I love reading short fiction. I grew up reading “Omni” and “Asimov’s” and “F&SF”. I almost always buy the “best of” anthologies in mystery, SF, F, and literary. (I almost always read them, as well! I’m a bit behind in my short fiction reading for this year. I blame that on the anthology workshop, as I’m still just wanting to delve into novels at this point.)
I enjoy writing short fiction. This is part of why I’m a member of the Uncollected Anthology (www.UncollectedAnthology.com)–so I have the excuse to write a short, urban fantasy piece every month. (Though frequently, the stories run longer. One series of stories even turned into a novel–“The Immortals’ War”.)
However, I generally find my word count per hour drops significantly when I’m writing a short story. Much of that is just me flailing, because I don’t know what happens next and writer brain isn’t telling me.
I have a short story due by the end of the month for the Uncollected Anthology (the upcoming theme is Mystical Melodies). I wasn’t sure I was going to even have an idea by the end of the month. However, something came to me last night (of course, while I was trying to go to sleep). I woke up this morning with a horrifically bad headache. I “treated” it and after a few hours the pain had diminished and I got myself to the keyboard.
Now, I didn’t “write like the wind”, like how I’ve been doing when I’m focused on a novel. I still managed 3600 words in three hours, that last hour containing the most words (1500) because I knew where I was going.
I’m rather astonished that I finished a short story in a day. I rarely do that. Even really short pieces take me a couple days.
I am pleased with this story. It’s incredibly silly. Still don’t have a title yet, but that will come.
I’m hoping that this is a new “trend” for me, that it will take me less time to finish short fiction pieces.
I’m not willing to take up some kind of “write a short story a day for thirty days” challenge at this point. But maybe, someday…
Hope that your day is going well!