Tag Archives: very short stories

#FD2017 Final Days Of 2017 Day 16: Joy To The World!

Ocarina

Many people put fake, plastic instruments on their Christmas trees. I like real ones. I received this Ocarina in a basket of world instruments as a Christmas gift. It adds gorgeous color to the tree and when the spirit moves, I can grab it and play along with my favorite carol. Or, in all honesty, make horrible noises in a joyful manner.

#vss very short story

Pepito wore his ocarina everywhere he went. His grandmother had told him it would protect him from harm and he would be a great savior to his village. One day, while he was skipping along the mountain trail, the ground shook and a generation of vipers slithered from the rocks toward the village.

Pepito pulled his ocarina from his neck and showed it to the snakes, but they were not deterred. He prayed that its power would flow through him as his grandmother had promised, but he did not feel any power come.

Finally, as the snakes were about to reach him, he brought the ocarina to his mouth and blew a loud and ugly note. The snakes stopped, confused by the sound waves. They licked at the sound in the air. Pepito fluttered his fingers over the holes blowing as hard as he could. The song he played was a terrible noise; the vipers fled and hid.

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

Though some reports say the HHS word ban is a misunderstanding, just the idea of a government agency telling people that they can’t use certain words is an affront to any wordsmith. So, though I think it will be difficult and I will have to update this post with the drafted poem, I am happy to take on the challenge proposed by MoSt Poetry:

Use the words vulnerable, fetus, diversity, entitlement, transgender, science-based, and evidence-based in a poem.

Health And Human Services

All humans are endowed by their Creator
Human health is All inclusive

With the Rights to Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness
The Center for Disease Control is tasked to help with this

Their scientists prevent the spread of disease
Using science-based data they fight the good fight

Against microbes on the hunt for human hosts
All life is vulnerable from fetus ’til lost to death

The evidence-based bias is skewed
Correlation is Not equivalent to causation

Gender identity and biological sex assignments
Do not change those entitlements

Transgender humans are part of our diversity
Diversity is necessary for genetic survival
Survival being that entitlement
Entitlement to Life

Editing Focus

Today and tomorrow, actually for as long as it takes, I’ll be separating out each scene in my draft and attempting to analyze it down to its essence, one sentence that captures the scene. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be creating a spread sheet for a Story Grid. While I do this, I’ll also be following The Ultimate Revision Checklist.

The first thing on the Revision Checklist is to take a good look at your Main Character (Lead Character on the checklist). As I read through my scenes, I’ll ask myself:

  • Is my MC worth following for a whole novel? Why?
  • How can I make my MC “jump off the page” more?
  • Do my characters sufficiently contrast?
  • Will readers bond to my MC?

I’ll also make a physical diagram of my character arc using the Kubler-Ross Change Curve For Story like I talked about on Day 14 Stages Of Change.

#FlashFicHive

graphic by Anjela Curtis
graphic by Anjela Curtis

With all those happy words it could be a challenge to create conflict in my story. Ha Ha. Just Kidding. It’s the holidays. However, let’s see what Oblique Strategies says:

Accretion

And suddenly we have a

Word Of The Day

I love when that happens!

accretion – noun
1. an increase by natural growth or by gradual external addition; growth in size or extent.
2. the result of this process.
3. an added part; addition: The last part of the legend is a later accretion.
4. the growing together of separate parts into a single whole.
5. Law. increase of property by gradual natural additions, as of land by alluvion.
There’s another word for today!

alluvion – noun

1. Law. a gradual increase of land on a shore or a river bank by the action of water, whether from natural or artificial causes.
2. overflow; flood.
Now I see many possibilities for conflict.

Don’t Forget To Read!

I thought for today’s theme it would be fun to look up books on instruments around the world.
The World Atlas of Musical Instruments by Bozhidar Abrashev and Vladimir Gadjev
Musical Instruments: From Flutes Carved of Bone, to Lutes, to Modern Electric Guitars from Scholastic
And I need this one! Play The World: The 101 Instrument Primer from Mel Bay.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Pink Flamingos: Final Days Of 2017 Day 17

I received these at a white elephant gift exchange. I think every tree needs some thoughtful pink flamingos.

#vss very short story

The reindeer became skittish as they got closer to Florida. A crew of pink flamingos were vying for their jobs and were always trying to show off for Santa. Trying not to kick a flamingo had become a hazard of delivering presents.

