I am uncomfortable with self-promotion but I've been advised by Davin and Michelle to mention here on the blog that I've signed a contract with Rhemalda Publishing. My novel The Astrologer will be published in March 2013 unless those Mayans turn out to be right about the end of the world. Rhemalda is the publisher of Michelle's novels, and she assures me that I'm in good hands. That is all. Like I say, I'm not comfortable with self-promotion, and you needn't write congratulatory comments or anything of the sort; I just thought I should mention it. We're here to talk about writing craft, not about my books. Have a swell day.
Oh! I almost forgot! The really cool book, Variations on a Theme, an anthology of stories, will be published by us, the Literary Lab, in two weeks, so save your pennies/shekels/drachma/pence/kopecks and buy a couple of copies when it hits the stands.
Showing posts with label Contests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contests. Show all posts
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Theme and Variations and Themes
So we're all excited about the Third Annual Literary Lab Contest, right? We've all read the two "theme" stories and are now wondering how to create an interesting variation on one or both of these stories, right? Right?
What's that? You're stuck for ideas? You aren't sure how to turn an existing story into something your own without simply paraphrasing it? Well sit yourself down and I'll attempt to give some advice. Actually, "advice" is probably the wrong word. What I'm really going to do is sort of talk about what goes through my mind when I look at these stories and wonder what I'll do with them. It might be messy and pointless, but here goes. Ready?
First, there are some images common to both stories. Each starts with a guy walking through a forest and meeting a woman. One of them is a witch and the other is the man's abandoned wife. Hell, there's plenty of material there. What if both the witch and the abandoned wife showed up at once? or if the man's estranged wife was a witch? What if the witch or the estranged wife was the main character instead of the man? Lots of possibilities.
Next you've got (in the Chekhov) the wife pleased despite herself to see her husband, and she begs him to come home. But what if she wasn't pleased? What if he was trying to weasel his way back into her affections and she didn't want him? What if she'd found someone else? Hmm?
In the Anderson tale, the witch begs the man to do her a favor. She offers riches in payment for his retrieving her magical tinderbox. There must be some ways to turn this around, to spin it sideways, though I can't think of anything this second.
So anyway, in the originals both women want the man to do something for them. You could get all Freudian and examine the idea of the man climbing up a tree to go down its hollow trunk carrying the witch's apron. That's clearly some sort of sexual imagery, isn't it? What on earth is going on with the soldier putting dogs onto the witch's apron and getting money? I have no idea but it's a disturbing image if I dwell on it so I don't. The forest has long been a symbol of feminine sexual presence and power in European fairy tales. So the soldier's already on her turf, in a way, with his rifle or his sword. Lots of freaky area to explore there, unless you want to just say that sometimes a forest is a forest, a hollow tree is a hollow tree, a sword is just a rifle etc and ignore the subliminal sexual images. But note in passing how the witch's request mimics sex while the abandoned wife offers the possibility of actual conjugal sex. Are there kids reading this? Go to bed, kids. Your mother and I are talking.
In the Chekhov story, the man declares that he's happier being single, working on an estate for a lord, and he leaves his wife in the forest, turning back and giving her a ruble out of guilt. This is a story about selfishness and guilt, and because the wife watches her husband as he goes out of sight, still pining for him, it's a story about unfulfilled love and hopeless dreams.
The fairy tale has the typical task-in-three-parts structure, with the stakes and the rewards escalating. It's also clearly (if you ask me) some sort of hybrid, with two stories grafted together: the magic dogs in the magic tree is one story and the forbidden princess in the tower is another story. I might be tempted to only focus on one of these stories. Or I might make the estranged wife the princess in the tower, somehow. Metaphor might be the way to go here.
Setting and tone will determine much of this. I might set it in modern day, and the witch might be a witch or something else. The hunstman/soldier might be a soldier, or he might be an arbitrage trader; I don't know. The whole thing might be told in letters, or via emails or text messages. Hard to say but I don't know how much that matters at this stage. Intriguing, though.
Endings? Well, there are the endings of the "theme" stories, with the huntsman going off without the wife and the soldier getting the girl and the riches. Use them or not as you like. I'll probably look for some other way, and I'm more attracted to the open and indeterminate nature of Chekhov's ending. More things might be to come; we just don't know, do we?
There are multiple characters in these stories, and you could write something from any of their points of view. The huntsman's new employer, maybe. Whoever owns the forest where the action takes place. And maybe the huntsman is The Huntsman, and the abandoned wife is Red Riding Hood and this is years after the Wolf was killed. Who knows? Maybe the soldier is a deserter and he hides in a tree stump and the witch discovers him while looking for her tinderbox, which she needs to light the fire under her oven which contains Hansel and Gretel? The directions you can take these stories are pretty much endless.
Me, I've decided to work forward blindly from this sentence: She was always meeting men in the forest. I have no idea what it means, but that will be a spur to creativity. So good luck, Mighty Writers! Off you go to write!
What's that? You're stuck for ideas? You aren't sure how to turn an existing story into something your own without simply paraphrasing it? Well sit yourself down and I'll attempt to give some advice. Actually, "advice" is probably the wrong word. What I'm really going to do is sort of talk about what goes through my mind when I look at these stories and wonder what I'll do with them. It might be messy and pointless, but here goes. Ready?
First, there are some images common to both stories. Each starts with a guy walking through a forest and meeting a woman. One of them is a witch and the other is the man's abandoned wife. Hell, there's plenty of material there. What if both the witch and the abandoned wife showed up at once? or if the man's estranged wife was a witch? What if the witch or the estranged wife was the main character instead of the man? Lots of possibilities.
Next you've got (in the Chekhov) the wife pleased despite herself to see her husband, and she begs him to come home. But what if she wasn't pleased? What if he was trying to weasel his way back into her affections and she didn't want him? What if she'd found someone else? Hmm?
In the Anderson tale, the witch begs the man to do her a favor. She offers riches in payment for his retrieving her magical tinderbox. There must be some ways to turn this around, to spin it sideways, though I can't think of anything this second.
