I found this thread, and that there are other short story writers here! Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:29:30 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_59580 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_59580 BlueNinja103 I could try, but... I think not. Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:45:32 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_74293 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_74293 BlueNinja103 Eep, I live in the U.S. does that mean I'm not eligible for some? Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:46:29 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_74308 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_74308 Kaa I'm doing a collection of short stories linked by a poem I'm writing ahead of time (and I will dutifully not count it when calculating my word count) of the following form: A Is for Angel (&lt;----- These are the titles of the individual stories.) B Is for Bard C Is for Clowns that Creep Through the Yard D Is for Dragon E Is for Egg F Is for Fangs Sunk Into Your Leg G Is for Graveside H Is for Hive ... And that's as far as I have anything planned out. The rhyme scheme comes from an old Sesame Street bit, and the idea of alphabet stories came from the Alphabet Quartet stories on DailyScienceFiction.com. The plan is to have a variety of science fiction, horror, fantasy, comedy, drama, etc. That's the PLAN. :) Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:37:40 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_95527 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_95527 Deidrea I keep wanting to write a collection of personalized romantic short stories (G-Rated ones) and upload them to a website for people to enjoy. I just haven't decided whether or not to do it for NaNo. I actually haven't decided whether or not to do NaNo yet. I all ready have enough projects going on... I'm having a hard time deciding! Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:01:39 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_96434 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_96434 Mendur I, too, plan to write short stories to submit to competitions and open call anthologies. Last year, I just wrote short stories for fun and a lot of it was not publishable because I did all sorts of odd things in the stories. This year, I want to focus and make each story the best I can do ... and still reach 50,000 words of short stories in 30 days. Check out ralan.com for all sorts of markets accepting submissions. Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:56:55 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_98445 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_98445 AkiKaza Yay, short story rebels :D I have the attention span of a goldfish. LOL. Kind of upset a lil bit but I know it's what I do best :) This year I'm gonna do a collection of (as of now) unrelated short works. Basically whatever comes out of my soul. I plan on most of them being vignettes, minimum of 1,667 words each, so one story per day. And I'll choose what to write about by shuffling my iPod and writing a story that relates to the song :D There might be some poems (poetry is my true love &lt;3~) and drabbles, but as long as I reach the WC I don't care what I write :3 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:54:25 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_100167 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_100167 Mungolian I too am writing a bunch of short stories for NaNo this year. Although covering a few genres they all feature relationships. Some of these relationships are successful, some are destructive, and some are doomed by external forces. I'm generally used to stories with large casts, so we'll see how I well I do when focusing on just two people. Kind of worried my characters will all seem the same by the time November is over. Hoping, though, that I write something near publishable. Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:33:30 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_101536 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_101536 Vyctori I'm planning to do a set of inter-linked episodic short stories, does that count? Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:57:23 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_106679 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_106679 Niobii I have a fictionalised memoir planned but I also have some great ideas for children's short stories. They might be very short (don't know about word count yet) but I need to figure out which age group I aiming them at. It will be young so the stories might only be a few hundred each, with pictures but will form a bigger collection - kind of like the Mr Men books. I think that makes me a rebel?! Now....where's that halo! Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:16:40 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_107482 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_107482 midwinter-mist I'm planning a series of short stories too since I have the attention span of a toddler when I write. But they all have one overarching theme, so I'll assume what I'll be doing will count as a novel. Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:52:18 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_108394 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_108394 dssmith I'm doing short stories this year because none of the stories that I've had in mind have seemed to want to develop into full novels. So I won't force them. My stories share a setting (space station), a genre (SF romance), and a subject (strange things that happen in interspecies relationships). Some characters who are major in one story may make small appearances in the others. I overplanned and plotted out my stories to death for two years straight, and it got me nowhere. I'm not so sure my attention span is fit for one story taking up a whole novel. :p Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:43:40 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_109962 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_109962 Amelia Marchetti I've overcomplicated my stories to the point that they never ended up going anywhere. xD Reached the 50k mark, but never actually finished the stories. I've always had issues with ending stories, so writing a series of short stories this year felt like the perfect way to work on this! I'm a little ashamed to admit, but what my stories will all have in common is that they're all fanfiction for the same franchise. But it'll be a helpful tool, so I figure why not. =) Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:56:08 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_111461 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_111461 Mabdese I just finished editing a 600+ page novel from 2 years ago and I never want to edit that much text in a row ever again so I decided to do short stories this year. I'm going with several unrelated short stories including 2 based in worlds my friends have created! I'll be giving them away as Christmas presents too. So highly unconventional all around :) Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:45:01 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112133 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112133 Rose M. Welch I'm a little surprised to see this thread. I asked in an official forum about the rules and was told that my novel of short stories was, in fact, within the rules. Maybe because the stories are all linked? Anyway, take heart, because the historical definition of novel is: A short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work. [from 16th c.]