Crafting a Short Story
Since I've been getting questions about writing, I decided to take all the relevant posts and organize the links to guide you through the experiment. If you walk through these posts you can see what I cut, what I kept, what I altered, and what I added. It takes you through the creation of a short story from start to finish, including some commentary on the process.
Understand, this writing is from four years ago, and I've learned a lot about writing since then. I am not, however, so proud that I'm unwilling to share my bad writing with you. In some ways, I feel like showing that early drafts really are ugly, unwieldy creatures helps dispel the myth that writers produce glittering stories with ease. Writing is not easy. It's work. It's work I love, but it's work all the same.
This short story has flaws. There are a lot of things I would change were I to revise it now. But I want to let it stand with all its jagged edges to share with you the journey of crafting a story. I hope you find it helpful and enlightening.
Comments
Both actually. I do outline the plot threads of every story from start to finish as well as general scenes that need to happen. I know what plot, character, world building, and thematic goals I need to achieve by the end of a scene. I usually also know where the scene takes place. HOWEVER, I don't outline HOW those goals will be achieved. That part is organic for me. Sometimes a scene goes places I never intended. Sometimes those are good places, and sometimes those places are horrible, never-to-be-seen-again places. We don't speak of those places. When things do change, it might be severe enough to change the big picture outline, too. So, yeah, a bit of both.
Post a Comment