Back in March, I wrote about this cool website called Ficlets:
From Scalzi (who else?) comes a collaborative short fiction site for writers, called Ficlets:
What
does "collaborative short fiction" mean in this case? Simple: You, as a
writer, post a very short (not more than 1,024 characters) piece of
fiction or a fiction fragment on the Ficlets site. People come to
Ficlets to read what you’ve written, and to comment on your piece. If
they want to, they can also write a "sequel" to your story or story
fragment, carrying the story forward from where you left it. Or,
alternately, they can write a "prequel," explaining how you got to
where you are in the story. All sorts of people can write all sorts of
sequels and prequels — and of course, other people can write sequels
and prequels to those. What you end up with is a story with multiple authors and multiple branchings — lots of possibilities and surprises.Sounds
like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? If nothing else, it’ll be a swell place
for some of my half-baked fiction ideas to get closer to fully-baked. (yeah-ha-ha-ha, turn it up, man!)
It only took me seven months, but I’ve recently taken my first uncertain steps into original fiction writing at Ficlets. It has a structure that works for me: I only get 1024 characters, so I stay focused on turning my idea into something readable in a limited amount of time and space. I don’t know why that works so well for me, but I feel no pressure (internal or external) when I do it, so I’ll just accept that and enjoy it.
Since today is Halloween, I thought I’d share one of my ficlets. It is a scary little piece called They Don’t Come Out at Night. Here’s a bit:
You have to keep moving. You have to get to the well and fill your skins, because the house is dry and the night is long.
You have to keep moving, because if you stop . . . no. “No!” You tell yourself. “They don’t come out at night! No one has ever seen them come out at night!”
No one who is still alive, that is.
It was the featured Ficlet last week, and a ton of other writers wrote prequels and sequels inspired by my story. It’s fun to discover what other people saw when they read my story, and what their own imaginations created as a result. Some of them are really good, and make for some fun, creepy reading this All Hallow’s Eve.
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Nice little piece there, Wil, and effective use of the second person – something I’ve never really managed.
Nice and creepy atmosphere too!
Hm, I forgot about that site. What a very creepy story. Of all the sequels and prequels I loved “The Entryway” the best. I can’t recall reading a story in second tense that captivated me but yours did. After reading it the other sequels and prequels written in first and third person just didn’t sound at all like they shared the same mood as the piece you wrote.
Very cool. I left wanting more.
Thanks for sharing!! 🙂 Happy Halloween!
Wil, what I like about this piece is the fact that you leverage fear of the unknown. Who are “they”? Why am I skulking in the night to avoid them? I don’t know, and it freaks me out. The reveal is never as frightening as the anticipation.
Hey Wil, I haven’t read your blog for a couple weeks so I’ll comment on a few of your posts here.
Great news about Numb3rs man, I’m extremely happy for ya. So what did I say about nailing it? I knew you had it in ya.
Maybe I’ll check out this Ficlets. It might inspire me to get off my lazy ass and start writing again. Then again maybe not. I’m just glad to see you’re starting to get serious about your short story writing. Go for it man.
The picture called “The Stranger” should just be called “The Strange.” The midget with the revolver is a freaky little dude.
My fav video games growing up were, Galaga, Defender, and RBI baseball. I threw a perfect game with the Dodgers on RBI, but my fav team on there was the Reds, probably cause the first baseball game I ever saw was in fact the Dodgers against the Big Red Machine back in ’74 or ’75. It was only spring training but seeing guys like George Foster, Johnny Bench, Steve Garvey, and Ron(the penguin) Cey was just awesome. I’m pretty sure it was Don Sutton pitching for the Dodgers that game too.
My favorite pinball machines growing up were Black Knight and Comet. I could play those for hours on a single quarter.
I know it’s hard out there for a pimp, but it’s harder for a zombie pimp. With the Dragula and blood money spent, there be a whole lot of zombie bitches jumpin ship.
Anyways, like I said, great news about Numb3rs. Keep us informed as to when it’ll air, and I’m sure we’ll all tune in.
Take care bro,
Mark.
Excellent!! Now you see, that is you, and it is great!
The prequels and sequels are interesting too. I especially liked the prequel The Entryway by theWallflower, and the sequel Sometimes They Do Come Out At Night by kwatz (although Lightning in the Fog by THX 0477 is pretty good too!), as they really seem to compliment your story and have the same feel to them…
Thanks!!
Hi, Wil–long-time reader, first-time poster here.
Very nice, very creepy ficlet. Well done!
Soooo looking forward to your NUMB3RS appearance (me & a whole bunch of us on Vancouver Island).
