NaShoStoEdMo – Revisions

Revised stories are now coming up. Keep checking this page – it will be updated whenever a new version is posted.
* indicates a minor edit.

2^nd Drafts

• Baby (28/12)
• Poppies (29/12)
• Happily Ever After* (29/12)
• The Sistum(17/1)

The Story

Genre: don't know
Length: 2900 words
Tense: past
POV: 1^st

     Here it is: the last story, and the answers. I'm afraid it started out fairly normal, but kept getting weirder. Still, it's a story. Read it through. See what you think. And that'll be a quarter.
     P.S. - got it in just before midnight!

Story #29

Genre: metafiction
Length: 900 words
Tense: imperative/present
POV: 2^nd

Temporarily wossed. Wos = Wall of Shame.

The Library

Genre: Allegory/Metafiction
Length: 2100 words
Tense: imperative
POV: 2^nd

I read this again, and it was way too weird. I think I was tripping when I wrote it.

The Dragon-Egg

Genre: Fantasy
Length: 2600 words
Tense: past
POV: 1^st

     This story isn't weird, it's just different. Anyone who knows me knows I'm really a fantasy writer, and so we can't go through a month of short stories without just a little of that. No warnings, just a fun tale!
     Also, fun aside, this is the story that officially pushed me over the 50k-mark! NaNoWriMo FTW!

Baby

Draft: 2
Genre: Drama
Length: 7000 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

Here's the first revised story.
Length changed from 4400 to 7000 words, and it remains the longest story on the blog. Plotwise, nothing much changed, but I totally rewrote the ending. Unfortunately, it didn't get any less disturbing.

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     Today's story got very long. It is also very normal. And it's about a range of somewhat uncomfortable topics. Warnings include some very racist moments. I can't help what the characters say, so please, just don't take it personally.

The Master

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Length: 2000 words
Tense: conditional
POV: 2^nd

     The origin of today's story traces back to the first. There is a line about kneeling in church with "alcoholics and pedophiles, madmen, psychopaths, and parents too free with the paddle." We've got the paedophiles, madmen, and some mention of the alcoholics and the parents too free with the paddle, but we were missing the psychopath. So that's what you've got here.
     It's also an expereiment in pov (second) and tense (conditional, "maybe"). This might be disorienting. Perghaps you will feel confused. Maybe you won't be able to stand it.
     (I apologise for the above paragraph, there's enough of that in the story.)
     Anyway, get ready for some crazed murderous rampages!

The Magic Tetrahedron

Genre: Adventure
Length: 1900 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd
Advanced from WOS nominee to winner :)

The Reader

Genre: Sonnet
Length: 1100 words
Tense: past
POV: 1^st

     Today's story is some more bad poetry (sorry), sonnets this time. I had some fun with an unreliable narrator and a little meta. Still, it's bearable. It's very revealing for anyone interested in the sort of super-plot that has been running through these stories, but without that it might be somewhat cryptic. There are certainly things our narrator isn't telling us.
     I should stop doing these. They take a disproportionate amount of time for a relatively low word count. It's against the spirit of NaNoWriMo.

The Gate on the Hedge

Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 1900 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd


Today's is an account of the town's future, in a strange way. The tense is past but that changes near the end. Really, the end just throws off everything. It's a strange story. It doesn't exactly follow from one thing to the next. To be honest, it's not my best.

This story has been removed and put on the (invisible) Wall of Shame

A Language of Love

Genre: Experimental
Length: 1400 words
Tense: present
POV: 3^rd

     The last story was way too normal. So now it's back to different. This one may be difficult. It's not my first story in unchronological order, but it is my first story where the chronology is not linear. It also has some pretty strange style. There is a definite story in all of this, even if it doesn't appear obvious at first.

The Dishwashers

Genre: Satire
Length: 1900 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

     This is a more active story, centred mostly around one character. It's somewhat funny, for this blog, at least. Hope you like it.

Gold

Genre: Western
Length: 1200 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

     I feel like saying, at ths point, that this story is unlike any I've done before is somewhat pointless. And yet I just said it. It's set in the past, and of course all all know about this history is from Wikipedia, so anyone is free to correct me. It's kind of a weird story, too. But if you read this blog I can only assume you like those kind...
     Oh, and warnings: this is NOT PC. Not at all. There are sereral references to indigenous peoples in antiquated terns, and several to a man of African origin that employ even more offensive terminology. So if you don't want to read that, don't – I've warned you.

Quiet of the Night

Genre: Haiku
Length: 1400 words
Tense: present
POV: 1^st

     Well, today's story is um, haiku. I decided to be wacky and try to tell a story in a series of haiku. The sad thing is it took way too long and ended up (if you don't count the numbers) only being 1370 words. So it may look long, but it's actually one of my shorter posts. Sometimes, I'll admit, it's just random. I threw in a lot of poetic sounding filler to get to 100. But at least it tells a story, which is better than some past posts.

It Was the Maid

Genre: Cop/Parody
Length: 1800 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

     I guess I knew, coming into this, that some of the stories were going to suck. The one I'm talking about is so bad I forget the name - let's only call it, from now on, Epic Comedy Fail. Anyway, it was awful, but I hope this story is somewhat more redeeming. It's a parody in the mystery/cop genre. If it's too over-the-top let me know, because I basically went wild. But I definitely think it's much better than that --other-- one...

Sock

Genre: Experimental
Length: 2200 words
Tense: present
POV: 1^st
     Well, I'll just say that I warned you. Let the crazyness commence!

