Tag Archives: Short Story

Getting into Short Stories

In 2018 I realized that while I’m okay with my main book series being 100,000+ word novels that take two years to write and produce, I’ve got far too many stories to tell to make all of them that long. I also noticed that most of the authors at the events I was at, many of whom have more than one book, make their books much smaller than I do. So I resolved to write smaller books and short stories.

It turns out I’m not alone. A number of my friends were interested in writing more, so we’ve started a short story exchange. Every first Friday of the month we exchange short stories. Some people hope to publish, some people just want to flex some creative muscles. I was hoping to learn how to write more concise narratives, while using this as an opportunity to try out some science fiction and fantasy rules, see if they make for interesting stories.

It’s been more than a year since we started this, and I’m glad to say it’s been working well. I’ve summitted a number of very poor stories to the group, but gotten a lot of valuable feedback about both style and content. I’ve also had a number of stories where someone said ‘this feels like part of a larger story’, which isn’t what I’m going for. I want to be able to tell an interesting story within feeling like I need to make it a books.

The nice thing is, after all the exchanges we’ve done so far, I’ve managed to succeed a few times. I now have two stories I think are good enough to submit to magazines or journals. One is science fiction, one is fantasy, but both have gotten good reviews from friends.

I’m still writing larger stories. I’m beginning major revisions to a fantasy novel, and I’m researching for Book 3. But for now I’ve got a nice outlet for creativity, and readers who enjoy my work.

Good times.

Cheers!

-Michael


Tales of the Templars

The Templar Badge from ‘Templar Scholar’

The Tales of the Templars is a collection of short stories I’m working on. The idea comes from my second book, Templar Scholar, in which Sasha Small joins the Templar Project, a group of young men and women being trained by the Renaissance Army as leaders of the new Renaissance. Including Sasha, there are twelve Templars, each with their own stories and backgrounds.

The Tales of the Templars will include stories that follow Templars other than Sasha. It will allow me to explore not only new characters, but aspects of the world that Sasha has not experienced. One character grew up stealing to survive; how did he end up a Templar? Another character fought in a battle Sasha only watched from afar. What was that battle like to those involved?

I have sixteen potential stories, with each of the eleven Templars involved in at least one. Some of them are pre-Templar Stories, which is to say they occur before the beginning of Templar Scholar, some of them during the events of Renaissance Calling. Others are Templar Stories, which take place during Templar Scholar.

Will Tales of the Templars include all sixteen stories? No. And here’s where my readers come in. I have a page on my website (linked here) where readers can vote for their favorite story ideas. Each of the sixteen stories is listed with a synopsis, and at the bottom you can vote for up to five of the stories you want to read.

If you’ve read Templar Scholar you’ll know the characters and some of the events, and you’ll probably have characters you want to know more about. If you haven’t read the book, then hopefully some of the stories sound good anyway. And if you want to buy the book, you can do so here.

So take a look and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

-Michael