Events happening today
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10 September 2025
This event began 09/10/2025 and repeats every year forever
What’s Your Writing Length Superpower? (Take the Quiz)
https://aliciamccalla.substack.com/p/whats-your-writing-length-superpower
My comment
I chose to base my answers on what is publicly available for people to read with my work.
1. What word count feels most like home? A. 2K–7K (short, sharp, done) I said A though it is A to C for me, in terms of overall , most of my public work is A so A 2. How do you see stories in your head? A. One burst, one scene, one punch of meaning I first thought to say C cause I tend to see most of my work holistically, from novel length to flash fiction, but based on available work , I chose A but I have completed work where I saw from A to E in all earnest 3. What gives you the biggest dopamine hit? A. Finishing lots of small, complete stories I am not a fan of manufactured cliffhangers so no B, i know a number of writers do that intentionally. I do like C but I will say A as I have multiple collections of short stories. E type is the one I have never made. I can't stand telenovelas or soap operas, the unendings, or the very popular unending black urban fictions. aka Power. 4. Which format excites you most? This one I couldn't answer. I enjoy them all. In various contest or challenges I have participated into I enjoyed making each type. and I have been fortunate to enjoy reading each type: flash fictions/serial comics/ mass market adventures/stand alone novels/ multi book epics. The one style I don't care for is, biography. I don't like biographies as a genre. Nor do I want to write a biography or have a biography written about me. 5. How do you treat cliffhangers? Another challenge, I think it depends on the story. If I have a horror story or someone commissions a tale. It's great. But cliffhangers aren't needed for all stories. I think romantic tales don't warrant cliffhangers alot of times. It is a case by case or story by story scenario. You don't have that option so I have no answer. 6. How do you feel about novellas (12K–25K)? C. Perfect (that’s my sweet spot) Another hard one. It is case by case again for me. If a story is a flash fiction it is. I look at each tale I write as individual. If it is going to become as long as a war and peace, then it is. If it is going to be as long as a berenstein bears book then it is. Commercially , I will say I can do a novella a week so I will say my answer is C, it will take me longer than seven days to do something longer than a novella. I don't know if it is a sweet spot but commercially, for time, i think it is correct. 7. What’s your relationship with characters? B. Love returning (watching them grow across episodes) This is funny cause I am finishing stories differed by genre/tone/type with various characters. I chose B simply because it matches my thoughts most. But, i have written comedic or horror or romance and they didn't have the same characters or character development. 8. What’s your natural writing rhythm? C. Compact: finish a book in weeks or a month C is usual but I remember two years for a story, a screenplay. Here was the challenge, how to get Dupin to solve the case of the Cask of Amontillado? And i wrote it twice in that time but... anyway:) 9. What format do you prefer to read? Hard one for me, I am still waiting for the winds of winter, and trying to still keep the memory of all the prior books in my head. I loved a series in heavy metal magazine called.. I can't remember, but it was a spoof of dungeons and dragons, and it was so funny:) they attacked everything while having a cohesive honest story. it was black and white. I will always love the People can fly from Virignia Hamilton. I love the original Blood Syndicate from Milestone comics. I read the Odyssey of Homer as a kid and enjoyed it. It is not structured as well as a thousand and one knights. I read a knight of the seven kingdoms from martin and arguably was my most enjoyable in his world, but it also had illustrations which are so cool:) I also illustrate. So A to E... E is rare to see sold in modernity. I can read certain genres in various forms. I wouldn't like overly melodramatic works whether a short story or epic. 10. What makes you break out in hives? To be blunt, I haven't felt that way as a writer ... yet. I imagine if i had a commission to do a melodramatic telenovela or biographical work, even biographical fiction, i would have challenges, hives:) Three A's Two C's and one B and four None of the aboves.
I am called The Sprinter:) haha And so I concur, cause most of my public work are poetries/short stories. But it is about where a story takes me. If I see something valuable I will venture into it, but I try not to push drama into characters lives, that is a bad habit of some writers. One of my favorite anime is Black Clover and the writer for Black Clover said publicly, he wanted every character to have value. And when you see the cartoon you recognize that, but it isn't pushed.
The old prince saving the princess character doesn't have to have a father who has never believed he will amount to anything and a mother who is secretly a dragon and an opposing kingdom wants to kill him led by the chamberlain of his kingdom. Pushing drama is ok if you want to do it, but I don't do that. I like the idea of a prince who is raised in a loving home by his parents the king and queen who love each other and gotten old together safely with a decent army protecting their realm and good traffic/trade being aided by the chamberlain who likes to serve in his role and is ready for retirement. No drama. The prince just simply heard a woman was in a toward covered by a toxic slug demon so he ventured to save her. HE didn't even know she was a princess cause her kingdom was put under a parallel spell by a tree after woodcutters didn't heed the royal decree to leave a certain forest alone. So, now the drama. princess has to remain a certain age so she will be of a different time period. the spell that changed the kingdom did what? ok, I thought of the smurfs. clearly the tree has to be surrounded by a forest or it will keep hurting people which is silly. this isn't a comedy. so there. Drama occurs, but it shouldn't be forced.
COMMENT REFERRAL
https://substack.com/profile/56304731-richard-murray/note/c-154420014
What’s Your Writing Length Superpower? (Take the Quiz) by Alicia McCalla
Find Out Your Strengths
Read on Substack
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