I'm writing a story about a guy who is by himself for 90% of the time, which means it exists as huge chunks of description, with very little dialouge. I don't do much 'thinking' for him, cause I'm not that good at it. Is this a bad thing? essentially, It just describes his actions and his environment, with an occasional simple thought or short confrontation with a human or animal. Would this get monotonous after a while? I'm aiming at around 10k words by the way.
Montag, I guess it depends on the conflict or driving events in the story. What happens and why. Just describing actions or events with minor confrontations, odds are that it will get kind of monotonous to a reader. If I recall accurately, "To Build a Fire", by Jack London is similar to what you're suggesting: Mainly one character, some minor encounters, etc. But there is the struggle to survive against the extreme cold--the conflict. If you're going for something like that, it could very easily work. Terry
Hahahaha, EyezForYou, I was responding to the original question even as you were posting...thinking along the same lines. It's a story that's stuck with me over the years. Terry
Haha well done guys . I'll try to find that book. I think the events are exciting/scary/weird enough to keep the reader going to the next one, so I'll just continue for now and see how it looks. Thanks.
Montag, You should be able to find an anthology with London's story "To Build a Fire" in it at a local library. As far as a short story focusing on one character's actions and thoughts, with limited interaction with others, the magazine The Sword Review and the anthology Distant Passages Volume 2published my short story "Tethered in Purgatory" which might also fit what you're discussing. Follow this link to my website that has information on the story and a link to it online: Short Fiction Terry
Thanks for the advice guys, I found the full text of 'To Build a Fire' here at wikisource. I read the start of your story Terry, it sounds good, so I'll finish it later.
There are all sorts of stories. Some people listen to writing gurus and think they have to do things only one way. I've seen text only books, dialog only books, books written in strange made up languages. Some authors move from one style to another within the book. (short stories are similar.)
