Can You write a Short Story to Spec...

[Kate Thornton]

...and On Deadline??

I like writing from ideas that are swarming around in my head. But sometimes I am asked for a themed story and given a deadline.

I have to admit, it's easier for me to craft a little mystery if someone gives me a jump start:

"Stories must be less than 3,000 words and involve a tiger, a plate of nachos and a reference to the Code of the Mulliners. Deadline next week at 1pm EST."

How about you? Is it easier or more difficult for you to write a story to some one's specifications?

[RRK]

Much easier for me when there's a deadline and a prompt...somehow I can just flip a switch in my head when that happens and churn something out. I think it makes it much easier to skip over the brainstorming process and just write what comes naturally.

[Adam Israel]

I always try to set some kind of deadline for myself, so this scenario wouldn't be that different. I'm usually filled with enough ideas to keep me busy, but I do like a good/interesting/weird prompt. That's one of the reasons I enjoy the weekly Flash Fiction Challenge here.

I did one other little contest like that: "write a story no more than 756 words that includes shredded money, chocolate with large teeth marks, and some kind of connection between the Amish and Chinese Jambalaya."

So yes, I could and I have. They're fun to do. I've been looking more and more at anthologies and themed issues lately because of that.

[Cathy C]

*I* can, but I hear it's a rare talent. If you can too, definitely exploit it! :)

[nevada]

Sometimes I can, sometimes I cant. In the chatroom we have the sunday Flash Fiction Challenge. At 9 pm eastern on sunday night, we all meet up, and we get a prompt. We then have 90 minutes to write and post the story inspired by the prompt. Sometimes I can write them. Sometimes I can't. Depends on the prompt.

But I think having something so definite, like Kate's example, would be fun and relatively easy to write. (Once i look up what the Code of the Mulliners is, of course. ;) )

[Soccer Mom]

Sometimes this works wonders for me. I love reading "The First Line" and it often gives me great ideas. I must have deadlines. If I don't have one, I set one. Otherwise I piddle around.

[Penguin Queen]

Much easier. I think it's an occupatoinal disease; Ive been a freelance journalist for over 15 years now, & I work ever so much better with the helpful pressure of a deadline.
Having a framework / title / first line to jump-start ideas is also usually helpful. Ive written two stories specifically for themed anthologies, & both have been accepted.

"Stories must be less than 3,000 words and involve a tiger, a plate of nachos and a reference to the Code of the Mulliners. Deadline next week at 1pm EST."

Can I read this when it's done? :D

[MMWyrm]

I give myself specs. I have this method of practicing short story writing involving 3 boxes of index cards. 1 characters, 1 setting, and 1 conflict. I draw one of each randomly and use them in a story. I give myself 2 hours to write the first draft in. It's just practice.

I come up with ideas on my own as well. Neither one is easier or harder than the other.

[J.Ziekemijjer]

I'm trying to write a story to spec at the moment. It's a literature assignment at university.

[Solatium]

I can't do the challenge stuff, if it's just for the challenge of it, because it feels like there's no incentive. But come to think of it, I've written several stories aimed at themed magazines/anthologies, both with and without deadlines; I find them easier to write. Usually, the combination of the pub's specifications and my own limits produces criteria as specific as any randomly-generated fic challenge.

If you'll pardon a little listmaking . . . (I've never thought of categorizing my stories this way) . . .

1. "It Takes All Kinds"
must be of interest to smoking fetishists but contain no explicit sex
1500 to 2000 words
no deadline
SOLD!

2. "Her Secret . . . and His"
same criteria as #1
SOLD!

3. "A Lucky Thing"
must be horror, crime or suspense about disastrous consequences from breaking one of the Ten Commandments (I picked the second) and take place in modern times
up to 5000 words
yes deadline
REJECTED, now making the rounds elsewhere

4. "The Back Window"
must be science fiction/fantasy/horror (I picked horror), be intended for children (and, implicitly, have a child protagonist), and not be absolutely terrifying
up to 2000 words
no deadline
SOLD!

5. "Either-Or"
same criteria as #1
presumed REJECTED after waiting more than a year, trunked because there's no other market for it

6. "Contents of a Notebook Found at the Little Dog's Feet"
must be horror taking place in a graveyard, frightening but not excessively gruesome
up to 8000 words
yes deadline
REJECTED, now making the rounds elsewhere

7. I'm, ah, not going to be too specific about #7 because it's still under consideration at the market it was written for. Probably the most exact set of criteria I've even written to, which must be a good thing, because it's been
WAITLISTED despite coming up a bit short on the word count

Those seven represent about half of the stories I've actively tried to sell, and about half of them have been sold.

Suddenly, I'm impressed.

[ChimeraCreative]

If the genre is fantasy then I would prefer to have a deadline and a theme or specs to write by. I haven't been active in seeking out contests but my best friend and I began challenging each other to lil writing contests this year. It's been a lot of fun and stretches my storytelling capabilities. ^_^

-An