Today’s Poetry and Poem

Write about inheritances. The real, the imagined, the wished for, the cursed…

Her Mother’s Pink Flamingos

Her mother’s pink flamingos
Were all she ever wanted
She spent hours playing with them
As a child while she waited
For her mother to get home
Day or night, in the heat or cold
She imagined the flamingos hopping
And flying around the trailer park
She imagined them lifting her up
On a multitude of soft feathers
And landing on candy-floss clouds
Where they watched the sunset
But when her mother kicked her out
She took a bat to those flamingos
They had left her there to rot
Now she had nothing and nowhere to go
She instantly regretted her actions
But she couldn’t bring back
Her mother’s flamingos.

Editing Focus

Chapter 16 of Revision And Self-Editing (Write Great Fiction) by James Scott Bell is The Ultimate Revision Checklist. Starting tomorrow, I plan to begin following the checklist on my draft for Throwing Stones while also creating a Story Grid following the guidelines in The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne.

To prepare for this intense editing practice, today I’m going to follow Mr. Coyne’s suggestion and separate my novel into each scene, print out the scenes and staple each one into a short piece of writing. Then I’ll start a spreadsheet for Throwing Stones with a SCENE column, WORD COUNT column and a STORY EVENT column. Then I’ll be ready to dive in, first thing tomorrow.

#FlashFicHive

Since I didn’t find the prompt for #FlashFicHive yesterday, I thought I would combine it with the prompt for today. And that means, there will be pink flamingos. Oh yes, there will be pink flamingos.

I have two options for my pink flamingos in the fill in the blanks sentence:

  1. The pink flamingos lived in a bright place with cryptids.
  2. The dogs lived in a hairy place with pink flamingos.

I used this as a short mad libs game with a friend and those are the words I got. Let’s try a couple more to fill out the idea:

1. The pink flamingos lived in a dark place with helicopters.
2. The tree lived in a fiery place with pink flamingos.

So this place, with at least of tree, full of pink flamingos, dogs and cryptids could be dark and hairy but becomes bright when set on fire. Luckily the helicopters were already there, so they put out the fires quickly.

Don’t Forget To Read!

I thought I would keep with today’s theme and look for some books on Pink Flamingos.

There is a surprisingly small selection of books to choose from. There are exactly two books in the King County Library System with the words “Pink Flamingos” in the title:
The Pink Flamingo Murders by Elaine Viets and Pink Flamingos by Carlo Mari.

I had a little more luck on Goodreads and Amazon finding such gems as:
Pink Flamingos All Aroundby Michael J. Andersen
What Makes Flamingos Pink?: A Colorful Collection of Q & A’s for the Unquenchably Curious by Bill McClain
BUGS BUNNY AND THE PINK FLAMINGOS (A Little Golden Book, 110-63)by Gina Inogoglia.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Final Days Of 2017 Day 16: Aloha Santa

aloha santa

In the mood for a Hawaiian Christmas? This Santa is. My sweetie and I agree he would know the words to Mele Kalikimaka, so we’re not sure what he’s looking at in this book. If you’d like to listen to the song here’s some Bing Crosby.

#vss very short story

Santa let his elf take the reins while he thumbed through his Hawaiian translations. He was pretty sure the man with the red face, shaking his fist and pointing at his broken chimney, wasn’t saying “Merry Christmas.”.

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

Write a poem about/for/against/including Pantone’s color of the year for 2018: Ultra Violet.

https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2018

UltraViolet

A light beyond the spectrum of sight
A flower with super-powers
A girl who summons all her might
A field full of wild-flowers

Happy Reading and Writing!

Stages Of Change – #FD2017 Final Days Of 2017 Day 14

tigger ornament

#vss very short story

“Now Chris Kringle, what happened to your neck?” asked Mrs. Claus when her husband came in after his package deliveries wearing a thick brace.
Santa moaned and stiffly bent into his chair. “I thought it would be fun to let Tigger lead my sleigh last night.”

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

“A man carrying a rifle approaches . . .”
Write a poem.

