Tag: Challenge

Short Story Writing, don’t try this at home (4)

This is not meant to be a treatise on short story writing.  Far be it for me to advise anyone on the subject.  I prefer to say how it is that I do it so you can learn all of the pitfalls in one go.

I find inspiration in the most unlikely places.

Shopping malls are great, there is so many things going on, so many different types of people, there’s often enough to fill a journal.

Driving on the roads, you get to see some of the most amazing stunt driving, and it’s not even being filmed, it’s just playing out before your very eyes.

Waiting in hospitals, waiting for doctors, accountants, dentists, friends, hanging around coffee shops, cafes, bistros, restaurants, the list is endless.

But the best source, newspapers, and the more obscure the headline the better, and then just let your imagination run free, like:

Four deaths, four mysteries, all homeless.

This poses a few interesting scenarios, such as, were they homeless or were they made to look like they’re homeless.  Are they connected in any way?

The point is, far from the original story that simply covers four seemingly random murders, a writer can turn this into a thriller very easily.

It could follow a similar headline in another country where three headlines could be found, say, in London, where a man is found dead in an abandoned building, a week after he died, with no obvious signs of how he died.

A woman is killed in what seems from the outset an accident involving two cars, where, after three days, the driver of the second vehicle just simply disappears.

A man is reported missing after not reporting for work when he was supposed to return from a vacation in Germany.

Where an obscure piece says that a man was found at the bottom of a mountain, presumed to have fallen in a climbing accident.

It’s all in the joining of the dots.

 

It’s that time again, the end of the month

This month had been unusually busy, with the NaNoWriMo revision exercise and the A to Z challenge.

The NaNoWriMo has been particularly challenging because I have had to pull together all the work done in writing a novel titled “The Will”. Like a lot of my writing projects this had been one that I wrote about half of it, then put it aside, either having written myself into a proverbial corner, or there was another project that needed completing.

Then in succeeding weeks I would go back and write another chapter, perhaps having had a brainstorm.  This would happen off and on with a number of other stories as ideas for them came to me.

Then I noticed the April version of NaNoWriMo and decided this was an opportunity to pull it all together, and over the 30 days, this novel has turned into a manuscript of 360 pages and 48 chapters.  Gaps have been filled, prior writing has had an edit, and continuity has been checked.

I now have another novel that will be sent to the editor for a first reading.

The other exercise, the A to Z Challenge, this year, is about a phrase, like You’ve got to be kidding, and turning it into a story, where, somewhere within it, the phase is used.

I had hoped that the stories would be short, and easily fitted in with everything else.  Well, you know how that goes.  Stories write themselves, and some have been 6 to 8 pages long.

Talk about making a rod for my own back.

Aside from those two exercises, there has been some time devoted to my episodic stores, and one in particular, the Treasure Hunt.  I have managed to write several more episodes which will appear in the coming weeks.

Any chance of getting a break next month will be impossible.

The episodic stories need more episodes, and three new books are just about at the stage where I can send them to the editor, two for final approval, so hopefully, these can be published in June.

But, as always, there is no rest for the wicked.

Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 30

The April version of the November write-a-thon is upon us, well, me actually.  I’m not sure hope many others are trying to resurrect an old piece of writing.

The truth is, I’ve been at this story off and on over the past three years, and every time I get a head of steam, something else comes along.

Now I’ve decided to use the April version of NANOWRIMO to get this thing finished, or at least in a first draft state.

Part 4 is now finished and it is onto the laborious work of getting part 5 in some sort of shape.  It’s mostly done, but so many other things got in the way, it is still not complete.

What I have to do now is not drop the ball, and stick at it until the first draft is completed.  This will probably take a few more days.

Today’s I continued with making some revisions, where words were struck off and words added, the net result amounted to adding another 1,328 words for a final total of 77,145.

 

 

 

At last, some good news…

If only it is one bright moment among heaps of darker ones.

We do not have a COVID 19 case in our house. Of course, we had to wait an agonizing 24 hours before we got the good news by phone.

She has something else, perhaps just the common cold.

It shows that our testing labs are getting through the tests, of which I heard in the news there were about 4,000, with only 10 or so new cases countrywide.

