Putting on my writing shorts

After this focus on short story month, I thought I share my process on the difference between pounding out 2K of promising story and 200 words of suck.

There are couple factors at play with each story:

The Idea - The spark, the thought, the lightbulb that illuminates it all. This is the thing that breathes life into the story. Sometimes this is just an idea that pops into my head, a simple line or two of dialogue, an interstesting situation, a quick character sketch. Othertimes a prompt will light my creative fires. I have the most productive ideas from prompts, especially during May, when I attempt to get out my short story urges for the year. Thankfully for A Story A Day In May, prompts are supplied each day by email. Sometimes those caught my interest, some days they didn't. Short story markets will sometimes have a themes or first line prompts. Then there's the file of ideas I jot down when the mood strikes but time doesn't allow for writing.

The Conflict - The thing that makes this all interesting. While a novel can have lots of main characters and conflicts and resolutions, a short usually only has one of each of these. This requires a bit more planning so words aren't wasted and the story stays on track. Yes, novels need that too, but a short can't afford to wander off on subplots and characters can't take their time to find out who they really are. There's no big plot breakthrough in chapter twelve that pulls everything together. Identifying the thing that makes the story tick from the get go is important. If all you've got is an interesting character there's not much to write about.

The Ending - Be it happy, twisted, or killing everyone, we need resolution. I've noticed I'm more inclined to kill people than have things end happily. I'm sure that says something about me, but we'll save that analysis for another time. It's great to have an idea and a conflict, but if you write yourself into a corner or a plot so twisted that the resolution can't be found, the story goes splat.

These are the big three that I have to have a grasp of before I can embark on a short story. At the beginning of last month I seemed to have my thoughts in order. However, as the month progressed, life intruded, thoughts scattered, and I'd get one or two of these things down, but the rest just didn't fall into place. Over the years I've come to know when something is going to (probably) work, be it a novel or a short. Sometimes I have to push through some rough patches but it works out, other times I'm just spinning my wheels and I need to walk away. I wish I could put my finger on that deciding factor, but it's just a gut feeling learned by writing lots of different stories of lots of different lengths.

It's Q & A time

Thanks to the lovely Sidonie Helena for nominating me for the Liebster Award. We connected a couple months ago during the April A to Z challenge. Whew, that was a busy month! So was May, but now that short story month over, I finally have a chance to graciously accept my shiny award and join the fun.

What fun you say? Well, it seems that this reward entails me stating 11 facts about myself. Let's start there.

1. I haven't had a chance to color my hair in months. It's currently a rainbow of brown, blond and faded magenta.
2. Notice how I didn't call it pink? No sir, I'm not a fan of pink.
3. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons. I love how they smell.
4. I used to be really good at sleeping. I miss that.
5. I write exclusively in MS word.
6. I've reached a place in life where I realize more stuff is just more stuff I have to clean, display, store, and move around. Less stuff is good.
7. I have two new dime-sized angel fish. (Two large palm-sized ones recently died and I missed them.)
8. A Jack Russel mix named Toby keeps me company during the day.
9. When not talking to my discarded characters, I resort to talking to myself. Working at home alone has its privileges.
10. My favorite flower is the Iris.
11. My wardrobe is mostly gray. It used to be mostly black. I'm fashionably fading.

Now I must answer 11 questions posed by Sidonie.

1.What is one thing that you can not live without?
Gum. Specifically Trident bubblegum, though I also like cinnamon and mint.

2.What was your least favorite subject in school?
Math. We have calculators for a reason.

3.Do you prefer talking over the phone or face to face?
Phone. Though, even better, email. Unless we're really chatty, then the phone is easier.

4.What is the last dream that you remember?
I'd have to have a good night of sleep to actually answer that one. Most of the time I'm dreaming about working.

5.Who is the most famous person you have met?
The only person I've actively sought out was Jacqueline Carey at a local book signing. She was very tolerant of our small gang of giddy fans asking writerly questions.

6.Where did you grow up?
Same place I live now, except about four minutes away. I'm comfortable here.

7.If you could live anywhere on earth, where would you live?
About five minutes from here on the property I've been paying on for six years. Did I mention I'm comfortable here?

8.What was the last thing you bought?
Oranges for the red-bellied woodpeckers and orioles

9.Your favorite film is...?
The Princess Bride.

10.Apple or PC?
PC.

11.Do you even like questionnaires? 
Sure. They are much easier to answer than to come up with my own questions and answers.

