i’m going to wonder aloud here. i think i’d like to write a short story in the coming weeks, and i’m tying to decide what to write about. or at the very least, trying to decide how i can discover what to write about. i’ve been working on one long project for so long that it’s been quite a while, actually, since i last had to think of a new story idea. i would love to write more than one, and to pump out as many as i could before i start a new novel. i was never broken into the good habit of writing all the time, every day… i still work solely on inspiration. and as much as i love that process, the adrenaline rush when a story reveals itself, it’s remarkably difficult to hold onto that place, feeling, state of mind, whatever you’d like to call it in order to pump out more than a scene or two each night.

i’m also at a bit of a crossroads at the moment as far as writing goes. VALENTINE was written in one particular, precise way. i use some poetry techniques, including rhyme, in V. the rhyme scheme is fairly irregular, and lots of it is somewhat buried or hidden for many readers as they read quietly to themselves, but can be annunciated when read aloud when emphasis is placed on certain parts of speech. anyway, i love the way the story turned out, but i don’t want to recycle the style i used here for future books. i want it to be special somehow to remain true to my original intent, to be true to the characters. and yet, i don’t want to write dry prose either. so what does it mean? it means i not only have to come up with a new story, i have to come up with a new style that suits that story accordingly.

the question i’m asking myself, though, is this: must i concoct a new “style” for every story that i write? even short stories? could all this style-changing turn people off if they don’t know what to expect from one book to the next? do i really believe i have enough ideas to “re-invent” my style and come up with a fresh story every time i need one?

the good news is that i think i have a pretty good hold on novel-length stories right now. i just finished VALENTINE, and i actually have 3 blossoming novel ideas going on in my head as we speak. and, each idea dictates a certain style that i can then use to compliment each accordingly. the bad news is that i haven’t written a short story in quite a while, my last being Six, which didn’t turn out quite as short as i wanted it (it was 7.5k words.) what this means is that i’m now out of habit of writing, and i need to come up with both a) a new story idea and b) a new style.

i think i’m up to the task.