#submission two

goals for march

finish the sickfic

write and submit submission two (due march 27th)

rework and submit submission three (due march 9th)

Today I will be reflecting upon the first short story I have written, called The Tale of Two Brothers. This short story is a work in progress, and I hope to gain some skills and motivation in Writer's Craft to help me finish this story. I will post both a link to the story and an excerpt, which is the first paragraph of the story. I recommend reading the story in full if you have the time.

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DHoExiidExX5R2rVDVXRmXgmPBxEh0GYQQt9fUGftvA/edit?usp=sharing

Excerpt:

The older brother- he doesn’t have a Garfield cat or anything of that sort- the first brother has a sweet baby dog named Cupcake; meek gentle thing. The Brother- does he have a name? His name is Kevin, he is a man of thirty-four, lean and scruffy with beady dark eyes and a wicked cracked-tooth smile. Kevin's the type of guy to show up to a rollerskating rink with a pair of ice skates. He's absent minded and doesn't quite get social conventions, but he means well and he's a good guy when you get to know him. He lives a front-porch lemonade life, he hasn't got much to do or much to see, so his spotiness might seem out of character. The truth is he is hiding from his past… and Cupcake the sweet baby dog is his only solace… however Kevin isn’t the only one hiding a secret…

The purpose of reflecting upon this piece of work is for me to identify the weaknesses and strengths in the story. Upon re-reading the story after not having updated it in some time, I have identified some strengths and weaknesses in this piece with the help of a fresh perspective. Firstly, I will start with what I do like about this piece. I think that the writing in this story has a very distinct voice that is very distinctly Me. I love that I was able to write this story in the way I have thus far. This story is very fun to read and I think that is partially due to the way it is written. I also think that the world of this story is a large part of what makes me love writing it so much. The characters in this story are very likeable, comical, and intriguing. The world that these characters live in is just as fun to learn about as the characters. I have done a good job of world-building and character-building and I am quite proud of this story so far.

There are also improvements I can make in this story. The story lacks consistency and detail in some aspects. I also need to go over the timelines and make sure that years and events are accurate to the story. I would also like to learn how to improve my dialogue by integrating it into the text and making the dialogue feel more natural, as well as using language appropriate to the setting of the story. Many of these details can be explained away as differences in the alternate universe this story exists in, however I think this is a poor excuse and that creating a story that fits the historical timeline and is consistent in its events and realities is crucial to improving the story.

Overall, this story is a great start to writing short stories and I am proud of it. I think it has great potential, but I need to go over and strengthen the story by building the foundation of the story before I build the rest of the story.