Elegy for a Mayfly

A short time ago I found out I had clinched a spot in The Iron Writer Summer Solstice Open, and the Preliminary Round is underway now.  The challenge elements for this story are:

The Avengers vs. The Justice League of America (as if I know anything about superheroes)

A Minion (yes, one of those Twinkie-looking creatures from Despicable Me)

A Traveling Chamber Pot Salesperson (as if I know anything about traveling chamber pots)

Also, the story must be told from the point of view of Death, the Grim Reaper.

I was up against three other writers in my bracket (The Anne Rice bracket) but two of them bowed out, a craven dodge I'm presumptuously attributing to my intimidating reputation.  One brave soul dares to defy me, however: Danielle Zwissler.  She must be destroyed.

To that end, I humbly beseech you, dear reader, to vote for my flash fiction (525 words) short story, "Elegy for a Mayfly."

Please read and vote, or save time and just vote.  I won't tell!

Iron Writer Challenge Update

And the winner is... me!

Thanks to everyone who voted for my flash fiction story, "Like a Steel Trap" during the Iron Writer Challenge #67.  I came in second in the reader poll but the panel of judges selected my story the winner!

Obviously, the judges were more discerning than the mob of philistines who voted for my competitors.

Now, on to the next challenge.  I think this win qualifies me for the upcoming Iron Writer Summer Solstice Open.  Details and shameless importuning for votes to follow....

Leonardo Cerebelli: Gadfly scientist and man about town

In preparation for an upcoming release of a deluxe omnibus edition of The Magnetron Chronicles, I've finally gotten round to finishing the biographical sketch of the redoubtable Leonardo Cerebelli....

Although no official written documents remain, credible accounts indicate that Leonardo Cerebelli was born in 1830 in New York’s Flatbush community to grocers Enzo and Aurora Cerebelli.  Nevertheless, Cerebelli was dogged for much of his life by rumors he was truly the son of notorious Cosa Nostra mafioso Nunzo “Il Capo” Tosto, fearsome patron of a post-feudal Sicilian cosca, or crime family.  Il Capo had reputedly sired dozens of illegitimate children and sent them abroad to appease his domineering spouse.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that Leonardo was spirited out of Sicily as an infant, hidden in a shipment of castelvetrano olives bound for New York.

Clever and industrious, young Leonardo excelled in his schoolwork but chafed at his duties in the family business.  This fractious state of affairs was typified by one of Leonardo’s earliest experiments, an inquiry into chaos theory in which the eight-year-old prodigy dropped hundreds of fragile inventory items to the floor and took detailed notes.  His father was horrified, as was his instructor, who labelled Leonardo’s pioneering work “unadulterated rubbish.”  Leonardo’s wry humor began to emerge as he coined derogatory Latin nicknames for regular customers, until his sly linguistic indiscretions were detected by one of his father’s business associates, after which time Leonardo took up Ancient Greek.

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Like a Steel Trap

I recently joined a great online writing group called The Iron Writer, which challenges writers to write 525-word "flash fiction" stories using four preselected elements from a mystery basket.  My first Iron Writer Challenge story is called "Like a Steel Trap" and includes the following four elements:

The Gods
Dice
Cocktails
Irrigation boots

That's right.  Irrigation boots.

I chose Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and put together a gritty little tale that answers the question, "what if forgiving and forgetting just isn't an option?"

Read and vote, please! (Update: voting is now closed)

Crowd-subsidized Publishing

It's been a terribly long time since I have posted anything on this blog, and indeed, it's been a long time since I've written much of anything.  Why?  I've been busy working on a project called Fictivity Press.  In short, it's an experiment in what we are calling "crowd-subsidized publishing," a method of self-publishing similar to a vanity press (also known as subsidy press).  The main difference is that—instead of the writer paying to have his or her book prepared for publishing—Fictivity Press raises much of the funds through so-called crowd-funding sites such as IndieGoGo.

The first book selected for Fictivity Press's BookLaunch program is Pete Oxley's The Infernal Aether, which I've already invested a lot of time in.  I'll be doing the line editing and proofreading for the book some time after the IndieGoGo campaign has ended.  We're off to a very convincing start on this inaugural project but we can use all the help we can get.  You can pre-order an electronic version of the book for a contribution as small as $5.00.  Please visit the campaign home page and contribute what you can, even if it's just helping spread the word.

Is "crowd-subsidized publishing" for real?  So far, it looks pretty good!

