How My Confidence in Fiction Writing Has Increased

It's been three months since it happened and I still can't believe it. For years, I've been insecure as far as actually writing fiction in any forum. The imagination's there--big time. The will's there. My biggest fear was the reaction. Would people actually like this? Would they care? Would they see this as just fluff not worth reading? Vocal has helped me a bit, but I still had my doubts regarding reactions.

Two years and forty fiction stories on Vocal later, with one of them becoming a Top Story, my confidence has increased!

My habits have helped me in this regard, and they are as follows:

A Lifetime Fan's Imagination

As those who know me on here know, nearly all of my fiction pieces are wannabe Lifetime films. I've been a Lifetime movie fan for over 25 years, and I remember when the films were basically old movies taken from larger networks, while the original films centered on female protagonists who were in abusive relationships. Of course now, the women are doing the attacking in these movies...big time! I really loved writing 17 Going on 18...and in Danger back in June of last year, and I remember that time because it was Cup Final time and the Colorado Avalanche were on their way to winning the Stanley Cup. I wrote Part 1 during the tail end of the Final, while Part 2 came right after the Cup was awarded.

Speaking of hockey:

Familiar Names

The hockey fan in me can't help but do this. I've adopted a small habit of naming characters after players from select hockey teams, and of course, the first time I did this, it was the Colorado Avalanche. It helps me a bit, because even thinking up full proper names for characters can be a chore. Plus, I'm a bit of a completist, and I'm not too crazy about mononyms regarding key characters. In the story above, Darkness at a College Campus, I named characters after players from the Toronto Maple Leafs. In Deadly Train Encounter, it was the Boston Bruins' "Perfection Line," for the most part, and in Seduction in Paradise, it was the Edmonton Oilers' dynamic duo.

This also includes...

My Top Story

I wrote this piece in May, mainly as an entry in Vocal's Unexpected Uncovering challenge. Fiction story challenges really push me to get the wheels turning, plus that one opened the door for me to create my usual thrillers. I was really happy with what I wrote, and a few days later, I went on Vocal and saw my story, Skeletons in the Closet, as a Top Story. I had to do a double take, and there it was. I nearly cried when I saw that my fiction piece was a Top Story. As I said before, I had insecurities as a fiction writer, but that badge took all of them away. When my piece got Top Story, I saw it as many people telling me, "You are good at this."

Oh, and regarding my team of choice in this story, it was the Carolina Hurricanes, and that's because it was deep in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Canes reached the Conference Finals. All of the characters are named after select players from that Hurricanes team. Also, that story also features another habit I've adopted recently: paragraph-long epilogues.

In closing, I have written my share of fics since then, and I have a lot more percolating. I've written 40 fiction pieces, and all by two of them are thrillers. Vocal has really boosted my confidence and my drive to really let my creative juices flow, and I am enjoying thinking of what my next fiction piece could be, as well as writing it out and letting my imagination run wild!