Goal Met – Write a Short Story (10,000 words)

So I had this idea that had been percolating in my head for a while for a story and I always wanted to sit down and write it out to see what form it would take. I actually had a one note page with some idea snippets and overall themes and worldbuilding but never sat down and stared at the blank page.

I struggled with this goal for a while because I either had so many ideas I didn’t know where to start, or my brain was hiding all it’s good ideas deep down where I keep all the names of my grade school teachers. I didn’t waste all the time though as I added more notes and ideas to my notebook trying to kickstart some good ideas.

I think it was tongue in cheek when the first words I wrote were that the main character was lost as I self identify with that character in a lot of ways. But something happened once I put those words down – the story just started flowing onto the page as all the various parts I had in my Lego bin of a brain started clicking together. I had written chapter one and two, and once I had some sort of progress I knew I needed a bit of a prelude to explain what set all these events in motion.  That also led to another flashback chapter which provides a bit more context as to what he’s doing wandering around lost in the mountains to begin with.

I got a few more chapters in before I started having to map out where the plot was going so I didn’t write myself into a corner. That’s when I started exploring various writing tools and worldbuilding apps (some even AI based) to help build out the world a bit and have a sketch of an outline. As a discovery writer I sometimes create entire new sections because I think the idea is cool and trying to lockstep that to a hard outline would feel constraining. 

The only issue was that I blasted past my 10,000 word goal and I have no plans on stopping. While I don’t fancy myself a professional writer by any means, I really feel like there’s a book here that I should finish writing if only to prove to myself that I can. I’m actually really excited by some of the worldbuilding I’ve created and the characters so even if I’m the only one who reads it I kind of want to see how this plays out.

So I’m marking this goal as done – I wrote the short story in my head and then expanded it to a much greater idea and will be posting chapters on this blog as we go.