Origin Stories
What had started as a little challenge to myself has turned into a very fun an incredible project. I wanted to see if it were possible to write a short story. As I tend to write very large epics, I felt this was to be quite a difficult task. Instead, I surprised myself.
I tried to write a short story set within the same universe as my End of Utopia Novel. The world I had created has so much going on inside that it was quite easy to add some content to the place.
The first short story featured three established characters meeting a fourth. This short story was created to showcase initial interactions between them. It also helped me figure out the pace and format I wanted to use for future short stories. I decided on two points of view with one being focused on for a majority of the story. This first story felt like it was right out of the original book.
The second short story I tried something different. Although I had written the prologue of The End of Utopia completely from a villain’s point of view, I wanted to write a story from a major antagonist’s point of view. This work proved challenging due to pronoun usage. Until the end, the “protagonist” does not have a name, and most of the supporting characters don’t have a label either. Another challenge I discovered with this story was to write it as a self contained tale without spoiling anything for the main book.
The third short story once again had me try something very radical. (for me) I wrote a short story that was far more lighthearted. Also it is probably one of the most optimistic pieces of fiction I have ever written. I was feeling depressed when I finished up this one and needed the boost. Two scientists together and ready to take on the world. Its a shame that good things don’t last into the main novel…
The forth short story was my attempt at dark humor. It features a hunt for a Magical Artifact by a gentleman hunter. Like quite a few of the short stories, This one had some pronoun issues. Lots of unnamed characters for the sake of avoiding spoilers. I ended this one with a reminder of the dangers of Magical Items.
The fifth short story was easily the darkest of the bunch. Taking place in the same area as the second short story, this one featured a psychopathic child. And like the similar short story, it featured villains only. This one allowed me to push the (lack of) morals that some of the characters in this universe posses. And also show how to characters raised in a similar setting can have different conflicts before them.
I am working on my sixth one. I’m going to keep it under wraps for now. But I will be posting another blog post once the rest of the ten stories are complete. I hope as you read this that you look forward to reading all these stories in the near future.