Well, I'm taking a short break from typing up Kitsune to work on a short story. It shouldn't take long, since it can only be 1000 words.
Basically, I was looking into the Writing Challenge on the Women of the Otherworld message board, and saw some possible requirements for the next challenge and was inspired. The requirements I'm following for this story are 1000 words, nothing supernatural, and an unusual point of view (like a pet dog's point of view).
So my story is called, "My People" and it's based on true events, only it'll be from the perspective of my Pomeranian, Vivi. (Yes, that's the cute puppy in the picture in the sidebar.)
I want to finish the short story this weekend, along with typing up the rest of Kitsune. But I'm really far behind on Kitsune, since I didn't type anything on Tuesday or Thursday (the one day I actually have a lot of time to get work done), and I didn't make my page count on Wednesday. Also, I don't think I'll make my page count for Friday. So it might take me another week to finish typing Kitsune.
On the plus side, I have a bunch of notes and a couple of new directions the story could go. Actually, I'm not sure if the new directions are a good thing or not, since sometimes when my mind jumps on an idea, all these other ideas come flooding into my head. And usually sometime later, I look back at what I wrote, at what I was certain was the *best* idea ever, only to realize that perfect idea doesn't fit with everything else I have in the story and/or world, either it's contradictory or just plain stupid. Though once in a while, I manage to get a few good ideas that really to propel my plot, story, characters, etc. into new and exciting directions.
Anyway. I'm probably going to hold off on engaging or dismissing any of my new plot points until I've finished typing Kitsune, and thus reading this version. Hopefully, when I get to the end, I'll have a better idea of what the story needs. Then I'll be able to have a big brainstorming session with my husband, and see if his perspective sheds some necessary light needed to reign in the next draft.
Showing posts with label short story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short story. Show all posts
Friday, July 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Inspiration, Take 2
I actually get most of my inspiration from movies, but in a way, it's not really inspiration for a completely new story. It's more like somewhere in my brain, I think, hey, I should turn that into a story. But I don't do anything with that idea until I see a movie that's similar to my idea, and I think, that would be a really fun story to work on.
Examples
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- This made me want to write a pirate story, but rather than returning to the pirate story I had started a couple years before, I started a new one (but that was partly because I was living in South Korea and my notes were in Minnesota). I guess you could say the inspiration for the plot came when I asked one of the other English teachers what came to mind when they thought of Eastern dragons, which I think they said "fate."
Vampire movies -- Whether they're good or really, really bad, watching vampire movies always makes me want to work on Standard Issue. I don't even know how the idea got started, just that my husband was like, why is it that in every vampire movie all the vampires have to have the same "standard issue" clothing (of you know, black and leather and tight).
B-Rate horror movies -- I was creating a character for a role-playing game set in the modern day that was supposed to be vaguely horror-ish (the game, not the character), when I needed something for her and her "sidekick" to do while the guys tried to show off, thinking they knew how to destroy the big bad monster. So my character and her sidekick watched b-rate horror movies, which seemed appropriate considering that the adventure seemed like it was taken straight from a B-horror movie anyway. Add a few writing exercises for one of my creative writing classes at college, giving the character a degree in zoology, and well . . . I'm still waiting to write Mission #1: Tank Riding Zombies, but my husband wants to start a webcomic with her and the character he created in our creative writing class.
Okay, so those last weren't exactly the initial inspiration for the story, but close enough.
I also get inspiration from dreams, music, and drawings.
Dreams -- I haven't really dealt much with the stories I want to write based off some of my dreams, but their basic ideas are in the background for the main world that my stories take place in. I call them the Psychic series, but mostly they're biopunk. Though I wrote one short story in that series while I was in Korea, but that inspiration came from the high security system for the place I worked at and how seemingly easy it was to get around it. (Of course, I wish I had that short story in Japan with me rather than in MN since I would really like to edit it and submit it.)
Music and Drawings -- Pai's story is actually inspired from both. Pai is a character I drew during 11th or 12th grade, though she didn't become a character until sometime after I was in college. Sometime later I was listening to "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica and I thought it would be fun to write a story based on the lyrics to that song. Well, since most things don't turn out how you think they will, especially when it comes to plotting, I've decided that the song that much better describes her first book is "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica. But if I'm lucky, book 4 will finally give me the "Nothing Else Matters" type of story.
There are many other places I can get inspiration from, and each of my stories probably has their own inspiration story, but that'll be saved for a later time.
Examples
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- This made me want to write a pirate story, but rather than returning to the pirate story I had started a couple years before, I started a new one (but that was partly because I was living in South Korea and my notes were in Minnesota). I guess you could say the inspiration for the plot came when I asked one of the other English teachers what came to mind when they thought of Eastern dragons, which I think they said "fate."
Vampire movies -- Whether they're good or really, really bad, watching vampire movies always makes me want to work on Standard Issue. I don't even know how the idea got started, just that my husband was like, why is it that in every vampire movie all the vampires have to have the same "standard issue" clothing (of you know, black and leather and tight).
B-Rate horror movies -- I was creating a character for a role-playing game set in the modern day that was supposed to be vaguely horror-ish (the game, not the character), when I needed something for her and her "sidekick" to do while the guys tried to show off, thinking they knew how to destroy the big bad monster. So my character and her sidekick watched b-rate horror movies, which seemed appropriate considering that the adventure seemed like it was taken straight from a B-horror movie anyway. Add a few writing exercises for one of my creative writing classes at college, giving the character a degree in zoology, and well . . . I'm still waiting to write Mission #1: Tank Riding Zombies, but my husband wants to start a webcomic with her and the character he created in our creative writing class.