So anyway, in the originals both women want the man to do something for them. You could get all Freudian and examine the idea of the man climbing up a tree to go down its hollow trunk carrying the witch's apron. That's clearly some sort of sexual imagery, isn't it? What on earth is going on with the soldier putting dogs onto the witch's apron and getting money? I have no idea but it's a disturbing image if I dwell on it so I don't. The forest has long been a symbol of feminine sexual presence and power in European fairy tales. So the soldier's already on her turf, in a way, with his rifle or his sword. Lots of freaky area to explore there, unless you want to just say that sometimes a forest is a forest, a hollow tree is a hollow tree, a sword is just a rifle etc and ignore the subliminal sexual images. But note in passing how the witch's request mimics sex while the abandoned wife offers the possibility of actual conjugal sex. Are there kids reading this? Go to bed, kids. Your mother and I are talking.
In the Chekhov story, the man declares that he's happier being single, working on an estate for a lord, and he leaves his wife in the forest, turning back and giving her a ruble out of guilt. This is a story about selfishness and guilt, and because the wife watches her husband as he goes out of sight, still pining for him, it's a story about unfulfilled love and hopeless dreams.
The fairy tale has the typical task-in-three-parts structure, with the stakes and the rewards escalating. It's also clearly (if you ask me) some sort of hybrid, with two stories grafted together: the magic dogs in the magic tree is one story and the forbidden princess in the tower is another story. I might be tempted to only focus on one of these stories. Or I might make the estranged wife the princess in the tower, somehow. Metaphor might be the way to go here.
Setting and tone will determine much of this. I might set it in modern day, and the witch might be a witch or something else. The hunstman/soldier might be a soldier, or he might be an arbitrage trader; I don't know. The whole thing might be told in letters, or via emails or text messages. Hard to say but I don't know how much that matters at this stage. Intriguing, though.
Endings? Well, there are the endings of the "theme" stories, with the huntsman going off without the wife and the soldier getting the girl and the riches. Use them or not as you like. I'll probably look for some other way, and I'm more attracted to the open and indeterminate nature of Chekhov's ending. More things might be to come; we just don't know, do we?
There are multiple characters in these stories, and you could write something from any of their points of view. The huntsman's new employer, maybe. Whoever owns the forest where the action takes place. And maybe the huntsman is The Huntsman, and the abandoned wife is Red Riding Hood and this is years after the Wolf was killed. Who knows? Maybe the soldier is a deserter and he hides in a tree stump and the witch discovers him while looking for her tinderbox, which she needs to light the fire under her oven which contains Hansel and Gretel? The directions you can take these stories are pretty much endless.
Me, I've decided to work forward blindly from this sentence: She was always meeting men in the forest. I have no idea what it means, but that will be a spur to creativity. So good luck, Mighty Writers! Off you go to write!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
My Book and the "Spread The Word" Contest
Hi everyone,
I'm excited and nervous to announce that I have officially published my first collection, The Wild Grass and Other Stories, available on Amazon.
My excitement comes from the fact that this book contains my favorite and most personal short stories from my last ten years of writing. My nervousness comes mostly from my fear of the unknown. I'm not sure if anybody will care about this book. I'm not sure if anyone will want to read it. But I feel ready to do this. The time has come.
Here's the cover:
Here's a list of some things in the book that I hope you will find cool:
1. a Buddhist exorcism
2. a ghost chase
3. phallocrypts
4. first, second, and third person POV
5. the line "The days passed, one by one, like the repeated washing of a shirt."
6. pink dolphins
7. a stomach stapling brochure
8. characters with names like Kalaya and Subscription
9. a Brazilian gold mine
10. my secrets
I hope you will give my book a chance by buying and reading it. I am very grateful for anyone who does.
Thank you!
As a self-publisher, my biggest worry is that the people who might be interested in this book might not know it exists. With that in mind, I'm holding a contest to get you to help me spread the word. You don't need to buy anything to help me. All you have to do is tell people about the book.
To enter the contest, tell a friend about my book and ask them to e-mail me at dmalasarn (at) gmail (dot) com with the following message pasted in the body of the e-mail:
Dear Davin Malasarn,
I heard about your collection The Wild Grass and Other Stories from (have them write YOUR name here) on sale at Amazon ( http://amzn.to/kwfpap ). I understand that this collection includes your most emotional work and will take readers to exotic locations all around the world.
Signed,
(have them write THEIR name here)
Your friends should insert your name in the first slot above and their name in the second slot.
Simple enough?
I'm giving away three prizes:
Top Prize is a rigorous full manuscript critique (up to ~70,000 words) by me, including two additional critiques of your first ten pages by my epic and talented co-bloggers, Scott G.F. Bailey and Michelle Davidson Argyle. This prize will be given to the person who is responsible for getting the most people to send me entries, counted by the number of times your name appears in the first name slot. You can exchange this for a $100 gift card to any location of your choice if you prefer.
Second Prize is a 50-page manuscript critique by me or a $30 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. This winner will be selected at random from among all of the people whose names appear in the first name slot.
Third Prize is a $50 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. This winner will be selected at random from among the people who e-mail me (the second name slot in the message).
The contest will run until midnight on June 30, 2011. Both people who spread the word and people who e-mail me are eligible to win prizes. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the past and who supports me now. I also want to thank Scott, Michelle, F.P. Adriani, Marie Shield, and Troy Nethercott in general for being there for me. It means so much to me.
I'm excited and nervous to announce that I have officially published my first collection, The Wild Grass and Other Stories, available on Amazon.
My excitement comes from the fact that this book contains my favorite and most personal short stories from my last ten years of writing. My nervousness comes mostly from my fear of the unknown. I'm not sure if anybody will care about this book. I'm not sure if anyone will want to read it. But I feel ready to do this. The time has come.
Here's the cover:
Here's a list of some things in the book that I hope you will find cool:
1. a Buddhist exorcism
2. a ghost chase
3. phallocrypts
4. first, second, and third person POV
5. the line "The days passed, one by one, like the repeated washing of a shirt."
