Welcome to 'The Word', my occasional update series covering the state of my writing projects and other miscellaneous information. A mix of updates, thoughts, and ramblings.
New Flash Fiction: Time in a Box
As a lifelong gamer born in the 80’s and growing up through the 90’s/00’s, a huge piece of nostalgia for me is renting and shopping for video games in every store my parents took me to. One of the most unique video game sections I can remember was in a local home improvement store.
My latest flash fiction, Time in a Box, is a fictionalized retelling of being a kid and searching for the perfect game in an unorthodox setting. Similar to my flash fiction Forgetting, I consider it a ‘slice-of-life’ piece. Read it here:
New Audio Story: Table for Two
Table for Two is one of my favorite short stories. Sometimes, as a writer, you get ideas that don’t turn out so well in the final story - but this story was not that for me. It’s an example of one of my ideas turning out as good (or better) than my initial idea.
Table for Two is a horror story about a woman recalling the worst date of her life. On Valentine’s Day I released the audio story for premium subscribers (with a free preview for everyone). Listen to it below:
Outlining More Stories
Cold and flu season has hit our household and as I’m recovering from being sick (and experiencing the fun of parenting a sick child) I’m getting back to writing. I like the current (albeit unintentional) cadence of releasing a written story and an audio recording per month so I’m going to try to keep that up. As the audio recordings get longer and occasional sicknesses come through (thanks, daycare), their schedule may slow.
That said, along with new short stories and flash fictions, I’m outlining a few longer stories that I’d like to write and possibly post as serials. I really want to do a serial here. My biggest hurdle with a serial is that my writing process means I don’t know where the story wants to go - or what it really means thematically - until I’ve written a first draft.
Generally, the first few sections or chapters change the most after the first draft because the middle/end is where the story wanted to go. If I would release serial chapters without a very detailed outline or finished draft, the early chapters would feel out of place later on. I’ve considered ‘pants-ing’ and releasing chapters as I write them, but I’m just not comfortable with it.
That said, I’ll bring this back to the fact that I’m currently outlining a few longer stories so I can write them and bring them here.
Mystery Link
If you’re hungry for more, click on the bookish cupcakes below for a surprise:
(Safe for work, never malicious - the way mom used to make your links.)
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See you in the pages of the next one,
Matt