I Am a Short Story Machine


Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.  But, for me, crafting three short stories in one year, while I write a subplot heavy novel, is a triumph of pen prowess.

My latest takes place in the real, modern world.  All That Lies focuses on a woman who has been tossed into the crosshairs of two competing global organizations.  When shots riddle her house and her husband, she discovers her life of lies and needs all the strength she can muster to hold on to the truth.

This story is for Laurel Highlands Publishing’s thriller anthology, Disturbance.  When thinking about what to write for the anthology, I consulted my Story Ideas Folder.

That folder holds pieces of paper on which I have written general ideas, outlines, first lines, skeletal scenes, and other story related stuff (technical term).  After leafing through, I pulled a sheet from the file.  The first story I began writing didn’t want to work within a 3,000 to 5,000 word limit.  It wanted to be longer, so I put it aside.  Then, I started a psychological thriller from another paper.  It needed more inner character development than the word limit could provide.

The third had the whole story sketched on one sheet of paper with characters named guy x and guy y.  When I began to write it, I deviated from the outline.  The middle became the beginning of the story and the ending details changed.

For a while, I panicked, wondering whether or not I would finish after starting thrice.  Once I set down the pen, I celebrated with a little pew, pew, die, repeat on Planetside 2.  All That Lies has returned from the editor with only a few fixes to make, then it’s off to anthology land.

Disturbance is set to release October 27th.  Watch this blog for all the gory details.  I link here from Google+ and Twitter.  Circle and follow!

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 8, 2015 at 2:51 PM

    I have several shorts that don't fit into any other story or series. It was one of those that I submitted. I hope Laurel picks me, as the anthology releases on my birthday. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IE CastellanoSeptember 8, 2015 at 6:42 PM

      That would be so cool! I'll make sure to have an extra drink that evening to celebrate.

      Delete

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