Hello! 😊

I have decided to properly start another series on here, because as you might have noticed, I have been playing around with this project for a while. This one is called: "North and South: Short and Sweet Stories," and you may have read some of these from my anthology before, and I will add them into this combined collection when I get the chance.

At the moment, I have roughly 40 ideas for this series, so, over time, I hope to add to this and see where this endeavour takes me. And on that note, I have some plans for the near future, so for anybody interested, stay tuned.

Please see below some points about how and why I have decided to do this, and as always, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

What is North and South: Short and Sweet Stories?

This series is exactly like it sounds, all about writing fanfics with brief stories and happy endings. The rule is that I cannot exceed 6,000 words, (so they will all be one-shots), and stories are given a maximum of 5 hours to be written, edited and posted. Although, please note that many stories might well be significantly shorter than the max, because as you've maybe seen, I have written ones that are around 2,500-3,000 words, and I do appreciate that 6,000 is still pretty long.

The stories might cover any given period in John and Margaret's relationship, allowing them to fall into my other series: The Thornton Tales, Before We Were Us, A Marriage of Inconvenience, and Parodies and Other Such Poppycock.

Obviously, given the time limit, one of the issues may be that mistakes pop up that I do not have the chance to notice, but as always, dyslexia or no dyslexia, I will do my best.

While the two outlines above are more guidelines than rules, they will be a rough framework which will allow me to write simple stories and hopefully achieve the desired upshots mentioned below.

Will there be any angst and smut?

There may be a bit of both. There will definitely be some mild angst, but given that the stories need to be brief, then there naturally won't be a lot of time for lengthy angst stories to play out. As for smut, I don't know, but if I do include any smut, the rating of the whole series will be changed and specific chapters will be highlighted clearly to let the reader know in case they choose not to read that sort of content.

Why do I want to do this series for readers?

I want to write this series for two reasons, one for you, and one for me, and that is why I have set myself the two stipulations above: word length and time.

As for why I want to do this for readers, again, I have two goals.

One, while I like my method of writing, I am aware that it is long, heavy and intense. As a result, while lots of people value my quirky ways, they can find it arduous reading, and therefore, I want to give people a different style to work with, which is something concise, simple and doesn't require a great deal of mental effort on the part of the reader, because let's face it, sometimes we want reading to be relaxing, not hard work. That is, readers are clever and capable of deciphering complex literature, naturally, but that is not always what we need. Sometimes we are in a place where, mentally, we just want to switch off and enjoy something easy-peasy to absorb.

Again, I currently have 40 ideas for this series, and I am hoping to be able to continue writing them over time. The plan is that these can be speedy reads that people can have when they want something quick and fluffy to fill up a half hour. Maybe you're travelling on a train, waiting for a dentist to call you in, or enjoying a well-earned soak in the bath before the kids get home from school, and the purpose of these stories is to give you something that is easy to dip into, connect with, and have finished before you know it.

A short and sweet pastime, let's call it.

Why do I want to write this series?

For anybody who knows me and my writing style, you'll know that I am quite a detailed writer. Now, I know that is not everybody's cup of tea, but that's who I am, and I like it, as I get to engage more thoroughly with characters and themes, hopefully giving the story some soul. But that is just my perspective, and it might not be yours.

However, the downside to writing like that, is that it is time consuming. It takes time to write long stories and chapters, and it takes time to edit them, and while I feel rewarded at the end to know that I put everything into a story, it does take a lot out of me. But this way, with brief and cheerful stories, I can write something that doesn't take up much time, or much effort, and even although part of me will always be begging myself to add to it and flesh it out, worrying that I am being lazy, I will ultimately feel liberated by forcing myself to write something overtly simplified.

Also, while I think all styles of writing are equally valid and valuable, I realise that writing succinctly is an art form, and it is a knack I do not have, so if I want to become proficient, as Lady C would say, I need to work at it, and this will be good practice.

Does all that make sense?

All in all, it is a way for us to connect with one of our favourite classics and one of our favourite couples of all time, experiencing their love, without demanding too much from ourselves. And ultimately, I envisage this series as hopefully offering something to both myself and readers, and what is that? Well, as the title says, something that is short and sweet, two things that we crave in our busy lives.

Getting in touch:

You can find me at Twitter at: TheScribblerCMB

You can find my creative writing/journalism page on Facebook at: TheScribblerCMBWriter

Or you can find me again on Facebook and join our Facebook community for quotes, memes, facts, and games relating to classical literature, at: TheScribbler_CMB