Shaking Things Up

It's 2011, a week and a half gone by already, and a new year means a new look at things. It's an excuse to talk that way anyway. All those things you've been putting off because you were waiting for the new year, well you'd better be doing them now... ;)

So what's new in the Xeroverse? Well, 101 has now officially launched with the charming little story: Geek. It's a quick read, that's the point. Not only is the one hundred word limit an experiment and a challenge in form (forms, really, as I shall be trying to see just how far I can experiment within those hundred words), but it's short. In an effort to get attention on the internet, not only do you have to be good, but you have to allow for people's browsing attention spans.

I hope I'm good, I think I'm good. But it's difficult to get noticed on the internet. Because everybody is trying to get noticed on the internet. Now I'm not saying that people no longer have the attention span to read a longer short story or a novel, that blatantly isn't true, but when they're in internet mode most people will be flicking from page to page, and if there is no picture (and let's face it, the internet is a very visual medium) you have to work hard to keep hold of someone. I think if they can see the end of the story without having to scroll down then they might just read the whole thing, and if it's good, maybe another, and if they like that, than maybe they'll go on to read something longer. I hope.

Which kind of leads me nicely to my next new thing... At the bottom of my most recent Missing Piece: The Dull Sky Shook, I've linked to a piece of micro-fiction written by someone else. Someone I don't know. It's something I should have been doing all along. It's called 'recommended reading', and that's just what it is. Something I've read, that I've liked reading, that I think you will too.

I would love someone to read my work and like it enough to point people in this direction, so I should be doing exactly that for other people. I'll try and include a recommendation every week, but obviously that is somewhat dependant on me reading something that I want to recommend.

While I was browsing through micro/ flash fiction sites I came across someone talking about how they had loved the community they found; how they were so impressed with how much it was about 'go check this person out, they're awesome, first and oh, please read my work too, second.' It pains me that I can't find the original source now (stupid, stupid internets), but I think it was while I was browsing around the new Matter Press site.

So this is me going 'check this piece out, it's awesome'. It's about getting noticed, but it's about getting everyone noticed. Because I would love a larger audience, but so would other writers, and I'm no more deserving than them. It's not just about me, it's about micro/flash fiction, it's about storytelling; more importantly, it's about good storytelling and sharing that with as many people as possible... whether it be my story or yours.