just a silly little guy

there's nothing wrong with writing a short story! there are lots of good short stories that revolve around Interesting Ideas. What if I was my own mother. What if fish people were real and also (evil) living in massachusetts. What if you were your own worst enemy, literally. lots of good short stories there, all at just the right length for a cool idea. no one is going to go see the feature-length adaptation of William Wilson though, because that's it. unless you add in a tragic backstory and a love interest and so on and unfortunately there are a lot of novels and movies running around out there that clearly were meant to be a short story before someone took them and stretched them to a silly length.

your short story doesn't even have to be short! herman melville wrote over 100 pages of a guy who hated his job so much he died of being a hater the end. good show, herman. thank you

I know sci-fi/fantasy best, so here are some lit mags I enjoy greatly:

Clarkesworld: probably the most famous and highly respected SFF magazine currently in operation. Mostly (all?) sci-fi.

Strange Horizons: original, weird, often queer. One of my personal favorites.

khōréō: SFF by immigrants, diaspora authors, and works translated from languages originally not in English.

Uncanny Magazine: can lean strange and experimental, but also one of the most respected SFF mags currently in operation.

Lightspeed Magazine: lots of good stuff. Sci-fi focused. Its partner Nightmare Magazine does horror.

The Translunar Traveller's Lounge: specializes in upbeat, fun, or hopeful stories.

FIYAH: Black authors and Black SFF. Not free to read online - you need to buy this one.

Neon Hemlock Press: emphasizes the queer and weird. Has a flash fiction magazine and various books, including short story anthologies.

Apparition Lit: tragically no longer in operation :( but I loved them A Lot and their back issues are still available to read. This one is no longer open for submissions, but all the rest are.

If you want even more indie, there are themed anthology kickstarters running all the time. Input some keywords, sort by "publishing" and "anthology," and see if anything speaks to you.

You can also find out what short stories people liked best by looking at awards lists. The Hugo Awards are sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre awards given every year, and "best short story" (under 7500 words) and "best novelette" (7500-17,500 words) are categories awarded every year. If your preference is "queer stuff," the Lambda Literary Awards name a "best LGBTQ+ Anthology" award every year too. Not only will you find stories there, you'll find authors you can further look up! Some of my absolute favorite short story authors are Darcie Little Badger, Ted Chiang, Isabel J. Kim, N. K. Jemisin, and Julian K. Jarboe.

it’s a not for profit that’s gathering books, patterns, and other materials related to crafting that are out of copyright (or getting permission from copyright holders in some cases) in order to share them online. they scan items, clean them up, then make everything available for free!

free things are great, especially when you’re just starting to get into something. like oh, i’m supposed to spend money on this hobby i just picked up 20 minutes ago???

the first time i ended up on the site, i seriously spent hours just trawling through everything. there’s the usual suspects like knitting, crochet, embroidery, but there’s also woodwork, calligraphy, and books on things like how to mount and frame pictures. with cross stitch patterns, they also make modern charts with the dmc colour codes available.

links to their webbed site and instagram:

https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/

https://www.instagram.com/theantiquepatternlibrary/

behold, a glorious cat cross stitch pattern (link goes to antique pattern library page):

and here it is afterwards:

Another before and after example:

on icarus.

a younger sibling killed themself, jeremy was closest with them and it messed him up real bad, he withdrew from his family and when the funeral ended up scheduled for the fall banquet of jeremys freshman year jeremy forgot and he wasn't there and annalise was the one to realise where he must be so she went to the banquet and (also grieving), found jeremy and screamed for him to come home in front of everyone (cat and laila included). jeremy went home, but everybody was distant, cold. he could feel them whispering behind his backs. they buried his sibling before he could say goodbye and it was his fault. his mom tells him she loves him but jeremy can't even look her in the eyes. she asks if he'll stay at home instead of the dorms that night, and he isn't sure he can handle watching her cry again, so he agrees. doesn't sleep. his sibling's room is right across the hall from his own. their closed door is the first thing he sees every morning. he tries to focus on exy for as long as possible, tries to be perfect but inside he's thinking i'll never be more than a disappointment to them, why start trying now? he starts acting out instead, gets a DUI, cruises around L.A. where he thinks nobody recognises him, almost gets himself kicked out of school. one night he doesn't pick up when his mom calls so she calls the cops because she thinks he's missing. he's never seen her so terrified. that's when it clicks that he's hurting people. people he never wanted to hurt. he tries to force himself to be a better person. tries to become captain sunshine, tries to smile and be safe for people and tries to find the world around him beautiful. diagnosed with clinical depression and put on medication. visits his sibling's grave, alone. talks to them for about an hour. promises he's going to get better. promises he's going to live better. wishes he'd been a better brother. leaves daffodils on the headstone.