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A QUICK NAVIGATION GUIDE TO THE STORYFEATHER SITE.
Nowadays, there’s a lot to see, read, listen to, or purchase (wink).


WHAT IS STORYFEATHER?
An endeavor that started as a challenge to write one short story every week.

HOME


WHO IS NILA?
The author of all the stories, artist for most stories, and podcast host.

ABOUT

Nila from shoulders up, face in three-quarters profile, dated 7/11/2022. Photograph with Pen and Wash style/filter applied.

🤔 WHAT IS THERE TO SEE AROUND HERE?

BEHOLD…TRAILERS for the most recent SHORT STORIES and PODCAST EPISODES.
Each trailer is 1 minute or less.

JUST WANT TO EXPLORE THE PODCAST?
The Storyfeather podcast is hosted on Libsyn. You can also listen most places where you can find podcasts.

PODCAST

Nila’s mom raves, “So boring. I don’t know who would listen to this.”

EXPLORE STORIES BY GENRE

🚀 SCIENCE FICTION
🧐 MYSTERY
🦄 MYTHOLOGY
😱 HORROR
🧚🏽‍♀️ FAIRY TALE
✨ FANTASY
🐢 FABLE

EXPLORE STORIES BY THEME

🐈 CATS
🖤 LOVE

More themes to come in future!

EXPLORE STORIES BY YEAR

Each Button BELOW Goes to A Hub Page.
The 52 stories for that year are listed with titles, taglines, and the story image.

YEAR ONE: THE CHALLENGE
The Storyfeather endeavor began when I challenged myself to write a short story every week for a year. And to keep myself accountable, I would post those stories online on my own site.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a square with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. To the right of the image, the word "Challenge." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "1."

YEAR TWO: OBJECTS OF POWER
A few stories into the second year of the story-a-week challenge, I noticed I had a theme going, and that having a theme was an intriguing idea.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, an embossed circle with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. To the right of the image, the words "Objects of Power." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "2."

YEAR THREE: THE ELEMENTS
The stories are all about basic elements. The four ancient elements of fire, earth, air, and water. The five physical senses.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a square with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. To the right of the image, the word "Elements." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "3."

YEAR FOUR: CREATURES
Each story features a creature, from mythology, urban legend…the human imagination!

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a square with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. The square has softened edges. To the right of the image, the word "Creatures." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "4."

YEAR FIVE: S.T.E.A.M.
The stories focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, or Mathematics.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a glowing circle with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. To the right of the image, the acronym "S.T.E.A.M." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "5."

YEAR SIX: DEFINITIONS
When you subscribe to receive a word-of-the-day email, you’ll come across some quirky, delightful, magnificent, and story-inspiring words.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, an embossed circle with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. The circle is bordered with dots and dashes and casts a shadow. To the right of the image, the word "Definitions." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "6."

YEAR SEVEN: PROMPTS
Stretching the imagination and developing skill requires the exercising of that skill. This year’s stories were all developed from writing prompts and exercises.

YEAR EIGHT: REVISITATION
So many stories. So many possibilities for revisiting a character, an object, a place, or an idea. Don’t worry. No need to read the previous stories. The revisitations stand alone.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a circle with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. The circle is bordered with dots and dashes and casts a shadow. To the right of the image, the word "Revisit." Below the logo and word are reflections of the log and word. At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "8."

YEAR NINE: THE WHEEL OF FICTION
I put all the previous years’ themes onto a spin wheel, with a few mystery spokes that become revealed as the year goes on. Whatever the wheel lands on is the theme for a given week’s story.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a circle with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. The circle is bordered with dots and dashes and casts a shadow. To the right of the image, the words "Wheel of Fiction." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "9."

YEAR TEN: FUSION
Every month’s stories will be linked by genre (or some other common factor). But random story particles will be introduced into the fiction reactor to disrupt order and see if anything exotic emerges.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a square with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. Lying above the logo are two more logo squares, but they are tilted and angled in different directions, and they're translucent. To the right of the image, the word "Fusion." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "10."

IS THERE STORYFEATHER MERCH?
You know it.