Okay, so those last weren't exactly the initial inspiration for the story, but close enough.
I also get inspiration from dreams, music, and drawings.
Dreams -- I haven't really dealt much with the stories I want to write based off some of my dreams, but their basic ideas are in the background for the main world that my stories take place in. I call them the Psychic series, but mostly they're biopunk. Though I wrote one short story in that series while I was in Korea, but that inspiration came from the high security system for the place I worked at and how seemingly easy it was to get around it. (Of course, I wish I had that short story in Japan with me rather than in MN since I would really like to edit it and submit it.)
Music and Drawings -- Pai's story is actually inspired from both. Pai is a character I drew during 11th or 12th grade, though she didn't become a character until sometime after I was in college. Sometime later I was listening to "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica and I thought it would be fun to write a story based on the lyrics to that song. Well, since most things don't turn out how you think they will, especially when it comes to plotting, I've decided that the song that much better describes her first book is "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica. But if I'm lucky, book 4 will finally give me the "Nothing Else Matters" type of story.
There are many other places I can get inspiration from, and each of my stories probably has their own inspiration story, but that'll be saved for a later time.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Writing Prompts
Mostly cross-posted from the Den of Shadows.
Angel Love, Demon Love is a story about angels and demons. It started from a short story I wrote during college when I was in one of my moods where I just needed to write something and have it finished. Then I took a creative writing class and the story just exploded.
Rather than outlining the expanded version of Angel Love, Demon Love like I normally do, I thought it would be fun to take the vague idea of plot from the short story I had written and write the story based on writing exercises and prompts. This actually wasn't my idea to start with. I hadn't planned on it being more than the short story that it was, and all I was going to do with it was maybe revise the short story and try to sell it. But then, like I said, I took that creative writing class.
For the first short story or chapter of a novel that we were supposed to turn in, the teacher gave us a prompt to write some part of our story or something about our characters. At first I thought it was really stupid because by writing based on some prompt, I thought it would eliminate my creativity. Instead, I found the opposite to be true. And I found out there was a lot more to Xander and Cortillya's story to tell than what I wrote in the original short story.
But now, I want to write their entire story (or the vast majority that remains of it) based off of writing exercises and prompts.
Angel Love, Demon Love is a story about angels and demons. It started from a short story I wrote during college when I was in one of my moods where I just needed to write something and have it finished. Then I took a creative writing class and the story just exploded.
Rather than outlining the expanded version of Angel Love, Demon Love like I normally do, I thought it would be fun to take the vague idea of plot from the short story I had written and write the story based on writing exercises and prompts. This actually wasn't my idea to start with. I hadn't planned on it being more than the short story that it was, and all I was going to do with it was maybe revise the short story and try to sell it. But then, like I said, I took that creative writing class.
For the first short story or chapter of a novel that we were supposed to turn in, the teacher gave us a prompt to write some part of our story or something about our characters. At first I thought it was really stupid because by writing based on some prompt, I thought it would eliminate my creativity. Instead, I found the opposite to be true. And I found out there was a lot more to Xander and Cortillya's story to tell than what I wrote in the original short story.
But now, I want to write their entire story (or the vast majority that remains of it) based off of writing exercises and prompts.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Biology Fun Follow Up
My husband's a really wonderful geek, especially when it comes to writing science fiction. Whenever I have a problem dealing with futuristic technology, he usually has some modern day equivalent of what I'm looking for.
So when I presented him with my problem of do the women in my galaxy actually get pregnant anymore, he told me about some fancy shower where it will tell you your weight, fat content, and all those other health concerns. And since my book takes place in the far future, you could assume that this fancy shower would also be able to detect the change in hormones for when a woman is pregnant.
Though I think it could be weired to wake up one morning, take a shower, only to have to say, "Oh, by the way, you're four days pregnant. You should consider going to the doctor today or tomorrow."
It could work. But in a way I still like the idea of an all test tube baby society. Though actually, I just realized that wouldn't work for this world, because of this short story I want to write. And I think adding a pregnant woman to a society where the women don't get pregnant would be a lot more shocking social situation than what I initially intended or even want. Though, on the other hand, the added shock of the situation could make the story even better.
And I thought I had finally solved this problem.
All it tells me is that I should let it sit for a while. And that I should write the short story that takes place in this far future before deciding which method of creating new life fits better.
So when I presented him with my problem of do the women in my galaxy actually get pregnant anymore, he told me about some fancy shower where it will tell you your weight, fat content, and all those other health concerns. And since my book takes place in the far future, you could assume that this fancy shower would also be able to detect the change in hormones for when a woman is pregnant.
Though I think it could be weired to wake up one morning, take a shower, only to have to say, "Oh, by the way, you're four days pregnant. You should consider going to the doctor today or tomorrow."
It could work. But in a way I still like the idea of an all test tube baby society. Though actually, I just realized that wouldn't work for this world, because of this short story I want to write. And I think adding a pregnant woman to a society where the women don't get pregnant would be a lot more shocking social situation than what I initially intended or even want. Though, on the other hand, the added shock of the situation could make the story even better.
And I thought I had finally solved this problem.
All it tells me is that I should let it sit for a while. And that I should write the short story that takes place in this far future before deciding which method of creating new life fits better.
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