6. pink dolphins
7. a stomach stapling brochure
8. characters with names like Kalaya and Subscription
9. a Brazilian gold mine
10. my secrets
I hope you will give my book a chance by buying and reading it. I am very grateful for anyone who does.
Thank you!
___________________________________________
As a self-publisher, my biggest worry is that the people who might be interested in this book might not know it exists. With that in mind, I'm holding a contest to get you to help me spread the word. You don't need to buy anything to help me. All you have to do is tell people about the book.
Davin's "Spread The Word" Contest
To enter the contest, tell a friend about my book and ask them to e-mail me at dmalasarn (at) gmail (dot) com with the following message pasted in the body of the e-mail:
Dear Davin Malasarn,
I heard about your collection The Wild Grass and Other Stories from (have them write YOUR name here) on sale at Amazon ( http://amzn.to/kwfpap ). I understand that this collection includes your most emotional work and will take readers to exotic locations all around the world.
Signed,
(have them write THEIR name here)
~~~~~~~~~
Your friends should insert your name in the first slot above and their name in the second slot.
Simple enough?
I'm giving away three prizes:
Top Prize is a rigorous full manuscript critique (up to ~70,000 words) by me, including two additional critiques of your first ten pages by my epic and talented co-bloggers, Scott G.F. Bailey and Michelle Davidson Argyle. This prize will be given to the person who is responsible for getting the most people to send me entries, counted by the number of times your name appears in the first name slot. You can exchange this for a $100 gift card to any location of your choice if you prefer.
Second Prize is a 50-page manuscript critique by me or a $30 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. This winner will be selected at random from among all of the people whose names appear in the first name slot.
Third Prize is a $50 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. This winner will be selected at random from among the people who e-mail me (the second name slot in the message).
The contest will run until midnight on June 30, 2011. Both people who spread the word and people who e-mail me are eligible to win prizes. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the past and who supports me now. I also want to thank Scott, Michelle, F.P. Adriani, Marie Shield, and Troy Nethercott in general for being there for me. It means so much to me.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The Literary Lab Trivia Giveaway!
Welcome to the Literary Lab Trivia Giveaway.
Throughout the day (from roughly 9 am to 5 pm PST), we'll be randomly posting trivia questions about literature or our blog in the comments section of this post.
Along with each question will be a prize.
Be the first person to answer correctly, and you'll win the prize!
Easy, huh?
If you're ready, go to the comments section and check it out.
*Note: You won't be getting the prizes until after Christmas, most likely. Sorry! Oh, and there's no limit to how many prizes you can win!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday Filler! With A Contest!
The contest, alas, is not for you, but for us! Read on. But first, this:
Yes, that's Rudolph, standing in my front yard. I Hope Santa doesn't try to repress him again this year, just because his nose glows. Anyway, 'tis Friday and I have some announcements:
Notes From Underground: If you are one of our handsome/lovely contributors, don't forget to send us your submissions by next Wednesday, December 15th! It would be a shame if your stuff didn't get into the anthology. Just saying, in a passive-aggressive threatening manner.
Trivia Contest & Giveaway! The first annual really cool Literary Lab Trivia Contest With Prizes (we'll find a shorter, punchier name soon, I promise) is coming to town! Stop by every hour on Tuesday, December 21st for questions and prizes! I don't know what the questions will be, nor do I know what the prizes will be, but we'll sort that out by the 21st and it will all be amazing.
The Great Mighty Reader Challenge: This is the contest of which I spoke! Domey Malasarn, Michelle Davidson Argyle and I have accepted a challenge from Mighty Reader to each write a story based on an idea/image she has supplied. This came about during Davin's recent visit to the very nice home I share with Mighty Reader. Davin and I were discussing how different our basic methods of creating a story are: he has an initial idea for the beginning and writes away from it while I have an initial idea for an ending and write towards it. Mighty Reader suggested that we each take the same idea and Davin would use it as a starting point and I would use it as an ending point. So we're going to do that. Michelle is going to use the prompt as either a start or end, as she likes. We each have One Week (next week, as it happens) to write our brilliant stories. We'll post them, or links to them maybe, here next Friday. Stay tuned. It will be awfully fun.
Also! It's Friday, and none too soon! This week has made me very tired. Tomorrow we go forth and ritually slaughter an innocent tree, which we'll drag home and cover with lights and tinsel and stuff. There will also be a hot lunch and hopefully cocoa.
Yes, that's Rudolph, standing in my front yard. I Hope Santa doesn't try to repress him again this year, just because his nose glows. Anyway, 'tis Friday and I have some announcements:
Notes From Underground: If you are one of our handsome/lovely contributors, don't forget to send us your submissions by next Wednesday, December 15th! It would be a shame if your stuff didn't get into the anthology. Just saying, in a passive-aggressive threatening manner.
Trivia Contest & Giveaway! The first annual really cool Literary Lab Trivia Contest With Prizes (we'll find a shorter, punchier name soon, I promise) is coming to town! Stop by every hour on Tuesday, December 21st for questions and prizes! I don't know what the questions will be, nor do I know what the prizes will be, but we'll sort that out by the 21st and it will all be amazing.
The Great Mighty Reader Challenge: This is the contest of which I spoke! Domey Malasarn, Michelle Davidson Argyle and I have accepted a challenge from Mighty Reader to each write a story based on an idea/image she has supplied. This came about during Davin's recent visit to the very nice home I share with Mighty Reader. Davin and I were discussing how different our basic methods of creating a story are: he has an initial idea for the beginning and writes away from it while I have an initial idea for an ending and write towards it. Mighty Reader suggested that we each take the same idea and Davin would use it as a starting point and I would use it as an ending point. So we're going to do that. Michelle is going to use the prompt as either a start or end, as she likes. We each have One Week (next week, as it happens) to write our brilliant stories. We'll post them, or links to them maybe, here next Friday. Stay tuned. It will be awfully fun.
