Just a quick update to say Flash Fiction Online (http://flashfictiononline.com) is live tomorrow. A forum, three short-short fictions (illustrated by yours truly), a writing contest, tips for writers, links to other short fiction sites, workshops, Oliver House's cutting blog, and soon a staff blog will all be available...for free!
See you there.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Flash Fiction Online
Flash Fiction Online is very close to being up and running. Jake just needs to clean a few details up and presto, we're a force to contend with. Bruce Holland Rogers will be the first professional flash featured, Suzanne Vincent will share the table of contents as the semi-pro, and the classic story--the Flash From The Past--will be H. P. Lovecraft. What an inagural line-up, eh? I just finished the second of three illustrations for the flash stories (Suzanne Vincent's I Speak the Master's Will), and am going to be pushing it to get the third one in. But, as everyone knows, I'm not one to let the job go unfinished. Unless it's a personal painting, LOL, then it can go up to a year without being signed. I think everyone involved is excited--I know I am--and the buzz has been injected into Liberty Hall, too.
FFO is sponsoring Mike's Liberty Hall Year End Contest (which is usually for a prize), with the possibility of publication. It's looking to have the making of some stiff competition. I think that, were it left to the slush readers, it would be a difficult choice. I'm glad (as one of said readers) that the contest will produce a winner first.
Mike has also put a new face on Liberty Hall, along with an online store.
There is a forum on FFO, that Jake got up and running today. Though there are still a couple of bugs to work out, it's pretty cool. I have no doubt that it will be a virtual beehive of activity, once things kick off (the tentative date is Dec 1). So, come Saturday, look for it at http://flashfictiononline.com . And enjoy.
All writers will benefit from a visit.
FFO is sponsoring Mike's Liberty Hall Year End Contest (which is usually for a prize), with the possibility of publication. It's looking to have the making of some stiff competition. I think that, were it left to the slush readers, it would be a difficult choice. I'm glad (as one of said readers) that the contest will produce a winner first.
Mike has also put a new face on Liberty Hall, along with an online store.
There is a forum on FFO, that Jake got up and running today. Though there are still a couple of bugs to work out, it's pretty cool. I have no doubt that it will be a virtual beehive of activity, once things kick off (the tentative date is Dec 1). So, come Saturday, look for it at http://flashfictiononline.com . And enjoy.
All writers will benefit from a visit.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Exclusivity
Just a quick update, since I have once again been remiss:
I am the exclusive artist (bearing the title "Art Director") for Flash Fiction Online. Eventually, I'd like to be an accredited author also, but the widening of my art credentials is a small ego boost. I need all of those I can get.
Meanwhile, the collaboration has picked back up. The both of us have had other projects, but now--on my end, at least--that's clearing up. My own work-in-progress (the expanded Pantroth story) is on hold. I have had a burst of ideas, but, I'm allowing them to coalesce during the first draft of my share of the collaboration.
I'm letting The Third Rule cool off. When I hit that again, I want to go in fresh--and with no predispositions. I've had a lot of valuable feedback, and have to step away before applying it (or figuring out how to apply it). I still believe in the story, though, now I'm intending to look at it as more of a detailed outline. Heythose are the breaks.
As for Magnum Opus, I'm going to give that an overhaul, too. I think I'm going to focus on some fantasy elements and then send it out to RoF. Wish me luck.
I am the exclusive artist (bearing the title "Art Director") for Flash Fiction Online. Eventually, I'd like to be an accredited author also, but the widening of my art credentials is a small ego boost. I need all of those I can get.
Meanwhile, the collaboration has picked back up. The both of us have had other projects, but now--on my end, at least--that's clearing up. My own work-in-progress (the expanded Pantroth story) is on hold. I have had a burst of ideas, but, I'm allowing them to coalesce during the first draft of my share of the collaboration.
I'm letting The Third Rule cool off. When I hit that again, I want to go in fresh--and with no predispositions. I've had a lot of valuable feedback, and have to step away before applying it (or figuring out how to apply it). I still believe in the story, though, now I'm intending to look at it as more of a detailed outline. Hey
As for Magnum Opus, I'm going to give that an overhaul, too. I think I'm going to focus on some fantasy elements and then send it out to RoF. Wish me luck.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Rejected
Like the title says, Magnum Opus got the standard email rejection from WOTF. I wasn't surprised--it had no monsters or magic. I'm debating either putting those elements into it (they're in that world), or combining it with another story to create a larger tale--one that is undeniably speculative. I wanted to make a couple of minor changes anyway.
As for The Third Rule, I just got a critique back that knocks the legs from under it. He (the critiquer) did me a favor by being thorough. As always, the first taste of the critique is as bitter as baking chocolate--you know it will flavor the finished product intensely, and you can't wait to get into it, but it's not to be devoured raw. I'm dealing with the fact that I have to rewrite most of it around a more thought-out ending. My critquer asked valid questions that I have to consider the answers to before the rewrite. It's good because I'm learning something new.
My collaboration is suffering for it, though. I think my co-author and I have bitten off more than we had thought we did. I think we just jumped at the first idea proposed, with no more thought to it than that. And now, it's catching up with us.