Pantsers vs. Plotters

I've written here, here, and there on the topic of creating plots, outlines and story lines in fiction, but I still frequently become embroiled in the "Pantser vs. Plotter" wars.  In other words, some writers sit down and write "by the seat of their pants," while others meticulously plot every jot and tittle before writing a line.  For some reason, many seem to think this is an all-or-nothing decision, but I disagree.

I am a notorious fence-sitter, which permits me the luxury of criticizing every ideological tribe with abandon.  With respect to writing, I find this manifests as a virulent strain of Plotting Pantserism, as I prefer to use a hybrid method combining elements--and advantages--of both strategies.  Lee Strayer at Atomic 27 Media has interviewed me on my peculiar (but eminently sensible) approach, and featured an excerpt of our conversation in his latest Magnetic Wireless podcast.

Give it a listen, won't you?  I mean, can't we all just get along?

Strong Verbs: The Writer's Action Heroes

This is the ninth installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work, now tentatively titled "The Infernal Aether."

Perhaps my most distressing writing bugbear is the scourge known as the “weak verb.”  Verbs are action words, so it would seem that simply using a verb would tend to jazz up an otherwise unremarkable noun but, alas, that is not always the case.  Some verbs are just so wan and lethargic they sap the life from entire paragraphs.

What is a weak verb?  My definition is: a verb which conveys too little information or description.  Hold on—a verb is supposed to be descriptive?  Isn’t that the job of adjectives and adverbs?  Well yes, adjectives and adverbs describe, but verbs can often do so as well, often better than any adjective or string of adjectives.  A verb can even contain a metaphor, all in  a single word.  And a verb that can do all of that is what I call a “strong verb.”

Where to Start: Opening Your Story

This is the eighth installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

You’ve been quite disciplined about your new story idea, laying out the whole plot, getting a good handle on your storyline and characters, and so you sit down to write.  The blank screen is your canvas, the keyboard your brush, and the world is full to bursting with possibilities.  Getting started is half the battle, you tell yourself, and you hunker down to write that smashing first sentence, which will flow naturally into your sparkling first paragraph, setting the stage for your compelling first chapter.  After a few false starts, you begin to type:

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”

Stirring the Pot: Creating Lifelike Characters

This is the seventh installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

The wait is over, at least for me, as Pete sent me his newest story outline today.  He's got a much tighter storyline even though the story still combines steampunk elements such as clockwork automatons and paranormal phenomena together with fantasy elements.  It's a multi-layered setting unlike any steampunk world you've ever visited.

We'll be delving into some specifics in the next installment, but for now, the good news for Pete is that he gets to start writing again.  His outline will keep him on track, and his character sketches will help guide him as he scripts the story.  He was concerned about returning to writing with the character sketches not quite finished, but I advised him get back to writing again.  This doesn't mean character sketches aren't important, but they will often draw themselves to some degree as we write.

Metamorphosis: On the Plastic Nature of Stories

This is the sixth installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

If you are constantly asking questions about your story, characters, setting, and so forth, the troublesome result is that you will have answers.  I say that answers are troublesome because they force you to be specific about things that were once shapeless and ambiguous, and because they oblige you to make changes.  They say no one likes change, but change is an integral part of the writing process.

Now that Pete has returned to the developmental stage, he has made a great variety of changes, from renaming two of his central characters to cutting out an entire chapter's worth of story line.  This isn't at all unusual in the developmental stage, but the need for remaining flexible and open to change continues throughout the writing and editing stages as well.  As I've said, nothing is carved in stone until a story goes to press.  Until that time, no aspect of a story should be considered sacrosanct or beyond reconsideration.

Why, Indeed! Strengthening Your Story with Questions

This is the fifth installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

If you have ever spent much time around kids, you know that some time after the Terrible Twos, they turn into "Why-maraners," asking "why?" about everything under the sun.  Kids are just naturally inquisitive; they're not trying to drive adults insane.  They really do want to know why the sky is blue.

Kids also have poorly developed internal governors, so they often horrify grown-ups by asking uncomfortable questions.  "Why is your hair blue?"  "Why is your belly so big?"  "Why do you smell funny?"  Again, they're just curious, and the easiest way to find answers is to simply ask questions, right?

So, what does this have to do with writing?  I'm glad you asked!

One Thing Leads to Another: Story Planning

This is the fourth installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

Pete and I have been batting his story outline back and forth for about a week, with all sorts of editorial gore, gnashing of teeth, and the obligatory return to drawing board scene.  In short, I'm putting Pete through the wringer, with good reason, and he is coming through with flying colors thus far.

Why is this process so difficult?  We're not trying to do any elaborate setting of scenes or nuanced dialogue.  We're just laying out all of the major plot points in a rough chronological sequence.  The reason, as Pete is finding out, is that we approach our stories in the wrong way.