Also! It's Friday, and none too soon! This week has made me very tired. Tomorrow we go forth and ritually slaughter an innocent tree, which we'll drag home and cover with lights and tinsel and stuff. There will also be a hot lunch and hopefully cocoa.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Charlie's One-Sentence Story UNcontest
I know it was a joke yesterday when Charlie suggested we have a one-sentence story contest. But, the more I thought about it, the more I figured it could be fun.
So, here's the deal. I'm challenging everyone to write a sentence in the comments section that feels as complete as a story. This is not a contest, but what I'd love to see is a sentence that really captures where you are in your writing right now, in terms of voice, genre, tone, subject matter, etc. Make this YOUR sentence, something that could be identified as yours in a lineup. You're not trying to beat anyone else, but rather you're displaying your "orange" amid all the other "apples," if that makes sense. We have a lot of new followers lately, and I'd love to see what y'all write.
I'll rotate some of the sentences to the front side of this post throughout the day as (and if) they come in.
And, I'll be posting mine...as soon as I think of it.
Later...
Here's one from Jabez:
Six strong men circled the last tree to guard it, but one by one they fell to the axes of the gathering mob and finally so did the tree, and it was cut and split and the pieces piled high to make a pyre for my little girl, who’d wanted nothing but to live, and when the embers died and the ashes scattered I looked out at the blasted land and cried for the world I destroyed for her sake.
and Imelda:
As she sat there in her office chair the morning sun glowed as social media her led from website to website, her mind and thoughts traveled miles before she realized the sun was gone and now the moon was jeering her loss of a day.
and Justus:
Even the 'Crimson Mountain', looming above all his fellow dragons, stood anxiously in the shadow of Theikuv; only the sky dared look down upon the mountain, and for that indignity it had received a vicious thrust from a jagged peak.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
GIVEAWAY Winners!
Thanks to everyone who entered our book giveaway! Davin pulled the winners this morning using Random.org, and the winners are:
CINDERS goes to Mmm!
GENRE WARS goes to AlphaChick!
and OPIUM Magazine goes to Paul Greci!
Winners, please send your address to Michelle at ladyglamis (at) gmail (dot) com. We'll need to hear from you soon so we know you've accepted your prize. We'll get your book out to you as soon as possible. Thanks!
CINDERS goes to Mmm!
GENRE WARS goes to AlphaChick!
and OPIUM Magazine goes to Paul Greci!
Winners, please send your address to Michelle at ladyglamis (at) gmail (dot) com. We'll need to hear from you soon so we know you've accepted your prize. We'll get your book out to you as soon as possible. Thanks!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Book Giveaway!
Today we're celebrating some of the talent in our very own blogging community by giving away three publications by our authors and regular commenters!
First, Michelle Davidson Argyle's Cinders, an emotional and adventurous tale of Cinderella after the happily ever after.
Second, our Genre Wars Anthology Volume I, containing a mix of great short stories from several different genres. Writers include Frances O'Brien, Anne Gallagher, Loren Eaton, Simon Larter, C. N. Nevets, and others.
Third, Opium Magazine's Opium 9, The Mania Issue, which contains our ambitious collaborative story written by 18 different writers including yours truly, Scott G. F. Bailey, Michelle Davidson Argyle, Natalie Whipple, Kathy Fish, Mary Miller, and Kuzhali Manickavel, among others.
If you'd like to be entered into a random drawing for each of the books, just leave a comment below to let us know. I'm taking this opportunity to tell all of you how wonderful it is for me to be surrounded by so many talented writers with such a passion for writing.
Thank you all for reading our posts and for having this daily conversation with us here at The Literary Lab.
Otherwise, please know how grateful I am to have been able to interact with all of you over the last year and several months. And, of course you can buy any of these books on your own. E-book versions of Cinders and Genre Wars Volume I are also available.
Also, remember about our Notes From Underground contest! Less than two weeks left to take a shot at having your work included in our next anthology.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Winner
Thanks to all of you who participated in my "memory" game on Friday. I still haven't been able to rewrite that scene because now I'm all tainted with some of the rewrites you posted and it's all muddy and, well, I'm just being lazy, too.
My three-year-old, Darcy, picked Simon as the winner from a little yellow bowl she calls her IKEA bowl because the one time we've gone there, that's what we got her and she loves them. So, congrats, Simon! Send me your first page of whatever you like for an in-depth critique. If that floats your boat.
By the way, everyone, be sure to read Davin's excellent post today, and read Scott's comment, too. We're wondering why you keep coming back here because we're planning on making some changes, but we're not sure which direction to take it yet.
My three-year-old, Darcy, picked Simon as the winner from a little yellow bowl she calls her IKEA bowl because the one time we've gone there, that's what we got her and she loves them. So, congrats, Simon! Send me your first page of whatever you like for an in-depth critique. If that floats your boat.
By the way, everyone, be sure to read Davin's excellent post today, and read Scott's comment, too. We're wondering why you keep coming back here because we're planning on making some changes, but we're not sure which direction to take it yet.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Genre Wars Contest Ending Thoughts
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our Genre Wars contest, either by entering your work, by spreading the word, or simply by not calling us names when you heard about it.
We closed our submissions late Tuesday night, ending with far more entries than we had anticipated. (I was personally hoping for 50 pieces, and we got a lot more than 50.) Michelle, Scott, and I are now in the process of reading and reviewing each story. All three of us have our own ranking scales, and--though we agree on some great stories--there are plenty that we will have to debate and discuss when we're done. I think we're all excited about that and hope that we don't resort to cannibalism as a way of making our case.
When we sell the anthology (as a POD publication) all of the proceeds will be donated to one of the charity groups we feature here--we're not done with that part of things yet. The charity group will be voted on by readers.
As you all know, the submissions process was kept anonymous to the three of us. All emails sent to our joined address was only opened by our very dedicated and selfless helper, Becca Brown--thank you so much, Becca! Occasionally she forwarded some non-contest-related messages to us, but everything else was kept secret. Only after our decision process is over will we allow ourselves to see the names of the authors, and we're still not sure if we will look at writers of the stories we don't accept.
Do you all have opinions on that?
