Spin off short stories?

[Finchbearer]

What do you mean by subjects? Prose style, themes, genres, tropes, characters?

Genre and themes you like to work with?

 

[MamaMorrigan]

Genre and themes you like to work with?

Sure. I write almost entirely fantasy for my personal projects. My background is in creative writing but also politics. I tend to write a lot about generational trauma, social issues, political issues, political history. Lots of queer stuff, being queer myself. I also love mythology, classical history, that sort of thing, so I tend to include a lot of themes around all of the above.

That said, my biggest love is just writing a fun story with human characters struggling with dark themes. So all those themes find their way in because those are the kinds of things that inspire me, and I do heavily include them, they aren't everything.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Our team uses short pieces to fill in the corners where the numbered novels can't. As you can see from our Reading Order, we have one or two. Many of our characters are immortal, and many are not. Either way, we've used the short pieces to add a wee bit of seasoning where it may not be appropriate in the numbered novels.

We've been at this for roughly ten years, now, and as time has gone by we've found ourselves with more than one blog. Be ready in case that happens to you. Once they gain traction, these little suckers won't die. We've gotten around it by sticking with a theme so it's easier to spot one of our blogs at a glance.

Blog the First: This Blog is Terribad
Blog the Second: A. E. Lowan
Blog the Third: This Blog is Terribad - A. E. Lowan

But, all that being said, the most important thing is to have fun. Interact with your readers however works best for you, make new friends both in and out of the writing community, but most importantly, be authentic. Readers can read your work any time. When they come to visit you on your own turf, they want to interact with you. They want access, and while we're all cave-dwelling key-tappers it behooves us to deny them. Good luck and godspeed!

 

[Foxkeyes]

I haven't specifically written short stories for characters, but on the flip side of that, some of my short stories have ended up in my secondary world as part of the narrative. As mentioned already here, character short stories are a great way of fleshing out character backstory. Not only do you get info for your longer work, but you get a shorter work that can be published..

There is a huge market for fantasy/sci fi/horror short stories. Check out The Submission Grinder for fantasy markets.

10K is long for most fantasy markets seeking short stories. Most go for between 2-5k. Having constraints in word counts, however, is a great way to practice editing.

Unless you're a very established author, getting a book of short stories professionally published is difficult.

 

[Finchbearer]

Our team uses short pieces to fill in the corners where the numbered novels can't. As you can see from our Reading Order, we have one or two. Many of our characters are immortal, and many are not. Either way, we've used the short pieces to add a wee bit of seasoning where it may not be appropriate in the numbered novels.

We've been at this for roughly ten years, now, and as time has gone by we've found ourselves with more than one blog. Be ready in case that happens to you. Once they gain traction, these little suckers won't die. We've gotten around it by sticking with a theme so it's easier to spot one of our blogs at a glance.

Blog the First: This Blog is Terribad
Blog the Second: A. E. Lowan
Blog the Third: This Blog is Terribad - A. E. Lowan

But, all that being said, the most important thing is to have fun. Interact with your readers however works best for you, make new friends both in and out of the writing community, but most importantly, be authentic. Readers can read your work any time. When they come to visit you on your own turf, they want to interact with you. They want access, and while we're all cave-dwelling key-tappers it behooves us to deny them. Good luck and godspeed!

What drew you to urban fantasy so much AE Lowan? I find it a bit salt and pepper.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

What drew you to urban fantasy so much AE Lowan? I find it a bit salt and pepper.

Team Lowan is actually a 3-woman team of passionate fantasy writers, *bows* all three lead down this road by Lady McCaffrey herself. I'm the drafter, which keeps our narrative voice cohesive, so since I'm really the Urban Fantasy fanatic on the team, our long-running UF series gets to be first.

I think I was drawn to UF way back when it was the first real foray of the Strong Female Character into the market and she was greeted with joy because when you've only got sand to drink, you drink the sand. As young writers, as well as being young LGBT+ writers in the 90's and let's just throw in being girls, and we had a nearly blank slate to create worlds where we got to do the monster-slaying and rescuing, and indeed even cursing and positive sexual interactions outside of the Romance genre.

Plus, I like a little salt and pepper. We've been described as if Jim Butcher and GRRM had an unholy, Urban Fantasy baby. Hot guys and dragons driving Bugatti's. What more does a girl need?

 

[Finchbearer]

I like the scope of creativity Urban Fantasy seems to leave room for, and making it diverse and gritty and all good things should make for an addictive read.

With you being one of three writers, that reminds me of my next subject to add to my compendium of witchy women…