Curiosity mixed with trepidation
Approaching friend or foe?
Setting and scene
If distant and serene
Would have pleasantly
Let you know
To get out of harms way
For someone was hunting today
But here that is not rightly so
The cues all around
Make you yell, Get Down!
And panic quickly ensues
Peering into dead eyes
You hope for reprise
Not ready to meet your due.

Editing Focus

The Kubler-Ross Change Curve For Story

KublerRoss_112514-copy-2-1024x791

This section of The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne resonated with me. I wish I had read this earlier and added it to last month’s study of the Hero’s Journey. There is also an article on the Story Grid website called Stories Are About Change that covers this idea of examining The Kubler-Ross Change Curve in relation to your character arc.

As you think about your Main Character going through these stages, do specific scenes come to mind? Is your main character’s psychological turmoil dramatic enough to create  change in your character? Does your main character go through each of these eight stages? Could you add some scenes to show the progression through each stage more clearly?

#FlashFicHive

ff 14

graphic by Anjela Curtis

I certainly would like to finish a recent flash draft! Maybe I’ll tackle my convict with powers story.

Don’t Forget To Read

Don’t forget to read newspaper articles. Not just politics and world news, but the odd stories and obituaries.

Throwing Stones was inspired by a news story. I was looking up facts about South Africa and came across a story about people throwing stones at fire fighters, stopping them from putting out a fire. This fascinated me. I wanted to know why anyone would do that, so I continued looking for stories about people throwing stones at fire fighters. I found examples all over the world. Then I widened my search to people throwing stones. There’s a history, a mythology, and a deep symbolism for throwing stones.

I also found an idea for a science-fiction short story in the obituaries. The mysterious death of a hacker just before he was supposed to speak at a convention.

There is a great resource on the web called The Google New Archive where you can see actual scans of old newspapers from around the world. It’s a treasure trove of stories. I talked about it last year in my post A great tool for research, inspiration and hours of fun. Give yourself a present and check it out.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Feeling Groovy – #FD2017 Final Days Of 2017 Day 13

Today, I took pictures of funny ornaments on my Mother’s Christmas tree. Many of them were mine, or ones I had played with as a child. This rosy-cheeked dandy was totally getting his groove on.

#vss very short story

Harry put on his bow-tie and his best top hat. He grabbed his dancing cane, ready for a night on the town. Sadly, he had mistakenly put jumping beans in his stew and they kicked in at the same moment he arrived to meet his date. He jumped until his face was flushed and he was covered with sweat. He kept jumping when he was exhausted and had a stitch in his side and cramps in his legs. He only stopped jumping when he passed out and crumpled to the sidewalk. The beans kept jumping, making it look like something was trying to burst from Harry’s gut.

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

Today’s prompt is from #dVerse poets. Write a poem that includes the word “groove” or a form of the word. The word must be within the body of the poem.

The Groove

Get into the groove,
But don’t get stuck.
Feelin’ groovy
‘Til the sun comes up.
Groove is in the heart,
And in the rump.
A groovy kind of love,
When suddenly moonstruck.
Addams groove,
For the darker odd duck.
Movin’ and groovin’
To make your own luck.

 

Editing Focus

More mandatory scenes to identify. Scenes for the Beginning, Middle and End from The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne

  1. The inciting incident of the beginning of your story.
  2. The inciting incident of the middle of your story.
  3. The inciting incident of the end of your story.
  4. A scene that progressively complicates the beginning of your story.
  5. A scene that progressively complicates the middle of your story.
  6. A scene that progressively complicates the end of your story.
  7. A scene that creates a crisis question at the beginning of your story.
  8. A scene that creates a crisis question in the middle of your story.
  9. A scene that creates a crisis question at the end of your story.
  10. A scene that climaxes the beginning of your story.
  11. A scene that climaxes the middle of your story.
  12. A scene that climaxes the end of your story.
  13. A scene that resolves the beginning of your story.
  14. A scene that resolves the middle of your story.
  15. A scene that resolves the end of your story.

#FlashFicHive

FF13

Anjela Curtis

Don’t Forget To Read!

Today I went to a Christmas party where everyone read a Christmas poem or a verse. I printed out the very short stories and poems I’ve written so far this month and gave them to everyone. I read a couple of short stories and got some laughs. It felt good to look at the writing I’ve done so far this month compiled together.

Don’t forget to read through your own writing. Review all the great work you’ve done so far this month.

 

Happy Reading and Writing!

