I managed to add 1333 new words to The Playground. That’s where I discovered I’d written myself into a corner. I need to do some deep research to find my way out now. It will happen, but it’s kind of disheartening.
To keep my mojo going, I wrote one micro fiction and started a short story. I can add these 1868 words to my tally to make myself feel better. I’ll do the research later, I just wanted to keep writing.
Old What’s Her Face* and I went to town today. She wanted to see 50 Shades of Gray, but I didn’t. We went to the same theater, but I saw Jupiter Ascending instead. Happy Valentines Day! Both movies were only so so. I’m taking her word on 50 Shades. Mine was really pretty from a visual standpoint. It came across like a mash up of Cinderella and Flash Gordon. I was kind of bummed that most of the time it was about Mila Kunis being rescued by Magic Mike with Hobbit ears. I kind of wanted her to throat punch someone all by herself and show some character growth.
We grabbed an early dinner at Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar, at The Village. The lady up front said they didn’t have any tables. The place was 50% empty! There were empty tables everywhere I looked. She finally said she could squeeze us in and seated us way in the back away from everyone else.
Now I know it’s Valentines Day, and I’m sure they had plenty of reservations (for later). The wait staff proceeded to treat us like lepers through our entire meal. I’m relatively certain the waitress used hand sanitizer after every stop to our table. We were the best dressed couple in the place too. The food was decent, but I’m not going back again. Other places have better food, and better attitudes too.
I may move my short story character into position, then do some bomb defusing research. (That ought to make NSA happy.) Then again, I may just return to the Twilight Zone and relax a bit.
Question for you short story experts. Does 10,000 to 15,000 words seem like a good target? I’ve read that a short story is anywhere from 1500 to 30,000 words, it’s a novella after that.
* Not my Valentine’s real name.
Entertaining Stories 
Sounds like an adventurous day. I’ve heard similar complaints about Jupiter Ascending. Shame since it looked like a lot of visual work went into it.
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The visuals were really good. Sometimes that’s enough. I know too much about story structure, so maybe it’s me.
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I can see how that gets in the way. Wonder if every author has those moments.
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Probably not all of us. I really try to study the story styles when I watch something. I could probably turn it off, but I never do.
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It depends on my mood. Sometimes I don’t analyze until later. It is fun to pick a story apart from time to time. Just have to remember it can be done to me too.
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Doesn’t matter to me. I know I’m not perfect, but I’m improving. Sometimes I notice something to appreciate in a story too.
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I’ve heard a short story is less than 6000 words and a novella is 10,000 to 40,000. Don’t ask me what they call something that’s 6001 to 9,999 words. IDK. We’ve gotten that same attitude in some of the trendier, hip dining establishments in the metro area. Apparently our ability to pay astronomical prices for tiny little portions of crappy food doesn’t trump our khaki shorts and flip-flops. Whatevea……….
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We go out all the time. We go back to places we like. We won’t go back to Twigs.
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Make NSA happy? Shucks. They don’t give a hoot in Hades. I used to work there (I had a Top Secret [Codeword] security clearance), and I don’t care what anybody else says about the place: they’re not interested in little people. That kind of talk is hype on the part of Hollywood hopefuls. NSA has much bigger targets to look out for.
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That’s it! You’re the one they’re sending for me…Aggghhh. I’m making a tinfoil hat right away. Must remember to destroy my Anarchist’s Cookbook.
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đŸ˜€
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My desk was in the big room with the huge world map on the wall, which got covered up with black draperies on traverse rods, if anybody had to come in who had insufficient clearance to see it. But to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, it was a pretty boring place to work.
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That’s the part an author makes up. You can do setting, protocol, and all that very realistically. After that, you have whatever you create.
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And that’s why the folks in The Building don’t care about little people doing research for novels or screenplays. NSA knows that whatever they come up with won’t be a thing like what really happens, such as analysts falling asleep and falling out of their chairs, which I saw happen more than once. That also happened at the outstations, which were usually much noisier and somewhat busier (mainly because they gave us busywork to do), but which were still pretty dang dull places to while away the hours, especially when targets went on radio silence. Oh, boy, did you ever wish for some maritime emergency, then, to liven things up a bit, although to hear “SOS SOS SOS” did sound creepy.
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That’s pretty cool information. I can almost see a Woody Allen type story about the workers.
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I think a short story is up to 4000 words. Anything between that and 50000 is a novella.
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(Silent scream.) I’m seeing all kinds of conflicting data online, now that im looking. It kind of appears up to me to do whatever I want, and name it later.
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Weird why they treated you like that in the restaurant?!
Like others have said, the 10-15,000 sounds quite a lot for a short story, although probably not too long for a story in an anthology, depends on where it’s for I guess.
By the way I’m reading Arson at the moment, really liking it, it’s much more accessible than I expected. I thought I might find it a bit hard going (I don’t mean that as a reflection on you, just that it’s not the type of genre or book I would usually go for!), but I’m not finding it hard going at all. I’m quite a slow reader and only read in short bursts of time, so it takes me a while to get through a book. Wish I was faster!
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I’m honored to have you read one of my stories. There’s a supporting character in there that was so much fun to write.
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Horrible how they treated you in the restaurant. I don’t blame you for not intending to go back. I do believe a short story is probably under 5K. I indie pubbed a novella and that came in at a bit over 21K. Congrats on the progress you’re making with the writing. I’m off to do some of that now!
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Go get ’em!
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I think of short stories more like under 5k, such as what publications ask for. If you can do it in 2000-3000, that’s even better. (Not great news, I’m sorry.)
I keep reading about Jupiter Ascending, and have yet to see a single glimpse of it. I think I’ll look it up and see if I can find a trailer! Meanwhile, 50 shades of crap is on every media outlet!
We had a super-romantic holiday. We bout bought out a grocery store and then watched Heat. Woot. LOL I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day đŸ˜‰
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We’re such romantics we went to different theaters. I get it.
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Depends on where you plan to publish. Some places only allow 8-10K words. BTW, you should turn your waitress into a character and then kill her in unimaginable ways. It always makes me feel better!
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I suppose I could, but that would give her more of my time than she deserves.
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That stinks about your restaurant! And how foolish of them in light of today’s age of social media. đŸ˜¦ That also stinks about your movie(s)! I can’t stand to sit through a movie only to discover that it sucks. As for your story length, I think it honestly depends on the story. Sometimes a story can support a longer length, but other times, it would only get stupid if you tried to flesh it out more just for the same of adding more words.
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The films were okay. They weren’t life changing, but I’ll bet 50 Shades still makes records. My goal is to post each story, and break it up with a Macabre Macaroni or two.
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