I can't write short stories

I've written about this many times and here's it again: I have a very hard time coming up with a complete story, that people find satisfying, in less than a few thousand words. It's not even about writing a good story -- I've long given up on the aspiration of writing something good -- I can't come up with anything at all.

How do you get your readers to care for the characters they don't know anything about? Do you spend your time building characters, building the setup, or like, in moving the plot along? And even if you have any proper structure, does the reader even care about the lion and the mouse or whatever, or is it just something they read because their child wants them to? What do children want?

It's not the complexity I'm afraid of. Complexity is easy. You slather in more words and characters and refuse to edit out, and you've got a pile of crap. It's the simplicity that's so frikkin' hard. Perhaps I read one too many O' Henry and Chekhov (that I did) but a story that doesn't have something 'deeper' doesn't feel right to me, so I cannot make myself write simple stories. Any attempt to right a 'layered' short story is of course a total failure any way.

Perhaps I should pause my current attempt to complete the novel to take a step back into writing coherent stories.

Resources:

One of my favorite writing tips comes from Kurt Vonnegut: “start as close to the end as you can.” That is even more important in short stories than in novels.
  From here

Kapardin

Hey Man, what did those dudes want from you, the roommate from New Hampshire said, as he buttered his toast. They got pretty rowdy last night I'm-tellin-ya.

Oh, nothing, nothing really, they apparently knew some people from back home and were in a bit of a bind so came to me cos' they didn't know anyone else, haha you gotta help out t

he townies from back home,  He replied pushing a strand of his matted hair into its braid.

Oh, they're your homies? I kindaa thought they had your style! Hella older though but maybe I'm racist or whatever man but not our age no, the roommate said, as he plugged in the coffee-maker.

Yes, yes, you're right, they're definitely not my age...he paused...or your age, you know our ages in general haha. More than that, they don't like to keep up with the times and place -- I remind them all the time to update themselves and I've even offered help, when I'm pause home, but they are stuck you know, in their traditions, he said, as he took several handfuls of water from a silver jug and splashed his face. Yeah, you could say we have similar style sensibilities, He added as an afterthought.


So they're like, the Amish or something, the roommate said, seated comfortably on the chair as he cut into a thick slice of polish sausage... or what... he added.

You could say that, in a way. It's a bit different, it's more like if the Amish were still in Poland and they came over only for holidays or for some stretch of time, He said, they're not based, based around here, they come whenever they want to and leave when they want. Free souls kinda, haha.

Huh, I thought Sujaaan said the visa situation was tough for you all

He considered. He shut his eyes, and reached for his bare neck as if searching. It looked like he was massaging his neck. For some of uss.. those folks have it figured out, they have family all over so they don't have to worry about that shit, he said, calm as desert air on a cool night.

Soo uhh you helped them out or what the roommate said.

He smiled. It was an emotion He had rarely felt in all his forms throughout the ages and eras. Guilt, or was it Shame? No man, I couldn't, He said, I was too goddamn high from the extra strong rolls that we got last week... I promised them I'd call them as soon as I sobered up and had a clear mind, haha, I should get back to them soon.

Shiiit broo, and you told them you couldn't help out cos you were blazin'? I woulda' gotten pissed, said the roommate, smiling at the turn.

Oh, they know. Hey man, if there's five, maybe seven words you could describe me in, pothead would be right there, and I don't mind. That's how I came about to be, that's my thing. They leave me with it when I want to... it's just that.. haha this is so goddamn embarrassing because I've been smoking all-day all-night for...almost ever... and never ever had gotten as high as I did last night. He paused, beamed at nothingness, looked at the ceiling, and continued. Like, I always thought I had infinite tolerance and expected like only a mild buzz. That's some fucked-up shit broo. Hahaha, I'm always pleasantly surprised by how I can always be surprised by new things, he said, his face bright as a thousand moons. He sighed a warm, content sigh.

Yeaaahh duude, wow you _reallyy_ enjoyed it huuh. Yeaa that's a bit much for me, I thought you were gonna OD on me or whatever last night. Dude you toked up what I'd do in like too weeks man and you know I'm a serious stoner. I'm very impressed. For real. He had stopped by the restroom to comb his hair, and was now tying his boot laces. So your friends, they uhh they're gonna figure their shit out themselves or what,  he asked, as he got ready to leave.


Things can wait, but not longer than they must. They'll stop until I'm there to fix the matter, He said in a rather serious tone, Time must not be rushed, for Time and Death are one, and rushing time is rushing death. He lightened up as suddenly as he got serious. Or in less trippy words, they'll figure shit out until I feel like helping them out, and that's probably gonna be soon, we'll see! He said with an air of levity.

Aiite, all the best with whatever you're fixin' for them man, I'll catch up with you on Monday, I'm heading out the my girl's place now, said the roommate, before walking downstairs.

Lies, damn lies!

A healthy dose of lies and self-delusion to protect one from self never hurt anybody. Just sayin'

Have a heart

Having lived in Brookline for a month makes me want to have a heart. Sigh.

Eff that Google

So Google's given up on the blogger for Android app by not updating it for the latest versions of its OS. Fuck that. What. Are you. People. Thinkinggg.

Just overheard things

Overheard:
No way, I'm never going to have sex with a ghost, ever. Like, I'm fairly certain I won't have sex with a ghost if I can avoid it.

In other news, yogurtmaking is going really well, an upswelling of extra energy caused me to do a lot of intense projects last month that I'm going to go back to in a couple of weeks. And I'll have an awesome house all to myself for almost two weeks and it rocks, it rocks my ass off!

Closure

I'm not one for closures, really, and this was not a closure in anyway -- for nothing is closing yet -- but revelations were made, and explanations were had. It's not that this will necessarily lead things to a significantly different directions, but it will likely save some time and money in certain ways. Or maybe not. Who knows. I'm going to have a LOT of good quality juicy saucy content when I write my autobio though.