A Short Return to Writing Fiction

Submitted by Vishal on Wed, 2009/06/10 - 4:55pm

Click here for the PDF
I've been trying to get back to writing fiction for a long, long time now. In fact, I've spent more time trying than I did actively writing fiction from 2000-2003. It's not that there's a dearth of ideas or that I have suddenly lost the ability to string two sentences together, quite the opposite. In the past six years there have been short stories that turned into long stories, long stories that didn't go anywhere; several aborted novels, even more never begun; scripts and outlines and treatments and everything in between, but not a thing among them has been finished.

Well, today that changed. If only in a small way.

Giving myself the most miniscule of writing deadlines -- five hundred whole words -- and the challenge of trying to fit an entire story with a beginning, middle & end in that space, I set out. Instead of attempting an isolated scene or a standard flash fiction short, I thought I'd try and stretch my muscles. Could I possibly condense an entire action thriller novel into 500 words? Would it read as anything more than an outline? Would it just be a gimmick and nothing more?

Well, you tell me. Click on the image above or here to download a PDF of the short story/micronovel Pendragon. I've released the story on a Creative Commons License, so feel free to pass on the PDF file via email or the link to this page to anyone you think may be interested in reading.

I'm fairly satisfied with the way Pendragon has turned out. I don't think it quite achieves the ambitious 'novel in 500 words' goal I set for it, but it does have a beginning, middle, and end. Perhaps in one thousand words I would have been able to squeeze in as many thrills & spills as the average airport thriller.

But you can be assured of two things. One: I am back to writing fiction (and soon, in ways that are bigger than you might think).

And, two: Dirk Cleft will return!

V

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Comments

I Think I may have gone into shock

Submitted by Jamie on Mon, 2009/06/15 - 4:25am.

Oh my god, you actually put something down. Completely. i think i may have an erection.

Crudeness aside, I'm incredibly happy you finally got around to this bro!

Now where's that Savant-stuff i've been promised? This story was excellent, "de-briefing" is now my official favorite pick up line!

You sir, need to write MOAR.

NAO!!!!

Yes, back indeed I am, and

Submitted by Vishal on Mon, 2009/06/15 - 10:22am.

Yes, back indeed I am, and loving it. A bunch of folk on Twitter decided to get into a 'Novel Race' to see who could write the most -- and finish -- a novel by Oct end. I'm not writing a Savant story (though a couple of shorts are in the fire and may be completed) but I have finished a chapter of a novel.

Writing generic sexy elf adventure. Check your inbox.

Nice story!

Submitted by Sumedha on Wed, 2009/06/17 - 11:19am.

I like the story a lot! It's soo hard to get an entire story to come out in so few words, and you've done it brilliantly! :)

Thank you so much!

Submitted by Vishal on Thu, 2009/06/18 - 10:18am.

Thank you so much!

impetus hiatus

Submitted by Amit Suvarna on Sat, 2009/06/20 - 10:44am.

Im glad you wrote something to show. Sahi hai Bhaiyya! I liked the story, but not as much as I loved the illustration. :D

Thanks! Trying out some new

Submitted by Vishal on Sat, 2009/06/20 - 4:05pm.

Thanks! Trying out some new techniques with the illo, looser lines, more chaos. Looks nice coloured up, I must say. Will do more such illos (and stories) in future.