Thirteen Steps

[valyssia]

I suppose I should be a little self-conscious about posting things that are many years old.

And I am. Let’s face it. The original build of The Outsider isn’t exactly a well polished piece. It’s kind of the opposite. It was the very first story I ever wrote. I remember being nervous about writing dialog. That seems so silly to me now.

This hasn’t been available to the public in years. As part of the impetus of this page is explaining how I do what I do, it seems reasonable to me that I remedy that by giving you a look at the series I cut my teeth on.

Those of you who are interested in Another Thirteen Steps don’t look to this series for spoilers. You’ll see many similarities between the first two stories, but from there each plot takes a vastly different turn.

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Table of Contents

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	The Outsider
	The Noose
	Gravity      Part 1      Part 2      Part 3
	Blue      Part 1      Part 2      Part 3
	Weak and Powerless      Part 1      Part 2      Part 3
	Pet      Part 1      Part 2      Part 3
	Lullaby
	The Package      I. Transference      II. Home      III. The Song of Cullen McCoy      IV. Peripheral on the Package      V. The Mystery
	For Marie
	Crimes        Part 1        Part 2
	A Stranger        Part 1        Part 2
	Vanishing        I. Just Like You Imagined        II. Were Horses

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Awards

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Comments

Thanks

[(Anonymous)]

Just wanted to say a thanks for posting this. Perhaps it's just me, but seeing the stark contrast between your current work and this work provides a greater level of inspiration to me. It was a way of seeing that the improvements in your writing didn't occur overnight, but through dedication by you and your peers.

It was like a journey through your works, reading as each work improved on the previous; progressing from the surface to the depth of the characters.

I'm not sure where the change occurred, but somewhere along the line I noticed a switch from the third person to the first person writing style. If it's not too personal, may I ask what brought about this change?

Furthermore, are there any inspirations that influenced your writing style?

Re: Thanks

[valyssia]

No worries. There's nothing personal about that question.

My first piece of first person prose was called 'Thin Partitions.' It's part of the Shards of Reflection series. Since it was written I've given it another edit pass, so it isn't exactly the same as it was, though the changes weren't that aggressive.

The shift to first person was a natural progression in response to the works of Mad-Hamlet and another friend of mine. My friend at the time, Em, suggested that I switch points of view in order to get a better feel for limited view. It really changed how I approached writing. It upped the intimacy for me.

My current works aren't limited to first person. Vanishing (the Revised Edition) is third person and that is most definitely recent, as is Bloodletting (the Final Cut), which I've worked on in the past couple of years. I've also toyed a bit with second person, which is a bit more fiddly. I tend to think now of everything I write in terms of first person, switching out the pronouns on the fly.

Pretty much everything I read (listen to) influences my writing. See my Listening List for examples. There are snippets strung throughout my current narratives that sample concepts and take stylistic pointers from various popular authors.

I'm pleased that you've benefited from this. Thank you for chiming in. Your comments made me smile.