Next, we're going to finish all of our work and put together the anthology. Winners from each genre will be announced on January 7th, and the "best of show" winner will be announced as well. Each of these stories will be in the anthology, and we'll also post them up on our blog, along with interviews of the writers. Additionally, several other stories will be selected for the anthology. And, of course our little prizes.
When we sell the anthology (as a POD publication) all of the proceeds will be donated to one of the charity groups we feature here--we're not done with that part of things yet. The charity group will be voted on by readers.
And, since the three of us have been debating on what to do about the cover of the anthology, we thought we'd invite anyone who is interested to submit a cover idea. So, spread the word to your artist friends! We'll also be coming up with some ideas of our own, hopefully. That's right, it's a contest for a contest. But a far less organized one.
Send your entries as a .jpg attachment to LiteraryLab (at) gmail (dot) com by December 21st 12:00 p.m. PST. All artwork must be original and you must be the copyright holder in order for us to use your cover art!
Send your entries as a .jpg attachment to LiteraryLab (at) gmail (dot) com by December 21st 12:00 p.m. PST. All artwork must be original and you must be the copyright holder in order for us to use your cover art!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Let's Watch the Paint Dry
In case you missed it, Rick Daley is holding a short fiction (300-500 words) contest over on The Public Query Slushpile. It looks like fun. As much fun as watching paint dry, even! Go check it out!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The. End.
I'm very close to finishing the complete rewrite of my novel, Monarch. This means I'm halfway through the last chapter, which means I'm trying to write as slowly as possible. I want to wrap everything up. I want to create an ending that satisfies both me and my readers.
I recently met with a blogging friend to discuss her novel. She looked at me with a dejected expression, her shoulders falling. Not a lot of people "got" her book, she said. Not a lot of people understood why it ends the way it does. We later figured out why, and I'm convinced that if her book sells, she'll have a lot of controversy over that ending even though it's a perfectly valid and good ending. I haven't read the book, but I know I'll love it if I do.
The truth is, we all like different endings. You can't write an end that will please every single reader. You know that saying you can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time? So true.
Either way, I'm interested to see what most of our readers like! So take a minute to vote on the few questions below. Yes, there is chocolate.
What makes a story ending satisfactory for you?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Writing Merit Badges
I'm not an Eagle Scout. I made it as far as First Class in Troop 174, but I quit just before my second Survival Camp Out because I wasn't up to chopping the head off a live chicken and then eating that chicken for dinner. (Yeah, we were hardcore. Luckily for me, the first Survival Camp Out was vegetarian, and all I had to do was cook an egg in an orange peel.)
And, while I admit that I don't get to use my semaphore as much as I would like, the boy scout program taught me at least one thing that is essential when you're setting out to accomplish a big goal like publishing a novel--You have to set smaller goals and celebrate your accomplishments along the way.
So, I'm offering up a list of writing merit badges to celebrate the fact that--whether our books have been published or not--we have all accomplished some important things that we shouldn't overlook:
Point of View Merit Badge: You get this one if you've written in more than one point of view and can actually tell them apart.
Showing and Telling Merit Badge: You get this if you can tell the difference between showing and telling and have done both in your writing.
Punctuation Merit Badge: You get this if you have correctly used a period, question mark, exclamation mark, semi-colon, colon, and the variety of dashes in your stories, even if you ended up taking them out again.
Good Grammar Merit Badge: You get this if you can properly diagram a sentence.
Short Story Merit Badge: Have you finished a short story? I mean, really finished it? You get this merit badge! Have you submitted it to Genre Wars? If so, you get the first ever:
Genre Wars Merit Badge
Which might also get you the Short Story Publishing Merit Badge (Flash Fiction accepted).
Outline Merit Badge: For anyone who has completed an outline
Plot diagram Merit Badge: For anyone who has completed a plot diagram
Good Critique Merit Badge: You get this if you have offered up your work and critiqued a fellow writer's work in a constructive way.
First Novel Draft Merit Badge: Yes, even if it's not done, getting to the end of a first draft is a big accomplishment!
Query Letter Merit Badge: For finishing that dreaded query letter
Synopsis Merit Badge: For finishing that even more-dreaded synopsis
Public Reading Merit Badge: If you've read some of your work in front of an audience. Bonus points if there was a microphone involved.
(Are you ready for some more challenging ones?)
First Completed Novel Merit Badge
Second Completed Novel Merit Badge
Third Completed--Oh, you get the point.
Publishing Merit Badge (Self or Non-self accepted as long as you can offer a book for me to read.)
Acquiring an Agent Merit Badge
Acquiring a Publishing Contract Merit Badge
Getting your first Fan Mail Merit Badge
Seeing Someone Reading Your Book On the Subway Merit Badge
Obviously not everyone will try to earn all of these merit badges. We have to pick and choose our steps based on our own personal goals. But, let's celebrate the completion of those steps and not forget that we are constantly making progress as long as we push ourselves to become better writers.
So, which merit badges should be listed here that aren't already? Which merit badges have you earned? Or, perhaps more importantly: Do you take the time to celebrate your goals, even if they aren't your ultimate goal?
Friday, September 11, 2009
Our Big Announcement!
Today is the last day of our week on shorts, and we'd like to announce our 2009 Genre Wars Fiction Writing Contest!
We invite fiction writers to submit your 1 to 2,000-word short stories to us. The contest deadline is December 1, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PST, and we plan to announce the winners on January 7, 2010, which marks the Literary Lab's 1st anniversary. Multiple submissions allowed.
With Genre Wars, we want to celebrate all genres of writing. So, whether you write science-fiction/fantasy, horror/crime, literary, romance/women's fiction, children's literature/middle grade/young adult, or experimental, send in your work!
Write something new. Send something old. Polish something up. If you've never written a short story before, now's your chance to try it out!
Prizes
20-30 special selections will be chosen for inclusion in the 1st Genre Wars Anthology. All of the profits from this print-on-demand publication will be donated to a writing/reading non-profit organization that will be announced in the future.
6 genre class winners will be selected, one from each of the genres listed above (assuming we have entries in all genres). Each of these stories will be posted on our blog, followed by an author interview. Each winner will also receive a $10 gift card to a book store of their choice.
