January 29, 2006

Where the muse takes you …

Suddenly, I seem to be up to my neck in short stories :p I had wanted to get the latest revision of "Honest" done quickly but I’ve only gotten through the first chapter. While I do want to finish that, I feel the urge to work on this particular short story more.

When I dusted out my old short stories, I selected three stories as sort of in a state of readiness. Two were complete stories and the other was a fragment that I’d started to write but lost steam on. Laurie reckons that of the two complete ones, that one could be submitted. That was the last short story I had done – it was written about five or six years ago and was called "Dad is Gone". Not really one of my favourites but then again, it’s not really something with a lot of action – it more of a mood/character piece. I just like the setting, which was one of the first really detailed worlds I created, and the character. However, since that’s the one which is most close to being submission-worthy, Laurie is working on editing it and once she’s done, I guess I’ll go through it again and then try submitting that one to a few places.

The second complete story is a short, short – less than a 1000 words. It’s a really rambling, morbid piece which has prompted a couple of people to ask me if I’d ever considered suicide :p No, not because the writing was so bad, but because the narrator is kind of obsessed with death. Again, not really something I actually like except for sentimental value – it was the first short story that I ever completed – and the final line, I love that line 🙂 Will I try submitting it? I don’t know.

The third one – I’d named it "Big Brother Lives" but am going to change the title since that particular title makes no sense – is a different kettle of fish. I didn’t have any real affinity to the story as it was when I read it. However, as I began editing it and reworking it, I began to re-imagine the world the story takes place in and I like how the new world is turning out. It has possibilities. I am not very familiar with today’s science fiction (I mostly read golden age stuff …) and so, don’t know if this kind of thing has been done before. Considering the subject matter and the direction I’m taking, I think it probably has. But still, I feel good about this particular story … Let’s see how it goes …

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Posted by Fahim at 7:14 am  |  No Comments