October Writing Challenge

So, http://steadfastfire.blogspot.com, and I have hard at work this entire month by working on short stories. This is basically an exercise for us to keep the cogs and wheels of our minds working, as we approach much bigger projects. Like, NaNoWriMo, for instance. (National Novel Writing Month) Or simply to finish the various joint projects we have created in the last few years. Some Kind of Chill, Parallel Lives, Jacob's Ladder, Johnny Has a Secret. The list goes on.

The challenge this month was to focus primarily on the horror genre, and four stories that fall into the various subcategories of this genre. (i.e. gothic, surrealist-gothic, slasher, occult, noir, etc.) Three of them being at least 7, 000 words and the last being more of a novella with 15, 000 to 25, 000 words. We were able to modify that with last week's challenge, which was comprised of "flashes". Shorter stories of at least 500-1,000 words that were based on two drawings that we each submitted. I must say, this challenge turned out quite well.

So by October 31st, I will need to complete my 2nd week's challenge and the 4th week's challenge. It's something that I am pushing myself to get done. The stories are basically written in my head, but it's the translation to paper that is the problem. (or in this case, to computer document.)

One of the good things that came of this is that I am becoming more and more comfortable with the horror genre. I've always been a fan of this genre in both literature and cinema, but to contribute to it myself, is a challenge in itself. As with any writer, there is a fear of being stereotyped as a writer that only writes within one genre. I'm not determined to be the next Stephen King, Anne Rice, or god forbid...Stephenie Mayer. I just want to write. One day, I would like to be recognized for my toils over pen & paper and computer document. This of course will only happen once I finally finish these things...and put myself out there.

So, wish me the best of luck as I attempt to finish these challenges. Also, wish me luck for NaNoWriMo. Perhaps, a finished novel will boost my ego very very much.