1 overall winner will be selected from the genre class winners. In addition to the prizes listed above, this writer will receive an additional $50 gift card to the book store of their choice.
Contest Guidelines
1. E-mail your 1 to 2,000-word short story to LiteraryLab@gmail.com before December 1, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Paste the work in the body of the e-mail with breaks between paragraphs (hit return twice). We will be reading all submissions blind, thanks to a kind volunteer who will send us the entries with all names removed. No attachments will be opened.
2. In your e-mail subject line type GENRE WARS ENTRY. In the body of the email include your name, the title of your work, word count, and which genre category you'd like to compete in: 1. science fiction/fantasy, 2. horror/crime, 3. literary, 4. romance, 5. children's literature/middle grade/young adult, or 6. experimental--yes, you have to pick one.
3. Works must be previously unpublished, and we ask for the rights to post the winning stories online and/or in print in the anthology. Afterwards, you are free to include the story in your own collections or as a reprint in another anthology.
Judging
The judges for this contest will be the Literary Lab co-authors: Michelle Davidson Argyle, Scott G. F. Bailey, and Davin Malasarn. (We'll temporarily post our own writing samples in the comments section.)
Please Spread The Word!
We've created a button for you to put on your blog posts, sidebars, and websites. Please help us spread the word. The more entries we get, the more exciting it will be for everybody! Remember, all proceeds of the Anthology go to charity.
If you're uncomfortable dealing with graphics, advertise any other way you wish. I've pasted some directions in the comments. Thank you! Let the entries begin! We can't wait to read your work. We're excited!
1 overall winner will be selected from the genre class winners. In addition to the prizes listed above, this writer will receive an additional $50 gift card to the book store of their choice.
Contest Guidelines
1. E-mail your 1 to 2,000-word short story to LiteraryLab@gmail.com before December 1, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Paste the work in the body of the e-mail with breaks between paragraphs (hit return twice). We will be reading all submissions blind, thanks to a kind volunteer who will send us the entries with all names removed. No attachments will be opened.
2. In your e-mail subject line type GENRE WARS ENTRY. In the body of the email include your name, the title of your work, word count, and which genre category you'd like to compete in: 1. science fiction/fantasy, 2. horror/crime, 3. literary, 4. romance, 5. children's literature/middle grade/young adult, or 6. experimental--yes, you have to pick one.
3. Works must be previously unpublished, and we ask for the rights to post the winning stories online and/or in print in the anthology. Afterwards, you are free to include the story in your own collections or as a reprint in another anthology.
Judging
The judges for this contest will be the Literary Lab co-authors: Michelle Davidson Argyle, Scott G. F. Bailey, and Davin Malasarn. (We'll temporarily post our own writing samples in the comments section.)
Please Spread The Word!
We've created a button for you to put on your blog posts, sidebars, and websites. Please help us spread the word. The more entries we get, the more exciting it will be for everybody! Remember, all proceeds of the Anthology go to charity.
If you're uncomfortable dealing with graphics, advertise any other way you wish. I've pasted some directions in the comments. Thank you! Let the entries begin! We can't wait to read your work. We're excited!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Writing Less Efficiently
I'm going to break with my tradition of posting filler on Fridays, and instead I'd like to talk about use of words, specifically repetition of one word versus using synonyms. When I was a wee sprig of a boy in grammar school, one of my teachers claimed that repeating a word in a piece of prose was Bad Writing. For example, if you are writing about a wagon, you should not use the word "wagon" twice in the same sentence, or paragraph, or on the same page even. Instead of repetition, writers are supposed to follow the rule of "Elegant Variation," where you find synonyms for "wagon" and use those instead, or recast sentences to avoid naming the object in question. I heard this advice later on in college, and I've read it in books about writing, too. I know professional editors who also believe this is a good rule to follow. My opinion?
In a lot of instances, this rule is complete and utter bullshit. There, I've said it. Now I'll give an example of what I mean.
In researching this post, I ran across the article How to Write Less Efficiently, by Arthur A. Stern, The English Journal © 1967. I quote his wonderful article in part:
"The student comes away with the impression that repeating words and phrases is a Bad Thing. His writing, accordingly, may be dreary, ineffective, and unnecessarily hard to read. Let us see what might have happened if Abraham Lincoln had received such advice and taken it seriously. Lincoln is reported to have said
It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time.
We perceive immediately that Mr. Lincoln has succeeded rather poorly in avoiding repetition. No matter. We shall repair his rhetoric by using synonyms and pronouns as the handbooks recommend:
It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even deceive some of them on every occasion; but it is not always possible to trick everyone.
There. Doesn't the style sound familiar?"
Pardon me while I laugh again, because I find stuff like this to be hi-sterical. Okay, I'm done now.
Here's the thing: it is perfectly acceptable to use the same word to describe something as often as you need to. Why? Because sometimes, there is only one perfect word for that thing (object, action or whatever). Use it. The goal is to communicate your meaning to your reader, not to show that you own a thesaurus. While editors and writers are noticing that you've repeated yourself, your reader will be taking note of the point you're making, so You Win.
Here's a fine example of repetition, from D.H. Lawrence:
She remembered to have hated her father’s overbearing manner towards her gentle, humorous, kindly-souled mother. She remembered running over the breakwater at Sheerness and finding the boat. She remembered to have been petted and flattered by all the men when she had gone to the dockyard, for she was a delicate, rather proud child. She remembered the funny old mistress, whose assistant she had become, whom she had loved to help in the private school.
Note: unless you are deliberately repeating a sentence structure for effect, it's best not to begin sentences with the same word over and over. You fall into a repetitive rhythm which might lull your reader to sleep. All the usual caveats about that, too, of course.
Another good example of repetition is the "honorable men" speech from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."
Are you writing about an emotion, like guilt? You can refer to guilt with the word "guilt." You don't have to find absurd synonyms for it like "the miasma of regret" or "the rusting-through of my soul" or whatever. Please don't. Please, I beg of you. Don't. I'll come to your house and hit you. Hard.