. We win! Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:03:21 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112498 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112498 Rose M. Welch Answered my own question. From the 'Am I a Rebel?' thread found here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/723 "I'm writing a collection of short stories. Am I a rebel? Probably not. There's no actual rule on this one. We define a novel as "a lengthy work of fiction." However, we the moderators feel that since you find short story collections on the shelves alongside longer works of fiction, if they're related, they count. They need to have some common theme, or linking thread that weaves them together that makes them a single, "lengthy work of fiction." Which leads us to the next: I'm writing a series of unrelated essays/short stories/vignettes. Am I a rebel? Probably. Again, there's no official rule on this one, but if you're just combining unrelated work to get the 50k, it's probably not a novel." Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:08:25 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112590 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112590 Marauders Girl And Yes Rose, it depends on whether your short stories have some sort of connecting theme whether you're a rebel or not :) - in a lot of cases where people are doing short stories and consider themselves rebels - it might mean, for instance, that there's not any continuity between the stories - they may not have the same characters, totally different plots, genres.. etc. Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:13:44 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112675 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_112675 Dreamer74 I am writing short stories as well. *And* I'll be working on things that have already been started. Rebel all around here. I've set myself a challenge in October to write a minimum of 500 words based off of a picture writing prompt every day. Hence, by the end of the month, I'll have 31 stories ready to pounce on. For me, however, the challenge has always been finishing things. Hence, I will be required to actually *finish* stories that I began this month. It probably won't be all of them, but it *will* be at least 50k words of them! I'm very pumped for NaNo now that I've given myself permission to be a rebel and follow my own drum. I've won several times doing "normal" NaNo, so I know I can do that. Time for a different challenge =) Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:34:10 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_116580 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_116580 AkiKaza everything counts :3 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:22:16 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_124310 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_124310 AkiKaza but yeah, I think yours "counts" as normal NaNo since the stories are linked Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:23:07 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_124319 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_124319 the_alchemist I finally submitted my novel to agents this week, and I want a break from novelling, so it's definitely short stories for me this year. I'm planning an anthology of 37(ish) short stories based on Shakespeare's plays (which I want to self publish, probably electronically), and also want to enter more competitions and submit to magazines and so on. I think I'm challenging myself to finish 30 short stories in 30 days, therefore. No restrictions on length, BUT I'm going to be submitting within the month too, so I will be editing and polishing as well as drafting. Finishing and submitting old projects will 'count'. Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:28:02 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_125837 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_125837 sarolee17 I'll be writing short stories this year for the first time...all other years I've done a novel. Although I've been a rebel before since last year I worked on a novel that I had started from the year previous. I doubt that my stories will be linked. I'm writing with the intention that one or some of these might go into my portfolio to apply for graduate school (trying to go for that MFA). So probably the more diverse, the better. Problem is that I've been working on novels so long that I'm out of practice with writing short stories. I used to be able to crank them out like nobody's business, and now I'm lacking inspiration. Any words of advice for getting back into short story writing mode? Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:47:30 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_127916 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_127916 esfilce I am doing short stories this year as well. I did novels the last three years I did NaNo but this year wanted to try something different. They will have an overall theme and same basic world (so an overall premise) but will center around different characters at different points in time. Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:42:58 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_130868 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_130868 Sirithduriel I will be writing unrelated short stories, after my previous three NaNo novels never went anywhere at the end. Plus, editing a short story is less intimidating, and easier to have other people read. I'm planning out two of em right now, just so I have something to start with in November, and a couple of other ideas on my list. Considering the way I wrote my previous NaNo's, though, it's quite possible one of the story will grow and grow, and keep on growing =) Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:56:26 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_139877 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_139877 thatollie I'm writing short stories with the common theme of Surreal Estate which is also my title, it's nice how it worked out like that. Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:45:34 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_170713 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_170713 Game and Watch Kirby Last year I wrote 5 short stories, which crept up in word count from beginning to end. Story 1: A dream of MC#1 Story 2: About a cutthroat high-school chess team, featuring MC#2, and MC#3, who asks out a specific girl . . . Story 3: That specific girl recounts her summer romance with MC#1 Story 4: MC#4 and a british foreign exchange student living in his home go through the trauma of his grandpa's death. Story 5: All of the previous characters wind up together at summer camp, hilarity ensues. I guess the stories were interconnected enough to count as a novel. If you want to do short stories, connected or not, more power to you! This year I plan to divide my novel into three specific parts that function like 15,000 word or so short stories, although the cast of characters is essentially the same, so more like three story arcs. I guess thats like three short stories. Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:24:45 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_174724 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_174724 Polenth I'm writing shorts this year. They're only linked by general genre (fantasy and science fiction). Outside that they'll be all over the show, including a few picture book ideas I had. Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:55:22 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_179818 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_179818 HM-Marable I'm writing a series of stories about different people from different countries in the same continet. So far, I've planned out 27 :-s I've written 3, but they wont count word wise for nano Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:56:14 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_181965 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_181965 ForbesStimson I'm writing short stories as well! I'm not planning on having any relation, I'll likely be jumping genres (horror, science fiction, modern fantasy, maybe even some contemporary literary fiction) and settings all over the place with no characters in common. BUT: My personal goal is to write 20 short stories, and I'd like to average about 4,000 words per story, and that puts me well over the minimum. So by my count, if I happen to write 13 stories, of the 20, that are thematically linked, I can win regular NaNo by almost accident. So I'm a rebel with an escape clause. Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:59:28 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_189592 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_189592 Kibble I'm doing short stories this year! I never thought I'd be a "rebel", but I have to do this major project for school. Based on the logic that trying is the foolproof way of finding out which plot/s is going to be best to use, I'm taking the Nano-opportunity to write a super fast draft of ALL of them. Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:26:30 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_194485 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_194485 Tune_ I plan on taking the short story route this year simply for the fact I can't keep my train of thought on one idea for more than three days. Which sucks. But putting that aside, short stories are my specialty. I've already written out summaries for some of them, all of which are ideas I've accumulated over the last few months. Hopefully the drastic change in POV expands my writing abilities to their full potential and doesn't make me feel overwhelmed. If it does, I'm beat. The only thing connecting these stories is the genre, and 'fandom' I'm writing for. That basically means horror stories based on the nerdiest fanfiction ever. :D Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:26:22 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_221482 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_221482 stormy_weather It would be terrific to write a brilliant novel but I seem to have more success with short stories and I need a portfolio to submit to MFA programs, etc. so that's what I'll be doing this year. Some will be related, others not. Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:03:34 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_223617 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_223617 L_Cooper I tried writing a whole proper novel last year, but I had no idea what to write so it was constantly changing. I got bored so added in some blood and gore, added in dreams added in so much random stuff that it probably wouldn't have ever been considered a proper novel. I've discovered that short stories are the way forward, I just didn't know whether it was allowed. But turns out I really am not alone, so I shall enjoy writing strange random short stories all under the main title "The Tea's Gone Cold". Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:22:20 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_245436 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_245436 heatburg I've failed for the past two years because I get bored with my novel about 25,000 or 30,000 words in. So I thought this year I might write 25 2,000 word short stories instead. Since I doubt I will come up with a theme or set of characters or whatever to link them, I think I'm probably gearing up for a world-class rebellion here. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:05:22 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_250485 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_250485 Relocation I'm writing a collection of related shorts, unless I get struck by a writing idea (which did happen last year) Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:48:49 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_255405 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_255405 Marauders Girl If they're related then you're not a rebel ;) Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:22:16 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_272699 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_272699 Linda D I'm already working on two novels in the real world - one for adults, one for children - so I thought starting a new one for Nanowrimo would distract me too much from those. But my Ideas file is overflowing with first lines, character sketches, snippets of overheard conversations etc. that I've been collecting for years but never have time to develop. My plan is to randomly take one idea each day and create a complete short story from it. I'm not setting out to write a themed collection but I'm hoping that a few common threads will emerge so I might be able to link some of the stories together after I've written them all. Good luck to everyone else! Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:59:07 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_279886 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_279886 poppyseed [quote=BlueNinja103] For those with the attention span of a three year old, like me. [/quote] Oh hai there. I have the attention span of a squirrel. I'm doing three short stories and a novella this year. Whoop! Good luck to all short story scibes out there. It's an art form I can never quite grasp as well as I wish. Alas, I am not Joyce. However, they're damn fun to write. Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:50:51 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_290520 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_290520 poppyseed Oooh sounds fun! I'm intrigued. :) Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:51:44 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_290536 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_290536 thatollie I'm caving and writing a novel as well. *hangs head in shame* Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:22:07 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_291900 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_291900 Unsomnia This will be my first official NaNo attempt. I'm really not much of a writer (I'm an artist), but I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get my butt in gear to do it more often. SO, I plan on doing 30 different short stories-One for each day. I know that doesn't give too much time to delve into each story, but with all of these plot bunnies in my head, it'll be a good opportunity to get them out and relieve my poor attention span. Quantity over quality, I guess you could say. I still have no idea what I'm going to be doing sans the first story, so I guess for now I'll be a pseudo-rebel. :P Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:39:10 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_302995 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_302995 kateran8 Same boat! I'm also looking at MFA programs. Where are you looking? Any of the low residency schools? Those may be the best options for me at the moment. I don't think any of my stories will be related, though. They're all over the map! Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:56:50 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_327899 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_327899 KylHu I've attempted writing novels for my past three NaNoWriMo's, and while I usually don't have a problem pumping out words, actually finishing the stories (beyond the 50k words) has yet to happen. So this year I'm focusing my efforts on finishing works instead of starting a new one that probably won't get done. I'll be doing five short stories and fifteen flash fictions (short-short stories of under 1000 words). I'll spend three days per short story and fifteen flash fictions in fifteen days. It's more about completing the stories, and being economical with my word count, than pumping out a specific number of words every day. I may not need to write 1667 words every day, but having to come up with twenty different unique stories should make up for that. I assume this makes me a rebel. Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:55:56 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_329480 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_329480 SVEllis Most of my short stories are stand alone stories of characters who have larger arcs in my my novels. If I ever become successful I'll release them like a B-Sides collection. Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:29:59 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_333302 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_333302 aminebabe Same here! The only thing linking them so far is that they're going to be historical characters, but otherwise, ANYTHING goes :'D Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:23:14 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_334779 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_334779 aminebabe *high fives* Same here! I'm using this as the "Get Shit Done" Month, so I might actually clear some plotbunnies for one of my fandoms :DDDDDD Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:25:19 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_334852 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_334852 queenandlatifa I'm doing a collection of short stories featuring the same main protagonist. I think that, technically, this means that I'm not a proper rebel, but I feel rather rebellious despite this! :) Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:56:57 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_338447 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_338447 book_hobbit I'm working on a short story project this year mostly because I SUCK at writing short stories and I want to improve at that. I'm not sure what they're going to be about really or anything, but we'll see how this goes. :D Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:56:56 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_342294 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_342294 EelKat [quote=BlueNinja103] For those with the attention span of a three year old, like me. Or those that just like to write shorter stories and cover a wide variety of topics in one big book. Is there a running theme to your stories, or are they just a random jumble of your brilliant ideas? Need help, opinions from other short story writers, or a cup of a certain virtual caffeinated beverage? Discuss your short stories here! [/quote] In 1978 I started writing a series of short stories about a family and their "haunted" house. 33 years and more than 200 short stories and novellas later, that story now spans many generations and branches of the family with stories set in time periods from the 1313 to 2525, and no longer are all the stories set in the same house, or even on the same planet, or heck, several are not even set in a galaxy remotely near by. LOL! The common thread of the entire series is it focuses on the MC (Etiole Swanzen) and his father's house (The Twighlight Manor) and every one who was ever somehow effected by either the man or his dad's house. When it comes to writing I'm a pure pantser. Never know what I'm going to write. I only know who my characters are and where they live. Aliens trapped on Earth and living in a giant haunted house named "The Twighlight Manor" in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The stories are VERY character driven. Heavy on monolouge. My characters do a lot of ranting. A LOT. The pace is fast because it's heavy on the dialouge and light on the descriptions and sort of reads like a comic book script or a play, which stands to reason seeing how I'm better at writing plays (which I also do) than I am at writing novels (which I don't do very often.) I suck at setting descriptions. This results in my stories being in largly comic script or play script format, in other words straight up page after page of dialouge. Also my spelling sucks too, I have to do massive spell checking after writing. When I write, I'm all over the place. I may have the end written first for one story, while avoiding the end of another. I'm also known to write 4 or 5 stories simaltaniously. Usually 4 or 5, but I have had over 2 dozen going at once on more than one occassion. I have Autism and OCD so, my mind goes into many branches of organizing and story telling all at once. They range anywhere from only 750 words to as much as 30,000 words, though most of them fall in the 2,000 to 7,500 range. I usually know HOW each story will end, but not the why, when, or how that ending will come about. For example 9 times out of 10 the story ends with a character death, so I know it'll be the end when said character dies, but when, how, where, or why that character is going to die may not be known until I write it. Tear jerker endings are what I'm known for. Making you love a character in the middle than ripping your heart out in the end when I slaughter them in a gory bloodbath. But don't worry, chances are good they'll come back in a future story as a ghost or zombie or undead science experiment, as that is the nature of the series. ;) It's a saga, it starts in the 1600's (though has gone back earlier in flashbacks) and goes on into the future, has 75 different MCs depending on the time period, and so I can write pretty much any story from any time setting and make it fit the series, which allows me a lot of leway. The genres are all over the place, some horror, some sci-fi, some fantasy, some historical, some high seas adventure, so treasure hunting, a lot of romance, but one genre shows up more than the rest and that's Gorn Erotica. Sci-Fi Gorn is what my stuff is technically called. Gore + Porn = Gorn. It's more Fantasy than anything else, and it's not strictly Erotica as it does have a story to it. Most people know me by my M rated, much hated and heavily banned series of 200+ short story-chapbooks writing since 1978. As a general rule, people who kno my name, AND recognize me as <em>"Hey it's YOU!"