So, this folder has a mix of things. What they have in common is that they are kinds of writing I didn't expect to produce, and they don't fit into fanfic, or memoirs, or any other group of writings I have.

There is a ghost story. I did it because I was emailing someone about how ghost stories Should be done and revolted my own self so, at how bossy I sounded, that I said to myself - "All right, then, Ness, do one yourself." It has got excellent feedback, and people have liked it, but it feels like a writing exercise to me when I reread it. I have to say, dead people are more of a fun genre to write than I would have supposed.

The most recent thing is a try at fantasy, a standard faux euro medieval story in chapters. Did it to play with olde fashioned Englysshe. The edit is going to have to do over the vocabulary and make it less ponderous. Also, make it more active and less talky. It's unfinished.

All were done more for myself than anyone else, to teach myself. They taught me something - if only "how difficult this genre is to do well" - None reflect the ideas that spawned them. The original thought warped in the telling. So, not very good specimens, done to learn, or attempt, something new. Perhaps these kinds of efforts, the ones that stretch abilities, teach most.

That is my alibi. They're not good, but they have helped me. They are definitely the first against the wall when I clear out this portfolio.