Each time I look at a piece of knitting or crochet—or something as mundane as a rubber band ball—I consider that it started from almost nothing. Just the base, a thread or a rubber band, wrapped around itself to create its own foundation until finally we have a sweater, or a mediocre tourist trap.
This feels like that. Staring into empty space that isn't even an abyss, and wondering whether, even if I can assemble a scarf, anyone will like it. I wouldn't even attempt this—in fact, I did stall out once before—but I recently stumbled across Captain Awkward. Her first few stitches were posts to the void discussing weird social behaviors; eventually a request for advice came in, and now she probably gets more questions than she can answer!
Hearsay Horizons primarily focuses on short stories, snippets, and flash fiction. I may post longer short stories in chunks, or it may be something as small as a character profile or exchange between characters. We’re probably looking at primarily fantasy and science fiction, with some horror. It’s not all going to be even in quality, and part of my purpose is to become okay with that. My goal is just to write, and to get into a schedule. I need discipline if I want to craft anything. It's always been a problem.
That said, some of my first posts may be... essays. Class essays. I'm not unbelievably far out of school, and I miss it a lot for the regularity, the set expectations, and the ability to rely on an essay format like a trellis for my roses of thought. I’m proud of some of them.
My next post will be a short story published in my community college's creative journal during my time there. Once I headed to a four-year school, I applied and entered their program for funded undergraduate research. The short story became the seed of my research on the nature of terror and horror in classic Gothic novels and my own writing. The last leg of my time that summer was spent taking the short story, "Knowing is Half the Feast," and turning it into a larger piece that tied back to my research: "Losing Face." An agreement to present at a research conference was part of the program application; about half a year later, I presented my findings at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, held that year at the gorgeous University of Memphis. Not only did I get to fly out and have a blast, not only did I get to see other research on things from metallurgy to nematodes, but the response to my presentation was immense and heartwarming.
The plan, then, is to give you first the seed, then the essay laying out the conceits in the larger story, and finally the larger story itself in chunks. Not only will this give me a chance to share something I don't think I'd publish otherwise, but it'll get me into the habit of posting and working with a blog while trying to write other things. I'm excited to share other pieces with you, so those may come intermixed among the chunks of "Losing Face," especially if the longer short story doesn't float as well as I thought.
Good or bad, I’ll keep you posted.
This feels like that. Staring into empty space that isn't even an abyss, and wondering whether, even if I can assemble a scarf, anyone will like it. I wouldn't even attempt this—in fact, I did stall out once before—but I recently stumbled across Captain Awkward. Her first few stitches were posts to the void discussing weird social behaviors; eventually a request for advice came in, and now she probably gets more questions than she can answer!
Hearsay Horizons primarily focuses on short stories, snippets, and flash fiction. I may post longer short stories in chunks, or it may be something as small as a character profile or exchange between characters. We’re probably looking at primarily fantasy and science fiction, with some horror. It’s not all going to be even in quality, and part of my purpose is to become okay with that. My goal is just to write, and to get into a schedule. I need discipline if I want to craft anything. It's always been a problem.
That said, some of my first posts may be... essays. Class essays. I'm not unbelievably far out of school, and I miss it a lot for the regularity, the set expectations, and the ability to rely on an essay format like a trellis for my roses of thought. I’m proud of some of them.
My next post will be a short story published in my community college's creative journal during my time there. Once I headed to a four-year school, I applied and entered their program for funded undergraduate research. The short story became the seed of my research on the nature of terror and horror in classic Gothic novels and my own writing. The last leg of my time that summer was spent taking the short story, "Knowing is Half the Feast," and turning it into a larger piece that tied back to my research: "Losing Face." An agreement to present at a research conference was part of the program application; about half a year later, I presented my findings at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, held that year at the gorgeous University of Memphis. Not only did I get to fly out and have a blast, not only did I get to see other research on things from metallurgy to nematodes, but the response to my presentation was immense and heartwarming.
The plan, then, is to give you first the seed, then the essay laying out the conceits in the larger story, and finally the larger story itself in chunks. Not only will this give me a chance to share something I don't think I'd publish otherwise, but it'll get me into the habit of posting and working with a blog while trying to write other things. I'm excited to share other pieces with you, so those may come intermixed among the chunks of "Losing Face," especially if the longer short story doesn't float as well as I thought.
Good or bad, I’ll keep you posted.
Yay! Way to go, this is an amazing first step.
ReplyDeleteI know you'll do great :) .
~You-Know-Who~