01638: Short Story Musings

I'm still in the process of finishing the Neil Gaiman curated collected of short stories, aptly named Stories, as my current "MRT book" during my commute home. The stories are indeed rather diverse given the many different authors who contributed to this anthology. Plus there's the greater genius of the "theme" of the book - or the seeming lack thereof.

The point of the collection is to drive the reader to ask the question "...and then what?" as a prompt for the desire to know more. Thus these stories are under no obligation to tie up all loose ends with a bow. But at the same time, they don't exactly just end abruptly in a manner that leaves you feeling bad - that's just lazy writing right there. But maintaining the balance between giving just enough and leaving the reader wanting more is a very tricky thing indeed.

I haven't written any creative fiction in a rather long time and this book has certainly gotten the wheels in my head spinning as I consider what it would be like to write something worthy of a collection like this. As much as I've taken pride in my writing in general, I still get crazy nervous when I even consider writing something creative that I expect others to read. All the usual doubts come up ranging from ending up with a bad story that nobody likes to just not getting the characters names right.

I really need to get over thus hurdle. and I really need to find the time to write. As it is, my current schedule is keeping me rather busy at work and by the time I get home I'm pretty beat. Oh life.