I wrote a short story last night.

I learned something important from it. Well, a few things, but there's one lesson that's more important than all the others.

I wrote the rough draft in a few hours and then went to bed. (Pretty late, actually, I'm still quite bleary eyed and tired.) And while trying to sleep, I thought about my story, what I thought about it, how I felt about it.

Already, I was able to identify some flaws with it and how to correct them in terms of story and character development/progression. And that's cool -- to be able to see flaws in my own work so quickly and know how to fix these flaws.

But I also realized that i don't like the characters, I'm not interested in them, I don't care about them. Throughout the story, the reader watches the main character spiral down and down and in the end she doesn't redeem herself. Essentially, she become so consumed that she destroys herself. I don't like that. What's the point, other than my story being a cautionary tale? And though that may be of value, I'm not sure it's something I'm proud of. And do I really want to write about things that, in the end, I don't care about? OR rather, though I may occasionally write such things, do I really want to do anything with such stories?

No, I don't think I do. And that's a good thing to know.

So, I may look over the story again today, I may work on it a little more to correct the flaws I see, just for learning experience, but other than that, it may just sit in my trunk and I'll consider it an important lesson and tick off another story goal for the year.

What do you think?