A Little Extra Luck – Final Days Of 2017 (#FD2017) Day 12

lucky charm

Green clovers aren’t traditionally symbols of the yuletide, but they fit the color scheme well enough. Who couldn’t use a little extra luck this time of year?

#vss very short story

Ashley bounced with glee when she saw the little man in a green tux coat and top hat crawling around looking for something by her Christmas tree. Wow, she thought, presents and wishes, this is going to be the best Christmas ever. But her situation quickly turned  when the angry leprechaun asked her where she had hidden his gold. This leprechaun was the keeper of the gold, chocolate-filled coins she had already pulled from her stocking and eaten.

Word Of The Day

I came across a great word while reading Alec Nevala-Lee‘s post this morning: Thinking on the page. Today’s topic was the work of Chris Ware. In the middle of a long quote from an interview with Ira Glass, Mr. Ware says:

It ended up lasting for seven years, which is why when you read the book, the first hundred pages or so are completely insensate.

The second I read the word insensate, I had to stop reading and look it up. I’m glad I did. It’s the kind of word that could cause some confusion if you don’t know all of its meanings. It’s also a great word for poetry and creating subtext because of its different meanings.

insensate adjective
1. not endowed with sensation; inanimate:insensate stone.
2. without human feeling or sensitivity; cold; cruel; brutal.
3. without sense, understanding, or judgment; foolish.

As you can see, with only one adjective you can say someone is inanimate, cruel and foolish! What a word.

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

In case you didn’t read #NaNoWriMo Recap And December Writing Plans, the poetry prompts I’ll be using this month and through the new year are part of MoSt (Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center) 10th Annual New Year’s Poetry Challenge. This is the first time I’ve participated and I’m enjoying the prompts. You can still sign up to participate and it’s FREE!

Prompt: Write a poem about the disappearance of things.

This is one of four contest topics for the 6th annual Modesto Poetry Festival. The deadline to enter your poems is Jan. 11, 2018. You don’t need to be present at the festival to win, but we sure hope you come anyway. Here’s a link to the festival flyer on our website.
http://www.mostpoetry.org/event/6th-annual-modesto-poetry-festival/

I love this prompt! Especially since I can’t find my all-purpose tool right now and I really need it since my industrial sewing machine stopped working in the middle of a project yesterday. Why do things always disappear when I need them most?

Disappearing Things

Something is gone.
It’s not gradual.
You have it; then you don’t.
Often it comes back,
But only if you’re not looking,
Or you don’t need it,
Or you don’t want it anymore.

When something is taken,
Violently ripped away,
It leaves a hole, an empty dark space
That feels like it can’t be filled.
But sometimes,
With enough time,
And love,
And support,
And understanding,
And more time,
Because the process started over,
And then, when you thought it was better,
The hole was there again,
Something better,
Or at least as good,
Can take its place.

Editing Focus

Since we’ve been looking at the big picture and obligatory scenes, I thought it would be fun to use what I learned last month with Mapping the Hero’s Journey by Arwen Lynch and Jumpstart Your Novel by Mark Teppo.

Since I hadn’t yet discovered the use of tarot cards when I wrote my draft for Throwing Stones, I decided to see what it would be like to use the cards, not as a pre-plotting tool, but as a strengthen-the-plot revision tool.

Here are the cards I pulled for Tshepo’s Hero’s Journey. Keep in mind I shuffled and cut, focusing on an aspect of the hero’s journey, between every card.

Hero's Journey with Tarot for Throwing Stones

The Hanged Man reversed in the center is the theme card I pulled. I’m not going to Theme for Throwing Stonesinterpret this at the moment, but will use it while examining my scene progression later.

I also used the number addition method for theme like I did on #NaNoWriMo Day 25. The total is 66: 6+6=12 which is The Hanged Man. I also continued to add to one digit: 1+2=3 which is The Empress, who I noted flew out while I was shuffling. I’ll keep her in mind as  a secondary theme.

I also did a Celtic Cross for my Main Character:

Tshepo's story Celtic Cross

I am happy to see that the reason for me writing this story is my connection to the spiritual/knowledge of the universe instead of fear of ending up destitute and homeless (like my nanowrimo draft Celtic Cross).

