#OnWriting – Length Matters

A project for the year.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m moving away from New Year’s Resolutions this year. Lots of reasons for that. That doesn’t mean I’m not trying to make progress, show growth, improve myself, whatever phrase you want to use for that kind of process. You’re either growing, or you’re dying. I’ve come close enough to death in my life once already, so I know I’m not ready to let go just yet.

So I need to grow.

As a writer, what can be my growth goal for this year? To improve the quality of my writing? Sure. Always. To increase the output of my writing? Yeah, there’s some of that too. In reality, I produce a great deal of writing each year. That includes four posts a month here, four a month on my other blog, plu whatever creative writing I manage. Increasing the volume of that last category is always on my growth list.

This year, I’m looking at a different writing goal. Looking back, my stories are short. As in usually under 3,000 words, often under 2,000 and with regular stints comfortably under 1,000. I love short forms of writing. I even think I have a certain skill at them. But I want to stretch myself. I want to focus on increasing the depth of my storytelling by pushing myself to expand the size and scope of my stories.

So the goal is to push for more stories in the 2,500+ words level. To experiment with stories that need 3,000-5,000 words to tell their story. To try a couple stories in the 5,000-10,000 word range and get some serious work done on a novel length (50,000+ words) project.

I’ve already started on this challenge. My first discovery is that while it’s easy to add words, it’s harder to add words that are necessary. That sounds obvious, but if your routine is working in a spare style with minimal story requirements, it presents a new peak to conquer. What adds to the storytelling? What is there in mood, setting and description that is moving me toward good writing?

It would be simple to crank out bloated pieces of vocabulary, vomit, and claim I’d reached the goal. My personality doesn’t lean toward simple solutions. I don’t want bad storytelling to be part of my story as a writer.

So I’m toiling away on finding more complex stories that need more detailed storytelling. It’s a little daunting, so far.

But it expands my skills as a writer.

And that’s always the goal.

Peace