Short Stories Lose Out to News Articles Every Time
Finding the right mix to right for on Triond is a constant battle. I explain my point of view.
Short stories lose out to news articles every time.
I have always written since when I can remember, starting out by writing for my school magazine back in the 1970’s. I normally had one or two short stories and reviews on cars in the magazine. I guess nothing has changed for my writing in 35 years!
I have a modestly large collection of short stories waiting to be published that I have been writing since the early 1990’s. Anyone of you who have approached publishers you will know how difficult it is to even get a reply from a non interested publisher. This had lead me to a gap year in my writing?
I now write exclusively on Triond. I don’t do this for the money (we all know that!) I love the diverse people I have met from different countries around the world. I intend to keep in contact with these people for life if they will have me.
My point is I have tried all types of work for Triond, I have written flash fiction, book and film reviews, personal epitaphs, I have written outwardly sexual flash fiction. I have a separate WWII Aircraft blog. However there is a mystery I need some help with?
I am proud of my flash fiction stories and I know some of you guys out there in cyber-land like them too, and thank you for your comments. My last short story was,
http://authspot.com/short-stories/time-is-the-predator-that-stalks-us-all/
Now this story I felt was good maybe not great but I enjoyed writing it. It is a classic 1,000 words short story with a sad if mysterious ending. I networked the story on five online sites as well as Triond. To date I have had 7 hits! Nothing, rubbish really poor viewing figures.
I am aware that its very early days and the story will remain published and could go into orbit at a later date. However I find if an article or story of mine is going to be successful I can tell by the hits in the first 24hrs.
What I do find strange is news stories are always more successful than fiction? Take,
http://socyberty.com/issues/the-demon-aircraft-is-signalling-the-end-for-pilots/
I managed to get this news story published the same day as the news broke world wide. In the first 24hrs I had 500 hits and it is now knocking on a 1,000 hits! The article took around 25 minutes to write. Last week if you were to Google “Demon Aircraft or Pilot-less Aircraft my article was No2 on the first page of the Google search! The hits keep on coming.
So here in lies the dilemma? Do I sit on a news channel on line such as BBC News 24 or Sky and rattle out a news article and hope Triond is on the ball that day and publish the article the same day? Does this way of writing improve my writing skills? No probably not because a news story is mainly facts. There is no need for a plot or characterisation or clever dialogue.
So I could write a short story and be proud of my work and prey it gets some hits or turn out mindless news stories? At the moment I guess the ratio of my short stories vs. news articles is 4 to 1. Although I am not writing for Triond to earn a fortune it does make things seem worth while if I get lots of hits on a writing piece, to get 7 hits on a short story is frankly insulting!
So I have tried to be diverse and mix my work up in a huge china mixing colander and split my work like this, A news article Monday, perhaps a SCI-FI short Tuesday, then on Wednesday an Aircraft article for my blog page WW2 Historic Aircraft. A spoof historical or SC-FI short Thursday etc etc.
I take note of the hits on each type of work, and its news that constantly wins out. I would love your views and what works for you?
Lord Banks
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Tags: bbc news 24, characterisation, cyber-world, Flash fiction, hits, news articles, plot, short stories, sky, triond, Writing
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November 5th, 2010 at 4:53 am
yeah, we spoke about this…it is sad that news articles and..well any sort of article gets more views than stories and such because it takes absolutely no skill what so ever to write articles…some you can even just find the info off the net and re word it…writing poetry and stories takes talent…simple…. but i guess people havent got a lot of time to sit and read stories…but news, they google it obv to read it because it is important to whatever they are looking for….i would do a few of everything if you enjoy it….i stopped writing articles because although they get more views, it doesn’t mean anything to me- it means more if a few people read a poem of mine and comment…but when i write articles, i write them on things i care about and want people to acknowledge in a way… i dont see the point in writing out a load of crap about the news and all that unless you want the money….. i think you should do what i said….get your short stories published in a book on amazon and then a publisher might come along….someone i know did that and now theyve been picked up
November 5th, 2010 at 4:53 am
yeah, we spoke about this…it is sad that news articles and..well any sort of article gets more views than stories and such because it takes absolutely no skill what so ever to write articles…some you can even just find the info off the net and re word it…writing poetry and stories takes talent…simple…. but i guess people havent got a lot of time to sit and read stories…but news, they google it obv to read it because it is important to whatever they are looking for….i would do a few of everything if you enjoy it….i stopped writing articles because although they get more views, it doesn\’t mean anything to me- it means more if a few people read a poem of mine and comment…but when i write articles, i write them on things i care about and want people to acknowledge in a way… i dont see the point in writing out a load of crap about the news and all that unless you want the money….. i think you should do what i said….get your short stories published in a book on amazon and then a publisher might come along….someone i know did that and now theyve been picked up
November 5th, 2010 at 4:54 am
sadly articles are more popular than fiction as you say. I am currently writing a crime novel but people have shown more interest in my non fiction.
November 5th, 2010 at 5:08 am
I tend to mix it up a bit depends where I aam and noticed differing hits. As long as you enjoy your writing the readers will follow as I was advised by a friend no longer here but her thoughts run true.
November 5th, 2010 at 5:40 am
I think you are being overly harsh with regard to factual articles. Yes, anyone can knock out some of the crud on Triond but it does take some skill to do a decent well-structured article that draws the reader in with an interesting opening and puts a different or personal slant on things.
I’d say I have split about 50/50 between fiction and non-fiction on here and I enjoy writing both.
The problem with low hits on fiction is that people tend not to be searching for it with search engines like Google. So the number of hits coming in from outside Triond will be very low even if you do some careful promotion on Facebook and the likes.
November 5th, 2010 at 7:36 am
Articles always get more hits than fiction. People search for articles on certain topics. They don’t search for fiction.
November 5th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Interesting post, i like it
November 5th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
An interesting quandary, I did not realise that fiction was harder to get hits with. I can certainly see that it takes a great deal more creativity. However a good piece of non fiction also requires skill to construct as well as the required research . Thoughtful piece LB
November 5th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
You just found what works best for you. Keep working at it.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
great share
November 6th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Again, I am in agreement with you. My first love is fiction but it’s just doesn’t make any money. Nonfiction does the best and articles on animals really do well. I write nonfiction for money and fiction just for me.