Queensland had none overnight, so if our case had been positive, we would have been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

But, you know, 15 minutes of fame and all that.

I’m looking at my continuously updating COVID 19 count, and it’s up to 3,223,596 cases worldwide and 228,195 deaths.

I feel a deep sadness for the families of those people who have died.

But, on the other hand, I feel somewhat angry that world leaders, instead of focussing on the job of saving more lives, are more interested in finding someone to blame.  Perhaps when this is all over everyone should band together to see what happened, what they did wrong, what they did right, and be prepared next time.

And there will be a next time.

One thing that should happen is, no blaming the opposition party but actually work with them, without politicizing the pandemic, make sure the right people are put in positions where they can do the best, and most of all honour and respect the health workers whose only mission is to save as many lives as they can.

Short story writing. Don’t try this at home! (2)

This is not meant to be a treatise on short story writing.  Far be it for me to advise anyone on the subject.  I prefer to say how it is that I do it so you can learn all of the pitfalls in one go.

I like to think I fly by the seat of my pants, you know, like the reader who takes up the story and starts reading, not having a clue where it’s going to go.

I prefer that blissful ignorance, of course, until I have to start editing it into something that resembles a logical story,

It was a revelation when I discovered there are two types (possibly more) or writer, pantsers and planners.

I’ve tried both.  Both work.  But in the case of the latter, you need to know where it’s going to start what’s going to happen in the middle and have the end firmly planted in your mind.  Not much good if a rotten character is pissing you off and you want to kill him, excruciatingly.

Flying blind gives you a little more creativeness, and be able to go around a corner and see what’s there.  it also allows for those complete changes of direction you come up with in the shower, that place that is a fertile ground for new ideas just when you’re running out of them.

But, it can sometimes play havoc with word counts and if you’re trying to fit into 2,000 words, 5,000 words, or a lot less, taking the story where it wants to go is not a good idea, and sadly, I tend to let stories run their course.

And sometimes I like the idea of writing three different endings, and then can’t choose which one I like the best.

So, role model I am not.  I like writing, and when I’m in the ‘zone’ it’s like I’m in another world.

But, then, isn’t that the case for all of us?

More unclarity tomorrow!

Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 29

The April version of the November write-a-thon is upon us, well, me actually.  I’m not sure hope many others are trying to resurrect an old piece of writing.

The truth is, I’ve been at this story off and on over the past three years, and every time I get a head of steam, something else comes along.

Now I’ve decided to use the April version of NANOWRIMO to get this thing finished, or at least in a first draft state.

Part 3 is now finished and it is onto the laborious work of getting part 4 right.  There will be about ten chapters in this section, and then a short Part 5 which is yet to be written.

Today’s assignment was to go back and make some revisions, where words were struck off and words added, the net result not amounting to much and certainly does not justify the amount of work put in.

Today’s word count adds another 632 words for a total of 75,817 so far.

We are going to exceed my original estimate of 75,000 words by at least another 5,000.

 

 

 

Conversations with my cat – 97

20161008_135142

This is Chester

Still hiding away.

Like any wise, old, skeptical cat, he’s not believing the good news.

We do not have a COVID 19 case in our house. Of course, we had to wait an agonizing 24 hours before we got the good news by phone.

It shows that our testing labs are getting through the tests, of which I heard in the news there were about 4,000, with only 10 or so new cases countrywide.

Queensland had none overnight, so if our case had been positive, we would have been in the news for al; the wrong reasons.

So, after broadcasting the news, that is, walking up and down the passage saying it was safe to come out, there’s still no sign of him.

But…

I have a cunning plan.

I bought a can of his absolute favorite food.

Come dinner time I’m putting it out.

 

Of course, food trumps fear every time.

He walks past me on his way to the tasty treats, the tail movements indicating he is not a happy cat.

The things I have to suffer at the hands of you humans, he mutters.

So, I say casually, we have guests for dinner.

He stops, turns his head in that dismissive manner of his.
What else can you do to me?

COVID 19, Grandchildren, I suppose you’re going to let me outside.

Do you want to go outside?

With COVID 19 lurking on every corner?

It’s under control.

Right. I’ve been watching TV. You do realize there’s good news and fake news, and there’s more of the latter than the former.

So, he’s going with the confuse the poor human with blather.