The Magician card sees you creating success in everything that you do. This is a Tarot card about manifesting your goals by utilizing the skills, tools and resources that are available to you. The Magician suggests that you will come up with creative ways to solve problems and you will be able to use your existing knowledge and networks to arrive at solutions. – Biddytarot.com

That sounds incredibly encouraging.

I’m glad I did this. As I drew the cards through the hero’s journey, I thought of the representative scenes in my draft. The story, as is, isn’t a perfect fit, but it follows more closely than I expected. I think these new tools, using the tarot cards for plot and scene, are already helping me focus on what areas need to be tightened up. There’s also a multitude of symbolic information for me to work with here. Exciting!

#FlashFicHive

ffd12

graphic by Anjela Curtis

Though speech tags aren’t usually a problem for me, this challenge is inspiring me to try something new. I’m thinking my MC has a chat with an inanimate object. That would be insensate. Or my MC could be chatting with someone who can’t talk: a mute, or someone who is gagged, or someone whose mouth has been magically removed.If I wanted to make this a real challenge, however, I would have my MC speaking to two other people and make each person clear to the reader through vocabulary and word usage alone. I think I’ll work on this today, or for the rest of the week (or month).

With today’s prompt, Anjela Curtis included a link to 5 Rules for Rocking Flash Fiction by Alicia Audrey, a guest post on diyMFA.

It’s a quick, informative read. I recommend reading it and then exploring the site further. They have articles on many of the topics I talk about here on Experience Writing like building tension in your scenes. They also have an author interview series.

Don’t Forget To Read!

gift books

Talking about reading author interviews made me think of a couple of great books I have and recommend. They were both given to me as gifts by people very close to me.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott – This book, a hybrid of memoir and instruction, is inspiring and informative.

Who’s Writing This?: Notations on the Authorial I With Self Portraits edited by Daniel Halpern- This book is an interesting study into an author’s vision of him or herself. Fifty-six authors share their thoughts on the self and self-portraits (some impressive, some not).

Happy Reading and Writing!

#FD2017 Final Days Of 2017 Day 11: Mixed Messages

This is another sticker and ribbon ornament I made like the dragon ball on Day 4. It fits well with a theme of Mixed Messages. From a distance, it is a nice star-shaped ornament with a splash of non-traditional colors. Upon closer inspection, the images this ornament is made out of are a depiction of The Battle Of Hamza.

#vss very short story

Carmen stared at her quaking and shaking tree. When the elves emerged brandishing Shotels and sickle blades, she feared they focused on the Herod part of the Christmas story.

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

Today, I received a photo prompt:

poetry photo prompt by Joseph Anthony

photo by Modesto artist Joseph Anthony

 

The Golden Food Mart In The Night

The blinding lights reveal temptation
A golden oasis in the night
A beckoning promise of satiation
Bars on the windows and locked up tight

The light polluter sends mixed messages
Offering warmth and welcome from afar
When the real message is “someone will see you”
Everyone is a thief in the dark

Editing Focus

Though we are in a rush to dive in to those details, let’s stick with the big picture for a while.

Genre and obligatory scenes

In The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne, he says:

A Genre is a label that tells the reader/audience what to expect. Genres simply manage audience expectations.

There are five primary expectations of the audience

  1. to know how long the story will last
  2. to know how far to suspend disbelief
  3. to know the style, the particular experience of the story
  4. to know how the story will be structured
  5. to know what the general content of the story will be

Mr. Coyne contends that your story’s genre is made up of five parts that form to these five expectations: Time, Reality, Style, Structure and Content

The first three are easy: 1. What is the physical length of your story? Did you write Flash (under 1,000 words), a short story, a novella or a novel? Is it short, medium or long? 2. Is your story based on real events (biography/factualism), complete fiction but could happen in the real world (realism), so far fetched it could not happen in the real world (Absurdism) or Fantasy? 3. In what form are you presenting your story? Is it a cartoon, dance, musical, documentary, drama, comedy, or is it literary?

Coyne breaks Structure into Arch-Plot, Mini-plot (passive protagonist contending with internal struggle) and Anti-plot (inspired randomness; Waiting for Godot) where Arch-Plot is the most common structure that most closely follows The Hero’s Journey.

He breaks Content into External Content Genres (action, horror, crime, thriller, love, performance, society, war and western) and Internal Content Genres (worldview, morality and status).