Let's talk about dialogue tags, where this sort of thing rears its amazingly ugly head too often. If you find yourself writing, for example,
"...I said to the tall, handsome stranger"
or
"...I said to the red-haired dwarf"
instead of
"...I said to him"
or
"...I said to [Name of Character]"
then take a moment, take a breath, and calm down. You don't need to do this. First, you can probably cut every instance of "to [X]" after "...I said." Really, give it a try and see what happens. Clarity of prose, I'm betting. Second, you can probably eliminate about half your dialogue tags without losing your reader. Every line of speech does not require tagging. Your readers are bright. Third, those awkward descriptive tags that avoid pronouns or the character name are, well, awkward and frankly not a little silly. You look silly when you use them. Are you writing a comedy in a comic style? No? Then knock it off.
The thing to remember about synonyms, which is a thing that makes our language (no matter what your native tongue) so immensely fabulous and fun to play with, is that they are Not Direct Substitutes. Hot, sweltering, steamy, warm and blistering all have to do with heat, but they do Not All Mean Exactly The Same Thing. If you use that thesaurus, use your dictionary too. Nothing's worse than using a word that doesn't mean what you think it means. People will roll their eyes and say nasty things about you behind your back. Sometimes in front of you, too. So realize that there are shades of meaning in all of these words, and you should pick the word that best reflects what you mean in your writing. I suggest leaning on that word as much as you have to and leaving your thesaurus alone. See if your prose isn't clearer and more easily understood.
Last-minute addition: A contest!
Click here for details about a chance to pitch your novel to a collection of top-level agents! Obey the entry rules.
In a lot of instances, this rule is complete and utter bullshit. There, I've said it. Now I'll give an example of what I mean.
In researching this post, I ran across the article How to Write Less Efficiently, by Arthur A. Stern, The English Journal © 1967. I quote his wonderful article in part:
"The student comes away with the impression that repeating words and phrases is a Bad Thing. His writing, accordingly, may be dreary, ineffective, and unnecessarily hard to read. Let us see what might have happened if Abraham Lincoln had received such advice and taken it seriously. Lincoln is reported to have said
It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time.
We perceive immediately that Mr. Lincoln has succeeded rather poorly in avoiding repetition. No matter. We shall repair his rhetoric by using synonyms and pronouns as the handbooks recommend:
It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even deceive some of them on every occasion; but it is not always possible to trick everyone.
There. Doesn't the style sound familiar?"
Pardon me while I laugh again, because I find stuff like this to be hi-sterical. Okay, I'm done now.
Here's the thing: it is perfectly acceptable to use the same word to describe something as often as you need to. Why? Because sometimes, there is only one perfect word for that thing (object, action or whatever). Use it. The goal is to communicate your meaning to your reader, not to show that you own a thesaurus. While editors and writers are noticing that you've repeated yourself, your reader will be taking note of the point you're making, so You Win.
Here's a fine example of repetition, from D.H. Lawrence:
She remembered to have hated her father’s overbearing manner towards her gentle, humorous, kindly-souled mother. She remembered running over the breakwater at Sheerness and finding the boat. She remembered to have been petted and flattered by all the men when she had gone to the dockyard, for she was a delicate, rather proud child. She remembered the funny old mistress, whose assistant she had become, whom she had loved to help in the private school.
Note: unless you are deliberately repeating a sentence structure for effect, it's best not to begin sentences with the same word over and over. You fall into a repetitive rhythm which might lull your reader to sleep. All the usual caveats about that, too, of course.
Another good example of repetition is the "honorable men" speech from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."
Are you writing about an emotion, like guilt? You can refer to guilt with the word "guilt." You don't have to find absurd synonyms for it like "the miasma of regret" or "the rusting-through of my soul" or whatever. Please don't. Please, I beg of you. Don't. I'll come to your house and hit you. Hard.
Let's talk about dialogue tags, where this sort of thing rears its amazingly ugly head too often. If you find yourself writing, for example,
"...I said to the tall, handsome stranger"
or
"...I said to the red-haired dwarf"
instead of
"...I said to him"
or
"...I said to [Name of Character]"
then take a moment, take a breath, and calm down. You don't need to do this. First, you can probably cut every instance of "to [X]" after "...I said." Really, give it a try and see what happens. Clarity of prose, I'm betting. Second, you can probably eliminate about half your dialogue tags without losing your reader. Every line of speech does not require tagging. Your readers are bright. Third, those awkward descriptive tags that avoid pronouns or the character name are, well, awkward and frankly not a little silly. You look silly when you use them. Are you writing a comedy in a comic style? No? Then knock it off.
The thing to remember about synonyms, which is a thing that makes our language (no matter what your native tongue) so immensely fabulous and fun to play with, is that they are Not Direct Substitutes. Hot, sweltering, steamy, warm and blistering all have to do with heat, but they do Not All Mean Exactly The Same Thing. If you use that thesaurus, use your dictionary too. Nothing's worse than using a word that doesn't mean what you think it means. People will roll their eyes and say nasty things about you behind your back. Sometimes in front of you, too. So realize that there are shades of meaning in all of these words, and you should pick the word that best reflects what you mean in your writing. I suggest leaning on that word as much as you have to and leaving your thesaurus alone. See if your prose isn't clearer and more easily understood.
Last-minute addition: A contest!
Click here for details about a chance to pitch your novel to a collection of top-level agents! Obey the entry rules.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Clarity, Contest and a Concert
This is a three-part post today, none of the three parts connected but I wanted all of this out here anyway. We'll see how it goes.
Part 1: Clarity
I've been working on revisions to my novel, which an agent would like to submit for publication if I ever send him back the revised ms. Soon, Jeff, I promise. The biggest piece of advice I can give you about revisions at this point? Put down the pen (or step away from the keyboard) until you can answer the following questions, in one sentence each:
What does my protagonist want?
Why does he want it?
Who is stopping him from having that?
What does that person want?
What are the consequences of the protagonist getting/not getting what he wants?
