Welcome to 1,000 Characters!
This is a project about exploration, into writing and into characters. The goal is to create one thousand characters, and learn more about all of them. Most days (at least twenty per month) there should be a new story snippet to keep the words flowing. Do not fret that everything (or at least most things) are short, as that is the intention.
1,000 Characters is a practice for better storytelling, improved fiction. The focus is diving into characters, looking curiously and deeply into their hopes, dreams, desires. Exploring new characters, their stories, the places they live and work, becomes a journey of fun. This process of discovery should, in many cases, lead to longer stories, possibly even a novel. Dare it be said: maybe novels.
Published: Oct 13, 2020
"You try too hard," she said.
"Is that a thing?" Eric asked.
"You're 120% and everyone else is seventy or maybe eighty percent on a good day."
He sat there, eyes on the veins surfacing on his hands, mind on the way things had gone. The rejection he felt.
"Yeah. You can't recover from failure for one. But also that kind of effort scares people."
"I scare people?"
"I'd say so, yes." She downed a shot of tequila and grimaced.
"So try less?"