Day Eight - Delays and Excuses

 

    Greetings!

    If you've been following my blog (you haven't) then you will have noticed that it's been several days since I've posted consistently. That's because I've been busy and such, but also because I set an arbitrary schedule when I first started this directionless blog. I think I'll shift over to a weekly format, mostly because I will feel less guilty that way and maintain that I haven't fully given up on this blog.

    This week I'm excited to share that I'm entering the Reedsy writing contest for a second time. The topic this time is based on the grapevine, telephone, rumors, and the like. I'm going for the rumor aspect. I thought that today's blog could be on my writing process, thought process, and the creative side of things. 

    Let's start from the beginning: The Title. I'll be honest, I'm 50/50 with titles. There are some things I've written and the title has come as naturally as the dialogue or the story. The other half of the time however, it's a struggle. My strong suits are characters and dialogue. Storywise I think I have strong telling as far as my writing goes, but my stories aren't for everyone and I can invest more time in the editing process. 

    Speaking of not for everyone! Several of my short stories end with a cliffhanger. I enjoy this as a device in shorter formats because well, you're working within certain parameters such as word count. This contest allows for 1k to 3k words in length. I hit a thousand words pretty quick and ideas for where to go were spiraling. So I ended the story instead. My girlfriend told me that there needed to be more. What happens to this? Who are these people? Etc. Etc. 

    All great questions.

    Sure, I could answer the questions I raised, go in whatever direction my creative mind took me... but why? Isn't the purpose of a short story to spur the imagination? Raise questions that get the mind working? I opted to end the story right when it was getting good, not out of laziness, but because that's when it was getting interesting. The reader can fill in the rest with their own thoughts and creative whims, or if the idea is popular enough with people or myself, I can always revisit it. 

    I hope you guys enjoy.

    Cheers.


                    -Denis Baldwin

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