We're All Drunk Here

This is in response to A. Bell's unofficial challenge, Tell Me About You. You can read about that here:

Tell me what you love to write, what scares you about sharing it, or what you’re hoping to accomplish here.

More importantly, tell me which of your stories you wish more people had read.

Alright, get your pickiest unpicker out and let's tackle this beaut:

What do you love to write?

The short version: Fucked if I know.

Whatever I feel like, I suppose.

I just... like to write. Fiction mostly. When I was tiny I liked poetry, but I mostly avoid that these days. I have this secret (not really secret) belief that poems should rhyme and I don't have the patience to pull that off. Ideas in choppy sentences are often presented as poems, and I think they're not real, though. I still do it, sometimes. I call them wanky poems.

Mind you, I call all my poems wanky poems.

I like doing short fiction. I think being here has enlarged that gland significantly. Then I did that story-every-day thing and developed a special fondness/raging hatred for microfiction. That was fun. Also, awful. But fun! Might do that again.

I like dystopia, except it often involves scifi. Now, don't get me wrong, I like scifi, but I'm not smart enough to do it well. I like humour, but I'm not funny enough to do that well either. I don't consume enough horror to do a decent job of writing it. Romance can get in the absolute bin. I might have a go at satirical erotica one of these days though. Could be a laugh.

What scares you about sharing it?

Obviously, I am scared of two things. One: that people won't read it. Two (this may be worse): people will read it.

I think this sums it up nicely.

Occasionally my friends and family want to talk to me about it. Absolutely not!

You can. You're different. I like you lot. I also don't know you, so you reading my stuff is quite a lot less dreadful.

What are you hoping to accomplish here?

The day I got here, I said, I'm here to flex the muscle. That's still true. This is like the fitting room in the clothes shop of the writing world. It's a good place to try some ideas on for size. What do you think? Does this one make my bottom look big? I also hang some on the rack to come back to later.

Community is nice, too. Keeps you accountable. Keeps you going. And, you know, it's just nice.

It's a large fitting room, this and there's a bar at the back. But we consume stories instead of booze.

Here we all are, boinging around in this crucible together. Bouncing off each other. Brownian motion of creativty is a kind of magic.

Which of your stories do you wish more people had read?

This one:

This 👆 is the second thing I ever wrote on Vocal, and I dunno, I just think you should all give it a look. It's not even a story. It's just some musings on New Year's Resolutions, and it's very... Very me.

And this is the other one:

It's another really early one. Entirely true, as best as I can remember it. Absolutely horrible experience, but feel free to read it anyway. Because:

Some things need to be remembered. Sometimes there would be something almost immoral about letting a thing be forgotten. Sometimes, the story has to be told. Sometimes, your fingers have to pause at a particular photo, and you have to say her name.

Thank you A. Bell for the challenge.

Thank you lovely lot for reading.

Your earworm: