FM Story a Day Challenge Update 4 and BayCon

Now we have reached the last stretch, and one thing after another has pretty much put the goal of 15 short stories out of reach. However, I should still be able to meet the 10 stories I’ve gotten over the past few years. Besides a bunch of real life events that are tied to the end of the school year, my eighth short story wrote very slowly. Not only was it the longest so far this month, but it was another idea story.

The plan for the rest of the month, however many stories I manage, is to stick to character prompts. Those stories might be smaller, but they can be quite strong and tend to write both easier and faster for me. It doesn’t mean they are better or worse as stories. When I get them polished and start submitting, often I can’t tell whether it started out as an idea or character. This difference in process seems to affect only the first draft, but it’s a marked effect, especially in a year like this where I have so much else going on.

And speaking of other things, the end of this week is BayCon 2011, a San Jose, California, science fiction convention I have been going to for years. I will be on two panels this year: Stealth Philosophy – Getting philosophy into the mainstream, and World Building Basics – If you’re going to set your fantasy or science fiction piece in an alien place, what kinds of things should you think of prior to doing so? The topics are good and the discussion should be fascinating. Stop by if you’re coming.

The new story info:

8 ) The untitled SF in process now has a title and a length: Rock of Ages came in at 3846 words.
9) The End of the Road – a 1372 word tragic fantasy. I didn’t see the end of this one coming, but it felt right.

This entry was posted in Challenges, Conventions, General, Story a Day, Writing Process and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

Share Your Thoughts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.