Short Story Challenge

Now Playing: THIS IS WAR by Thirty Seconds to Mars

Just Read: THE LOST WORLD by Arthur Conan Doyle--Great fun! I think I liked this tale of lost lands even more than JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, and Doyle's a fantastic writer all around.

Now Reading: THE WISEMAN'S FEAR  by Patrick Fothfuss

I have a confession to make, dear friends. I'm behind on my write1sub1 challenge. 

The deal is, you (meaning me) are supposed to write one story per week for one year. It's week 46, and I looked back through my log and can only account for 41 stories. 

Something must be done about this! I dedicated myself to this challenge, and I will be damned if I hit week 52 with anything less than 52 completed drafts of stories! 

So here's what I thought of. I read a lot of short stories--I subscribe to F&SF magazine, I have a copy of the complete Sherlock Holmes, and I follow lots of writers and magazines online. Short story collections take up a lot of space on my bookshelf. So my own little challenge to myself until the end of 2012 is to jot down an idea for a new short story of my own for every short story I read. 

I already have five ideas, enough to get me caught up. And I won't stop reading because I can't come up with anything good--I expect to end up with a handful of stupid ideas I'll never pursue, but a few are guaranteed to be winners, right?

It's a sprint to the finish like for write1sub1 2012! 

Articulation

Now Playing: LANDSLIDE by Senses Fail
Just Read: THE MANY ASPECTS OF MOBILE HOME LIVING by Martin Clark--A fun read. I was three-fourths of the way through and still didn't know what was going to happen, and didn't find out for sure until the last page. But I knew! I swear I did!
Reading Now: THE LOST WORLD by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Articulation: The action of putting into words an idea or feeling of a specified type. 

Lately I've really been into how good writers can say exactly what they mean, how they use the perfect words in a situation. I'm not talking about analogies, where you're reading about a situation and the writer compares it to something so you, the reader, can more easily relate.

I'm talking more basic. Vocabulary and syntax. I've been reading stories lately by Ken Liu and Margaret Maron and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (big spread there), and all three are very good about articulating their thoughts. It's a gift, I think, but mostly it's hard work--you know those writers have put in a lot of practice to get so articulate.

(By the way, I think British authors might be a little better at this--Doyle, Gaiman, Rowling, they're all great at saying precisely what they mean, and nothing else. Just an observation.)

We've all tried to tell someone something that happened and hit a brick wall: "I can't describe it. You just had to be there!" Well, as writers, you pretty much have to be able to describe it, and your job is to make sure the reader IS there, to transport him away for a moment. What I've noticed, the writers who are really good at it can make the reader anticipate the sentence, so that once I start the phrase I'm expecting, I speed to the end of it and think, "Yes, exactly, I know exactly what you're talking about."

This is my goal.

 I believe articulation is one of the most important skills as a writer. It helps you be clear, concise, and say exactly what you mean in as few words as possible. It translates well into real life, too--all this election hype as made me appreciate politicians' ability to orate. With a little more practice at the keyboard, I'll never be tongue-tied again!

Fairly Good Times

Now Playing: INSIDE THE FIRE by Disturbed

It's that time again: the height of fall. Beautiful weather, changing leaves, pumpkins and corn mazes and front porch swings occupied by zombies or mummies or giant spiders . . . oh, and the North Carolina State Fair!

I went on Friday evening with my girlfriend, and as soon as we had our ticket she made a bee-line for the fried pickles. Man, were they good! Fresh and hot, dipped in a little ranch . . . mmm! We really set the bar high right away with our fair food.

We saw 500-lb pumpkins and gallons of honey and watermelons the size of large lambs, which we also saw, in competition, being led around the ring with enough pomp and circumstance to remind you of the poshest Medieval royal court.

Every few minutes, we heard the roaring of some of loudest engines to ever be built that weren't meant for space travel--souped-up tractor drag racing! Each roar lasted, oh, ten seconds or so, but the plume of black, roiling, oily smoke that rose lingered over the vendors and carnies for several minutes. We got a good view of them from the window of the the hobbies and crafts building, and then again while sipping piping hot apple cider and looking through the glass at curing tobacco.

It was way better than "fairly" good--I just made that the title of this post because I love puns. We left with full bellies and the smell of autumn stuck in our noses and lot of affection for each other.

But you have to admit . . . there's something sinister about the fair, something slightly unsettling about how fast the rides are set up, how the carnies advertise deals and prizes and try to guess you age or weight with uncanny accuracy. There are clowns and freak animals and people made to look deformed for your enjoyment. Is there someone, or something, behind it all? Something wicked coming this way?

There's a story there.

