A few posts ago I dared to give some advice on short story writing and I am here to give a bit more. This is not about technique or marketing but back to the very basics that if you want to be a famous short story writer you have to write short stories.
Now, please don't write me off as crazy yet, hear me out. If you are interested in short story writing, you may have had this experience. You come across someone who is accepting short stories that fit your profile. You get to writing, creating a story just for that submission. If you are anything like me (the 2011 me that is), you finish it five minutes before the deadline and turn it in. Invariably, although you may have reviewed it carefully, you are basically turning in a first, or middle draft, and invariably, it will be turned down.
So, we have to continuously write stories as the ideas arrive, put them on paper, polish them, have them professionally edited or at least have them viewed by an independent eye and sometimes put them away for the right time. The more you write, if you are honest with yourself, the more your writing will improve. When you come across that perfect competition or publication your only problem will be deciding which story to pick out of your portfolio.
I hate it when I am unable to let a story sit for a week or two before giving it a final read through. I don't let it happen very often because I know how critical it is.
ReplyDeleteGood advice. Last year I planned to enter a regional competition, but realized at the last moment that the length requirement had changed so the story I had in mind couldn't work. Now if I'd had a portfolio to choose from I'd have just sent something else. :-/
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