Today’s challenge: Define your genre for the five expectations.

My novel is: A long, realistic drama following the Arch-Plot structure and should follow the conventions of a Thriller which is an External Content genre.

The Obligatory Scenes for a Thriller

Now that I’ve identified and specified my genre, what does that mean to me? Coyne kept talking about the obligatory scenes of your genre and I’m glad he started with Thriller since that is what I’m writing. Let’s see if I have covered the “obligatory scenes.”

Coyne says the Thriller genre comes from a mash-up of Action, Horror and Crime and share many obligatory scenes and conventions. Here are the obligatory scenes for the thriller:

  1. An Inciting crime
  2. A MacGuffin- In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation. -Wikipedia
  3. Red herrings
  4. A Speech in praise of the villain
  5. The stakes must become personal for the hero. If he fails to stop the villain, he will suffer severe consequences. The hero must become the victim.
  6. There must be a hero at the mercy of the villain scene
  7. False ending. There must be two endings.

Also, the often used convention of the ticking clock.

So, looking at this, I need to think about 4 and 7. Since we wrote new endings yesterday, I guess I was a bit prescient, or we’re on the right track. Let’s go with the latter.

I was disappointed to see that there weren’t more lists like that in the book, but there are on the website StoryGrid.com.

You’ll need to search around and piece the lists together, but you can also do that from reading and watching films in your genre. Coyle recommends that everyone master the elements of The Love Story because it makes an appearance in many other genres. Here are the obligatory scenes and conventions he outlines for The Love Story.

The Love Story -obligatory scenes

  1. The lovers meet
  2. Confession of love (a bit premature by one character) causes conflict
  3. First kiss scene (moment of intimacy not necessarily physical)
  4. The lovers break-up
  5. Proof of love scene
  6. Lovers reunite

#FlashFicHive

ff11

graphic by Anjela Curtis

Two brothers break into parishioners’ cars during Christmas Eve Service and steal everyone’s presents. The Christmas Spirit,  arrives to avenge as they examine their loot.

Don’t Forget To Read!

Now that you’ve defined your genre along the five expectations outlined by Shawn Coyne in The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know take another look at the six books you chose on day one. Are they still good examples of books in your genre? If not, try to find some better examples. As The Hiding Place by David Bell is not turning out to be a good genre comparison, I think I’ll pick up A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

Happy Reading and Writing!

#FD2017 Final Days Of 2017 Day 10: Arrivals and Departures

Christmas candy collector

In Sweden, where I lived for a year at 13, they have a sweet tradition for the Christmas tree. They weave little heart-shaped paper baskets and put them on the tree. Tomten comes  and fills the baskets in the days between Santa Lucia and Christmas. This little bag seemed like a good little twist on that tradition. It’s thematic and has a much larger candy capacity.

#vss very short story

Charlotte loved the little chocolates she found every morning hidden in her bag on the tree. They tasted extra sweet and creamy like Santa had put his love and joy into every little pressed shape. But those chocolates became bitter-sweet when she realized they were the chocolates that had been in her advent calendar. She thought she was hoarding them to eat all at once on Christmas day. Santa must have found her stash.

Word Of The Day

Today’s word over at thesaurus.com was brachylogy which, at first glance, I was sure had to do with the lungs, but it doesn’t. It has to do with language, so here it is.

brachylogy: noun, plural bachylogies

brevity of diction; concise or abridged form of expression

1. a concise style in speech or writing
2. a colloquial shortened form of expression that is not the result of a regular grammatical process: the omission of “good” in the expression “Afternoon” is a brachylogy

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

Today’s theme is arrivals and departures. Write about one or the other, or both.

Arrivals And Departures

In every hour’s breathing
Around the mortal world there are
Multitudes of arrivals and departures
Many welcomed openly
Some faced with dread
Others not noticed at all

Editing Focus

In the first fiction class I took, we wrote the opening scene then wrote the end. Only after we had written the ending did we turn to the middle of the story.

Last night, my online writing partner told me she was writing the end before finishing the steps leading to it. I told her I had done the same.

Planning the ending when you start, even if you end up changing it, helps guide your writing through out the story.

With that in mind, it makes sense to focus on the ending early in the editing process as well. I thought about this yesterday while reading Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish by James Scott Bell. His first line of his chapter on endings is,

A weak ending can ruin an otherwise wonderful book.

