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Guest Author William R. Potter on Writing Short Stories and Novellas

by JM

I have asked author William Potter to join us today in talking about his love of writing and what draws him to writing shorter works of fiction…

I was making up stories before I could read. This made writing short stories the next logical step for me. The ability to complete an entire story idea in a few thousand or even a few hundred words was very attractive, as I could experiment with several different characters, plots, points of view and genres in the same time frame that would be committed to a single novel.

In 2001 I was in a new relationship, in love and happy for the first time in years. From this stability, I decided to get serious about writing. I started with a few short stories with some success. With my growing confidence I tried increasingly complex plots and soon had a number of shorts and two novellas by fall 2004.

The birth of my daughter delayed writing for over a year. Finally in spring 2006 I returned to the unpublished short stories. The first thing I noticed was the darker subject matter. I credited this gloominess to sadness still lingering from my divorce. The stories were getting some favourable feedback and I wondered if grouped together they might be enough for a book. After polishing the stronger selections, I wrote another novella, pared the total down to six and then began to research publishers.

On April 29, 2008, Lighting the Dark Side was published. The characters in the book all follow unique paths in order to escape their extraordinary situations; from Dwayne Johnson, a man who struggles to find love despite a severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; to Brad Stewart, whose lottery win becomes a nightmare when his son is kidnapped for ransom; to James Goodal, a gentle man with a rescue complex who resorts to murder when he takes in a young street prostitute.

I appreciate your interest in Lighting the Dark Side and invite you to stop by my site at www.lightingthedarkside.com

Thank you.


Posted in Guest Posts on November 5th, 2008

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6 Responses to “Guest Author William R. Potter on Writing Short Stories and Novellas”

  1. Ladytink_534 Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 4:09 am

    Well that certainly sounds different. I don’t read short stories as often as I would like but I do enjoy them (and anthologies!)

  2. JM Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 4:45 am

    I don’t either, but I am definitely planning on doing so. :)

  3. Cheryl Malandrinos Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 10:05 am

    This sounds similiar to the work of David Grant. Very interesting. Best of luck with your tour.

    Cheryl

  4. William Potter Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    To Ladythink, JM, and Cheryl

    Thanks for the comments and kind wishes!

    take care,

    William

  5. Boomer Chick Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    Wow, great blog post, William! I hope you’re having fun so far. We’re all keeping tabs on your tour stops…keep up the good work and we’ll see you on the blog trail.

  6. William Potter Says:
    November 6th, 2008 at 9:02 am

    Thanks BC

    See you on the tour!

    William

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