They seem like simple, obvious questions, but I really think that most of us can't--at first, anyway--give simple, clear answers to these questions. And that means that our stories themselves lack clarity. Oh, heck, let's not say "lack clarity;" let's go ahead and say that our stories tend to be vague when it comes to characters and motivations and theme, because we ourselves are vague about it. If someone tries to pin us down about what our characters are like, we wriggle around and claim that we can't explain our protagonists, because they're complicated, well-rounded characters. Which is just bosh. We can't explain them when we don't know them. So spend as long as you need to figure out who your characters are. When you do know, the story itself (in my experience) becomes crystal clear and you see immediately what parts of your plot or prose work and what parts don't, and you'll be able to tell the story with narrative clarity for which your agent and editor and readers will all thank you.
Part 2: Contest
Barbara Kingsolver, author of "The Poisonwood Bible" among other very good books, is having a contest for unpublished novelists. The Bellwether Prize for fiction consists of a $25,000USD cash payment to the author of the winning manuscript as well as guaranteed publication. The works must address social justice, which does not mean it has to be literary fiction; I believe genre fiction is also allowed. After all, Ursula K. LeGuin has been a past judge for the prize, and we all know about her. So check it out, socially-conscious authors!
Part 3: Concert
This isn't writing-related at all, but accordion virtuoso Maggie Kim has liver cancer and needs a transplant. She also needs the money for the transplant, so some of her friends are having a benefit concert. If you're in Seattle or thereabouts, come down for it:
Part 1: Clarity
I've been working on revisions to my novel, which an agent would like to submit for publication if I ever send him back the revised ms. Soon, Jeff, I promise. The biggest piece of advice I can give you about revisions at this point? Put down the pen (or step away from the keyboard) until you can answer the following questions, in one sentence each:
What does my protagonist want?
Why does he want it?
Who is stopping him from having that?
What does that person want?
What are the consequences of the protagonist getting/not getting what he wants?
They seem like simple, obvious questions, but I really think that most of us can't--at first, anyway--give simple, clear answers to these questions. And that means that our stories themselves lack clarity. Oh, heck, let's not say "lack clarity;" let's go ahead and say that our stories tend to be vague when it comes to characters and motivations and theme, because we ourselves are vague about it. If someone tries to pin us down about what our characters are like, we wriggle around and claim that we can't explain our protagonists, because they're complicated, well-rounded characters. Which is just bosh. We can't explain them when we don't know them. So spend as long as you need to figure out who your characters are. When you do know, the story itself (in my experience) becomes crystal clear and you see immediately what parts of your plot or prose work and what parts don't, and you'll be able to tell the story with narrative clarity for which your agent and editor and readers will all thank you.
Part 2: Contest
Barbara Kingsolver, author of "The Poisonwood Bible" among other very good books, is having a contest for unpublished novelists. The Bellwether Prize for fiction consists of a $25,000USD cash payment to the author of the winning manuscript as well as guaranteed publication. The works must address social justice, which does not mean it has to be literary fiction; I believe genre fiction is also allowed. After all, Ursula K. LeGuin has been a past judge for the prize, and we all know about her. So check it out, socially-conscious authors!
Part 3: Concert
This isn't writing-related at all, but accordion virtuoso Maggie Kim has liver cancer and needs a transplant. She also needs the money for the transplant, so some of her friends are having a benefit concert. If you're in Seattle or thereabouts, come down for it:
Friday, April 17, 2009
My Writing Progress
This week I've been taking a lesson from Scott G. F. Bailey's hand-written notebook. A dear friend of mine got me a fountain pen, and I've been working on my book without the use of my computer. It was a little rocky at first. I wrote things like "test, test, test" and my own name. Then, because I still wasn't ready to write, I decided to draw pictures of the shanty where my characters live and the soccer field where they play ball. I drew a little sketch of my protagonist's gambling father watching a cock-fighting match. The feathers. The spray of blood. His squinting eyes hungry for money--Did I mention I studied studio art in college?
Slowly, my brain constructed more details of this opening scene that I have had so much trouble writing. Some things that I thought I would write no longer seemed all that logical. New, exciting, emotionally-juicy details spat out. I realized my protagonist was being too passive in the scene and suddenly he was active. Suddenly, he was guilty of making the situation worse...maybe even starting this entire mess that is the rest of his life!
The pen came from Little Tokyo here in Los Angeles. I'm not sure how much it cost, but it's no Sheaffer Agio Signature Pen. Still, it did its job very* nicely.
I also got some more nice publishing news. Last week I told you I was a finalist in Opium8's publishing contest. A couple of days ago, editor Todd Zuniga e-mailed me and told me I was a "finalist-finalist." I'm in the top 9 and Opium Magazine is publishing my story in their print magazine. I also got a story acceptance from Noo Journal (which I had mentioned liking before) for a story I wrote a couple of years ago based on my trip to the iron mines in Brazil. It's called "God In Frogs" and will be coming out at the end of the year.
*That's for you, Scott.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
My Update On Publishing
At last after a few bland weeks of "I'm not exactly sure what to do with my novel," I have some news to share on a couple of other publishing fronts.
First, my story "Red Man, Blue Man," is currently being discussed at The Los Angeles Review. I submitted it to them a few days ago, and the fiction editor reported back and said "I really dig this story." She suggested a few small revisions and is now asking the other editors if they are willing to accept it. I'm hoping they will, but even if they don't, it's really nice to get approval from the editor.
Second, I found out that my short short story "Sacred Bodies" is a finalist in Opium8's 500-Word Memoir Contest, judged by Tom Perrotta, the author of Election and Little Children. This feels nice for me because Opium Magazine markets itself as a humorous literary publication, and I've always been intimidated by the thought of writing something funny. Thanks to Proust I'm trying to be more funny--mostly by just being honest--and it's actually paying off. They are going to announce a winner of the contest at the end of May, but I'm quite content with knowing that I'm a finalist.
These two bits of news feel especially good because I wrote both of these stories very recently, after I felt like I found my voice. So, hopefully, I'm not just deluding myself, and other people can see my improvement as well.
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