At this point, I'm supposed to nominate 11 other bloggers. But you know I don't play by the rules. Mwahahaa! I mass nominate all of you! If you're interested, here are your questions:

1. What is your favorite color of socks?
2. What is your current creative project?
3. Dogs or Cats?
4. Beer or Wine?
5. Where is your favorite place to relax?
6. What is the last book you read?
7. What was the last show you watched on TV?
8. Where is your favorite place to walk barefoot?
9. What is your favorite flower?
10. What is the last movie you saw in a theatre?
11. Are you a fan of organization or chaos?

Now go forth and answer.

What to do with all these new short stories?

AKA: How easily distracted I am (in a productive way this one time)

Not even quite halfway through short story month (May) I received a rejection on a short currently featured in my juggling routine. This led to some brief mourning the loss of Duotrope as a free site, and a resigned sigh as I referred to my own market spreadsheet hurriedly gathered in my final days on Duotrope.

This then led clicking on a link for a market to which I'd never submitted. There, a listing of tracking sites on which they were featured on caught my attention. So I clicked through to find a new site very similar to Duotrope. And there was great rejoicing.  The Submission Grinder has all the features I've been missing since January. I'm excited about submitting shorts again!

There's a joke about shipping my shorts in here somewhere but my brain is too fried to formulate it.

If you're a short story writer and are also reluctant to spend the few bucks you happen to make on a short story sale on a couple months of Duotrope membership, I highly recommend The Submission Grinder. They also have listings for novels and everything in between. Go on, check it out. It's free.

Writing Hard(ly) in May pt 5

Day 23: Using the idea I got over the weeked, I was off to a good start first thing in the morning. Then, 450 words in, I realized that my awesome idea wouldn't work in the pov of the person undergoing the physical change I'd implimented. It's hard to be the pov character when you're unconscious for a couple weeks while the interesting stuff is happening. So I had the idea to switch the pov to a new character observing the change. Just over 660 words in I was staring at a page of "meh". The light had gone out. Story fail.

Day 24: I still like the seed I had started with yesterday but it needs a new pot to grow in. Using a secondary prompt, I'm giving it a second go. Blarg 200 words in and this isn't working either.

Day 25: Gave up on the not-so-awesome idea. Tried something completely different. That didn't work either.

I think I've reached the point in the month were my brain is too focused everything else I have going on. When I sit down to write, I play out the story in my head enough to find out that: a) there's not enough conflict b) there's no spark of life in it, or c) nothing really interesting is happening. At any of those points, my fingers freeze on the keys and I realize I'm wasting my time that I don't really have to write as it is and I should just stop for the day so I can get done what I really need to get done.

Not that I'm giving up entirely, but unless something really grabs me, I'm going to focus on getting done what needs to be done so I don't have to be up working until 10pm.

I've ended up with what I think are a handful of fairly good stories and two full revisions that will allow me to get a couple more submissions into my juggling act soon. Yay for that!

Writing Hard(ly) in May pt 4

May is short story month for me for those of you just tuning in. In an effort to keep myself motivated, I'm reporting my daily progress.

Day 17: Was out on installation work most of the day so I wasn't even near a computer to get words in at lunch. In fact, I didn't even get lunch. Then it was a frenzy of packing and getting on the road with the kids for a Boy Scout family camping trip across the state. Though, I did brainstorm on the ending for yesterday's story.

Day 18: Figured I owed the kids some one on one time and I really needed a break from work so I didn't bring my laptop. There's no urge to check email that way. Of course, that also meant there was no writing. I don't to writing by hand. It's just a mess even I have to struggle to decipher.

Day 19: While watching an imax movie about butterflies with my daughter at the Henry Ford mueseum, I got an idea for my next short story. Spent the three and half our drive home outlining it in my head. Now I just have to find time to actually get it written.

Day 20: Playing a major round of catch up at work. I take a couple days off and work piles up. Boo! No writing. No breathing either. My allergies are awful right now.

Day 21: Okay, this is getting really frustrating. Allergies are better, however work is completely overwhelming and stressful.

Day 22: FINALLY. Thanks to some rain, an afternoon installation got cancelled, allowing me to catch up on some other work...which allowed me to sit down and finish the story from Day 16. It took me nearly until midnight to do it, but coming in at 3k, my character prompt story is done! Hooray!

Current monthly effort summary:
5 new shorts
2 shorts revised