Though in previous weeks I've been behind on my short story writing, this week marks a wonderful turn; I'm ahead. Yesterday, I spent most of the day scribbling out stories, which caught me up to this week's quota of 18 in total. I punched out the finish to a story I'd started weeks ago which desperately needed an ending; I wrote a short film which - as it is a short piece of fiction, totally counts - I'd been fermenting in my head for days; and the best one of all, I revisited an old favourite and wrote a new pulp piece featuring the heroic Captain Horatio Silverthorn. Anyone who'd like to read that joy, please just comment and I'll pass it along to you. This one's a doozy - airships!
I even started a new one today. A new story, when I don't have to! I've decided to get a head start on Week 19 so that way I don't fall so behind again.
All of this, of course, means I've fallen desperately and perhaps irretrievably behind on NaNoWriMo - but you know what? I don't care. I didn't really feel the impetus when I started this year's one and so I'm not perturbed by being so behind. It's been good to revisit the old story that I'd started so many years ago, work on that world again, but I think I'm going to do it at my own pace. When I have days where my mind just isn't conducive to writing and yet I am forced to, I just write out schlock that I know I'll have to remove or edit later, and I'd rather not do that labour. So, for now, I'll work on that beast when I feel I have the right reigns.
Mahalo.
Showing posts with label bradbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bradbury. Show all posts
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Weeks 15, 16 & 17 - And NaNoWriMo
Jesus it's been another intense month. I've been terrible at updating and I apologize. I was doing so well there at the start, too.
In Week 15 I caught up to where I was supposed to be and started a Zombie short story but for some reason I couldn't finish it. It was just going to be too damn long and I didn't have the energy to sit and write a long piece. Then Week 16 rolled around. Just like I knew it would.
I started another story but it, too, I soon lost the taste for. I was losing my impetus. Starting to want to give up on this whole nasty, diabolical business. Sometimes, I still do. I know I did when Week 17 came upon me.
I managed to pump out a pulpy story about an explorer and quicksand and etc, etc. It was fun to write. Really fun. I miss writing pulp, so I think that'll be the case for the next few weeks.
And November started and so came NaNoWriMo again. For the third time. I wasn't going to do it initially - why do that when I have so much Bradbury-ing to do, right? Wrong. When so many people assaulted me with "are you?" and "why aren't you?" and "you should", I said what a madman says when asked if he hears voices, "yes".
I'm seven and a bit thousand words in now and I'm honestly not regretting it. I'm working on a story that I'd given up on a few years ago and it's good to settle into something like this. I'd clearly been reading a lot of Bukowski at the time. That feels good. Fun to write, too.
And then there's the comic. But that's a story for another blog post.
Mahalo.
UPDATE:
I don't know how I forgot to mention this, but it seems I did and apologies to all those involved!
It was around week 16 that a friend, Mr. David Sander of Surfaces Rendered, came to me with a proposition. He gave me some work on editing his screenplay. I accepted and began to devour and twist and edit! That was something nice and different from my usual fare. With Final Draft open on my desktop each night, it was certainly a fruitful labour that continues!
In Week 15 I caught up to where I was supposed to be and started a Zombie short story but for some reason I couldn't finish it. It was just going to be too damn long and I didn't have the energy to sit and write a long piece. Then Week 16 rolled around. Just like I knew it would.
I started another story but it, too, I soon lost the taste for. I was losing my impetus. Starting to want to give up on this whole nasty, diabolical business. Sometimes, I still do. I know I did when Week 17 came upon me.
I managed to pump out a pulpy story about an explorer and quicksand and etc, etc. It was fun to write. Really fun. I miss writing pulp, so I think that'll be the case for the next few weeks.
And November started and so came NaNoWriMo again. For the third time. I wasn't going to do it initially - why do that when I have so much Bradbury-ing to do, right? Wrong. When so many people assaulted me with "are you?" and "why aren't you?" and "you should", I said what a madman says when asked if he hears voices, "yes".
I'm seven and a bit thousand words in now and I'm honestly not regretting it. I'm working on a story that I'd given up on a few years ago and it's good to settle into something like this. I'd clearly been reading a lot of Bukowski at the time. That feels good. Fun to write, too.
And then there's the comic. But that's a story for another blog post.