It’s working. I say, Go back into hiding. I was quite enjoying the silence.

After dinner, he says, ending the conversation with the angry tail swish. Yes, we are not amused.

Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 28

The April version of the November write-a-thon is upon us, well, me actually.  I’m not sure hope many others are trying to resurrect an old piece of writing.

The truth is, I’ve been at this story off and on over the past three years, and every time I get a head of steam, something else comes along.

Now I’ve decided to use the April version of NANOWRIMO to get this thing finished, or at least in a first draft state.

Part 3 is now finished and it is onto the laborious work of getting part 4 right.  There will be about ten chapters in this section, and then a short Part 5 which is yet to be written.

Today’s assignment is the fallout from the reading of the will.  There will be more until the various inheritors finally accept their shares, which inevitably they have to.

Never have so many waited so long and got so little.

Today is going to be one with a smiley face, for all the wrong reasons, I’m enjoying writing this bit too much, and then there will be a sad face, because there is so much more to do, and so little time.  This chapter was also fun to write.

Today’s word count adds another 3,167 words for a total of 75,185 so far.

We are going to exceed my original estimate of 75,000 words by at least another 5,000.

 

 

 

Short Story writing: don’t try this at home!

This is not a treatise on how to write short stories.  Everyone has one in them, possibly more, and me, well, it’s how I keep the wolves from the door.

Yes, I read my stories to them and they fall asleep.

Or maybe not, I’m never quite sure what effect anything I write has on anyone.  And, reading a lot of the posts on how to handle bad reviews and rejection, such a recurrent theme, I don’t think I want to.

Ignorance is bliss, is it not?

Well, one day I’m sure something will happen.  It’s probably in the seven stages of writing:

 

Euphoria

Planning

Research

Writing

Failure

Search for the guilty

Distinction for the uninvolved

 

I guess you don’t fail if you don’t put it out there.  Searching for the guilty, well, there’s only one person to blame, the editor, and distinction for the uninvolved, didn’t your friend, relation, confidente, significant other, say it wasn’t going to work?

But, despite everything, I like writing short stories and try to produce one in a single sitting.  I try to keep the word count down, but the stories, somehow they just evolve in my head and don’t want to end the main character’s story.

In reality, there is no end to the story unless they die, and then, of course, the story branches off, just like a family tree,

Some stories are so intricate, they need another story to fill in the gaps, and then another because the plot is running through your head at a thousand miles an hour and your fingers won’t stop typing, because if you do, it will all dissipate into thin air like smoke.

Stories can, you know, dissipate like smoke, one minute your mining a rich vein the next, you’ve hit a ton of worthless quartz.

Then all the constraints come into play, nagging at the back of your mind, and you find yourself waking up in a bath of sweat crying out, I didn’t do it, the crime that is, not lose the best 2,000 words you’ve ever written.

But that’s all of those words you write, isn’t it?

But I digress, and I’ll write some more on the subject, what was it again?

 

 

Conversations with my cat – 97

20160903_163902

This is Chester

He has disappeared, and no one can find him.

He was there, out in the library earlier this morning keeping an eye on the Coronavirus statistics which I have constantly updated on one of my computer screens.

In fact, he mentioned the fact there were more than 3,000,000 cases worldwide.

Then Rosemary came into the room to tell me she was calling the doctor.

A glance from Chester to her then to me was a quizzical one.

What’s wrong, he asked.

Cold-like symptoms, I said, but didn’t elaborate.

Then, as we were leaving for the COVIS Clinic, yes, the doctor had advised her to go and have a test, I was equally evasive about where we were going.

Bear in mind we have the two grandchildren over because their parents work, and they are doing their schoolwork from our home.  We made an oblique reference to them about what was happening and then left.

I suspect Chester, rather than avoid them, decided to confront them, wanting to know what’s going on.

He as well as I are fully aware of the ramifications of COVID 19 in this house.

And when we arrived home, he was nowhere to be seen.  The girls said he loitered around them for a few minutes then went up the passage, to what they thought was one of his hiding places.

He was in none of them.

If she has COVIS 19 then I’m willing to be we don’t see him again until the crisis is over.

Oddly enough, I don’t miss him yet.

Maybe in a month or so…