Wednesday, August 05, 2020

August IWSG: Pieces and Forms

We made it to August, everyone! Welcome to another Insecure Writers Support Group post. You can learn more about them on their website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed.

Our hosts this month are Susan Baury Rouchard, Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jennifer Hawes (no link available), Chemist Ken, and Chrys Fey.

Our question for this month starts with an unattributed quote: "Although I have written a short story collection, the form found me and not the other way around. Don't write short stories, novels, or poems. Just write your truth and your stories will mold into the shapes they need to be." Have you ever written a piece that became a form, or even a genre, you hadn't planned on writing in? Or do you choose a form/genre in advance?

Although I am still more of a pantser than a plotter, I generally do know length of story and genre when I start writing. However, I've written stories that were meant to be standalones but became part of a series. Lyon's Legacy is probably the best example of a story that sparked more stories.

I'm afraid I don't have much to say on this topic, and I should be working on my multiple writing projects. So if you'd like to comment on this post or link to your blog on the same topic, please do so.


5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I wrote a story that was supposed to be a stand alone and became a series. That certainly wasn't intentional!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Length will surprise me but not the genre.

Jennifer Lane said...

Oh, good answer! I too have written a series that started as a standalone. Happy August, Sandra!

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Alex, sounds familiar!

Diane, that's another good point. I never expected my first novel to be over 120,000 words long! Needless to say, they've shrunk since then.

Happy August to you too, Jennifer!

Beth Camp said...

Nicely to the point! Yes, how about a sentence in a short story led to a novel -- and a trip to Scotland! I wish we could travel now, but meanwhile, during pandemic, at least we writers can play with words. May the coming month bring you many words for your writing projects!

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