In absence of a publisher…

I am not a novelist.  There are times when I think it would be nice, but there are several problems that hold me back.  Firstly, plot has never been my strong point; I can do description and emotion and action, but making it interesting in the plot department has always been something I’ve struggled with.  That leads on to my next problem – I rarely manage to finish anything.  I have any number of potential novels in the early stages of development, all with plenty of promise and even some clever and funny lines, but so far nothing that has come anywhere near a conclusion.  Until now.

Well, sort of.  In the cinema the other day Ellie and I were chatting and came up with a crazy idea that Ellie said I had to write a story about.  Indeed it was a hilarious concept, and I resolved that in order to make sure it actually got finished I would have to shoe-horn it into a short story rather than a full-blown novel.  That also meant that I had to sit down and write the whole thing in one go, while my brain was in the right mood for it.  So, a few days ago I sat down and started writing, and a few hours later I had a finished manuscript.  Four short chapters, just under 4000 words, nothing epic.

Having talked to a couple of friends who write stuff more frequently and more purposefully, I’ve decided that sending this short story to a publisher probably won’t come to anything, quite simply because it hasn’t got the potential to be a big seller, and it’s not long enough to stand on its own.  I could probably submit it to magazines or something, but to be honest I’m not all that fussed at the moment.  So, to get it ‘out there’ in a less official way, I’m providing the story as an eBook (i.e. a PDF file of the text) for you to download if you wish.  It’s not long, as I say, so it won’t take long to read.  Feedback is always welcome, especially if it’s positive!

Missing, by Matthew Dawkins