The year of short stories is at an end. The Alternate Extras of Halesowen is complete, while Shorts of the Rula got some more seasonal shorts. And, for the first time, I changed perspective with them. While Yogsimulated 2 was also published in this quarter, it is not a short story, and so I’m not going to talk of it here. So, for a final time, let’s start with a look at what planning happened for the final story of The Alternate Extras of Halesowen.
If Extras followed Adventures in starting on the last day of the first year – even if just to show off the full short films created, it seemed obvious where it should end. And who would be used for a third perspective of the first day of the second year. Which also made perfect sense with what I’d been building across Extras. Focusing on the secondary group and finding their futures. And so the title of The Secondary Futures seemed obvious.
Vector had been instrumental in that discovery, so it made sense to keep this final story for him. Where it would allow some more thoughts on his own future, which he had been working toward from early in the first year. This bookend also gave me the perfect opportunity for a bit of resolution. In that, with Vector’s showing of their short film, I’d revealed he was lenient on his friends when it came to filming all projects.
To start with, I had been planning for this final story to be more of an introspective one, where Vector would look back across the holiday and what his friends had done. As a final story, I didn’t think it was working. A key part of Extras existing was to show more of the bonds of friendship shared with this media group. So it made sense to end with more interactions between the secondary group.
Onto those of Shorts of the Rula, the Halloween story I had a basic idea of. Let Sleeping Secrets Lie developed from the core of its idea. That being daylight persisting into when it should be night, causing people to enter deep sleeps from their lack of it. But there needed to be more. A reason for it happening. Which is where it developed into a bit of a mystery story.
Not fully, though. To quickly get to the reveal, and to keep it all happening in the same period of time, the story joins the person doing the investigative work on the day when it all comes to a close. Exploring the location he had marked as responsible for what was happening. To make things a bit more detective-like, I started writing in first person. Offering deeper insight into what he was thinking at each event of the story.
Being the first time I’d written in first person for quite some time, I feel that I might have messed up a bit with it. Though I’m not entirely sure where. But one thing I was certain of was that first person was the right choice for the story. As I read and refined it, I could see the impact of each discovery. And the action it held felt it flowed well. But I wanted one more story to see if I could become adept at a first-person perspective.
Which is why I also used it for Elfish Photography. A kids party from the perspective of the photographer at the event. This being published on Christmas Eve as the last story of my 12 Shorts of Christmas campaign on Bluesky and Facebook, I knew exactly when it would be set. The itinerary of events for the party developed naturally as I plotted things out, knowing that I wanted some form of a Christmas message to be present.
That message being about gifting to others. So, how to frame it? By having one of the party organisers dressing up as an elf who has lost that spirit of giving. And since a photographer was on hand, the spirit of giving is returned through the elf having its photo taken. Doing it in stages, after each event the elf would appear and have to be convinced to have photos taken with the group until it was the one to suggest photos.
The first-person perspective perhaps wasn’t needed for this one, but I do feel it worked. Especially as I felt more confident in writing in first-person. One thing from my planning I do note is that this story takes place in the Stories From the Herzan State universe. My fictional Michigan. Yet there was nothing to explicitly reveal that in the story itself. Trying to do so I felt was just forcing it in there, so I elected not to.
And so there we are. Twelve short stories across the year. With The Alternate Extras of Halesowen now complete. This won’t be happening again, at least not next year, as I focus on other projects. Finishing up Yogsimulated 2. Adding more stories to Trials of Gore Fest. And also getting back into finalising the details of the plot and getting written Falling From The Truth. The fourth Kindle novel of the Alternate Halesowen and Beyond universe.
