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Wednesday, April 2, 2014

#IWSG for April - Fear and Loathing

Time has flown once again and here it is, the first Wednesday of the month. Time to write about my insecurities and help support my fellow writers.

Fear and Loathing: This month I am participating in the annual April A to Z Blog Challenge. I did this in 2012 and was really pleased with the results. I had been writing a lot of flash fiction in the three previous months and really enjoyed writing my 26 stories.

Fast forward two years and my writing since then has been mostly novels with a few short stories tossed in. Writing a novel is VERY different from writing flash fiction. When I started my first one, I had no idea if I could write enough words for a novel. Well, I did, but I also discovered that my first edits always need me to add more words, more description. In flash fiction it's just the opposite. I end
up stripping out words, taking my writing down to the bare bones.

So here I am, attempting to write 26 more flash fiction stories and due to lack of practice, really struggling with it. I love doing flash but have to say that it doesn't sell. So now I need to find a balance to keep both skill sets working.

Fear that my stories won't be as good as the ones I wrote in 2012. Fear that the people won't enjoy them as much as they have in the past. Fear that I've lost the creative touch that I had two years ago. Loathing that I have these fears and self-doubts.


6 comments:

  1. Believe me when I say that we all have these fears. I am truly the self doubt queen! You're so right - - - flash & shorts don't sell well but you've got so much else going on, just find your balance. You'll be fine.

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    1. Thanks Marilyn...it will happen. Eventually... ;)

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  2. Eight, the series I'm writing has chapters of 300 words, which I only did for the print version. I thought 40+ chapters for an e-book was a little over the top! As to flash fiction however, I only attempted this once a couple of years ago.

    Hope you don't mind me asking, I joined IWSG last week, and I'm unsure as to what I'm supposed to do. Do I have to write a post today about my insecurities? Do I have to link it somehow?

    Sorry if I sound like a complete novice, but I suppose I am.

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    1. Hey, we were all newbies at one point. Yes, on the first Wednesday of every month you write a post about your insecurities. ;) The best thing to do is check out some of the other blogs on the list (click on the image in my post) and see what they posted.

      You need to save the image for the group and link it to http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/ so others can find the group.

      No problems if you don't post today...you did just join. ;) But definitely visit some of the other blogs. I need to do that tonight and add some comments!

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  3. If the readers enjoyed your stories before, they will again. It make take you a bit of time to get back into the groove, but it's like riding a bicycle. You'll never lose your voice.

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    1. Thanks, Ken. I am slowly getting back in the groove. I do enjoy cutting the words to the minimum and yet still telling a story. So different than writing a novel.

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