The Favorite

Genre: Fictionalised Memoir
Length: 2200 words
Tense: past
POV: 1^st

     Well, this story marks the half-way point. I think it's also going to mark a turning point in the stories. I've done some weird things, certainly, but I think it has all more or less held together - after today, it is going to go wild. So get prepared. And enjoy one more traditional, albeit old-fashioned in style, story.

Somethin’

Genre: metafiction
Length: 1100 words
Tense: present
POV: 1^st


     Well, this story is pretty much just a mesh of everything, without much structure. It's somewhat absurdist, maybe it's sci-fi as well. I tried a sort of streaming consciousness that borders on rambling, (but I don't think it's as bad as some of the stuff on this blog). If it lacks engagement, let me know - that's always a danger with narratives which are wholly based on character.

This story has been removed and put on the (invisible) Wall of Shame

The Life

Genre: Comedy/Dialogue
Length: 1500 words
Tense: N/A
POV: N/A

     Today's story is Epic Comedy Fail. Basically, I tried to lighten it up and be funny. It didn't really work. What you got instead is a pretty lame story with a lot of warnings. Funniness just isn't my thing.
     Warnings: cussing, drugs, and sexual content.

This story has been removed and put on the (invisible) Wall of Shame.
(This one has actually been removed. The other ones were just hidden with HTML comments, but this one is really gone.)

The Good Days

Genre: Romance
Length: 1100 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd
Wossed: reasons: goes nowhere.

The Fear of the Dark

Genre: Descriptive
Length: 1000 words
Tense: habitual
POV: 3^rd
     This story is entirely exposition, and wholly character-based. I hope it's still engaging enough to hold your interest to the end. I know it's a bad idea to ramble too long without scene or dialogue, but I also see no other way to present this story. It's my shortest yet, though, so at least that's a redeeming value.

Poppies

Draft: 2
Genre: Romance
Length: 4100 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

I didn't change this one that much - only fixed an oversight in the beginning, added more flowery language, and added some scenes with the father. Length went from 2200 to 4100 words.

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     Today's story is just a love story.

A World of Possibility

Genre: Medical/School Story
Length: 1500 words
Tense: future
POV: 3^rd

Bye-bye!
(as least I'm polite to my bad stories).

Fliers

Genre: Suggestions please - I have no idea
Length: 2500 words
Tense: present
POV: 3^rd

     I apologise. I'm afraid this one reads somewhat choppy. I have been seeing too much Hemingway.
     Also, I had a strange problem in this story that I haven't had before. One of the structures I could never stand were ones such as " '...,' he said in French," that expect the reader to understand that the identified phrase is in a different language than the rest, when really it is not. But now, in my story, most of the dialogue should be in Spanish, and it's written in English. I could say it's a translation, but there's some English, too, and really no way to differentiate. I feel like this ruins the story, slightly, but I don't know enough Spanish to accurately do dialogue in that language, plus I would alienate all those readers who speak only English. I briefly considered a hybrid, emphasising certain words, e.g. "Be nice, chicos," but I decided that's the worst of both worlds. And I went back to where it started.

Sycamores

Genre: Experimental
Length: 1400 words
Tense: past
POV: 1^st

     This one's got a lot of explaining to do up here, which probably isn't a good thing. This is what happens when I start the story at ten. And warning, there are spoilers here, but at the same time I don't know if it's possible to follow the story without them…
     Well, in one of my classes we discussed trauma narrative. We talked about how traumatised characters struggle to tell their story.
     This is very obscure. It's probably the most incomprehensible thing I've written so far. I think it needs a lengthier preface.
     It's based on this note in class, that memory is like a series of still pictures, taken away from causality and time. Normally narrative is constructed by reliving the events of memory, and adding back in the causality. When there is pain, it becomes a barrier.
     Yes, that's all we do in class: we talk about narrators and pain. Anyway, you were warned. Good luck.

The Sistum

Genre: Absurdist
Length: 2000 words
Tense: present
POV: 2^nd 

Some very minor edits.

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     Here's another weird one, sorry. It doesn't have much of a plot, and it's fairly experimental. If it's too weird, let me know. Suggestions are always welcome!
     Oh, and a warning, there's some very unsympathetic cussing. F-bomb included, so beware. It was a difficult choice to put cussing in a you-narrative, but I had to represent the character. Don't take it personally.

Dominik and the Psychiatrist

Genre: Drama/Erotic
Length: 2500 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

This was disturbing.

On a Distant Star

Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 1600 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd

     I wanted to try something a little different. Also, I figured that after all the religion science should have a say. This story is slightly unusual. It's written very much in the style of a natural history textbook, so let me know if it's too boring. Hope you like it!

The Mechanic

Genre: Christian Fiction
Length: 2200 words
Tense: past
POV: 3^rd
Today's story is a redemption story. I think it's fitting after the first two. All I really had was the first image, and I kind of took it from there. If it rambles or jumps too much, let me know. It's not exactly linear. Also, let me know what you think of the ending, that was the hardest for me.

Fourth Grade

Genre: School story
Length: 3200 words
Tense: present
POV: 3^rd

     This story is a little different from my usual. Very different, actually. It's somewhat inspired by this story, at least on a basic level. It's much longer than my usual. And it uses a lot more cultural references than I ever know. Most of it was composed alongside Wikipedia and Google. Please, if Jay-Z isn't the best example of a rapper, or Dr Pepper is as much a part of the sistum as a Coke, let me know. I understand a lot less of this than you'd think. Especially, if you speak one of the languages – most of it's from Google Translate, and probably wrong…
     It was an experiment. One I probably won't try again soon, as it was a lot of work. But maybe it was worth it – read and see!