Shifting Gears

I was afforded some time to think about where I am in terms of writing today, and I came to some conclusions.

I’m going to begin moving away from Flash Fiction. It’s not that I don’t enjoy FF, I do, but I’m losing interest in it. Flash Fiction is a lot like a shallow dive. It’s fun and can be refreshing, but when you do dive after dive, you get the urge to plunge deeper. I’ve been getting that urge lately. I’ve been good at keeping myself to a handful of FFs a week, and when I do sit and write to get one done, I find myself wanting to do more. But, it being a flash fiction, I don’t want to ramble. Tell the story and get out.

Another struggle that Flash Fiction brings to me is rooted in my writing style, or lack of style. I’m still struggling to find my voice. There are occasions when it pops up and I spot it and then it ducks back out of sight again, but those moments are rare. A lot of it comes from my strong opinion that I don’t want to exist for the reader. I only want the story to exist. To try to meet that goal, I tend to write in a very plain fashion. While that’s fine and dandy for the goal, it leads to a plain writing style. I’m not very interesting in terms of style. I’m not relaxed with my words. I’m like a nervous singer with a tight throat. Longer stories will allow my words a bit more freedom. I think that’s a good thing.

So I’m going to change things up a bit.

I’m not doing away with Flash Fiction. I like Flash Fiction, and I’m close to my magic number (150) that I want to reach to make a compilation. But I’m going to begin working on longer stories and posting them in parts. That’s a very common practice in the writer-blog world, and I’m finally going to become part of it. Writing longer stories and posting in this way, like I do with Flash Fiction, will help with all of the things I’ve talked about already as well as help get me into the chair more often. It’s a spur in my side when I post online. I need to break my mindset that I can only write when conditions are perfect. It’s a lie I tell myself everyday, and it’s time to make it go away.

I’ve already got the general premise of the first story in mind. It’s going to be a horror story. I have no determined length. I’ll simply tell the story until it’s done. I’ll work on the characters and general plot over the next few days and then you should start seeing something a bit more substantial here and there. Because the posts will be longer, don’t be surprised to see a Flash Fiction sneak in now and then between posts for the story. If anything, they’ll be a nice break from the main work and allow me a bit of breathing room for when I decide to put too much pressure on myself. Again.

Cheers