There are three basic types of endings:

  1. A positive ending- The Main Character gets her objective
  2. An ambiguous ending- We don’t know if the Lead will get his desire
  3. A negative ending- The Main Character loses his objective

For today’s editing challenge create new endings. Brainstorm at least ten one-line ideas for alternate endings to your story. Pick the three you find most interesting. Write three different endings than the one you’ve already written. You can use the three different types or you can stick with the type you already wrote, but write three very different endings. Do you like one of the new endings better? Perhaps you can incorporate the old ending into a twist.

#FlashFicHive

FF10

graphic by Anjela Curtis

Oblique Strategy:

Don’t stress one thing more than another

Since I woke up feeling irritable–stupid hormone fluctuations–I think I’ll work on a story about an avenging Christmas spirit. I’m not sure how the oblique strategy will come into play. Perhaps the smallest bad deed is the same as the largest to Christmas spirit, and the reverse as well: the smallest good deed is as great as the largest. Or, maybe it means, because it’s a flash story to not dive into one aspect of the story more than the next but to stress each aspect equally.

Don’t Forget To Read!

Don’t forget to read Non-Fiction:

Today I’m going to finish up some books I started last month:
Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish by James Scott Bell
Crafting Dynamic Dialogue: The Complete Guide to Speaking, Conversing, Arguing, and Thinking in Fiction (Creative Writing Essentials) from the Editors at Writer’s Digest
Mary K. Greer’s 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card by Maria K. Greer

Each of these books, though I did not finish them last month, was helpful in its own way during NaNoWriMo and I recommend them for your continued learning in your writing journey.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Final Days Of 2017 Day 9: Chapter Endings To Keep Readers Turning Pages

#vss very short story

Paisley’s Christmas wish had come true. Shoes, just her size, growing in the trees. Her boyfriend died when a particularly sharp pump was allowed to over-ripen on the branch and fell into his head. But shoes!

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

MoSt (Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center) 10th Annual New Year’s Poetry Challenge has begun. You can still sign up if you are interested. The first poem to write is a haiku of a minor holiday.

Today’s prompt is to choose a piece of furniture and write a poem of appreciation or an ode to it.

The Reading Chair

Fading seat with a center crease
Wooden handle for the footrest release
Rocking comfort as tensions cease
In the corner next to the lamp

Faded turquoise of ’80s whim
Corduroy softened by friction with skin
Protective guard cloths for head or limb
Never stay in position

Weighted in place in blankets and snuggy
Sated by a steaming cup of spiced tea
Safe to travel where the words will take me
A world of my fantasy

 

Editing Focus

Now that we got rid of any chapters and large chunks of text that don’t move the story along, let’s take a look at chapter endings.

My friend Christopher Bailey, author of The Crystal Key (Starjumper Legacy, Book 1), The Vanishing Sun (Starjumper Legacy, Book 2), The Plague of Dawn: The Plague of Dawn (Starjumper Legacy, Book 3), Without Chance and Whisper knows how to keep me turning pages. When I read one of his books, I cannot put it down until the last page. When I asked him how he does it. He told me to take a look at my chapter endings. How do I leave my reader hanging, so they’ll have to keep reading?
In James Scott Bell’s Revision And Self-Editing (Write Great Fiction) he says there are innumerable possibilities to end a scene, but offers these ideas to prompt the reader to read on:

  • a mysterious line of dialogue
  • an image that’s full of foreboding (like the fog rolling in)
  • a secret suddenly revealed
  • a major decision or vow
  • announcement of a shattering event
  • reversal or surprise–new information that suddenly turns the story around
  • a question left hanging in the air

In Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore by Elizabeth Lyon she says to:

  • End with the unexpected
  • End with an interruption
  • End sections and chapters at high points of uncompleted drama.
  • End with questions still raised.

 

Christopher Bailey wrote a post for Experience Writing last fall called Carving Through Writer’s Block. Give it a read for more of his good advice.

#FlashFicHive

ffhD9

sat hashtag games

 

The #satlines theme is Cracks or Breaks. The #SuperheroSat optional theme is Energy.

Don’t Forget To Read!

Don’t forget to read author interviews. They can be inspiring and full of information about the craft.