  • Screenshot of main Storyfeather Teepublic store page showing banner and most recently uploaded three designs.
  • Screenshot of "Four Hands and Four Elements" T-shirt page from Storyfeather Teepublic store.
  • Screenshot of "Red Riding Hood and Wolf in Fog" tote bag page from Storyfeather Teepublic store.
  • Screenshot of "Red Riding and Wolf in Snow" design showing multiple available products in Storyfeather Teepublic store.
  • Screenshot of "Wolf Head" T-shirt page section showing other "Wolf Head" products from Storyfeather Teepublic store.
  • Screenshot of "WInter Warrior in Snow" notebook page from Storyfeather Teepublic store.

PRESS BUTTON BELOW TO VISIT THE STORE ⬇

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle with curved corners. Image of the Storyfeather merchandise storefront banner from TeePublic. Over the image, the words: TEEPUBLIC STORE (T-shirts, cases, mugs, stickers, and more…)

By pressing the button, you’ll be leaving the Storyfeather site and going to the Teepublic site.

WANT TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY? FROM ME?
It can be so.

Here’s a preview. It’s the recap from my lecture on what to do if you get Stuck, Blocked, or Bored with the story you’re trying to write.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION

Video description: Preview from Nila’s online course. Text in bold appears onscreen as spoken, then fades. Transcript reads as follows: So to recap, if you’re stuck, or blocked, or bored with your story, use any or all of these potential solutions.
Stop and ask “Why?” Why are you bored? Why are you blocked? And if the final answer is “I don’t know,” remind yourself that you’re a storyteller and come up with a fictional answer. I’m only half joking. Doing that exercise might help kick your imagination back into gear. Maybe it’ll just help because you’ll be working on something fun that doesn’t matter.
Skip around. Who says you need to write the story in sequence? Remember the outline? It’ll help put things in sequence later.
Walk away, if that’s an option. But to keep your break from turning into procrastination, put some kind of condition on the walking away based on how you work best. Also, this probably goes without saying, but don’t walk away if you haven’t tried doing anything yet.
Use a different tool or strategy. Journal to brainstorm a solution to the current problem. Do the “what if?” exercise again. Set a deadline or timeline.
Make a decision. Many times, blocks in life are caused by the struggle to come to a decision. One decision is to write through the block or the boredom. Let it be bad until it gets good. Or write something else to get warmed up. An email. Your shopping list. This proves your ability to write is not blocked. Something else is going. If it’s not your writing ability that’s blocked, what’s going on? Maybe the scene isn’t working. If you made the wrong decision, now you know, and you can make a different decision going forward. You can rewrite the scene or the part that wasn’t working.
Zoom out and then zoom back in. The outline and maybe even the brainstorm can help with this, with showing you the big picture. If you’re still excited by the story, but not by the part of it you’re writing, zooming out may help you see why that part is not working.
Track your progress. Delete sections of the outline as you write and re-save your document. Track a metric like your word count or page count, or time spent writing, so you know how much work you’re really doing.
So if you’re stuck, or blocked, or bored, I hope these tips can help you get unstuck, unblocked, and unbored. Or excited—re-excited—that’s better.

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, a square with the digital drawing of the Storyfeather logo. To the right of the image, the online course title, "Write A Short Story in Five Weeks." Below the title, the subtitle, "A Doable Method for Procrastinators, Self-Doubters, and Bucket-Listers." Bottom right corner bears a stylized inkwell with a feather emerging from it enclosed by a square. All shapes have curved corners.

By pressing the button, you’ll be leaving the Storyfeather site and going to the Teachable site.

THERE’S A BUTTON IN THE SIDEBAR LABELED “RANDOM.”
WHAT HAPPENS IF IT’S PRESSED?
I…uh…you do it!

Clipart sideways scroll symbol with text written within that reads, "Random. Feeling fortuitous? Feeling...adventurous? Click this button & land on a random page!"


WANT TO CHECK OUT A SAMPLE ISSUE FIRST?

sf gazette ARCHIVES

A Note for WordPress users: I lost my follow button when I made changes to my site.  But you can still follow Storyfeather through the Reader. Go to Reader-> Click on Followed sites-> Click All-> Type “storyfeather.com” into the search bar at the top. The follow button should be just underneath.