To think: I used to write just because I loved to imagine different stories. Now I write because I'm not going to let it beat me. I guess sometimes I can just be a stubborn @$$.
On a positive note, I illustrated an H. P. Lovecraft piece--What the Moon Brings--for Flash Fiction Online. It's colored pencils, but not too bad for an hour-or-two sketch. (And that was broken up into two nights and three locations.) Now, I'm just waiting for conformation on the other two stories I'm going to do the illustrations for.
As for The Third Rule, I just got a critique back that knocks the legs from under it. He (the critiquer) did me a favor by being thorough. As always, the first taste of the critique is as bitter as baking chocolate--you know it will flavor the finished product intensely, and you can't wait to get into it, but it's not to be devoured raw. I'm dealing with the fact that I have to rewrite most of it around a more thought-out ending. My critquer asked valid questions that I have to consider the answers to before the rewrite. It's good because I'm learning something new.
My collaboration is suffering for it, though. I think my co-author and I have bitten off more than we had thought we did. I think we just jumped at the first idea proposed, with no more thought to it than that. And now, it's catching up with us.
To think: I used to write just because I loved to imagine different stories. Now I write because I'm not going to let it beat me. I guess sometimes I can just be a stubborn @$$.
On a positive note, I illustrated an H. P. Lovecraft piece--What the Moon Brings--for Flash Fiction Online. It's colored pencils, but not too bad for an hour-or-two sketch. (And that was broken up into two nights and three locations.) Now, I'm just waiting for conformation on the other two stories I'm going to do the illustrations for.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The Third Rule
After a week of floundering and inspiration, I've finished a new short story entitled The Third Rule. I break away from the norm here in two ways: I don't normally write in 1st person, and I don't usually focus on characters so young. At first, it was easy to slip into the early-teen character, but it was difficult to have the P.O.V. character not be the protagonist. And then, I had a sudden burst of inspiration. I don't know where it came from, but I knew it needed a early-teen girl to make my P.O.V. character miserable. So I asked my daughter what her favorite girls' name was, and created some tension.
That did it. The story became about the interaction between the boy and the girl. Simple, right? Well, not quite. But, I think this is some of my best work to date.
It all started at Hatrack. I was babbling in a thread called "Your Favorite Apocalypse" when I coined the phrase Apocalyptic Taco Mix. Another Hatracker-and-LHer, Deb, was inspired to write a short called Meatloaf of the Apocalypse. Another with dual-membership, KayTi, said it would make an interesting trigger for a writing challenge. Hatrack Writers Forum Administrator, Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (AKA: KDW and SWMBO, which is She Who Must Be Obeyed), asked me to make it an official challenge. Since we hadn't had a rewrite challenge in a while, I acquiesced. Initially, two other Hatrackers accepted the challenge--neither of them was KayTi. So, I posted the fact that we had a challenge on the discussion board and Wallah!, we had eleven more challengers.
While this was going on--or just slightly before--I joined a Writers of the Future group. Amazingly, no one else from that group (also at Hatrack) was in the Apocalyptic Taco Mix challenge. I realized, about the time I was fully consumed in Jackie-boy's P.O.V., that I wouldn't have time to come up with another story by the agreed upon due-date. Since my WOTF goal was 5-7000 words, my Apocalyptic Taco Mix challenge would fit nicely. When things work out like they are meant to be, it's awesome! Hopefully, I'll have 9 or 10 critiques before the WOTF group submission. If that's the case, I should have enough info to clean it up enough to have a second edit. Then I'll be way ahead of the game for the December deadline.
Right now my wife (God bless my harshest critic) has it. As soon as she digs into it, I really know I'll have some work to do.
That did it. The story became about the interaction between the boy and the girl. Simple, right? Well, not quite. But, I think this is some of my best work to date.
It all started at Hatrack. I was babbling in a thread called "Your Favorite Apocalypse" when I coined the phrase Apocalyptic Taco Mix. Another Hatracker-and-LHer, Deb, was inspired to write a short called Meatloaf of the Apocalypse. Another with dual-membership, KayTi, said it would make an interesting trigger for a writing challenge. Hatrack Writers Forum Administrator, Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (AKA: KDW and SWMBO, which is She Who Must Be Obeyed), asked me to make it an official challenge. Since we hadn't had a rewrite challenge in a while, I acquiesced. Initially, two other Hatrackers accepted the challenge--neither of them was KayTi. So, I posted the fact that we had a challenge on the discussion board and Wallah!, we had eleven more challengers.
While this was going on--or just slightly before--I joined a Writers of the Future group. Amazingly, no one else from that group (also at Hatrack) was in the Apocalyptic Taco Mix challenge. I realized, about the time I was fully consumed in Jackie-boy's P.O.V., that I wouldn't have time to come up with another story by the agreed upon due-date. Since my WOTF goal was 5-7000 words, my Apocalyptic Taco Mix challenge would fit nicely. When things work out like they are meant to be, it's awesome! Hopefully, I'll have 9 or 10 critiques before the WOTF group submission. If that's the case, I should have enough info to clean it up enough to have a second edit. Then I'll be way ahead of the game for the December deadline.
