I cleaned up a couple more of my old short stories.
It Was Just a Little Scrap, Really
I actually revised the latter yesterday, but I didn’t want to make a post for just one story. “It was Just a Little Scrap, Really,” is one of the first stories I posted here. The very first of my super hero works on here, even if it wasn’t the first one I wrote. It isn’t the first time I updated it either, but it needed it.
Don’t listen to the website heading, by my clock this is still technically a post for December! A continuation of “Getting Out Those Sulphur Stains,” as promised. The characters here can’t really banter, so most of the humor is found in monologues. I’m a little afraid I am telling more than I am showing, but I tried to layer the satire a little. I hope you can find something to enjoy in my little story about princesses and dragons. The third chapter should be coming along soon, hopefully faster than this one. Consider it my New Year’s resolution: to write more, and specifically to update here more regularly.
Also, Mills’ accent. I don’t usually write characters with a strong accent, because it can swiftly become cumbersome and irritating. I think I’ve found a good balance for Mills, but I’m not as consistent as I would like. I attempted to mutilate a few accents, particularly Cockney and a little deep American South, into something different. Unfortunately, that means even I have a hard time sounding it out in my head. It’s a work in progress.
This particular short story fought me. I started the idea as a whim, and didn’t really know where to cut if off for the moment. I look at one of the oldest fantasy tropes and play with it a little bit. More than anything, this story has become a look at a character dealing with shock and absurdity. And maybe literal medical shock.
Another reason for the delay is that getting my larger story published in Clarkesworld didn’t work out. I’m going to keep looking, but I won’t let it get in the way of resuming more normal updates. Expect a continuation of this story in a few updates.
I struggled with this one, since one of the primary characters is somewhat difficult to portray. This story is an exercise in developing the kind of characters that fill out the background and mythos of a world, as opposed to the protagonist the story itself follows.
The setting is very similar to “The 64th.”
An experiment in exposition that became an experiment in writer’s block. It was further delayed by a family vacation and another project I started and then dropped. It should be safe to expect faster updates after this.
Here, I tried to practice world building and exposition. I wanted to introduce and explain concepts as naturally as possible, as well as name drop other ideas that hint at a larger world around those elements. So it’s probably kind of confusing. However, I try to never write a story that isn’t a little funny. I also practiced banter as a means of character development.
For something slight different, I tried to portray exposition in a word-of-mouth style while the story itself goes on. Think old man telling the village children a ghost story over the fire.
I also attempted to make the hybrids’ contrast between humanity and monstrosity both as natural and as stark as possible. Horror and gore really aren’t my strong suits, but I tried to carry them through an otherwise action-oriented story.
The second chapter. Not a lot of our actual protagonist until near the end, but I still try to establish her character more through Heron’s eyes even when she’s absent. I also want to drive home exactly what sort of person Mildred has managed to earn the loyalty of. I try to keep the humor going even when the story takes a turn for the dramatic.
I’m still having trouble getting the hang of the “short” in short stories. This is more like the first chapter of a book, a parody of high fantasy. Later on expect an abundance of magic and ridiculous feats of strength. Here I introduce the protagonist and her mentor/narrator/straight man.
A revision of one of my early short stories. A role reversal-style joke at the expense of high fantasy. The later parts will play with a few other tropes, too.
Near and Far 