~ in which our author discusses his experiences writing short stories ~

When Metal, Salt & Sand was released, it was my only novel. I have a full-time job, I try to stay in shape and I don’t want to become a social recluse. But I also want to write and keep the initial momentum going.

So, the glorious inspiration?

Short stories!

Surely these would keep people interested as they wait for the second in the Hidden Cities Trilogy, Ice, Rust & Wrath. Granted, that does of course mean that they would have to be good. That’s something that I’ve worked hard at for the last several years in my writing so I’m sure I can pull something of the bag content-wise.

There was a larger hurdle.

I had never written a short story before. At least, not with any intention of getting it released. How was I to go about it? Using the standard method for anyone of our generation, I Googled it.

Within about five minutes, I had encountered various articles and opinions stating that the most ambiguous aspect of the short story is its length. Ranging anywhere between one thousand and twenty thousand words, to me, that significantly alters the dynamic of the story you can write.

Since Metal, Salt & Sand clocks in at a weighty 180,000 words, give or take, I knew I wanted to stretch myself by, strangely enough, limiting my scope. So, as with minimalist design, less is more.

I also figured that if you are trying to tell an entire story with defined and meaningful characters in as few words as possible, you have to plan it. It’s no use just going to town on a page. It needs to be tight yet descriptive, evoking the imagery of the entire concept for people who may not have read the novel yet.

And that led to yet another question, do I use established characters or new ones? Do I try to cram a story into my already established narrative or craft something separate.

So many questions.

In the end, for the first attempt, I decided that new characters would be the best way to go. That way, if people didn’t like them, nothing had been lost in the grand scheme of things., whereas I would hate to put readers off of characters that they had already grown attached to. And as for length, I would plan, using the Fill In The Gaps Method, but I would write what came to me within that framework up to a limit of ten thousand words.

My first short story is The Tale of Pegasus And Lye.