If you noticed this week I have posted a new short story to my site titled Animal Control. I was pretty excited to write this type of story and I thought I did a good job of capturing a colorful surrealist energy, but I’ll go into greater detail about that below. If you are interested in reading it for yourself, you can access it from the link below. Just as a reminder if you sign up for my infrequent newsletter you’ll get access to all of my short fiction early, and even have the chance to help me decide what kinds of creative projects I should try moving forward.
What was I attempting to do with this story?
Animal Control began with the want to write something that was a classic adventure story at heart, but twist the world building aspect in such a way that would set it apart from a traditional swashbuckling adventure. I endeavored to throw a main character out of their normal humdrum life into one of vibrant weirdness and unexpected elements. I adhered pretty hard to Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model on purpose in order to give the whole thing the feeling of a more traditional adventure.
Did I have any particular inspirations?
I had a lot of fun dreaming up the various creatures that inhabit the story’s world. I don’t know if there is really one thing that I took inspiration from, but a thousand things that strike similar chords out there. It’s always so hard to think up a creative doorway that connects the “real world” from the bizarre foreign one that your main character plunges into. I eventually ended up on a hallow Earth model of a fantastical world with the thought that if such a place existed how hard it would be to try and segregate the natural world into its respective layers.
In the end, as always, is my work flawed? Yes. Was it fun to write and share with all of you? Also yes. If you have any creative comments for me feel free to post them below, or if you have any creative works along similar lines feel free to share the link.
Thanks.