writing – Page 28

In Part 1 on this topic, I wrote about using a basic three verse poem to expand on a story idea.

In Part 2, I took it to the next level with three more verses to beef up the information about the story.

In Part 3, I listed the ingredients I would consider when writing a short story.

I have now written a short story from scratch, based on that simple poem displayed in Part 1 and Part 2. Until I completed the story, I used the same working title as used with the poem. A working title allows the writer to get on with the writing. Too much time can be spent procrastinating about the right title.

Like everything else you’ll read in my blog, I have my own theory with regard to titles. I believe it’s much better to work on the title after the story is written. The story may change slightly from the original idea (which mine did), but the title must still do its job – and attract interest. As soon as the first draft of my story was done I found I’d gone over my self-imposed 1500 word limit by 150 words, so I trimmed it to 1500 words.

I saved the story and then spent about 15 minutes writing out every title idea that came to mind. The whole story was fresh in my mind so I ended up with about 20 titles. Titles are easy, but the appropriate title is the one that works. Here are my top three:

– Death and Glory

– Diary of a Warrior

– A Time for Courage

In my final post on this topic I’ll produce the short story, which by then will only have been edited in a couple of rapid sessions, so it may yet change. I do feel it will still round off the task I set myself with this mini-series of posts.

Remember, there’s no reason why you couldn’t use this system to write a novel. My novel ‘Beyond The Law’ started out as an experimental poem, which stretched into a series of 26 poems.

As always, thank you for your indulgence.

Where do I begin?

I had never heard of the A to Z Challenge before so this was my first attempt.

I got a lot out of it, but as anyone who followed me would know; I put a lot into it. To make it clear I’ll list in the same fashion I used for my posts. It’s a method that provides clarity. I said … it’s a method that provides clarity.

1. I enjoyed it, although at times it was hard work. I started by following the ‘suggested’ 5 blogs, but through interest I ended up following 20.

2. I got every post out on time on the correct day.

3. I prepared a few, but only towards the end.

4. I gained a few more followers. I started with a figure in the mid-20’s, and I now have 79. About 5 of those have appeared since the challenge ended.

5. I’m now following about 15 more blogs than I was at the start of the challenge.

Where there any blogs I liked in particular?

Yes, there were several, and they are all mentioned with links in my ‘Z’ is for Zoom-in post: https://tombensoncreative.com/2014/04/27/z-is-for-zoom-in/

What could be improved for next year?

Not a lot, is my initial response, although I feel if we all advertised it on our individual blogs from about mid-March next year, it might increase figures. This would obviously require a much larger support network, and the new team members would have to be aware of how much pressure was on them.

One area that I found frustrating was the logging-in to make comments. Out of habit, I don’t just hit the ‘like’ button when I visit a site. I use WordPress, but when visiting ‘Blogger’ for instance, it was a task sometimes to get a comment accepted. That is nothing to do with the challenge itself, but it does tend to impact on how much time a person might spend trying to make their voice heard

What will I do differently next year?

I’ll get my topic ready and prepare several posts so that I’m ready to go from the outset.

I managed to get around all the back-up team to give a brief vote of thanks. In my ‘Z‘ post I named all of them with a link to their blogs, so it’s easy for anyone to find out who our organisers were.

I have the full list of my A to Z posts in a menu on my blog. My topic / theme was ‘writing’.

I look forward to next time. Now I must get back to my writing.

I’ll be seeing some of you regularly from now on I’m sure. My intention is to conduct two, or possibly three blog patrols per week.

Tag: writing