Have you ever noticed that there's a distinct shift between styles when fanfic writers put out dramatic litlte one-shots? The rhythm of their work changes, the tone alters, and suddenly the story begins to border on flash fiction, or poetic fiction. The sentences become almost lyrical, the metaphors just a touch more elaborate or stylized, and the writer brings in allusions, symbols, heavier imagery, etc. If you look at an epic and then at a short one-shot from the same author, the change is often noticeable. And those one-shots are often very similar sounding.

It's a trap I'm afraid of falling into. I don't want my shorter fiction to become 'literary' while at the same time I don't want my narratives to become fast reads, never dwelling on anything and always rocketing to the next plot point. There's a happy medium between the two, I'm sure of it, and I think I'm getting closer to it. I look over my work often not just out of narcissism, but to examine it for breaks, chinks, and wrong punctuation. (And dammit, today I found an exclamation point I should not have used. I almost found a time line discrepancy, but fortunately my dialogue was such that it squeaked by.)

I'm working on Oath Breaker II, among other things right now. The story is begining to firm up in my head. It's not 100%, but I'm piecing in the outline now (although outlines have been known to change radically as I write. In Oath Breaker I, I'd originally intended Severus to be a vampire.)

I think I want to write like fairy tales. They always tell you exactly what you need to know, they drag in all these different symbols and deeper meanings, and for all their magic and otherwordliness, the characters react like human beings. Never more detail or plot than needed, never more storytelling flourishes than what the audience needs. Children can enjoy them and adults can enjoy them.

I forget who said it, although my brain wants to say St. Jerome for some reason. But someone once told me that "the Bible is deep enough for a scholar to dive in and never touch the bottom, but shallow enough for a baby to splash safely." I think I'm aiming for that kind of depth, shallow and deep at once. I guess it's like a puddle reflecting the sky.