I just published a new story on Ficlets, and I noticed something interesting.

So far, I've put seven stories up on that site. Well, six, really. A Brief Encounter is really just an experiment to see what could be done with the minimum number of characters. Of the six, two are somewhat humorous ("What Does It Mean" and Of Dragons And Kings). But the other four are kind of depressing, really.

• The Observer - While I consider it my best story on there, The Observer deals with a girl who has just witnessed her own death, and cuts off as she fades into oblivion, forever gone.
• The Last Hunt - This one deals with two brothers who are werewolf hunters who, in the end, are overwhelmed and end up blowing themselves up. Not exactly a "happy" ending.
• She Said So... - A story about a descent into madness. 'Nuff said.
• A Child's Dream - Well, I guess I shouldn't reveal the ending. Read it and come to your own conclusions

Don't get me wrong. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. But I'm not normally a dark and dour, doom'n'gloom kind of person. At least, not that I know of. I knew that was what I was going for when I wrote The Observer, because I don't believe every story has to have a happy ending. In fact, I've read a few short stories that did have happy endings, and I was left thinking, "Well, that's not how I would have done it."

But, still, 2/3 of my stories? I probablydo know where it's coming from. Even though it's been a couple of weeks since I found out, I'm probably still processing the fact that my mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Writing these stories will probably help get it out of my system.

After all, when I get around to writing my novel, do I really want the bad guys to win?

Well... Maybe...

Updated: Well, that ratio has just gone down a bit. I wrote another story just now called Cloud 9. I think people will agree, it's just a little less depressing than my other stories.