#30secfantasy

Question everything.

But why?

You don’t know truth.

So how do I know

You’re not the liar?

I think it’s been a month or so. I don’t really care anymore. I just want out.

The doctor’s are really, really annoying. I just want to splatter them against a damn wall.

But not yet.

They said I have to wait.

They said I couldn’t kill anyone until they said so, so for now, I’m stuck here.

I don’t know what I’m waiting for exactly, I just know I have to wait.

Maybe tomorrow.

Wait, why am I waiting for them? I can do whatever the hell I want! I’m the strongest being in the universe! I don’t take orders from anyone!

But what happens if I’m wrong? What if they’re right? Maybe this is a mistake…

Fuck it, I’m doing it.

No, I’m not. I can’t.

But why not?

But why?

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Day three a bit late. My bad.

Think

I think, therefore I am

But are you?

What if, just maybe

You think, but you are not

What if,

and this is a big if,

None of us are?

We’re just the machinations of something greater

An extra in someone else's dream

Think

The day I realized I was dead is the day I really began to live.

It’s weird that I never even noticed I was dead before. I wonder if anyone else here knows.

Today, I’m in Paris.

It’s easy to see that I’m just in a dream now that I know what to look for. Like the fact that “Avenue de elysian-champes” is not a real street in Paris.

I can even see the dreamer sometimes.

Usually they stick out like a sore thumb. It’s just blindingly obvious they don’t belong.

Today is one of those days.

The dreamer is a middle-aged woman, busying herself drinking coffee at a cafe on “Avenue de elysian-champes.”

I wonder what would happen if I said hi.

What happen if, just maybe, I told her this is a dream?

I’m going to do it. It’ll be fun. It’s not like any of this is permanent, right? It’s just a dream.

I was wrong.

I made them angry.

Now I’m here, in a swirling cacophony of eldritch music and inky blackness.

Maybe this is a nightmare.

But it’s not someone else’s.

This is my nightmare.

I don’t know how long it’s been.

Days, months, years maybe.

Why are they doing this to me?

I get it now.

We’re all just toys to them.

The dreamers, the ones like me,

We’re all just their playthings.

And they don’t want to play with me anymore.

I think, therefore I am.

That’s what René Descartes said, anyways.

And I’m thinking, so I must be.

Or am I?

Is this all just their game?

Are they still playing with me?

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I’m going to be doing a writing challenge made popular by 30secfantasy, where I attempt to write one story a day for a year.

I’ve done this once before, trying to predict a future event regarding the book version of 30 Second Fantasy. Something is different this time, however. 

This time, I have a finished product. It’s to my liking and is not in the process of becoming finished, because it is finished. 

I plan for it to go live tomorrow evening. There’s also a bit of a surprise in store for those who check back in tomorrow. ;) 

Until then,

The editing is done! 30 Second Fantasy is now a genuine manuscript ready to be formatted and put into a book! 

Few more things that need to be done: 

- All the legal-y, fiddly bits need to be added (copyright, publishing info, etc).

- Figure out Amazon’s publishing requirements. 

- Finish the cover with custom illustrations. 

I’m so excited to say that I was able to find an amazing illustrator that will be taking a few stories and bringing them to life! I’ll share progress images and other goodies once those are ready. 

Also, I have put together a signup page with the intention of letting people know when the book is ready. If you feel like the stories I have written are worthy of an email when they have transformed into book form, follow the link below. And if you think they are worthy of sharing the link with people who would appreciate the book, then you are doing me an enormous and magnificent favor!  

Here’s the signup. 

30SecFantasy’s manuscript has been subdivided in Scrivener. All it needs is an edit and a cover. 

I’m super excited for the cover. I reached out to an illustrator friend for a quote on an idea I have for it and should hopefully be hearing back from them soon. 

Great question! I actually had to dig for a tool that could do this automatically because 1k posts would have been a little time-consuming to get through. 

I used Best of Tumblr  for those who are interested. 

1. I Stole These Words

2. Krampus

3. The Painting

4. Manhunt

5. “Living” Forever

6. Command Line

7. Creation's Consequence

8. Light Snack

9. Allergies 

10. Constellation Forge

I Stole These Words was a surprising one. I’m not quite sure why it resonated with so many people, but I’m glad that people liked it so much. 

Yes, holy cow, yes. 

Example time! 

The first line from my first story on 30SecFantasy, The Inn.

“Well. Is it going up, or staying dawun?” slurred the old woman. 

In the way of opening sentences, this one is pretty awful. It does not give the reader any sort of knowledge about what the setting is, what ‘it’ is, or why should we care about the drunk old woman. I also mispelled a word to make it seem like she was slurring her words, and then I went on to explain that she was slurring her words. This sentence does nothing to draw the reader into the story, nor does it give them any reason to stick around past the first line. 

This is the first line from my last story, Adventure’s End

The ground in the clearing was a charred black. Well, it was a forest, but now it’s a clearing.

Still not the greatest opening in the world but it does do a lot more to try and convince the reader to go on. It gives a hint at the setting, a clearing. But it also uses that setting to describe some action that somehow reduced a forest into a charred plot of land. This should motivate the reader to ask ‘what destroyed the forest?’ 

I happened upon this article by Chuck Palahniuk about eight months into starting the challenge, and how do I wish I could have found it sooner. A lot of the time, writers will give advice of ‘show, don’t tell’ and give an earnest example or two. This article takes that advice and then inserts it into your DNA with a shotgun. I highly recommend reading through the entire thing, and then immediately writing a short story once you finish. And then another. And another. 

I would say that my vocabulary has stayed roughly the same from when I started. I did not put tremendous effort in trying to find new words to succinctly describe something if that word would cause a reader to look it up.