SHORT
STORIES: WRITING AS THERAPY?
My first successes in writing were with
short stories. After a couple of
attempts at overlong pieces that were bogged down with unnecessary detail, I
decided to change tactics and try my hand at short stories. It wasn’t necessary to put pages of info
dumps in a short story (one of my early sins in writing novels). It wasn’t necessary to explain a character’s
life story to a reader. A short story
wasn’t so much a life history as a snap shot – a moment in time. All the reader needed to know about a
character was what was relevant to that moment in time.
As a teenager I was fond of stories with a
nasty surprise at the end (Stephen King’s “Survivor Type” is a memorable
example). So I started to horror stories
with a twist ending. When I was
seventeen I wrote a story called “Just Don’t Scream”. All I really knew about the main character,
Jesse, is that he wasn’t very happy with his lot in life. Wandering around a deserted fairground, he
takes on a bet issued by a mysterious magician.
Things don’t exactly go the way he expected. I knew no more about Jesse than my readers
did. I didn’t even know his last name –
but that wasn’t relevant to the story, so it didn’t matter. My English teacher had always seen my potential
as a writer, and she liked the story so much, she submitted it to a regional
creative writing contest. Suffice to say
my fondness for gruesome horror was not shared by the judges, and the story did
not impress them the way it had impressed my English teacher.
Over the next twenty years, I explored the
genre of short stories as I grew as a writer.
Common themes emerged. All my
short stories featured sobering themes such as isolation, depression, betrayal
and loneliness.
This was brought home to me when I was
bringing together the thirteen stories that appear in SOUL SCREAMS. The
common themes, and the fact that so many of the characters shared facets of my
life at the time – similar ages, living in similar places, doing similar
dead-end jobs they weren’t happy in – made me realise how much I’d been using
writing short stories as therapy.
I haven’t written many short stories in the
last few years. Part of that is because
I’ve been working on novels, but I think a big part of it is the fact I am in a
far better place psychologically than I was twenty years ago. The writing has clearly been effective
therapy. And it’s far cheaper than
counselling.
I hope to write more short stories, as they
can be a useful exercise in discipline, especially when one has to stick to a
theme and a strict word count. But I do
worry that perhaps later ones will lack the raw emotion of my earlier
stories. On the other hand, I am still a
horror writer, and a gruesome death always seems to occur in everything I
write. So I suspect there is still plenty of death and violence
in my future – at least, as far as the writing goes.
Bio:
Sara Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror. She
has two novels, SUFFER THE CHILDREN and DEATH SCENE, published as e-books by Lyrical Press.
Her collection of short horror stories, SOUL SCREAMS, is now available
in print and e-book format from Stumar Press
(http://stumarpress.webs.com).
Buy links:
print version -
http://www.lulu.com/shop/sara-
Kindle UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/
Kindle US - http://www.amazon.com/dp/
Other ebook format - https://www.smashwords.com/
You can learn more about Sara and her writing at her website at
http://sarajaynetownsend.
http://sayssara.wordpress.com.
has two novels, SUFFER THE CHILDREN and DEATH SCENE, published as e-books by Lyrical Press.
Her collection of short horror stories, SOUL SCREAMS, is now available
in print and e-book format from Stumar Press
(http://stumarpress.webs.com).
Buy links:
print version -
http://www.lulu.com/shop/sara-
Kindle UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/
Kindle US - http://www.amazon.com/dp/
Other ebook format - https://www.smashwords.com/
You can learn more about Sara and her writing at her website at
http://sarajaynetownsend.
http://sayssara.wordpress.com.
8 comments:
I think most writers start out with writing as therapy, and it is a lot cheaper than counselling :)
Take care,
Annette
I write romantic short stories. I got so antsy working on a book. They fit my schedule and I write tight and better. Thanks!
I think all writers start out with some sort of writing as therapy- poetry, journals and diaries, short stories. Sometimes you need that outlet.
I kept journals in my youth and wrote poetry. I've penned a few shorts, but tend to lean toward full length novels nowadays. Doesn't mean I wouldn't possibly write some shorts again if the mood struck me.
Annette, Vicki and Taryn, thanks for commenting. Always reassuring to know I'm not alone!
I agree writing is therapy. It got me through puberty, lol! Great post. Look forward to reading your short story.
I love your characterization of writing as therapy. Good luck with Soul Screams!
Horror is, by far, my least fave genre to write or read. I can't explain why but maybe it had something to do with all the S.K. I absorbed in my teens and early twenties, or my fascination with the Living Dead movies. Maybe it was the stalker I acquired when I was sixteen and seventeen that made things more real to me as I got older. It just creeps me out now that I'm...well, not twenty anymore. lol But as therapy--that's a new twist for me. Good luck with your Soul Screams, Sara.
Wow, once I learned to read and write, I wrote short stories all through school. Never thought of it as therapy. This blog is an eye opener for sure.
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