Well, with Merm-8’s 3rd revision done, and no touchies until December, I’m now back on the short story kick. Which is nice for a change. I do have that trunk novel I’m working on, but short stories will give me more resume-building material in the short run. I finished revising Defender based on the critique I got from “On the Premises” and sent it out to a fledgling market that deals with e-books. Sounds like I have what they’re looking for, but their pay rates are based on percentages of gross. Should be interesting to see if that pans out. My new short story is another zombie story (this makes…
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Whining About Originality
Not a good day for my writing mojo. Because I listened to this podcast today — The Mermaids Singing Each to Each by Cat Rambo (text version). Now I have no idea how this happened. It is surely coincidence, but a bizarre coincidence. But this story has all the elements that Mermaid Story is going to have–ocean setting, ship with talking AI, mermaids, post-apocalyptic future, body modifications, even “new” money. These aren’t just little bits either–they’re the macguffins that the novel hinges on, the same as this one. True, it’s not the same story. But it has all the setting elements that I use that differentiated it from other books.…
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Feeling Good About the Schedule These Days
I’m feeling pretty good about my schedule these days. I’ve finished the short stories I planned to write during Mermaid Story’s incubation period. The only thing I’m going to do before I start Draft 1.5 is to revise my Robot Takeover story, which may or may not take a long time. But I feel really nervous re-approaching Mermaid Story. I feel like it’s suffering from the same thing all my other stories had–a bunch of distorted scenes, placed in the wrong order with no rhythm. It’s going to take a lot of work to morph this jagged work into a flowing story. I’m very afraid of what people are going…
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“Influx Capacitor” Now Readable at Flash Me Magazine
Tis Awesome. You can now read my flash fiction “Influx Capacitor” at the current issue of Flash Me magazine. MARVEL at the temperment of an eleven-year-old boy watching talk shows! WONDER as his self FROM THE FUTURE flashes into his life! VOMIT PROFUSELY from the shock of watching their exchange! GET A SLIGHT HEADACHE AND LOSS OF APPETITE from the thrilling conclusion of this 500 word story.
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The 2010 Hugos and Where You Can Find Them
So every year the Hugos and Nebulas come out and I try and read them all. Of course, it’s hard to read the novels, but they do have excerpts. So at least you can get an idea for what the book is about when they talk about it in the blogs. This year, I thought I’d let you all in on what I find too. Share the wealth, that’s what I say. So here are all the links I found to this year’s Hugo nominations online. Some are full and some are excerpts. I usually didn’t include Amazon if I didn’t have to, but that’s another resource you can use.…
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Hines’s Data
I’m linking to this article because one of the difficulties I faced when I was starting my AuthorQuest was developing the best strategy to get into the industry. To “break out” as the term goes. I know there was no hard and fast way that works for everyone, but I didn’t have anything to base my strategy on. I was working with some outdated sources–Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, etc. People who have started in 197X, and forgot how to struggle to get published. Not to mention the cultural changes that occur. You might as well bring out your old Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles toys to show your two-year-old how…
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Finishing Shorts, Moving Closer to Mermaids
I’m getting close to getting through all the critiques of the short stories that have been waiting. I’m now revising Zombie Prison Story. Time Travel Flash should not take long (it’s only 500 words). And Devil Image Story goes through the wringer next month–that’s the last. Now I’ve got one more short story that’s in its first draft form (and is flopping like a dead fish), and some ideas for new short stories. So the question is: do I write these short stories, these potential credit-getters, or do I start working on Mermaid Story, a long-term investment that likely won’t pan out without the short story credits? Answer: I work…
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Why I Don’t Care For Short Stories
Let’s talk about Stephen King short stories. Sherwood Smith linked to an interesting video about where Stephen King attempts to explain why the world has “fallen out of love with the short story”. First, I’m not entirely sure the world has been in love with the short story for a long time, except for maybe the 1950s with the rise of science fiction. It seems to me that novels have dominated since they first came on the scene. But I’m not a historian, and I’m not here to talk about the past. One of the big problems with King’s argument is that he says humans are feeding at the trough…
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Avatar’s Contract
Dunesteef has now sent me a contract for Avatar. Instead of something to print and sign and all that, they are sending me an email with some contract verbiage, and I’m to respond in the affirmative. This raised some red flags to me, but it’s not a large market, so it’s doubtful they’d try to rook me. I don’t want to get into a Todd MacFarlane lawsuit. But it’s for audio rights only, so I’m not going to worry too much about it. But let the record show that if history proves me wrong, this was the moment I was an idiot. However, they also brought up a point that…
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Alien Boxing in the can
Another shit short story in the can. This one’s about alien boxing, and once again, it sounded a lot better in my head than it did on the paper. I think the devil’s in the details. A lot has to happen before you get to the climax and none of it seems terribly “movement”y. I mean, it’s a boxing match. I’m fudging a lot of details I don’t know, and glossing over the bits I do know for speed’s sake. I wish I knew the formula to these things. The short stories I see are so damn diverse that they feel more like scenes from a novel, or micrscopic glimpses…