Right now my wife (God bless my harshest critic) has it. As soon as she digs into it, I really know I'll have some work to do.
Friday, October 5, 2007
A Little Bit of Everything
So, the kids didn't have school this morning--they're off Monday, too--and, as usual, that automatically makes the morning hectic. My daughter was the first one up. It's funny: when she dresses for the day, she almost always chooses something filthy first. She picked a baby-blue pair of gym pants and a once-was-white T-shirt. It looked as if she had slid into all four bases, and then did it again the other way to make it even. So, I point it out. She says "So?" Then the oldest boy gets up, at his parents' beck and scream, and fumbled around for twenty minutes finding pants and taking his morning whizz. My wife's going around like a shark that just knows it scented blood, trying to find the cubscouts manual--which I asked her a question about. (Foolish me, I should know better when her powers are not yet at full capacity.) Then I pry the oldest off of his @$$ and make him go outside and play catch with me for an hour. Now my shoulder's feeling it. I played catch with my wife the day before and she has an arm on her! Now, the daughter's gone off to Mass. for the weekend (Yayyy!), the little one's having a typical day (either screaming his head-off or laughing hysterically), and the oldest is back on his butt, watching Mythbusters. The wife's approaching maximum strength (and she's found the bloody handbook), probably playing Runescape.
I have sent a more characterized first chapter/prologue off to my collaborator, Nancy Greene (She says I can use her name), though I'm waiting to hear back. And she has yet to send me her first chapter. (Think I'm nudging her with the guilt-stick?)
I've got a challenge up at Hatrack: the "Apocalyptic Taco Mix" short-story-challenge, that I'm writing a story for. Rules are simple: come up with a story--inspired by said phrase--that has a word count between 500 and 7000 words. 14 of us are going at it. I only have about 700 words at the moment, but I've had an idea brewing. I might even polish it for my WOTF 1st-quarter entry. It has an interesting flavor.
Artistically, I've been working on a painting of a pheonix for the last couple of days. I think it's almost done. Of course, I could show my wife--maybe get another "What is it?"--before I claim I'm done. I always love that. As usual, it's been a love-hate process, and I'm not sure where I stand, yet. It's not signed yet, so it's not done.
I have sent a more characterized first chapter/prologue off to my collaborator, Nancy Greene (She says I can use her name), though I'm waiting to hear back. And she has yet to send me her first chapter. (Think I'm nudging her with the guilt-stick?)
I've got a challenge up at Hatrack: the "Apocalyptic Taco Mix" short-story-challenge, that I'm writing a story for. Rules are simple: come up with a story--inspired by said phrase--that has a word count between 500 and 7000 words. 14 of us are going at it. I only have about 700 words at the moment, but I've had an idea brewing. I might even polish it for my WOTF 1st-quarter entry. It has an interesting flavor.
Artistically, I've been working on a painting of a pheonix for the last couple of days. I think it's almost done. Of course, I could show my wife--maybe get another "What is it?"--before I claim I'm done. I always love that. As usual, it's been a love-hate process, and I'm not sure where I stand, yet. It's not signed yet, so it's not done.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Collaboration
Well, I have begun a collaboration with a fellow Hatracker. I will leave her unnamed, in case she doesn't want to admit it. For the better part of a week, we've been trading emails., plotting, defining the necessary boundaries, choosing names--generally whittling the details down to a clear image.
So far, so good.
I have managed a little over 2,500 words, so far. I've found myself delving into the research, and including a fair amount of it as the world-building portion of the story so far. I will probably end up going back into it and pouring more character into the mold. It's tentative because my cohort hasn't yet seen it. What started off as a prologue, though, is truly beginning to feel like the makings of an historic parallel to the original story. Maybe it's just me...Sometimes that happens.
In other news, there is a Hatrack conspiracy to create a flash fiction e-zine, led by Jake Freivald. Another collaborative effort, though it consists mainly of a group of aspiring writers. There are plans in the making, and hopefully the result will showcase the best new and established talents in speculative fiction. Hopefully the Hatrackers and Liberty Hall Members will unite to create an explosive e-zine that will spread short-short-fiction support to new corners of the world-wide-web.
So far, so good.
I have managed a little over 2,500 words, so far. I've found myself delving into the research, and including a fair amount of it as the world-building portion of the story so far. I will probably end up going back into it and pouring more character into the mold. It's tentative because my cohort hasn't yet seen it. What started off as a prologue, though, is truly beginning to feel like the makings of an historic parallel to the original story. Maybe it's just me...
In other news, there is a Hatrack conspiracy to create a flash fiction e-zine, led by Jake Freivald. Another collaborative effort, though it consists mainly of a group of aspiring writers. There are plans in the making, and hopefully the result will showcase the best new and established talents in speculative fiction. Hopefully the Hatrackers and Liberty Hall Members will unite to create an explosive e-zine that will spread short-short-fiction support to new corners of the world-wide-web.
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