</em> know what I write, and so, I've got no problems with the: <em>"Yep, that's me, and that's what I wrote."</em> People who don't know me, and ask, <em>"So I hear you are a writer, anything I would have read?" </em> I say:<em> "Probably not, it's pretty obscure"</em> I don't say what I write unless the conversation moves into: <em>"So what do you write?"</em> I say:<em>"Sci-Fi"</em> Usually the responce is, <em>"Oh, I'm not into Sci-Fi, I wouldn't have read your stuff."</em> But sometimes it:<em> "Oh really! I love sci-fi! Read it all the time! So who are you, what'd you write, maybe I read it!" </em> I say: <em>"Not likely. It's obscure. It's hard to find. Only a few stores carry my stuff. It's VERY underground, very extreme, very violent, very banned, and M rated."</em> Usually the conversation ends there and they move on to another topic thinking I'm a freak, which is ok, seeing as I am. ;) Sometimes it goes on to: <em>"Sounds interesting, so tell me about it, what's it called, what's it about?"</em> <em> I say:</em> ... ... ... "I am the author of 30+ books, 200+ short stories, a few dozen novellas, 2,000+ non-fiction articles, a few comic books, and roughly 2 dozen plays. Most of the fiction evolves around The Twighlight Manor Universe and it's several spin offs. I am also the illustrator of said books and stories. My genre is mixed and changes with my mode, but for the most part is described as: "Dark Satire Sci-Fi Horror Splatter Gorn" and gets shelved under: Humor, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, or Porn depending on who is doing the shelving. Some fans have described it as reading like: "Rocky Horror Picture Show acted out by Monty Python in Space"....uhm...okay, I guess I could agree with that. ... ... The thing which I am most famous for is that I am the creator, author, and illustrator of The Twighlight Manor series, the little loved, much hated, very boycotted, and extremely banned, graphically violent, sex filled, politically incorrect, M rated dark satire sci-fi horror series started in 1978 and spanning 31 years of books, novellas, and short stories, all of which now out of print and very obscure thanks to a series of good old fashion Christian book burnings. Stories of sex crazed faeries, talking cats, eels from space, sadistic mad scientists, human-eating aliens, all living in a house hell bent on eating every one that walks through it's front doors, and the humans who fall prey to them all. Oh yeah and did I mention the main character is a drag queen? ... ... I write The Twighlight Manor series, started in 1978, pretty much about older men (70s+) with lots of underaged girls (under 14) and unless you are a Mormon you probably don't have access to it, see I'm a Mormon and it was only destributed to other Mormons who didn't want other Mormons to know they had a supressed sex fetish. The men usually aren't men either. And it's pretty much got a sex scene on every page that doesn't have a murder scene. Though there are a lot of sex with murder victim scense too. Sex with demons! Sex with Fae! Sex with mermen! Sex with ghosts! Sex with tall, dark, pale, and brooding guys! Sex with Incubus! Sex with scientifically animate dead guys! Sex with shape shifting Phookas! Sex with Fardarrigs! Sex with aliens whom humans mistake for vampires! Sex with serial killers! Lots and lots of creepy, "ARGH he's about to kill me, but no wait he wants to have sex with me first, cool!" type of sex! I write a reoccuring character who has a sex with corpses fetish! Sex with transvestite vampires (YES - I do love Rocky Horror Picture Show thank you)! Gang sex. sex, sex, sex, BDSM, rape, violent sex, and of lots more sex on pretty much every page, but not much human sex going on in the stuff I write. A lot of blood, a lot of gore. Lots of girls die during sex. ... ... It's Sci-Fi Gorn - (gore + porn = horror + erotica, in a sci-fi setting aka alien silver skinned fish/eel men trapped on Earth and living in a haunted house in an old growth pine forest in Maine...whom the humans mistake for vampires) - it is technically dark humor satiar however, and is generally thought of as a political rant against animal abuse and child abuse, by those who can stomach the gore enough to see the story and the comedy behind it. ... ... My fans have dubbed me as "A Renegade Writer" (one not afraid to say whatever the hell I want, not afraid to step on toes, and certainly not afraid to name real people and businesses in my books if I want to start a protest and boycotte against them). Most people can't stomach what I write. ... ... My main character - the silver skinned merman (Etiole Swanzen) - is based on a real person - my best friend who is a drag queen who paints his skin silver and plays a sequined glittering mermaid on stage (now retired, but was on stage in the 1970s when I started writing the series) - it is precisly BECAUSE my silver skinned characters were based on a REAL PERSON that I am so pissed a Steph. Meys. for mocking them and turning them into a gold vampire farsce in her books based on my books. *PISSED* ... ... Needless to say my best friend the drag queen is NOT impressed with her mocking my books either, because she is mocking him and his lifestyle. If it hadn't been for Steph. Meys. getting famous for writing her YA vampire fanfic of it, than you probably would never have heard of it at all. In fact you still probably never heard of it and think Steph Meys was all original when she thought up her glittering characters, and shortened the names of my Swanzen family down to Swan. *phtttfff*"" .... ... ... By this point, I have ranted in their face for a good 20 minutes, spewing vemon of hatred at copycats and passionatly romantisizing my MCs, and they are now standing there speechless and dumbfounded like I just hit them up side the head with a bag of bricks...their eyes darting the room in search of a quick exit, in order to flee what they now believe to be a raving madwoman. :D (I love to terrify my unaddoring public - it's a hobby of mine, and me having Autism, ADHD, and OCD - does make for one hell of a show as I waunder around the room obsessivly cleaning things while I rant.) Most people do not make it through an entire story. They tell me it's far too disturbing. They tell me they want sex fetish not torture fetish. They say there is too much agony going on, that they can't take it. The most common responce after reading something I wrote is: "There is something wrong with you, I'm reporting you to my psychiatrist." And they do, and I frequently end up being asked to come into psychs officies to explain to them the reasons I write what I write and to determin if it is safe for me to wander the streets. *sigh* But yeah, wow, so there you have it, that's me and what I have done every NaNo and every Script Frenzy for a total of 13 contests combined (this is my 8th NaNo), and it's what I do the rest of the year outside of NaNo as well, and it's what I've been doing for the last 33 years, so, you know, no stopping any time soon. I prefer writing this series as short stories instead of as a novels because it allows me to write an endless story. I mean, it's hard to make a series of novels last 33 years of writing, because novels have to have archs and endings and resolutions, but short stories don't need these things. People are constantly asking me: <em>"Where do you get your ideas? How the heck did you come up with so many stories all for the same series?"