Writing a lot lately, and some different stuff. Different voices, subject matters, etc. Here’s a smattering of things being worked on:
Untitled One: dog falls in love with delivery robot
Untitled Two: racist teacher hates men in turbans
Untitled Three: gay couple adopt in other country
Untitled Four: very unexpected quadruplets
Untitled Five: the shortest bridge in the province
Untitled Six: shut-in germaphobe grows third arm
Untitled Seven: fish swim in lake with no water
Untitled Eight: kids go deaf from explosion, so does bear
Anyway, that’s a few, there are others. I’ve realized that about a quarter of my stories are actually good. Another half are decent but aren’t going to set the world on fire. The final quarter are utter garbage. Call it the 25-50-25 rule of writing quality. It’s super hard to tell which story fits in which category, actually. You have to read them a few times. Figure out which ones have a soul, which ones don’t.
Admitting that a story is a dud is hard. You want to raise the thing after you give it birth. Let it turn into something, go on a first date, have a kid of its own, but it’s just not the case at times. Sometimes, the story has no soul, and there’s just no point doing anything with it.
I’ve realized that a cross-genre writer. I don’t care about genres. I’ll write with a literary bent about fantastical things. I’ll do horror, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, whatever. I’ll mash them gladly. Happily. I’ll go where the story leads me. I do often feel as a writer that I don’t fit into any obvious categories, which is frustrating. I don’t know what to call myself. Maybe an upmarket fiction writer? That might be the closest. My goal is to write something you haven’t seen before, to bring a unique voice to the fiction world. I don’t need to fit in. I just need to be me.
More importantly, just have to keep writing. This is a crazy, wonderful craft. For those on this journey too, I salute you. And I love you.
A delightfully strange assortment of story summaries. Your blog’s slogan of “dream hard, rage hard” rings true. I love that you’re being you and not trying to fit in. Screw trying to fit in.
One day, I’m going to wonder if I”m intentionally trying to be unique, or if this is just me. I figure it’s more the latter. The less I care, the more out there I get, and the better the work seems to be. Here’s to our voices, Dave!
What an interesting list. You and another writer friend suffer the same “malady” of not fitting in a nice little neat box. And neither of you wants to, either. Nor should you. I understand it’s harder to market but mango, I love reading different stuff. I’ve beta read three of Sarah’s stories – each of them totally different; all of them compelling. Same for anything I’ve read of yours.
You just keep on being you. Keep throwing that spaghetti against the wall.
Who’s this Sarah? I need to check her out!
Sarah Potter. I read two of her published books: “Dessication” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28232790-desiccation and “Noah Padgett and the Dog People” https://books.google.ca/books/about/Noah_Padgett_and_the_Dog_People.html?id=7s4cvgAACAAJ&source=kp_author_description&redir_esc=y
Plus, I’ve beta read three of her books. She is having trouble selling her stuff…
I would love to help her if I can.
You’re so kind. I am due to have a video chat with her in the near future. I’ll see if she has given up on the whole publishing thing…
Oh dear, she musn’t give up! Does she have a Twitter handle?
@saracpotter
That doesn’t seem to work.
I love your love of writing and often envy you your talent. It’s a wonderful thing that you share your stories with us. They are always a privilege to read and more often than not written so they stick with you. Sometimes, days later, I am still thinking about a story I have read of yours. Thank you, Trent, for sharing them with us.
Thank you, Michelle. I will keep at it, in part because of the encouragement of my friends.