Mahalo.
UPDATE:
I don't know how I forgot to mention this, but it seems I did and apologies to all those involved!
It was around week 16 that a friend, Mr. David Sander of Surfaces Rendered, came to me with a proposition. He gave me some work on editing his screenplay. I accepted and began to devour and twist and edit! That was something nice and different from my usual fare. With Final Draft open on my desktop each night, it was certainly a fruitful labour that continues!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
10 Weeks: Reflection
This is it - the big ONE ZERO. I've hit ten weeks of this taxing writing experiment known as the Bradbury Method. It's been something, that's for sure. Only forty-two more to go.
I find, as I finish my late-in-the-week story for this week - a short piece that I wrote in a rush because my mind wasn't ready for other things - that I am enjoying the act of writing more and more. The process itself makes more sense to me, feels better. I'm more willing to expand on certain paragraphs and ideas. The stories feel fuller, when it strikes me anyway.
I'm also finding that I'm becoming less afraid. Each time I think of a new story idea, I no longer shy away from starting it for fear of ruining it. I just let 'er rip. I've been thinking of more of them than usual, too, which is nice. Kind of bombarding my mind it's hard to always keep track.
Anyway, thanks for sticking through this bastard of a thing with me.
Mahalo.
I find, as I finish my late-in-the-week story for this week - a short piece that I wrote in a rush because my mind wasn't ready for other things - that I am enjoying the act of writing more and more. The process itself makes more sense to me, feels better. I'm more willing to expand on certain paragraphs and ideas. The stories feel fuller, when it strikes me anyway.
I'm also finding that I'm becoming less afraid. Each time I think of a new story idea, I no longer shy away from starting it for fear of ruining it. I just let 'er rip. I've been thinking of more of them than usual, too, which is nice. Kind of bombarding my mind it's hard to always keep track.
Anyway, thanks for sticking through this bastard of a thing with me.
Mahalo.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
And that's Week 9...
...and what a week it was!
All in all, not a bad one. I started one story only to realize, after a discussion with my fellow Bradbury Method partner, that it could be taken to all of these wonderful places and would be far too long to be able to finish this week.
Luckily, though, I had a half-finished piece from last week that I hadn't had the energy to really look at. Fortunately for me, this week was better for it. Nailed it to the wall tonight. That felt good.
Mahalo.
All in all, not a bad one. I started one story only to realize, after a discussion with my fellow Bradbury Method partner, that it could be taken to all of these wonderful places and would be far too long to be able to finish this week.
Luckily, though, I had a half-finished piece from last week that I hadn't had the energy to really look at. Fortunately for me, this week was better for it. Nailed it to the wall tonight. That felt good.
Mahalo.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Weeks 7 & 8
So, I know I said that a) I would post more and b) that last week (Week 7) I was totally catching up. Well, I was, but the third story I started for the week completely eluded me and made itself far too intangible. Completely untouchable.
Today, however, midway through Week 8, I have written two stories. Two. Today. Two brand new stories that brings my total back up to in line. I've caught up! The stories came to me today and I just shot them out through my (now sore) fingertips!
I didn't finish the one I started at the end of Week 7, but now I have a bit of wiggle room in being able to work on it properly without too much stress, so that feels pretty good.
Mahalo.
Today, however, midway through Week 8, I have written two stories. Two. Today. Two brand new stories that brings my total back up to in line. I've caught up! The stories came to me today and I just shot them out through my (now sore) fingertips!
I didn't finish the one I started at the end of Week 7, but now I have a bit of wiggle room in being able to work on it properly without too much stress, so that feels pretty good.
Mahalo.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Weeks 4, 5, 6 & 7!
Agh! So I have just been the worst lately. Due to sickness/food poisoning during Week 4, I didn't write a story, so I didn't update. Then I had a family crisis in Week 5, so I didn't write anything and then I decided why bother updating? Week 6 I was lazy because of unemployment and only did two of the three stories I had accrued over that time; and now we're into Week 7 and I'm only just catching up!
I'm back to work as a labourer and I managed to get some time in today after work to write a full story, so that's nice. I have the start of another story that I have to finish before the end of the week to get back on track. I like the start of it, but I don't want to rush it just to get it done. I want it to work.