</em> I wrote the answer to that HERE: <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/ideas-where" rel="nofollow">http://www.squidoo.com/ideas-where</a> it's about 12,000 words long so sit back and read and learn. Than people want to know <em> "WHY? what could possable possess a person to write something like this?"</em> My answer? I can't help it. It's like breathing, I can't not do it. Go back to where I said I have OCD...no really, it is medically impossible for me to stop writing, I write on average 12,000 - 15,000 words a day (not during NaNo, I write more than that during NaNo) - No, I'm talking, I write like this every day for over 30 years. Autism and OCD, yes, obsessive writing is a symptom, that's why it's called obsessivle disorder. I write for me and only for me, to hell with my readers, to hell with my editors, to hell with my publishers, but 32 years of publishing this type of writing, my readers, editors, and publishers expect me to throw everything in their faces and write whatever the hell I want in spite of what they tell me, and well, when you are me, you can do that (I don't recommend that to new writers as you'll never get published, but get as famous as me and yeah, than you can do that). But than there are the characters. I truely deeply love these characters. I have to, otherwise I couldn't spend 33 years writing stories about them over and over again! LOL! And the house! I love the house! OMG! The house is so amazing and in 33 years I still have not yet explored all of the Manor's 500+ rooms! Ooooh! I have so much more I can write, what with so many rooms left unexplored! It's like an adventure. That's what it's like writing this series. I mean, I have no idea what is going to happen when I start a new story, I just write and see what comes out and it's always something new, some new advennture I have not yet been on. And with one MC being a globe trotter I get to wrie about parts of the world and galaxey that I'd never get to visitr in real life. It's just utterly amazing! I love it so much! (Being a writer, that is.) So, that's what I am writing this year, as every year: more stories about The Swanzen Family and their infamous Twighlight Manor. YAY! And if you got to the end of reading this, by now you understand what I mean when I say I write obsessivly and can't stop - yeah, not even for forum posts can I stop this manic OCD writing habit of mine. :P Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:39:06 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_352924 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_352924 EelKat [quote=BlueNinja103] I call my stories C.R.A.P. (Crazy Random Amazing Possibilities) They're all based on a What If? question. I want to write a story where something really crazy happens, and then move on to another random, crazy event in no particular order. The one similarity they all share is the SF genre, and most are about Time Travel. [/quote] I love writing "What If" stories! I do that a lot. I have a file that is full of questions and when I can't think of anything to write that day, I'll randomly grab a question and write the "answer" in how one of my MCs would deal with that situation. I also use THE DARES THREAD for that too...it has resulted in strange things happening in some stories, like last NaNo a character got attacked by a bowl of chocolate pudding, but no one believed him as earlier that day he had been in the middle of the city when a herd of penguins stormed by...LOL! I love the Dares Thread! LOL! It ended up fitting in the story though as I was able to come up with a logical reason why these things were happening to him: someone had drugged his food. So you never can tell what will happen when you through a "What If" question out there and let your characters play with it. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:09:22 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_353612 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_353612 EelKat [quote=Kaa] I'm doing a collection of short stories linked by a poem I'm writing ahead of time (and I will dutifully not count it when calculating my word count) of the following form: A Is for Angel (&lt;----- These are the titles of the individual stories.) B Is for Bard C Is for Clowns that Creep Through the Yard D Is for Dragon E Is for Egg F Is for Fangs Sunk Into Your Leg G Is for Graveside H Is for Hive ... And that's as far as I have anything planned out. The rhyme scheme comes from an old Sesame Street bit, and the idea of alphabet stories came from the Alphabet Quartet stories on DailyScienceFiction.com. The plan is to have a variety of science fiction, horror, fantasy, comedy, drama, etc. That's the PLAN. :) [/quote] Wow! I like that! You've given me an idea for doing all my SSNaNos this year so that there's one for each letter of the alphabet. Good thing it's only day 1 of the contest so that I can plot that out and get started on it tomorrow1 Thanks! That was such a great idea! Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:11:59 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_353677 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_353677 Wragziez I'm going to be doing short stories because I cannot stay on one plot for 50,000 words, plus, short stories are easier for me. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:02:00 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_356095 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_356095 October Rose I am currently working on my MFA thesis, which is a collection of short stories. Not going to break 50k with it (unless I count words I've already written), but seeing as I need to have a complete draft of the entire thesis by December I figure it qualifies as NaNo-level craziness. :) Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:27:47 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_357734 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_357734 Aklo There was one short story I really wanted to finish before november, but unfortunately that wasn't possible, so I've decided to incorporate it (but just the ending, not what I wrote before) into my NaNo. So even if I wasn't already a rebel because I'm writing short stories (neatly wrapped in a frame story), I now definitely am 8) And the way I see it, it's two birds with one stone: I get the wordcount going, and I get to quickly finish this story I've been working on for months. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:32:29 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_361761 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_361761 umitheelf I'm working on a collection of short stories - it pretty much starts out with characters and ideas I had fleshed out for the 2009 and 2010 NaNo stories that I never finished because I was having issues extending the plot line to make up a whole novel. Just as well, because I want to take fresh approaches on both stories anyway. Both stories focus on teenaged girls and include fairytale elements in a modern, real-world setting - magical elements such as fairies and enchanted dolls. So I guess there's a theme running across the two. With just a little over a day in my NaNo journey, feel as though I'm already 1/3 of the way through my first story. So I'm definitely going to have to think up some additional short story ideas soon. I've had the hardest time categorizing what I'm writing - but I'm guessing it falls into the Young Adults/Children's Literature category. Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:34:26 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_396331 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_396331 Alalune Hi there! I'm a rebel too, I write mostly short stories. Always have. It's not a question of attention span - I love a good novel, but I've always loved short fiction too! Most of the writers I admire have written outstanding short stories. I love the fact that a good short story is like its own microcosmos, with fast and furious (and yet delicate) rules. Like a well polished sphere that, nevertheless, is ready to knock you down. Also, my fiction is very character-driven, so I just follow the character's voice to wherever it takes me. And maybe that's why I come up with short-stories - I hear more than one voice in my head! So this is my third NaNo. Last year I came up with a short story collection during November. After much revision it became a proper book, and it was published last month! So I'm still in love with this writing form! Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:31:32 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_402057 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_402057 valleyradionerd Me too, me too! Yeah, I've managed the novel- thing. (I'm not saying I've managed it well, mind, but I've managed it. My brain tends towards epic.) But since high school (which was more than a little while ago now) I've managed to write two, count 'em, two short stories. So this year? Yeah, I'm with the people who are using this to "get shit done". I need to learn how to do this! Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:00:51 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_409955 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_409955 SeerowsKindness Short stories for me, too. Probably they're all going to have the common theme of fairy tales, since right now I'm fixated on that element, but who knows how things will go. Really, I'm just taking this month to get back into writing, because I have been very lazy of late. Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:13:56 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_416620 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_416620 Szarka Though I'm generally focusing on my two novels, I'm also taking the opportunity to write some short stories (which also get added to the wordcount). I just started one last night; Expiration Date, set in a world where a person's time of death has mysteriously been etched into their right wrist. It's fun. Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:16:46 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_429495 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_429495 cataclysmic-cadaver My plan was to do short stories for NaNo this year, mainly because of the many activities that already flood my November. If I weren't able to get to the 50k by the end of the month, and least I would have accomplished a few short stories. But another reason for it was as a sort of homage to the collection 'Stories', arranged by Neil Gaiman. There are truly some brilliant, amazing tales in there that continuously make you wonder what happens next. For me, my stories are all mainly linked on the idea of searching for a prompt - sometimes one-word, sometimes phrases- and applying it in whatever way I feel I want to. There's no true general theme to the whole situation, but there are definite times that I feel they're all linked in certain ways - such as fantasy, or suspense. All in all, very fun. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 05:29:48 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_483585 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_483585 Gadifere I'm joining the short story writers this year as well! I was initially planning on writing only historical fiction short stories, but somehow magical realism and fantasy plot ideas have taken over some of those.... Hopefully some of them will be good enough to, once polished and rewritten, get published. Not that I get my hopes up (let's not give the stories a complex before they are even born... nothing like major pressure to make me write crap haha!). I'm just happy so many others are doing short stories as well! Sat, 05 Nov 2011 09:13:22 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_486481 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_486481 sarolee17 Another MFA-hopeful here! I'm looking at one low-res program. Good luck with your applications and your writing! Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:55:49 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_505986 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=2#forum_thread_comment_505986 -Katlyn- I'm rebelling this year, because, with around 70 short story ideas laying around, what else can I do? :P I know I will work on novels throughout the year, but this year, I decided a few of these things should be written. Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:39:16 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_535283 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_535283 Yllaria When the month began, I was calling my Nano plan: A Thousand Beginnings. The idea was to clear my desk by consolidating everything I've started, in the hope that I could get a few of them further along once I wasn't worried about losing the scattered remains of the rest of them. Then I ran into a blog that I had started at the end of 2009 called The Guilt List. Although I had gathered information for it, I had only ever made one entry. So of course I started another blog, called A Thousand Beginnings, for posting the Nano stuff. The blogs are doing a pretty good job of collecting things and I'm spending time writing about the things I had written and planning some of them further ahead. I'm also sorting out some family worries on The Guilt List. Anything I write new is fair to add to my wordcount. Even the things that don't make it to the blogs. And I've discovered a few short stories that I've actually finished! It's heartening to run across a conclusion or two. It's proof that I can finish things. Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:35:16 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_599679 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_599679 centreoftheselights How I became a NaNoRebel (a short story) Me: Oh no, it's October already! I didn't even notice! New University Friends: What's so bad about October? Me: NANOWRIMO IS COMING. NUF: ? Me: (A short explanation) NUF: You really like Internet stuff. NUF: Do you do fanfiction? Me: No. NUF: You should do fanfiction for NaNoWriMo. Me: Well, I don't have any better ideas... And thus I wound up promising to write 50,000 words of unrelated fanfiction this month and post all of it to fanfiction.net. I'm averaging about 1000 words per chapter, with about a 50/50 split between contributions to multi-chapter fics (of which I have 3 currently) and oneshots. And, because I appear to be something of a rebel even in the fanfiction world, I have so far almost completely avoided OCs, AUs and non-canon shipping. :D Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:26:42 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_620410 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_620410 Amelia Marchetti Cool!! *high fives back* I've started off with few plot bunnies at the beginning, then BANG thirty different ideas come in at the same time xD Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:13:39 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_647669 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_647669 umitheelf I'm behind, but just celebrating a small victory that at 8,098 words I finished my first short story. This one was meant to be pretty brief the next one I'm cooking up is probably going to be 2-3 times as long. Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:54:49 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_761249 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_761249 Aklo Congrats! I'm working on my 6th story now, so even though my word count is crap, I certainly did accomplish something this month. (last month I finished 0 stories) Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:21:12 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_765737 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_765737 bphaines The short stories I'm writing are all mysteries, but other than that, they span genres (Two are Urban Fantasy, one is a present day Police procedural, one is Post-apocalyptic horror). I have two more planned which will feature the MCs of one of the Urban Fantasy ones and the procedural, though. Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:50:52 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_775652 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_775652 writinginmyhead I guess I've ended up writing a series of short stories this year --more like vignettes, actually! Yeah, I think it's an attention span thing. ***GLEE SPOILER ALERT A LITTLE WAYS DOWN*** (from the Nov. 15 episode) My story was going to be about a girl who ended up with an underground advice column. She was going to be snarky and sarcastic--like how I am trying to raise my daughters...(JK...sort of) but then I found her being too nice to these kids--my nurturing mother side was coming out and I wanted her to be wise and really help these kids --the ones who were really in trouble, like wanting to "come out" to their parents, or cutting-- I like some of what I've written about it, but find I am getting bored easily. Also, I don't always like conflict --or is it suspense? I like writing dialogue when the characters are arguing, so I guess I like conflict --okay, here's an example --sometimes I'll be watching a TV show and when I'm worried that one of characters is going to do something stupid, I have to fast forward it a bit to see whether they have done the stupid thing or not. Once I know for sure, I can then rewind and watch all the stuff that lead up to the stupid thing --or maybe to my relief the stupid thing didn't happen --like when I had to fast forward Glee to make sure that Puck and Idina Menzel did NOT kiss again!! At the same time, I love suspense --like American Horror Story for instance. I love Stephen King...so I don't know As a way to boost my word count, I set my Write or Die (www.drwicked.com) to 500 words in 15 minutes. I end up writing little pieces that maaaaaaaybe I could tie into my original novel --though I'm not sure how the one with the giant rabbit who hops into the gynecologist's office and proposes to the ferret disguised as a human female will fit in... Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:49:09 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_788794 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_788794 sarolee17 I'm glad people are celebrating short story victories! Here's some of mine: 1. My friend starting calling it "NaShoStoWriMo" in honor of my project this month. 2. I've completed 5 short stories! Yahoo! 3. I'm proud of the last two stories I wrote. I think they have real potential, and that makes me excited. 4. My longest story was 13,235 words (second longest was 12,696 words). 5. I'm feeling very productive and tentatively happy (hoping this last week I finish strong!) How is everyone else doing? Unexpected success? Struggles? Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:55:53 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_816086 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_816086 Shazanon Always been a rebel, so short stories for me, too. I've given them a common theme, though - they're all period pieces scattered through time, with lots of history, mythology, sex and blasphemy. Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:39:20 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_843270 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_843270 Linda D Congratulations to short story winners! I knew right at the beginning that I wasn't going to reach the magic 50,000, and I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't achieve my own goal of a story a day. Main reason for failure was that I really liked one of the stories and couldn't resist rewriting and editing it so I could enter it in a competition. (I couldn't wait because the closing date was 30 November!) But I'm pleased with what I did achieve - 16 complete stories, most very short and all needing to be rewritten, but that's a lot of new material to keep me busy over the coming months. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:37:54 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_899287 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_899287 dugfalk Re: Short story contests -- http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/thebusinessofwriting/a/contesthub.htm I have personally considered entering The Donald Barthelme contest hosted by Gulf Coast. http://www.gulfcoastmag.org/ Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:19:51 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_915730 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=1#forum_thread_comment_915730 SpaceXDebris I did short stories this year, too! :) I have four novels in progress from previous years and wanted something this year that would be a little more manageable during the off-season. It also allowed me to practice several different writing styles and methods. For example, one of them was a zany adventure written solely during Word Sprints; a second was a little slower and more serious. I ended up with four by the end of NaNo, and gleefully hit The End on each one. The only better than hitting The End once, is doing it four times! :D They ended up being 6k, 8k, 17k, and 30k. The last one sort of ballooned, but will hopefully be cut in half by the time I'm up to draft 3. Congrats everyone on writing this month! Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:48:41 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_922801 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=3#forum_thread_comment_922801 Princeshelby I didn't write shorts for NaNo this year, but I always write short stories and poetry otherwise. Sadly, my novel reflects that. The only thing mine have in common is that they all involve either a) horses b) music c) the Southeast (particularly various parts of Georgia) d) any combination of the above Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:12:28 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=4#forum_thread_comment_962096 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/3415?page=4#forum_thread_comment_962096