Growing as a writer

Today is all about writing short stories. As part of my new approach to my writing career, I've set aside a day a fortnight to focus on writing short stories.

Why? Well because a) if I get good enough at em, I can sell short stories and make a small supplementary income and b) short stories are a great way for me to practice skills, try new ideas and approaches and continue to improve as a writer.

I know I'm a better writer now than I was when I sold the Dream of Asarlai trilogy two years ag0. That growth came from the furnace of having to get the three novels done on some reasonably tight deadlines.

Novels are a platform in which to improve the writing craft, but the problem is the amount of time they require. I write fast, and it still takes me two months to finish a draft of a 110,000 word novel.

I'm going to be starting a new novel in June – a 50,000 word contemporary romance that will only take me one month. But still, that is a month and that's a long time to take to try something that you're not sure will work out.

So when it comes to novels, the chances I take and the challenges I set myself don't divert too far from what I already know. In the new trilogy, for example, I'm challenging myself by having a more complex and subtle overarching plot, and by introducing ideas such as serial killers and love triangles. They're stretching the skills I already have, helping me to improve. But the overall tone of the trilogy, the way it's set up, is exactly the same as the Dream of Asarlai trilogy.

Now, the contemporary romance is going to have a different tone. It's going to be a more stripped back, relaxed story because that's what contemporaries are, compared to my action packed gadda stories. The trauma tends to be more emotional, rather than a real physical threat. So that too, is a challenge that will test my skills. But at the same time, it is a romance and I feel safe in giving over the month to it because I feel comfortable writing romance.

But I also want to be wild. I want to try genres that I haven't touched before. Try POVs, try narrative structures, try characters I've not been game to write before. Short stories allow me to do that with little sacrifice in terms of time or energy.

A short story only takes a day or two to write, so if I get to the end and find it hasn't worked – it's not the end of the world. And who knows, it might later be the seed for something bigger.

Some of this is negated by the fact the first thing I'm working on today is tweaking an old story for submission [image error] But then I'll experiment and get funky. I promise.