• Blog
  • Books
  • Bio
  • Contact
Menu

Stella Garp

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number

Your Custom Text Here

Stella Garp

  • Blog
  • Books
  • Bio
  • Contact
uma.jpg

Stella Garp

Mild-mannered novelist and eater of souls.

Who writes short shorts?

August 3, 2015 Stella Garp
 Daisy Duke: neither a model of feminism nor progressive social thought, but unequivocally a model of short shorts.

Daisy Duke: neither a model of feminism nor progressive social thought, but unequivocally a model of short shorts.

Lucy and I have been locking horns for a while now. I'll sit down to write, but instead of contributing to the effort, she digs in her heels and refuses to cooperate. I don't know what's got into her. I'm not asking her to hand me the novel on a silver platter, but she's being completely unreasonable--and when I tried to get her to open up, she brushed me off, saying I wouldn't understand anyway.

Honestly, some days I can't get a single line out of her.

Maybe she's sore about the bad dreams I've been giving her, but there's no helping it, they're essential to the plot. (And if she thinks that's the worst that's going to happen to her this book...)

Last I checked, she was blowing off her lessons (stupid! she'll get herself killed if she doesn't learn her spells!), so I decided fine, two can play this game--and I have been blowing off the novel for the past few weeks.

Instead I've been working on some short stories. Popular wisdom holds that short fiction is good discipline for writers, because you can't spend tens of thousands of words telling your story. You've got to pack a punch within a tight word limit, and that's no easy thing, unless you're Hemingway and you're showing off with your fancy-pants six-word story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

(That didn't actually happen, but why let the truth get in the way of a good urban legend?)

Word economy is not my bête noire. I tend not to blather unless it's a matter of deliberate stylistic choice, and I can always pare back in revisions. Plotting, on the other hand, is my bête very-dark-gris.

(Lucy wants everyone to know that "bête noire" is racist, and although I see her point, I think it's a little unfair to criticize me, considering how I don't speak French.)

As I was saying, plotting is my... thing that is difficult. Whether short fiction can improve my plot structure in the long form remains to be seen, but I've enjoyed the challenge of crafting a tight plot in the four short stories I've written during my hiatus from the novel.

I'll have more to say about the stories if, or rather when, they are published. For now, suffice it to say that one of them is just under 6,000 words, another is just under 1,000 words, and the final two are precisely 100 words apiece.

Which is crazy. The flash piece was tricky enough, but telling a story with a beginning and a middle and an end in just one hundred words is pretty damn hard. Though if you don't believe me you're welcome to try, since it's only one hundred piddly little words. (By way of comparison, this paragraph just by itself comprises sixty-one words.)

I intend to return to the novel this week, refreshed and renewed, though I'm happy to know I can retreat to short stories if Lucy is still giving me lip.

This song is really sort of awful, but it is thematically appropriate.

In The writing process Tags short stories, writing, Lucy Bakir
← Conflicting adviceFan art: Lucy →
  • Fans
    • Jun 23, 2015 Fan art: Lucy Jun 23, 2015
  • Glamorous lifestyle
    • May 16, 2015 Insufficient funds May 16, 2015
  • Oh hey neat
    • Sep 23, 2015 Don't do the math Sep 23, 2015
    • Jun 19, 2015 Fangirling with Christopher Buehlman Jun 19, 2015
    • May 14, 2015 Rebel without a cause May 14, 2015
  • Publishing
    • Feb 11, 2017 The search continues Feb 11, 2017
    • Aug 16, 2016 High-level noodling Aug 16, 2016
    • May 16, 2016 You'll have to ask my agent May 16, 2016
    • Mar 28, 2016 Hexy Lady Mar 28, 2016
    • Dec 3, 2015 Literary agents Dec 3, 2015
  • The writing process
    • Apr 2, 2016 Not my fault Apr 2, 2016
    • Nov 27, 2015 In the fast lane Nov 27, 2015
    • Oct 7, 2015 How Editing Works: Part I Oct 7, 2015
    • Sep 23, 2015 Don't do the math Sep 23, 2015
    • Aug 25, 2015 Conflicting advice Aug 25, 2015
    • Aug 3, 2015 Who writes short shorts? Aug 3, 2015
    • May 28, 2015 Unliving will May 28, 2015
    • May 21, 2015 10,000 hours plus 1,000,000 monkeys May 21, 2015

  • Stella Garp
    Seriously, Lord, one Mercedes-Benz, I don't think that's asking too much
    about a week ago
  • Stella Garp
    I mean it's a really attractive offer, Internet Stranger--and I love what you've done with the place, real Martha S… https://t.co/7rFJlW8ACG
    about a week ago
  • Stella Garp
    "Who needs cover art now, fuckers?" https://t.co/7Z8TgxCWgx
    about a week ago
  • Stella Garp
    I just finished hosting a big (for me) service project, one of my proudest accomplishments in my two years at WCU:… https://t.co/ro7IcQ0rT5
    about a week ago
  • Stella Garp
    Super handy. https://t.co/OAO3h9cjeR
    about 2 weeks ago
  • Stella Garp
    A colleague emailed me, asking for my help coming up with an anagram. My purpose here on earth has been served.
    about 2 weeks ago
  • Stella Garp
    The pros and cons of leftover birthday chocolate cake + Oreo ice cream as a pre-workout snack: Discuss.
    about 2 weeks ago
  • Stella Garp
    A wasp stung the knuckle of my left thumb. Slaughtering its entire family, friends, neighborhood, and acquaintances… https://t.co/4Eoiw0GRH4
    about 3 weeks ago
Summary Block
This is example content. Double-click here and select a page to feature its content. Learn more
Featured
Latest Article