I'm doing Story a Day in May again this year. The rules are as simple as can be- 31 first draft stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. They don't have to be long, but they have to be complete.
I did this last year, and it was a very productive exercise. One of the stories from the batch so far has been published- Wendigo Bake Sale, which just ran at the Drabblecast- and there are at least a few others which I think can be polished to professional quality. All in all, that by itself would justify keeping up with it, but there were a couple of other interesting things that came of it as well.
I ended up writing more, which is probably to be expected. The goal wasn't any particular volume of words, but often stories go longer than what I had set as my daily goal.
I also ended up writing more experimentally. I wrote something in second person future which will never see the light of day, but which was fun and educational to create. I wrote a story that was one giant sentence, mostly a list. I tried to deliberately write in the style of other famous writers, just for a giggle. Every day I knew I had to do something, but I also knew I'd be doing something again tomorrow, so if today's something was a little indulgent, it didn't matter. I think every now and again, playing around like that, experimenting just for the joy of it, is an incredibly valuable thing to do as a writer.
Because really, when you get right down to it, it's all supposed to be fun, isn't it?
(by the way, of absolutely infinite story a day value are the many essays on flash fiction by Mr. Bruce Holland Rogers)
I did this last year, and it was a very productive exercise. One of the stories from the batch so far has been published- Wendigo Bake Sale, which just ran at the Drabblecast- and there are at least a few others which I think can be polished to professional quality. All in all, that by itself would justify keeping up with it, but there were a couple of other interesting things that came of it as well.
I ended up writing more, which is probably to be expected. The goal wasn't any particular volume of words, but often stories go longer than what I had set as my daily goal.
I also ended up writing more experimentally. I wrote something in second person future which will never see the light of day, but which was fun and educational to create. I wrote a story that was one giant sentence, mostly a list. I tried to deliberately write in the style of other famous writers, just for a giggle. Every day I knew I had to do something, but I also knew I'd be doing something again tomorrow, so if today's something was a little indulgent, it didn't matter. I think every now and again, playing around like that, experimenting just for the joy of it, is an incredibly valuable thing to do as a writer.
Because really, when you get right down to it, it's all supposed to be fun, isn't it?
(by the way, of absolutely infinite story a day value are the many essays on flash fiction by Mr. Bruce Holland Rogers)
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