Writerly Ways
Mar. 1st, 2026 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessI'm beginning to wonder what is wrong with me. I thought my Overlook story was formatted. It wasn't. I thought This Little Piggy story had a good ending (a story I have sent out in the past) and it literally trails off. I thought my test for tuesday was done and I just needed to clean it up. I was wrong. Is this part of worsening ADHD? Is this part of the depression? Me being overworked? I am falling further and further behind and I don't like any part of it.
But let's set that aside for now. I wanted to talk about writing monsters. I want to take my story Sharp Little Teeth and expand it into a novella. I think there is something in i t worth saving. It's a bit long for most open calls and at the end of the day, the ending is rushed just to fit it under 8k. There is enough to it to develop to three times its size. A gay mobster in 1947, his lavender marriage to a lady doctor, their forced exile from Boston to Las Vegas, some monster killing people building the new casino experiment.
I need to do more research into Vegas (collecting books now) but that's not my issue. I have used folklore to create the monster. I didn't find any colonizer monsters that fit what I needed, just some big foot knock offs. there is something in Paiute lore that does work and that's what I went for at the time (with only weeks to do this)
I did have the Native American character come up with how to get rid of them but still it feels like it's toeing the line of white savior and mystic native tokenism. I don't want either of those things obviously. So I was thinking I can use the thing from legend but it's not that. It's not the crybaby water things either. While they're working it out, more die.
But that means I have to make a monster. I know I want to keep the small child-like stature of them and of course the titular sharp little teeth but where do I go from there? I don't know yet but I need to think abou that. Might be time look at desert animals and go from there.
Open Calls
Vacations From Hell
Short horror stories about vacations
Hawthorn & Ash 2026 Window 100 and 500 word fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror stories
Sley House Times March 2026 Window
Untitled Folk Horror Anthology Folk horror of all types, preferring a twist on a known folk or fairy tale, but not required
From Around the World
How to Become a Professional Writer With Joanna Penn
How to Make Your Dark Event Pay Off
Should You Tie Up Loose Ends in Your Story—or Leave Them Open?
What Is Cozy Horror?
From Betty
How to Fix a Boring Sex Scene (honestly I think most sex scenes are boring)
Seven Tricks to Improve Your Minions
Must Romance Always Include a Breakup?
Narrative Distance
Using Contradictions to Create Masterful Microtension – Part 3
10 Editing Mistakes First-Time Authors Make (That Could Cost You Readers)
WITS Team Showcase - Jenny Hansen
How to Write Great Taglines in Seven Steps
Self-Editing Pop Quiz Redux
Why Readers Read
Mistakes Were Made
What Does a Character’s Fear of Change Look Like
8 Tips for Writing an Unreliable Narrator
Why Identity Is the Key to Character Development: How True vs. False Identity Shapes Every Story
The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Writers, Part 4: Final Revisions and Beta Reader Feedback
7 Writing Mistakes That Hurt Your Story (and How to Avoid “Literary Leftovers”)
Who Are You? Part Two
Common Mistakes New Writers Make and How to Fix Them
But let's set that aside for now. I wanted to talk about writing monsters. I want to take my story Sharp Little Teeth and expand it into a novella. I think there is something in i t worth saving. It's a bit long for most open calls and at the end of the day, the ending is rushed just to fit it under 8k. There is enough to it to develop to three times its size. A gay mobster in 1947, his lavender marriage to a lady doctor, their forced exile from Boston to Las Vegas, some monster killing people building the new casino experiment.
I need to do more research into Vegas (collecting books now) but that's not my issue. I have used folklore to create the monster. I didn't find any colonizer monsters that fit what I needed, just some big foot knock offs. there is something in Paiute lore that does work and that's what I went for at the time (with only weeks to do this)
I did have the Native American character come up with how to get rid of them but still it feels like it's toeing the line of white savior and mystic native tokenism. I don't want either of those things obviously. So I was thinking I can use the thing from legend but it's not that. It's not the crybaby water things either. While they're working it out, more die.
But that means I have to make a monster. I know I want to keep the small child-like stature of them and of course the titular sharp little teeth but where do I go from there? I don't know yet but I need to think abou that. Might be time look at desert animals and go from there.
Open Calls
Vacations From Hell
Short horror stories about vacations
Hawthorn & Ash 2026 Window 100 and 500 word fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror stories
Sley House Times March 2026 Window
Untitled Folk Horror Anthology Folk horror of all types, preferring a twist on a known folk or fairy tale, but not required
From Around the World
How to Become a Professional Writer With Joanna Penn
How to Make Your Dark Event Pay Off
Should You Tie Up Loose Ends in Your Story—or Leave Them Open?
What Is Cozy Horror?
From Betty
How to Fix a Boring Sex Scene (honestly I think most sex scenes are boring)
Seven Tricks to Improve Your Minions
Must Romance Always Include a Breakup?
Narrative Distance
Using Contradictions to Create Masterful Microtension – Part 3
10 Editing Mistakes First-Time Authors Make (That Could Cost You Readers)
WITS Team Showcase - Jenny Hansen
How to Write Great Taglines in Seven Steps
Self-Editing Pop Quiz Redux
Why Readers Read
Mistakes Were Made
What Does a Character’s Fear of Change Look Like
8 Tips for Writing an Unreliable Narrator
Why Identity Is the Key to Character Development: How True vs. False Identity Shapes Every Story
The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Writers, Part 4: Final Revisions and Beta Reader Feedback
7 Writing Mistakes That Hurt Your Story (and How to Avoid “Literary Leftovers”)
Who Are You? Part Two
Common Mistakes New Writers Make and How to Fix Them
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