It's been tough to catch up. It's like NaNoWriMo where if you miss one day of writing, your tally is doubled for the next day. I'm almost back to normal output, but yeah, thanks for sticking through this with me and sorry I haven't been posting! I promise I'll do better.
Mahalo
I'm back to work as a labourer and I managed to get some time in today after work to write a full story, so that's nice. I have the start of another story that I have to finish before the end of the week to get back on track. I like the start of it, but I don't want to rush it just to get it done. I want it to work.
It's been tough to catch up. It's like NaNoWriMo where if you miss one day of writing, your tally is doubled for the next day. I'm almost back to normal output, but yeah, thanks for sticking through this with me and sorry I haven't been posting! I promise I'll do better.
Mahalo
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
The Third Week
Holy mackerel has the time just flown by! It's already the end of the third week of The Bradbury Method, although it feels like it's been going forever. I managed to punch out a short, short story which I'm quite pleased with and with the help of Luke and Omar I managed to make it even better. So, thanks a LOT to those guys for putting up with my pestering.
I'm so pleased with it, actually, then I'm going to send it off to a mag shortly, once I've gone over it for the bajillionth time.
It's tough actually sitting down and finding time to write at the moment, what with life being what it is with all its necessary insanities. If anyone wants to read them, feel free to contact me with your email in the comments - or, if I know you, just get in touch with me however.
Back to it! BRARGH!
Mahalo.
I'm so pleased with it, actually, then I'm going to send it off to a mag shortly, once I've gone over it for the bajillionth time.
It's tough actually sitting down and finding time to write at the moment, what with life being what it is with all its necessary insanities. If anyone wants to read them, feel free to contact me with your email in the comments - or, if I know you, just get in touch with me however.
Back to it! BRARGH!
Mahalo.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Second Week
Today brings a conclusion to the second week of The Bradbury Method and the start of the third. It's tough, this deal. Making me realize some things about the style of short story that I write. I know the types I like to read and obviously there is a certain imitation to the styles of those in search of my own voice. Etgar Keret and Joe Hill have been particular inspirations, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. And Raymond Carver. Neil Gaiman. Charles Bukowski.
Short pieces of fiction that are not only self-contained but satisfying in their own way. I've realized about myself that I don't write very long short stories. Now, I know it may seem counter-intuitive to have a "long short story" but it's not, really. A short story can go anywhere, it seems, from 500 to 15,000 words. After that, it's really a novella. My peak seems to be anywhere up to and including about 3000 words. Anything longer than that and I feel I might as well make it a damn book. I don't even really like reading short stories that are more than about ten pages. I like them short. That's why I like Keret and Bukowski especially - easy bite-sized chunks of interesting dialogue and happenstance.
I wrote a story on the first day of this week. One I'm pretty happy with. I think I might chop off the ending; I think I just wrote the last paragraph because I felt the story was too short but it doesn't really fit. Some parts in the middle could maybe use some expanding or made to flow better, but it's there on paper. It's written. That's two for two so far. I have to start a new one tonight or at least sometime this week. I have the idea, at least.
Mahalo.
Short pieces of fiction that are not only self-contained but satisfying in their own way. I've realized about myself that I don't write very long short stories. Now, I know it may seem counter-intuitive to have a "long short story" but it's not, really. A short story can go anywhere, it seems, from 500 to 15,000 words. After that, it's really a novella. My peak seems to be anywhere up to and including about 3000 words. Anything longer than that and I feel I might as well make it a damn book. I don't even really like reading short stories that are more than about ten pages. I like them short. That's why I like Keret and Bukowski especially - easy bite-sized chunks of interesting dialogue and happenstance.
I wrote a story on the first day of this week. One I'm pretty happy with. I think I might chop off the ending; I think I just wrote the last paragraph because I felt the story was too short but it doesn't really fit. Some parts in the middle could maybe use some expanding or made to flow better, but it's there on paper. It's written. That's two for two so far. I have to start a new one tonight or at least sometime this week. I have the idea, at least.
Mahalo.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The First Week
It's the end of the first week of the Bradbury Method - 52 short stories in a year - and so far, things are actually going pretty well. The point of the...experiment I guess is the best word, is to just get the stories out, not necessarily have them polished.