Short and Sweet: An Introduction to Branding

This is the third installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

If you’re writing just for the fun of it, branding may very well be irrelevant.  However, if you think you may one day want to become a professional writer, it’s never too early to think about developing your brand.  What is "branding?"  Like General Mills, Cadillac, Swatch, or any number of instantly recognizable names, a brand is a kind of stamp, a shorthand way of telling your customers—er, readers—what to expect.  "Branding" is the process of creating your own unique brand, and the practice of stamping that brand on everything you do.

Dem Bones: No Tears Outlining

This is the second installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

We've all heard that an outline is the first step in writing a story or anything at all lengthy.  I'm like you, though.  I hate outlining.  Let's face it: outlining a story is about as inspiring and feels about as creative as copying the first 100 pages of the phone book with a golf pencil.  The sheer drudgery of it can take the wind out of your sails before you've even begun to get creative.  Just the Roman numerals alone are enough to put me off outlines and just plunge right into the fun stuff: writing.

There's just one problem with this: you still have to outline.

Editing Mister D: A New Project

I've been contemplating branching out into editing for years now, and I've finally taken a concrete step toward that goal. I ran a short contest at Wattpad and found a talented writer named Pete Oxley, who is working on a kind of steampunk series featuring a mysterious character known only as Mister D. We're going to be collaborating on a project to get Pete's intriguing stories refined into a finely tuned, hugely marketable ebook for sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all the usual suspects.

As this project progresses, I'll be blogging selected excerpts of our work, our communications, and behind-the-scenes activity of getting a manuscript from draft to print. We'll even be building Pete's social media platform and doing some basic promotion. If you're a writer, you'll learn a lot by following along. Even if you're not a writer, this ought to be an entertaining look at the brave new world of ebook self-publishing.

I've just asked Pete a whole slew of questions to get a better handle on where he's going with his stories, and as soon as I get some answers, I'll be posting some of our work here. Stay tuned...

Four Techniques for Sparking Your Creativity

Today I'm guest blogging at Steamed! about how to spark your creativity.

Readers often ask me, “Where do you get all of your ideas?” as if they’re hoping I’ll share some magic formula, or perhaps a link to an online idea consignment boutique presenting prepackaged suites of novel concepts attractively priced for struggling writers.  My stock answer to the question “where do you get your ideas” has always been “from everywhere and anywhere,” which—while true—isn’t a particularly helpful bit of advice to an aspiring writer.  Upon further reflection, I realized that I hadn’t devoted much conscious thought to the murky mechanics of my creative process, and I didn’t really care to, either.  Like turning on the lights at a séance, I feared a dispassionate analysis of my own creativity might break the spell for good.  I’m pleased to announce that I’ve conquered that fear, it didn’t hurt a bit, and I have actually gleaned some useful (I hope) insights into the creative process.  I’ve identified four techniques I had been using all along without really thinking about them.

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E-pulp? That's a good thing, right?

After my rant on dumb reviews by dumb reviewers, I am very pleased to announce an intelligent review by an intelligent reviewer.  Dieselpunk author and pulp aficionado Grant Gardiner has recently reviewed "The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum" on Goodreads, giving it 4 Stars (Recommend).  Gardiner's latest project is his "Tommy Thunder and the Tales of the Aether Age" series, set in an alternate timeline 1920s America.  Thankfully, he took some time out to offer some insightful remarks on the first book in the Magnetron Chronicles series, calling it "fantastic... whacky steampunk... in the style of an H. Rider Haggard adventure story."

As an example of utilizing thoughtful criticism to better one's writing, I have taken Grant's suggestion to "package [the] stories together" to create a "more fulfilling reading experience."  More on that later....

Check out Mr. Gardiner's review here, and then plot a course for his blog here.  There be two-fisted, hair-part flipping action and adventure dead ahead...

Reviewing reviewers reviews...

"This book is dumb. People can never seem to speak proper English. I wouldn't read this book again if I were dying of boredom"

"The book was o.k. It's not my type of story so I wasn't really interested. I guess it's because it's an old-fashioned book, I'm more into Harry Potter."

"It had no story, the charaters were lame, the plot was-yuck! and the way the talk was just difficult to understand.Seriously, if you are choosing something to read this is definitely NOT the book, unless your trying to find a book that you'll snooze all the way through it!"

Uh-oh, I've got some bad reviews!  Perhaps I need to go back and review my writing, re-work it somehow to cater to my readers and expand my readership.  Or... perhaps not.