My new project: The Guardians

[David]

So, with the new year starting soon I'm looking at a new project.

It's going to be a superhero team story, but I'm going into it a little differently. I want to introduce each character before they form the team, so I'm considering different options, like several self contained stories.

Gonna have one openly Christian superhero named Seraph who's kind of an homage to Captain Marvel/Shazam, and some that aren't Christian, just to add interest to the story.

Whatcha think so far?

[Lara]

David wrote: "I want to introduce each character before they form the team, so I'm considering different options, like several self contained stories."

Are you thinking about an anthology of short stories or separate novels?

[David]

Kinda depends on how long each of the stories is when I get it written.

One thought I'm playing with is publishing them as short stories in a magazine to get interest going then collect them in a single volume once they're all written.

[Lara]

David wrote: "One thought I'm playing with is publishing them as short stories in a magazine to get interest going then collect them in a single volume once they're all written."

I'm trying to do a similar sort of thing with some of my short stories. They are back stories about the adventures of a rogue in one of my books. Most magazines want exclusive rights for about a year. After the rights expire, I plan on publishing them in a collection. I think that plan would work for you as well. The only difficulty is getting them published!

[David]

First order of business is getting them written!

Think I'm gonna start with the Doctor of Archaeology who discovers Morgan le Fay's old spellbook and uses it to become a magical superhero.

[Lara]

David wrote: "First order of business is getting them written!

Think I'm gonna start with the Doctor of Archaeology who discovers Morgan le Fay's old spellbook and uses it to become a magical superhero."
Very cool! Kind of a Dr. Strange style hero.

[David]

Yep, but she's gonna be an African-American woman, just to play with things a little.

[Lara]

David wrote: "Yep, but she's gonna be an African-American woman, just to play with things a little."

Oh! I like that! I enjoy it when superheroes break media stereotypes.

[David]

Actually, I think I changed that back to a redheaded woman cause I was going to make Seraph African American. I'm definitely looking for diversity not only of skin tone but of viewpoint. imagine the debates between the magic user and the Christian Seraph.

[Stan]

You may want to consider writing the complete novel first and using the short stories or novellas to provide more information individually. It seems that a novel first and short stories second is the typical way to go. Just a thought.

[David]

I see your point, Stan, but if I can sell the origin stories as short stories to a magazine (or put them up on something like Wattpad, which I'm considering), I can introduce readers to the characters and the world before I come out with the actual novel.

[Stan]

David wrote: "I see your point, Stan, but if I can sell the origin stories as short stories to a magazine (or put them up on something like Wattpad, which I'm considering), I can introduce readers to the charact..."

I understand. Most people seem to think writing short stories, good, quality short stories is harder than writing a novel.

If that is true, then your attempting to write multiple good, quality shorts before putting the novel out there.

I'm not saying don't do what you propose, but do understand what you're undertaking.

Personally, I have about 9 story lines for a set of characters in a specific world. Part of my current task is working out a timeline for it all. Some will be novel length, novella length, and shorts. What gets released when: I have no clue. But, most of my efforts are working on the novel length first, which, interestingly enough, I thought was a story line for an introductory short story covering part of a character's back story.

Anyway, I wish you the best! Blessings!

[C.S.]

I find it harder to write short stories than full-length books but then I prefer to read books to short stories. I guess that's just me though. I finished and published all four books of my Seven Words series and am now working on a sequel to release this spring/summer? I've written one short story that takes place between the end of book four and the sequel. I don't know if I'll write any more or exactly what I'll do with them, but I did find it easier to write the short stories about people I had already worked with in the books.

[David]

I'm thinking the short stories will be a challenge, but hopefully the challenge will make me a better writer.

I'm also hoping that by concentrating on one character at a time I can fix them in my mind to make later writing easier.

[Stan]

A lot of authors write sketches of their characters before writing novels or short stories. This is just good character development. Whether or not those sketches get turned into short stories of other novels is a different question.

Still. I wish you well!

[David]

I'm feeling accomplished this morning!

I actually got up early and had some time to put actual words on paper (well, electronic "paper" i.e. Google Docs) rather than sitting around doing research or contemplating where I wanted the story to go.

I hope to make a morning writing session a regular habit.

[C.S.]

That sounds like a good plan.

[Stan]

David wrote: "I'm feeling accomplished this morning!

I actually got up early and had some time to put actual words on paper (well, electronic "paper" i.e. Google Docs) rather than sitting around doing research ..."

Congratulations!

[Lara]

David wrote: "I'm feeling accomplished this morning!

I actually got up early and had some time to put actual words on paper (well, electronic "paper" i.e. Google Docs) rather than sitting around doing research ..."

I find that I have to chew on an idea for a while before I can write on it. Well done!

I do agree with Stan that short stories are harder than novels, but I do think they are great to start with. You can experiment more with a short story: voice, perspective, tone, pacing, dark vs humor, or whatever. You want a novel to be unified so it's great to find your voice in the shorter pieces.