Monday, August 29, 2011

Huh?

I've written stories for years.  Most of them have been fan stories -- stories based on Television shows -- which are, of course, legally verboten because of copyright law.   I've written fan stories because I enjoy them and I get feedback.

But my goal, although you wouldn't think it to look at my "resume," was to write original fiction.   My first story was written when I was eight, illustrated by me, and was something about diamonds.  I wrote poems in middle school, articles in high school, and my first full-fledged story was for a class in high school -- quite frankly, I don't remember what it was about, but somewhere around this house is a copy on onion skin typing paper.

I've always been a bit lackadaisical about my writing, though, and, sadly, it's only been since my parents have been gone that I've gotten more serious about it.

I like feedback.  Sending stories out to magazines -- or agents -- gets a developing writer a standard rejection letter, which tells me nothing.  Was the story all right, but truly not for that venue?  Did it suck big time?  Should I stay with my day job?  (Well, yes, but that's another matter.)  Did the editor have an overwhelming urge to chew it into a spitball and throw it at the ceiling?  (Hmmmm, guess that would only work with paper manuscripts.)

So I've been uploading my old, rejected stories on-line, first on Smashwords.com, then on Amazon.com.  For free.  I have five on Smashwords -- the most hits I've gotten there is 280 something with one negative review, and the others go down from there.

I have three on Amazon.com, and here's the incredible part.  I don't have any perspective on downloads and hits, but my little free story, one that I wrote over fourteen years ago and basically only modified for grammar and structure, -- one that got accepted by a webzine which has long since disappeared into the ether (I received $3.00 for it) -- has, as of two seconds ago, had 10,520 downloads with four returns.

What?

It's had four favorable reviews, one which mentioned "Shrek" (which it predates, of course), and one negative review.

Wow.

This has been since last Thursday, when it inexplicably changed from $.99 to free.  Which I really don't mind, since it's been free for years

I can hardly wait to see if the others do as well which they get discounted.  Of course, I wish I had gotten paid, but -- feedback.  I want feedback, darn it! 

Wow.






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