The #AtoZChallenge is Over

The A to Z Challenge is over. This was my sixth year participating and this year I really challenged myself. I did Flash Fiction all month, but I had to do a different literary genre every day. Some days it was quite difficult.

I was really not looking forward to Romance. I did it, but it was not great. For E, people kept recommending Erotica. I refused from the beginning. Wasn't even going to attempt it. That would have been a disaster. But I did have some posts I was very proud of.

One of the rules I kept for myself all month was to not pre-plan any posts. Every post was written that day. I very rarely had any idea what I was going to write when I sat down, so it just had to flow. The hardest part was capturing the mood of the genre for the day. On some, I think I nailed it. On many more, not so much.

Following is a list of every post I did for the month. There is one for each letter. There is a brief description of each one. The ones that I am particularly proud of have an X in the box. (⛝)

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☐  A - Adventure - A brother and sister outing does not go as planned.

⛝  B - Bizarro - I am not a sports guy, but I had fun with this one. And as a genre, this is probably Bizarro Light. There is some crazy bizarro fiction out there.

⛝  C - Children's - I LOVE THIS STORY! It was fun and came out really cute.

☐  D - Dystopian - After I finished, I am not sure I would call this one dystopian.

☐  E - Era-Driven - This one takes place about 100 years ago. It is based upon a short story I wrote a few years ago about my grandmother as a child.

⛝  F - Fairy Tale  - When I knew I was writing a fairy tale, I had the ending immediately. I just needed a story to get me there. This is what I came up with. I'm proud of this one.

⛝  G - Ghost Story - My very first ghost story. And I think it came out quite well. I like this one.

☐  H - Horror  - I am a huge horror fan, but don't really think I pulled it off well. I got the idea from a Shirley Jackson short story, but mine went in a radically different direction.

⛝  I - Imaginary Voyage - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Don Quixote is probably the most famous work of this genre. He was on a stupendous adventure in his head, when in reality he was simply wandering the countryside acting like a lunatic. I decided to tame it a bit. I was quite proud of how it came out.

☐  J - Juxtaposition - I did not know of any genres that began with J. So, I retold the A is for Adventure story, but from the other's character's perspective.

⛝  K - Karen - I did not know of any genres that began with K. There was a crazy Karen story in the news that morning, so I used that as my topic. I liked it.

⛝    L - Legend - This was a short story idea I had a couple of years ago. The idea was jotted down in my notebook and forgotten about until I thumbed through it for story ideas. I love this story, but I am not sure I did it justice.

☐  M - Mystery - A dysfunctional family's reading of the will.

⛝   N - Noir - One of my favorites for the month. I tried to capture the feeling of detective noir mystery thrillers. I think it came out well. And it was so much fun to write.

☐   O - Oral History - More of an explanation of oral history than anything, but told as a story.

☐   P - Paranormal - this was based upon something that actually happened in our home.

☐   Q - Quest - Some quests are more epic than others.

☐   R - Romance - I am NOT a romance writer, but I gave it a shot.

☐   S - Science Fiction - I think I could do science fiction, but was struggling for a story idea this day.

⛝   T - Time Travel - THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE!!! I loved this story. I may need to expand it further. It was the most fun to write.

☐   U - Urban Legend - I took some of the "supposedly true" stories from my childhood and decided to run with it.

☐   V - Vampire - Not typical vampire fair, but there is a vampire in it.

☐   W - Western - I did too much research on this for as short as it is. There may be a story there if I wanted to spend more time on it.

☐   X - Crossover - Not a genre, but it was fun to write. Not great stuff, but I enjoyed it.

☐   Y - Young Adult - Meh. I used the story to explain my thoughts on this.

⛝   Z - Zombies - I did not write this one for A to Z. I wrote this a couple of years ago. It is an excerpt from a book I am writing. I need to pick it up again and get the book finished.