Flip Sides of the Coin

From the Speakers: WASTING AWAY by Tonight Alive
Just Read: HOCUS POCUS by Kurt Vonnegut--Fantastic! Loved the voice, and it was really hilarious the whole time. A few times I cracked up alone in my living room, haha! Shout out to Blaise for the recommendation.
Reading Now: THE MANY ASPECTS OF MOBILE HOME LIVING by Martin Clark

Spent the past two weeks or so poring over a novelette I wrote almost a year ago. I mentioned it in a previous blog post--I had a few friends give me their opinion on it, then set to work editing it, mainly to cut it down. It was 18,600 words when they read it, and I wanted to get it below 17,000 for submission to a contest.

Talk about hard work! I think Michael Crichton said that stories aren't written--they're rewritten. How true!

After a once over, it was pretty straightforward to cut out about 800-1000 words. That left 600 to go before it met the submission requirements. Those 600 words took me SIX HOURS to find early one morning last week!

It's a stronger story for it, though.

But as far as my W1S1 requirements, it didn't count because all I did was edit it. So I had to hurry and put together a flash that I thought I would submit to DSF . . . but then I got a note from them saying the story they were already reviewing had passed the first round of slush piles! So that was a big lift after so much work, feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere. Just going to have to find another venue for this new one, I guess.

And, FINALLY, that novelette is submitted. Keep your fingers crossed for me--I'll need every bit of luck I can get.

Week 11's Story Published!

From the Speakers: ANOTHER SONG ABOUT THE WEEKEND by A Day to Remember

My story from week 11 this year, "Over the Fence," found a home at Fear and Trembling back in March, and came out in print this past weekend. You can read it for free by clicking the title.

I'd love to know what you think of it. Leave me a comment, either here or over at the mag.

Some brief background on the story: if you've read my blog or know me, you know I love baseball and played it all through my childhood. My dad suggested I write more stories about baseball, and this was what manifested. Not sure it's what he had in mind, exactly, but hey, I appreciate his inspiration nonetheless.

Hope you enjoy!

Little Kicks

From the Speakers: WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH by A Loss For Words
Just Read: THE APOCALYPSE WATCH by Robert Ludlum--A bit goofy at points. Still fun action, but I prefer his more serious books.
Just Read: THE HAMMER OF GOD  by Arthur C. Clarke--An interesting take on one possible future. It was kind of all over the place at first, but once I got used to it, it was easy to follow. Pretty cool book.

Editing an 18,600-word story this afternoon after writing a flash piece this morning. It's a day of opposites, I guess.

Trying to cut this monster down to 17,000 words for a specific submission. Might have a bit of a hard time doing it, since the people who read it and gave me feedback wanted more--more description, more tension, etc. Goes against the rule Final Draft = First Draft - 10%. Oh well.

The story's about a wandering warrior on a quest. When I started, that was pretty much all I had. This idea blossomed that I would write a series of novellas and compile them all into a novel, kind of like "THE GUNSLINGER" by Stephen King. (You should read that, and the rest of the series, if you haven't already.) I had put it on the back-burner, but then the other day I was running and had mad ideas for the next few novellas, so here I am getting back down to business.

Every now and then, your subconscious gives you a little kick in the rear end. I appreciate it for that. Helps me get a lot more done.

Bright Future

From the Speakers: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE by Dionne Warwick

My favorite Stephen King book is actually his nonfiction piece "On Writing." It was the first of his I ever read--I might have been fourteen, but I knew I was a writer--and it's been a road map for me throughout my early career.

In it, he describes the phenomenon of receiving rejections as part of a writer's course, and often they come in  progressive, sequential steps: First, a form rejection. A certain amount of time goes by, and you get better, and the rejections change form. They become "good but not great" comments, occasionally suggesting that you try them again in the future. Next, you get "this is good, but not for us" letters. And finally, after poking your head into some smaller magazines (and continuing to get better), you might get some professional acceptances.

Well, looking back on my career and this year so far, I can see the steps. I did a project in high school that involved collecting my rejection letters and writing journal entries on them, and man were those stories bad! Well, not BAD, but they read like a fourteen-year-old wrote them and submitted them to Fantasy and Science Fiction. It makes me laugh now a bit, with pride, perhaps a bit like a father thinking back to his toddler trying to field a ground ball ten, fifteen years ago.

Those were the form rejections. Then I got better and submitted to smaller venues, and got some "good but not great" rejections. This was the norm for years, and maybe the W1S1 challenge has me getting better at short stories faster. I got a few acceptances (14 to be exact) at some small venues, but I kept submitting to the pros, and I can clearly see a step up in the rejections.

I've gotten "this is good but not for us" rejection letters from Leading Edge (about the story from my last blog post, which also receiving a personal note from F&SF), Penumbra Magazine (twice), Allegory, and Flash Fiction Online.

Next step in the sequence is acceptance!

PS--I had to blog about this to put the positive spin on getting two crushing rejections this week. It's been a disappointing two weeks! All part of the journey, right? Years from now, I'll look back like a dad remembering his clumsy toddler, and I'll laugh.