Day 50: Tailored to Fit

The only thing better than having my car... is having two of my car.

That's probably not true at all but whatevs.

In the past year or so I've come to the conclusion that writing short stories isn't really my strong suit... it's not even my decent suit. It's like the weakest suit I have. Whenever I think of stories, I tend to come up with complex arcs for the characters because I want to give them interesting experiences and difficult challenges to overcome. This generally means all of my ideas turn into outlines for larger pieces of work. I have a tough time thinking about the tight, short, focused narrative that is essential for writing a successful short story. But I want to work on this weakness, and so one of my goals for the summer is to write at least one complete short story, if not more, that I can be proud of and consider to be the same quality as anything else I'd write.

I want to do a little research on the topic, though. So I decided I'm going to reread a few short stories, starting with "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. It's short, under 10,000 words, but it's got the kind of pace and scope that I'd like to capture in my own short story. Most short works that I've read come off more as vignettes or a dissection of a single moment. But this one, from what I can recall, feels a lot more like a tiny, tiny novel, which seems more like something I'd want to do. I haven't reread it yet, it's on my agenda for the rest of the night. But hopefully it will inspire me and I can learn from it in order to craft my own little story. I'm looking forward to it!

Use, steal, insult and retain
But cut the cord and the friendship fades
And you're lost in fear and despair.

Song: "Swim" by Jack's Mannequin. Pop/rock that utilizes piano, inspired melodies and an encouraging message.