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You might have noticed a certain shift in tone to my posts during the A to Z Blogging Challenge this month. Suddenly, I am writing about strange facts and concepts! (As opposed to my usual posts on the horror genre, weird dreams I had, and stuff I'm writing.)
There is indeed a method to my madness. I've mentioned this before, but in case you're new here, I wanted to put in a little plug for a challenge I'm about to undertake, and to explain where I've been coming from this month.
You see, a while ago, the delightfully insane Julie Duffy
I had decided, sometime in March, that I would probably end up trying Story A Day in May and flunking on day one. Never one to give up ahead of time, I kept worrying about it. All this angst got me brainstorming about how I would attempt to climb this insurmountable peak if I did decide to follow through with it. I had already signed up for A to Z...and that's when I got a wonderful, terrible idea.
If I made each of my A to Z posts nice and juicy and idea-full, then I could use them as story prompts. Research? Already done. Evocative images? Already found. Idea factory? Switched on.
So this is my plan. By the end of April, I'll have 26 writing prompts in place. My current plan is to keep Sundays in May for writing ultra-short fiction based on random or spontaneous notions, so that will make up the extra five days.
My challenge to you is: join me. With all this A to Z action, there are a ton of story prompts out there for us to use. Feel free to use mine! Each of my posts this month could go in a bunch of different directions. Novel writers, take a break from your WiPs and try short fiction. Bloggers, give yourselves the chance to write something that lets your imagination soar. And short story writers: let's flex those muscles. Let's pound out the word count like we're writing in the pulp era. Let's take care of business.
If you are participating in Story a Day, let me know in the comments to this post and I'll add you to my sidebar. Make sure you keep us up to date on how the challenge is going for you.
17 comments:
I do wish you all-the-best with your May Challenge. It sounds like a wonderful idea. I'm on vacation for 9 days in May so it's not a feasible challenge for me and I'm thoroughly exhausted from the atozchallenge!
But, I want to thank you for recommending the use of these 26 atoz posts as prompts. That is a great idea.
Followed you into here via twitter (such a wonderful thing, that) and I applaud your bravery. I may just follow you into the madness, if only because I know I will fail miserably. Best of luck to you!!
Dear God, woman... you're making me question my sanity and say yes regardless of the fact that the A to Z Challenge has been a wonderful and tiring event. I'm not sure if I could ride the wave of blogging like that two months in a row, but... it seems like a really interesting idea.
Oh man, you ARE brave! LOL. I've burned myself out in the months of March and April. I can't imagine taking such a challenge on in May. It's hard enough writing a short story per week! :D Still, I think this is an exciting idea. I look forward to hearing about your progress!
@Gail: 9 days of vacation sounds wonderful. Please feel free to plunder any writing prompts you wish at any time. (By the way, you can choose your days off for Story a Day, by the way, so you could still write 22 stories...)
@jys: Let's fail miserably together!
@Sarah: I will be blogging my progress with Story a Day, but my stories will be decidedly offline, first drafts, probably super rough. A change is as good as a rest, right?
@Trisha: exactly. The sudden change of pace should be interesting ("interesting").
Happy Easter! I'm stopping by on the A-Z Challenge.
Thanks Elizabeth, I think that your a-z prompt are fascinating. Thanks for the invite to use them.
ooh a Story a day in May. I'm going to check it out.
Oh, man. I've just signed up. This is going to be crazy.
I'm so glad you'll be doing the challenge, Deborah! I hope you'll blog about your progress from time to time. It is going to be crazy, but I'm thinking maybe I need a swift kick in the pants in order to overcome my super sloooooow writing habits.
Would love to join you but I am travelling back to Uk at beginning of May and may not be returning until end of June. I hope to keep up with blogging and networking a little but it will be dependent on getting internet access wherever we are. Good luck with it all anyway!
Wow, a story a day? That's crazy! I wish all the luck!
I'm not doing it (might want to jump in next year, though) for a simple reason: between a to z, my own finals and Script Frenzy, I almost haven't touched my WIP since March. And now I'm DYING to do so, which I haven't felt in a long time. I don't want all that inspiration to go to waste!
A story per day?!? Wow, it would have to be all flash fiction for me. However, I do kind of like the idea of trying to concentrate on stories during the whole month. Hmmm...
You've got a great strategy for May; I'm sure it will work well.
You are crazy ...er, I mean awesome! :-) A-Z is wearing me out at the moment, but I love the story a day idea. Can't wait to see what you come up with!
EJ
Pat and Claudie, sorry to hear that you won't be joining me, but those are great reasons.
Come on, Margo: you know you want to do it. I think writing flash is the answer to the craziness. I am planning to keep most of my stories around or under 1k.
Thanks, Milo and E.J.!
I have signed up we will see how it goes!
Woohoo, MJ! You are a dangerous mind.
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