There are some great ones here on Experience Writing:

Christopher Bailey

Geoffrey Calhoun (Screenwriting)

Bree Moore (Nanowrimo feature)

Diana Rose Wilson

You can read more author interviews all over the internet. Here are some places to get started:

Author Interviews: NPR

Author Interviews: Writer’s Digest

Author Interviews: Goodreads

Author Interviews: HuffPost

Author Interviews: New York Times (audio archive list)

Happy Reading and Writing!

#FD2017 Final Days Of 2017 Day 8: Time For The Axe

Christmas book cover

I went through a stage where I was very excited about making hard-covers for my paperback books. I must have made this one around this time of year because it definitely isn’t reflective of the book it covered, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The covers fell off of the books and I got rid of most of them. This one, however, has stayed with me in my box of craft supplies because I love the cover image, so I put some ribbon on the spine and hung it on the tree.

#vss very short story

Heidi ran downstairs in her nightdress. Her nose wrinkled reflexively, irritated by a smokey-rotten-cherry smell. She followed the smell out into the snow. She was shocked to see Santa with a ski pole, trudging to the next house. She tugged on the sleeve of his robe.

“Ho.Ho. You caught me,” said Santa. “Do you like your present, Heidi?”

“Santa,” she said, “you shouldn’t smoke. It’s rude to stink up people’s houses with your pipe tobacco.”

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

I think the prompt from Day 21 of last month’s Poem of the Day Chapbook Challenge is appropriate for today:

It’s time for our third Two-for-Tuesday prompt. If you’re new to these challenges, you can pick either one prompt or the other. Or decide to do both. Your choice.

For today’s Two-for-Tuesday prompt:

  1. Write a construction poem. Construction paper, construction hats, and so on.
  2. Write a deconstruction poem. Opposite of construction poem.

Remember, the deadline for submitting your Chapbook manuscript in January

Her Destruction

Destruction

15th. There’s still time.

Give It The Axe

snacks relax slacks
sax backs ax
stacks packs climax
earwax syntax cracks
wax max galax parallax

Word Of The Day

I hadn’t planned to continue the word of the day this month, but I love words and I just read the word lambent. I had to look it up and it’s wonderful, so:

Lambent- adjective

  1. running or moving lightly over a surface: lambent tongues of flame.
  2. dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject; brilliantly playful: lambent wit.
  3. softly bright or radiant: a lambent light.

Editing Focus

So we’ve read through our draft and what do we do first? Grab an axe and kill our darlings. I wish I had done this with my first novel; it would have saved me a lot of time.

The first step in our editing process, after reading the draft, is removing everything that isn’t essential to the story. Make a new file for saving everything you’re about to cut and let’s get to work.

The first question to ask is, does the story start in the right place?
Many authors find that their story really gets going in the second chapter. Can you delete the first chapter? Perhaps put the most important part of Chapter One in as a flashback, memory or dialogue?

Next, is there a subplot, or secondary/tertiary character that doesn’t add to the main plot?
In one of my novels, I have a secondary character who a friend of mine likes so much, he wants to include him in his novel, like a cross-over. However, if I don’t tie him into the main plot better, he’ll be getting the axe.

Where did the story lag?
Where were the parts of your story that, if you weren’t the author, you would have put the book down? Get rid of them. Off they go to the chopped folder.

After you’ve found chapters to chop, take that axe, or sledge hammer or excavator if you prefer, to any scenes, dialogue or other large chunks of text that are not essential. Enjoy your demolition! Soon comes the remodel.

#FlashFicHive

FFH day 8

graphic Anjela Curtis

I own copies of Elf and Gremlins, so for today’s flash fiction challenge, I’m going to take the first line and a line or event from the middle of each film to come up with my story idea. I’ll most likely add an axe to stay with today’s theme. This should be fun!

Don’t Forget To Read!

Poetry! Poetry is important reading for all writers. Are you reading from a poetry site, or do you have some poetry books you’re reading right now? Who is your favorite poet and why?

In The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne, he mentioned Chilean author Roberto Bolaño as an example of a literary author a publisher would be searching for. I haven’t read any of his work. I’m looking forward to diving into The Unknown University, one of his books of poetry.
I also look forward to reading his novel The Savage Detectives: A Novel when I have finished the stack next to the bed.

Happy Reading and Writing!