I stopped writing fiction when I got married at 18. I was too busy raising my babies and then homeschooling them to write for fun. I just wrote all my stories in my head, as I cooked, cleaned, drove, and laid in bed falling asleep.
My writing skills grew primarily through posting on forums with other homeschool moms and correspondence with the school board.
I posted last week that I'm taking a short story class in 2 weeks.
I saw a man on the train, that inspired me to start writing a short story. I had the story all planned out and the idea was really good, BUT, I didn't like the MC and the story just wouldn't come together. Writing it was torture and it just wasn't good.
In the past, my fiction writing (on paper and in my head) was always novel length, and included a MC that I loved and identified with. I would live with a story for over a year, until a new one gradually eclipsed it.
I'm not used to writing about people I do not love and live with. My forum posts were about real people. My fiction writing was about the characters that lived in my head for months or years.
I'm trying to figure out how to write short fiction. I know that shorter assignments are better from an educational standpoint, and I want to do well in my class, but I have total writer's block.
I read several books and websites. I understand how to plot and plan a short story. I just can't seem to WRITE it :-( The MC won't come alive. I pitied the MC and found him interesting, but I didn't like him. I think this is the problem.
Should I push myself to learn to write about an MC I don't like, or should I just focus on writing stories where I like the MC?
Maybe, even though the piece of writing is short, I need to live with my MC for a long time.
My writing skills grew primarily through posting on forums with other homeschool moms and correspondence with the school board.
I posted last week that I'm taking a short story class in 2 weeks.
I saw a man on the train, that inspired me to start writing a short story. I had the story all planned out and the idea was really good, BUT, I didn't like the MC and the story just wouldn't come together. Writing it was torture and it just wasn't good.
In the past, my fiction writing (on paper and in my head) was always novel length, and included a MC that I loved and identified with. I would live with a story for over a year, until a new one gradually eclipsed it.
I'm not used to writing about people I do not love and live with. My forum posts were about real people. My fiction writing was about the characters that lived in my head for months or years.
I'm trying to figure out how to write short fiction. I know that shorter assignments are better from an educational standpoint, and I want to do well in my class, but I have total writer's block.
I read several books and websites. I understand how to plot and plan a short story. I just can't seem to WRITE it :-( The MC won't come alive. I pitied the MC and found him interesting, but I didn't like him. I think this is the problem.
Should I push myself to learn to write about an MC I don't like, or should I just focus on writing stories where I like the MC?
Maybe, even though the piece of writing is short, I need to live with my MC for a long time.
