I read very few short stories, so winning a short story contest was surprising. I was drawn to short stories because I could dream up cool ideas and get them out quickly. I could experiment without the lengthy time commitments of novels or screenplays.
My storytelling inspiration usually comes from television and movies. As a result, I imagine stories cinematically. Writing becomes challenging because framing scenes and descriptive language in the visual medium differs from the written word.
I also draw inspiration from comic books, which I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. While this is closer to traditional writing, it is still a different medium with its own set of norms, rules, and practices.
The style that I see myself writing in feels closer to old-style pulp fiction. That may be because many TV shows (like “Black Mirror”) that I grew up watching and comics that I grew up reading are often morality tales. They are how I define short stories: brief scenes in which a protagonist is put into a moral delimma. How they deal with their extreme situation defines their character and forces the audience to evaluate themselves.
I am reading a lot of short stories now. Few have the pulp fiction feel, but I am enjoying the experience. They are creative and engaging, and I am learning a lot. However, they are not enough to pull me away from the movies, TV shows, and comics that influence my imagination.
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