Why Short Stories?

Since November, I’ve been putting out short stories. I have several novels patiently waiting for my attention, but the drive to jump into any of them isn’t there. I still love them and I will finish them.

One is just awesome…it’s a romantic suspense type story and…

No, want to stick to the short story rational.

Short stories are great to finish a fictional thread from a big book. They can help round out a side character. Or explain more about the nature of a world which slid from a writer’s mind.

Or…they are clear and concise snippets. A straight beginning, middle and end.

I seldom write the second sort.

But! I do enjoy the other. When I wrote the four books of The Kraken’s Caribbean, I created a world so full of angles and directions…I opened so many windows and propped every door open. Invited anyone and anything to slide in and make themselves at home. Which leads to a great many dangling stories.

I imagine…I could be writing stories to weave all of them into the tapestry of The Kraken’s Caribbean. It’s a fun place to play!

I’d written a genesis story some years ago… The Founding of the Port. A blog follower won a contest to name a character. Thus, a female hero named Roesia Nimblequick was created. She was a fire dancer. And rolled into Tortuga, becoming one of the first portal travelers to walk through a mirror into the bar which would eventually belong to Alan Silvestri.

The second short story addressed an issue I wondered about. Why are there no holidays in Tortuga? (Okay, I new why…I created a particularly secular world. Not just Tortuga, but the entire planet where The Kraken’s Caribbean bides.) But Emily didn’t know this. I took that into consideration and examined what purpose holidays serve, other than to commemorate great leaders or events. And what would Emily miss, now that she’d left her old world behind. How would the pirates react to her nostalgia? Hence, Rumsgiving ~ A Holiday for Emily was born.

Next…I’ve always looked at my pirates as fleshy men and women, and I acknowledged the lack of birth control for the eras I wrote in. Well, a man of Silvestri’s experience and mileage…of course he’d bedded many women. And…somebody must have given birth to his child. Time for them so show up. I actually wrote a secret baby story. (Not so much baby though…adult kids by the time a visit to Tortuga waxed. Silvestri’s Unintended Consequences slid down my fingers and onto my keyboard.

Now, I’d made a couple of two unlikely characters at the end of The Pirate Circus. But I brought them together, and never went further. The next short story answered the question readers posed to me. “What about Davis and Rebecca?” I’ve always found the tried and true plot device of a constant battle between werewolf and vampire a bit boring. Time to play with that idea… A Troubling Courtship arrived.

Where do these stories fit into the time line? Well, here is how I see the order of the short stories. Firstly, there will be seven. Once they are all released as ebooks, I’ll put them together in a bundle, ebook and print. And one of my ideas…it has turned into either a novella or a fifth novel, I’m not sure yet…

Here it is, how the stories fit into the timeline. Bolds are written.

TKC novels

The Founding of the Port
Keitran’s Ascension
The Kraken’s Mirror
The Chameleon Goggles
The Pirate Circus
Rumsgiving ~ A Holiday for Emily
Silvestri’s Unintended Consequences
A Troubling Courtship
A Pirate’s Vacation
The Kraken’s Promise
Charlie’s Big Catch
The Dark Dreams of Davy Jones (partly written)

TKC SS

The next to be published is Keitran’s Ascension. His early years as a vampire in Europe, how he came to Tortuga, met Silvestri and rose to lead the island’s vampires. The plan is for a May release.

I’d like to know, how do you like your short stories? As novels? As fillers for a longer story? The total package? I’m curious… Have you read any of the short stories?

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