Musings in the Dark: Growth as an Author

11/01/2012

Growth as an Author


So I'm trying some different things, stretching my muse and ability in ways I'm not used to.  I have plans on the horizon of 2013, plans that include more than Nightingales and Blade Dancer, so here's hoping my efforts aren't in vain.  Some of my plans include having LGBTQ protagonists and PoC characters that aren't Black.  As an author, you can easily get into a rut, especially if you follow Rule #2 of my personal author's code: Write about what you know.  I cracked my shell last year with my first Blasian novel Corruption, and I know I can do better.  Writing about what you know does include the new things that you learn, which is what happens when you research story subjects.



I present to you a new shortie, experimental in nature and hopefully an example of things to come.  It's a pastiche, and I'm leaving it up to the readers to determine what story is being referenced.  Feedback is encouraged and welcomed; I need to know if I was successful or if I screwed up.  Constructive criticism is always welcome.


"Very simply, I’d had enough of Sharon’s machinations.  I’d endured her many injuries for many years, as she was the child of my parents’ best friends; a "play-cousin," as it were.  I stopped caring the way play-cousins do decades ago and merely tolerated Sharon as was expected of me by my family.  And I, I would not have gone out of the way to hurt Mother and Father by any means whatsoever when they were alive.  All of Sharon’s slights over the years—imagined, she may think them to be—ranged from the very trivial to that of great effect; damage to my carefully constructed reputation.  I was born of two families of great strength; the Taniths and the Drakes, and I relied on that strength that kept me straight and unblinking as Sharon’s intrigues grew more and more devious.  Why she made sport of me I can’t say, other than jealousy…but over what?  She always had the nicer clothes, the better toys, the car at 16, the parties, the attention, the looks, the style, the grace, the flash, the bang…but why she made such great effort to undermine me I will never know."

Read the rest here.


3 comments:

  1. What triggered this story, though?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's practice for my upcoming anthology. I'm working on pastiches.

    ReplyDelete
  3. " Writing about what you know does include the new things that you learn, which is what happens when you research story subjects."

    TRUTH!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. Please be sure to leave a name; I like to know who I am talking to.