Most coolio, Wil. I just went over there from Scalzi’s site today and decided to sign up and post a couple, when what do I see but your most excellent Ficlets!
You’ve gotten the hang of the fiction writing better than many who have been doing it for years. I predict great things ahead, Mr. Wheaton!
If folks are interested in finding out more about Ficlets.com, I did a lengthy interview with one of its founders on my podcast, The Biblio File. It’s neat stuff.
Hey Wil, I checked out Ficlets and I gotta say I like it.
I read They Don’t Come Out at Night and I liked it.
I liked Nevermore even better so I wrote prequel to it. I hope ya like it.
It’s kinda freaky how a Pit Bull attacked me the same day you wrote that so I was kinda inspired to write something.
Here’s the Pit Bull story:
9:30 Sunday, I decide to go out and have a smoke or two before Dexter comes on. And yes, Dexter is evil because he makes his victims suffer.
Anyways, I open my front door, step out, and close the door behind me. I turn and see this mean looking Pit bull standing on my lawn about 20 meters away from me.
I freeze, he gets into a four point stance looking like LT before the snap of the ball.
Before I go on, I’ll tell ya, I was impressed. This dog was a thing of muscular beauty. Pretty much a destroying machine. Now I know these dogs have no place in our society, but I can see why they guard grow ops.
I was going to nickname him Cujo, but it just hit me. Since I’m here, we’ll call him Chopper.
Ok, so seeing this dog was impressive, but seeing him charge at me was even more impressive. I turn, see him, one one thousand, and BOOM he’s charging at me. Sick balls. He got to the foot of my door just as I closed it on him. He covered that distance in like a second and a half.
Fuck, dude, fuck, I’m glad I wasn’t going anywhere, cause I would have locked the door behind me, and then I would have been done. And I mean really done cause he was one viscious looking dog. Like I said on Ficlets, he had the blood lust in his eyes. He put on his war face.
I’ll leave it at that other than to say I’m also glad there were no kids on the street cause then it would have been ugly.
Let us know when you Ficlet again, and maybe expand on Nevermore. Turn it into a short for yourself.
Laters,
Mark.
What a great site- thanks for pointing it out. I’ve always heard (true or not), that it’s more difficult to write short fiction than anything else, so it looks like it will be fun to play with.
Congrats on getting the featured ficlet last week…between Numb3rs, the book, and your incredibly cool wife’s Pacman pumpkin you’re sure on a roll right now! That’s nice to see.
Jen
I like what you wrote and that one prequel. However, there seem to be some morons who don’t really know what the site is about and put any old crap on there. I saw something that belonged in a forum or … nowhere. I saw one, while a story, had nothing to do with yours that I could see.
I try to do something similar with my site, but I can moderate it and delete the stupid stuff. It’s a forum, but it’s just in the works. I’d be honored if you posted any short stories there. People are welcome to add to it there.
http://www.freewebs.com/dakabn/
kristinalead – Thank you for the kind words. I enjoyed writing that particular sequel.
Thank Wil for turning me onto the ficlets site. It’s about time he started showing up himself!
How did I miss that entry from March about ficlets? What’s wrong with me?
Glad I didn’t miss this one. I know some people who are good writers; this could be a great outlet for them. Plus it is one more place to find original writing from Wil Wheaton.
I may have to wait a bit to read “They don’t come out at night” – too much real life scary for me lately. But I will definitely be reading THDOOL!
I have no idea how I missed your entry in March about this site but I LOVE it so far.
I like writing, but my problem is that I always abandon ideas because I can’t flesh them out enough…which is exactly what I need to do for this site…NOT flesh them out enough.
Ficlets
A while ago I was turned on to ficlets by John Scalzi, an author and blogger I admire.
I just recently went there again to read a story posted by Wil Wheaton. (yeah, that Star Trek guy I like, who is an hawesome author) Wils story was basically…
I’ll have to remember to visit Ficlets…maybe I’ll get some feedback on some of my short work!
I’m definitely going to check this site out. I’ve always loved writing (probably a natural extension of being able to read and understand National Geographic by age 4, thanks to my wonderful older sister), but I’ve never really wanted to put anything I’ve written out where *GASP* someone might actually see it (and, heaven forbid, possibly even enjoy it)! Maybe it’s time I start letting people see what I can do. And, hopefully, get some tips on what I can do to become better at what I enjoy.
It has begun. Thanks to this blog, I have taken the leap and post a story (hopefully the first of many) on Ficlets. I am hoping to eventually become a Capital W Writer, but even if I don’t, I’m not scared to let others read my work anymore. You’re a good influence on me, Wil. 🙂 Thanks.