Just wrote my first short story

TLGabelman · Post by **TLGabelman** » 21 Dec 2014, 06:16

I just wrote my first short story yesterday. Ive had a desire to write for years, but never the confidence. Yesterday, while vacuuming this story started to bounce around my head like a tiny rubber ball. I couldnt wait to get it out of my head, forsaking pretty much everything else until it was complete. Im pretty happy with it, not sure what to do with it, and not sure where to go now...

Long story short. I finally wrote something!

DATo · Post by **DATo** » 21 Dec 2014, 06:41

GOOD FOR YOU !!!

I write short stories as a hobby and, like you, I only started doing it this year. I belong to another book club online which allows the posting of short stories in one of its many forums, and poetry in another. It is amazing to read some of the truly brilliant works of others who are amateurs like myself. Some are better than others but all are quite interesting and display amazing creativity both in the stories themselves and also, sometimes, in the format and structure. We offer critiques to each other and other suggestions which I am convinced has made us all better writers. In addition to the amateurs there are a few published authors who post there as well. Each thread is an individual short story or poem and the discussion for that particular work is centered within that thread. There is no feeling quite like receiving the appreciation and acclimation of your peers for your creative efforts.

Recently in the poetry forum one poster wrote a three line poem about Christmas. On a whim I copied his three lines and added three more of my own. Since then, and without any preconceived plan, two more posters have added their contributions - each maintaining the theme of the original post - and with additional posts by the OP and myself the poem has grown to about ten stanzas and to my total amazement is really quite good.

I have written Scott and asked him if we could do something like that here. If you think this would be a good idea perhaps you could second my vote. Besides not having a designated forum for displaying personal short stories and poetry here I don't think the current set up allows for long posts which are necessary sometimes for a fairly long short story but I may be wrong on the second point.

I am absolutely convinced that adding these forums to OnlineBookClub .org would add a new and dynamic dimension to this website. I'm sure we have many, many talented writers here who have no vehicle for expressing their work.

I would love to read your short story.

/

TLGabelman · Post by **TLGabelman** » 21 Dec 2014, 07:02

Can you share the other forum site info with me. Perhaps through a pm? I'm afraid if I don't share it I will delete it for fear it isn't worth anyone's time. Thank you for your posting its wonderful to be part of this community.

-- 21 Dec 2014, 07:09 --

And yes, while I'm not usually fond of poetry that does sound fun. Have you seen the writing game post?

DATo · Post by **DATo** » 21 Dec 2014, 07:36

I will not post the URL for the other site here because I don't think that would be fair to Scott who has created and maintained THIS website - a website which has offered me tremendous satisfaction over the years.

DO NOT DELETE YOUR STORY !!!!!! Save it till we see what may transpire here.

I have seen the "writing game" post. I don't contribute to such posts because unlike the poem I mentioned in my post above these stories (at least here anyway) tend to veer off on wild tangents and become chaotic. I did contribute to one such story here long ago about a werewolf. My post was one of the very last posts. The original story began well but then people began to post a lot of rubbish and it soon became a comical farce ... there was nothing comical about my last post to that thread ... I took that seedling post and went on to write one of the best short stories I've ever written from it which I humbly submit received tremendous acclaim at the other site. It is very difficult I have found to get people to remain serious about a "chain story" so I don't post to them anymore. I take writing seriously and have no patience with those who make a mockery of it. It is a testament to the seriousness, maturity, and quality of the posters a the other site I mentioned that the poem I referred to has been treated respectfully .... at least so far. Now a lot of people are going to be angry with me but I have to call it the way I see it.

TLGabelman · Post by **TLGabelman** » 21 Dec 2014, 08:09

Point taken. I didn't view it as a competitive site, but i can respect the reasoning. Just getting my grounding here. I suppose I feel like if I don't get it "out there" it will disappear as if it never mattered. All in my head, i know.

I enjoy contributing to the writing game but I'm also just feeling comfortable beginning to write and I think participating here in all threads has helped.

I take no offense to your post. Differing opinions help me view all aspects of things which in the end can only benefit me even if it an opposing point of view.

DATo · Post by **DATo** » 21 Dec 2014, 09:37

I didn't mean to sound so harsh. It's just that it is hard to take a chain writing project seriously unless EVERYONE involved takes it seriously - some do and others don't. It would be more accurate to say that I have no problem with people who wish to just have fun and games with such a project as long as that is stated at the beginning. Perhaps a statement of introduction to the thread which says either "Anything goes" or "Serious contributions only". It's frustrating to take time to create a well written contribution only to have the next person add something blatantly stupid to it. It isn't a question whether the next person is a good writer or not but rather their willingness to stick to the storyline and not throw in a monkey wrench which derails everything which has been written by everyone else up to that point.

The advantage of having a venue for presenting individual stories (and/or poetry) which I suggested in my earlier post is that each project is individualized and styled to each writer's own preferences. I greatly appreciate a good comic story and even a story with a silly premise if it is done well. It's just that when too many cooks are involved the original vision of the story can soon become farcical or disintegrate into some chaotic morass. I don't want to invest time in such a project unless everyone is on the same page, as it were, to make a genuine attempt to create something good be it silly or serious - something that, when it is finished, everyone can sort of sit back and take some level of pride and satisfaction in, knowing they contributed to something worthwhile. When it works it works well but I have seldom ever seen that happen.

*Ding ding ding* Check your PMs