Tag: scienceficition

Argus – Very Short Story

When the Crown Jewels were lost in the Great War, there was little reason to continue fighting as they were the only source of power that meant anything in the galaxy and people became hopeful that maybe this would usher in an era of peace.

In the spawn of human years, that might be case, even though humans have the capability to live forever ever since they got rid of god. When god was taken out, men became gods themselves and made up their own laws and they took up residence at the centre of the galaxy where God had been hiding. God was quite surprised when we found him and he had indeed forgotten that he made us. God went under the assumption that all his creations had failed and it turned out that he was a failed god with tens of thousands of mistakes. He was quite happy before we killed him because he had at least one success.

We killed him because we were angry with the laws that bound us to our little planet. After thousands of generations and wars, we lost our home planet and no one remembers where it is. There are people alive today that are still looking for it. They believe humanity will be redeemed if we go back to our roots even though god was dead. They are a strange bunch.

Humanity had taken control of their destiny but we continue to make war. Maybe one day we will penetrate the bounds of our galaxy and maybe then we will find another race which likes fighting as much as we do and they will keep us entertained for a while. Perhaps that’s what made us so successful because we love fighting, to destroy and then rebuild. We keep the world interesting. For the time being we will remain in Argus until we go to far with our wars or maybe we can be redeemed still?

by Stamphers

How To Make A Short Story Work

Making stories that you wanna make, and making the stories that people wanna read, can be two different things sometimes.

I have this short story, my very first short story in fact, called “Colony Sane” that I have been working on for almost a year now.

Writing the same story for such an extensive time can be exhausting, but it is, unfortunately, necessary when you are starting off as a writer. Because in the beginning of your writing career, or any career for that matter, you improve your craft incredibly fast; making slightly better garbage each time. Hence, my story has been revised more times that I can remember.

In any case, the idea was for the story to be around 30-40 pages long. But after some reviews, it seemed that was not possible. People wanted to learn more about the characters and the world I created, which is awesome criticism, but I didn’t want to make the story as long as they wanted it to be.

After my second major revision, I received the same criticism, that the world and the characters needed to be fleshed out. At this point, I considered ignoring the critique and simply publish it as it was. But I realised that their criticism wasn’t unfounded, it was their solution to the problem that was.

You see: more words doesn’t equal a better story. In fact, some of the greatest works are short stories.

So, how do you make a short story work then?

In my case, the problem was that the readers wanted to know more because the MC (Main Character) knew things that the readers didn’t. I had left out information just to keep the story short, which is a bad idea. The readers need to know exactly as much as the MC does, this is the key to a good short story.A lot of things can happen in the background and be implicit, but as long as the MC doesn’t know what’s going on, and sometimes never will, then the readers can accept not knowing as well.

I may end up expanding the story in the future, if the demand is high enough. Much like how Hugh Howey did with the Wool Trilogy. (Strongly recommend this story, by the way)

If you are curious, about Colony Sane, you can read it for free on Tablo. I am still editing it though

by Stamphers

The City of ‘Deadlight’ – Very Short Story

He jerked his head up towards the sky and let the warming rays of the sun rejuvenate his spirits. With a deep breath, he returned to his notebook and scribbled skilfully the lines and shapes of what he saw. An hour went by and the sun slowly hid behind tall buildings that surrounded him.

As it fully disappeared, he relaxed and slumped on his bench. With a sigh, he looked around as the city darkened and a gloomy green light engulfed the city. ‘Deadlight’, he called them.

While looking around, he glanced at his sketchbook and frowned. He then stood hastily and walked down the crowded street, clenching his notebook tightly.

A shiver went down his spine as people whisked by him, chafing against his body. He tried his best to avoid them, but it was impossible, too many in such a small space.

Continue reading “The City of ‘Deadlight’ – Very Short Story”

by Stamphers