So, on that front, I'm succeeding. While I didn't allow myself as much writing time as I would've liked this week, I still managed to churn out what I consider to be a pretty good - if unpolished - short story. It needs some tweaks and some expansion on certain points, but I got out the beginning, middle and ending.
Amusingly enough, it wasn't the story I initially sat down to write. I started writing it and got a page or so in when I had to drop it because I had started it in my Gmail drafts at work when there was nothing to do and then I left for home. I don't have the internet at home so it was a few days before I finally got it off the email to be able to work on it at home. By the time I did that, I had completely forgotten the road I was originally going to take with the story.
I just stared at it. For what seemed like an hour. Just looking at this thing I had written that clearly started with some intent and then just stopped. It stopped on an important, twist moment, too. One that I didn't remember where I was taking it.
So, I made something else up. I took up the tattered bottom of the story and I stitched it up with something new and came up with a pretty appropriate ending for the story. What's great about this, is that I've rarely ever done this before. Usually, if I start a short story and come back to it some time afterward and I've forgotten what exactly I had originally intended, I leave it and start something else. Not this time. I swore to myself if I started a story, I would finish it. And I did. And it felt good.
I've been reading a lot of Etgar Keret recently as well and he showed me that no matter how bizarre the idea is, it can totally work in the story as long as the language is good enough and the story takes you somewhere deep. Also, that it doesn't matter how short the story is.
Okay. I got this. Maybe.
Mahalo.
So, on that front, I'm succeeding. While I didn't allow myself as much writing time as I would've liked this week, I still managed to churn out what I consider to be a pretty good - if unpolished - short story. It needs some tweaks and some expansion on certain points, but I got out the beginning, middle and ending.
Amusingly enough, it wasn't the story I initially sat down to write. I started writing it and got a page or so in when I had to drop it because I had started it in my Gmail drafts at work when there was nothing to do and then I left for home. I don't have the internet at home so it was a few days before I finally got it off the email to be able to work on it at home. By the time I did that, I had completely forgotten the road I was originally going to take with the story.
I just stared at it. For what seemed like an hour. Just looking at this thing I had written that clearly started with some intent and then just stopped. It stopped on an important, twist moment, too. One that I didn't remember where I was taking it.
So, I made something else up. I took up the tattered bottom of the story and I stitched it up with something new and came up with a pretty appropriate ending for the story. What's great about this, is that I've rarely ever done this before. Usually, if I start a short story and come back to it some time afterward and I've forgotten what exactly I had originally intended, I leave it and start something else. Not this time. I swore to myself if I started a story, I would finish it. And I did. And it felt good.
I've been reading a lot of Etgar Keret recently as well and he showed me that no matter how bizarre the idea is, it can totally work in the story as long as the language is good enough and the story takes you somewhere deep. Also, that it doesn't matter how short the story is.
Okay. I got this. Maybe.
Mahalo.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Bradbury Method
If you read this blog, you know I like to write fiction. Sometimes it's based in reality, sometimes not. I want to be a writer, is what I'm saying.
Well, I've decided to take up a challenge.
My friend Omar has decided to start up doing The Bradbury Method and do one short story every week for a full year. Ray Bradbury would write one short story a week; write it on Monday, edit it Tuesday through Saturday and send it off on Sunday. We're going to attempt to do just that.
It's going to be a slog and I might not make it the whole way, but I know I'll at least have something to show for it by the end - like a year long NaNoWriMo.
I'll probably need some support before this thing is through, so thank you all in advance. I'll keep you posted on how it's going and anyone who wants to read anything I've got just let me know.
Here goes nothing.
Mahalo.
Well, I've decided to take up a challenge.
My friend Omar has decided to start up doing The Bradbury Method and do one short story every week for a full year. Ray Bradbury would write one short story a week; write it on Monday, edit it Tuesday through Saturday and send it off on Sunday. We're going to attempt to do just that.
It's going to be a slog and I might not make it the whole way, but I know I'll at least have something to show for it by the end - like a year long NaNoWriMo.
I'll probably need some support before this thing is through, so thank you all in advance. I'll keep you posted on how it's going and anyone who wants to read anything I've got just let me know.
Here goes nothing.
Mahalo.
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