1-Shot vs. Long-Term

So if you follow my blog at all or even care about what I write, You may have noticed that I am now back in the game of writing. Now, it has been roughly 2-3 months since I have finished Deeper Than Friendship, and since then I have managed to write a very minuscule number of fics. Of course, half of this time I was on hiatus but that still doesn't excuse the lack of activity.

So, the question is posed, why do One-Shots take me so long? It's just a simple 2,000-10,000 word story, right? Well, that's where my problem begins. I don't ever know how many words I'm going to make a story/chapter. I can set a minimum or a maximum for myself, but sometimes i may break both. Since I believe that spending hours on end drafting out every single aspect of a story is very mundane, I usually make a rough outline and wing it. That's why some of you may have noticed how Deeper Than Friendship was all over the place. Granted, it was my FIRST fic, but I never had an outline for it. In my opinion, if I can wing it off of a rough idea, then I can enjoy making stories. However, when applying this theory to attempting one-shots, it sadly fails. I start out writing a one-shot feeling like I will be able to accomplish it in a week and have it be almost exactly what I want. But, since my ideas always change as I write, This is not always the case. I'll be midway into a story and get a new idea that requires me to backtrack, rewrite, and redo a lot of the work. And then, I won't even like THAT idea. And eventually, it will get to the point where I feel as if I am forcing myself to open up a word document and type 14,000 words to make a story that I don't believe is good. And as an artist who is very critical of his own work, I cannot upload anything that I feel is half-assed or not my best work. That is why my Short Stories folder only has 3 finished stories and about 20-something unfinished/scrapped stories.

This being the case, I may want to try and go back to the model I used for DTF. Get an idea, make a rough outline that is very flexible to my ideas, and just write what I want in segments. This is why i LOVED writing DTF. I felt that I wouldn't have to sit down and spend hours making a short fic that doesn't suit the need of all of my imagination and aspirations. It also feels like way too much work for me. I have school, chores, homework, and on top of that I may be getting a job soon (Most likely not, hopefully). When I get home and finish my homework, I feel tired and I just want to sit down and relax. And Writing is something I can only do with energy and want. Allowing myself to write a bi-weekly fiction in 2,500-5,000 word segments seems like a perfect balance for me. So, with this information, I have a question for anyone willing to answer it.

Would you prefer that I focus on one long-term story at a time and then in between that write one-shots?

OR

Would you prefer that I stick to one-shots for a tad longer?

Leave a comment below, also, leave a comment about your opinion on my work and what you would like to see!

Don't be afraid to be brutal, I crave criticism on my work, just make sure it's HELPFUL and not DESTRUCTIVE.

-JustaninnocentPony

P.S.: What are you guys dressing up as for Halloween? I'm going to be a hipster.