Part One: "Suggested Classic Short Stories?" Part Two: "My First Audiobook!" · 4:45pm Jan 22nd, 2013
Blog Number 12: Short Stories and My First Audiobook Edition
Now, I had wanted to post a blog on Christmas or New Year, but I didn't really have anything to report at the time, so rather than do it for the sake of it, I left it. Since then, a couple of new developments have cropped up rather like the proverbial two buses.
Short Stories - Any Recommendations?
Firstly, I'd like a bit of help, if anyone's reading this. At present, I'd like to develop my craft for short story writing (anything between a thousand to ten thousand words), and when writing, I find I work best if I have an example of the kind of story I want to write in mind.
The problem is that I like reading novels, which are usually seven or eight times longer and have different requirements, and a novel is not something you write in under a month unless you've got incredible stamina.
To put it in brief, I'd be mighty grateful if anyone reading this could recommend any classic or exemplary short stories that I might like. Not necessarily fanfiction, either. I mean, say, the one short story everybody should read, an example of great writing and great storytelling, or even simply a competition winner.
Genre-wise, I'm not fussy so long as it's not romance (unless it's a really good romance, of course), but something suspenseful, or emotional, or comedic, or at least entertainingly absurd would be good. Ideally, something family-friendly rather than heavily "adult".
The more suggestions, the better. You can recommend a writer or an anthology if you like.
My First Audiobook
Secondly, I'd like to report that I have my first audiobook!
Only two days ago, I received a little PM from the Living Library. They've done an audio recording of one of my stories, Through the Eyes of the Hurricane, and have posted it on YouTube. It's narrated by user FreeHomeBrew, according to the description. The link's here if you're curious: http://youtu.be/yQSCQyxJgMA
Now, it's not exactly a professional reading - quite a few restarts, hesitations, and self-corrections are peppered throughout - and I was a mite disappointed that the voice was male when I had expected the first person narrator, like the character, to be female. That said, some parts are delivered very well (I especially liked the ending with Pansy - it reads well in writing, but I think it's even better when read aloud).
Yet to be honest, I hardly care about these quibbles. Someone considered one of my own works of fiction good enough that they'd willingly sit and spend forty five minutes reading it aloud. I remember that particular fic as one of the ones I re-edited several times to get onto Equestria Daily, and though I consider it one of my best fics, I thought it was over once I'd received the initial comments (all of which I am grateful for). But having spent most of the last few months worrying over pen and paper with little to no result, I was surprised to be nearly a year after the event and to receive such an unexpected gift. I genuinely don't know how to express my gratitude.
Now, I don't want to sound emotional or silly; there's no need to blow this out of proportion, and it's inevitably more exciting for me than for you. That said, I wanted to convey just how great I feel after learning about this. It makes me feel all these difficulties with writer's block and self-doubt are really worth it in the end because someone, somewhere appreciates it and enjoys your work.
It's not much, but the least I'm doing is sending a Thank You PM to the Living Library for their effort.
Hey, it is a first for me, after all. I want to enjoy the moment!
Miscellaneous
Something else I probably should have written early December; I am now a year-old user and up there with the eldest members! That means I'm now eligible for a senior citizen's discount card. Also, I got my old avatar back now, though I'm keeping the santa hat version saved on my laptop for next Christmas.
Well, that's it for now. Until next time, Impossible Numbers out!
Statistics
New Stories?: Pinkamena Diane Pie was released about a week ago. It's a fairly low-key short story, and originally going to be a longer work, but I never got around to finishing it. Other projects are starting up, but again, no promises.
Story Count: 13
My Total Story View count: 8,073. I finally passed the 8,000 views benchmark!
Age: 58 weeks, 1 day
My Follower count: 46
My Followed count: 58
Greek myths make for great short tales while more traditional shorts I enjoyed are by Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. I'd say Asimov too but so many of his shorts are intrinsically linked by the same universe it can be very confusing not to start at the beginning.
One thing I do enjoy though are episodic shorts following a single character. Like the japanese Mushi-Shi franchise and the early Witcher stories.
And lets not forget the Grimm fairy tales.
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I've just started the Grimm Fairy Tales now. OK, some of them are classics, but others are decidedly odd.
It's like surrealism before Surrealism was invented.
Funnily enough, I was about to start reading Asimov's I, Robot at the time I posted, under the impression it was a novel rather than a collection of short stories. I might put it off, though, until I've read some of his longer works, as you suggest. I'll have to look for some Ray Bradbury, too. Fahrenheit 451 was surprisingly good, and I remember reading The Sound of Thunder in school donkey's years ago.
Never heard of the rest, though.
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No prob.
King's shorts are always a lot more powerful than many of his longer ones. I compare shortskirtsandexplosions to him sometimes in that the long fics of both seem like a short story stretched out.
As for the Witcher. It's a fantasy series based on fairy tale style mythology and European foklore following a bounty hunting swordsman/warlock. The later books are one big arc but the first one is a collection of shorts linked by one plotline.
Mushi-Shi is a manga and anime (I think there might be novels too, not sure) about strange spiritual critters called Mushi and a man who travels around to solve problems they cause amongst humans.