Clues to a Great Story

From Ted and Imgur.

Clues to a Great Story

Flash Fiction Opportunity

Splickety Magazine publishes flash fiction and some micro fiction on many genres, including Spec.

For more information go to their Submission Guideline page on their web site.

Spec Short Story Contest

Stone Thread is hosting a short story contest in the Speculative genre.

They are looking for short stories (1000-10,000 words) in a post apocalyptic setting.

Check out their contest page for the details.

StoneThread SpecFic Short Story Contest III

Humans Are Scary

I am so glad I found this again.

So much of the time in Science Fictions, humans are looked upon as the weakest link. But perhaps we over emphasize this.

Take a look at this:

Humans are scary as...

Another Imgur Cheat Sheet for Writers.

Hey, with my schedule, I need all the help in the world.

Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers.

Writing Help from Imgur?

Who'd a thunk?

Still, I don't want to lose this chart. It may come in handy one day when life allows me to catch my breath long enough to write again!

Break Down of Emotions, as opposed to Emotional Breakdown.  ;)

Realm Makers Conference

Here is a direct link to the Realm Makers Conference home page.

Realm Makers

Looks to be really good.

New Blogs on List

Yes, I know.
I've been MIA or AWOL or something.

But even so, my spec. brain is still at work.

First off, I was able to go to a small, local writer's retreat with my sister-in-law, fellow writer, and bookstore owner. We had a blast at the Carlinville's Writer's Guild. I'd link their page, but I don't see one. They have a facebook page, but I've never had luck linking and following facebook links. So I'll link them here.
(They asked me to get back to them on whether or not the retreat has inspired me to write more. I have to say, yes, the inspiration is here. But it didn't add more hours to my too busy days so, no I haven't written much. But I'm inspired to try to figure out how better to get to it.)

The second thing I got to do was to meet some fellow Avenir Eclectia Writers which I may get into later, because it really was a great to just be in the same room with people who understand the spec. brain. Here's more about it here: Avenir Girl's Day.

Okay, onto the blogs. I've added Where Light Pierces the Darkness, Speculative Faith, Jennifer Eifrig's blog, and The Factotum's Rostrum. Check them out if you haven't been there before.

M.K. Gilroy on Google

Just wanted to link it here for my own reference and to help any others that could benefit from it.

10 Ways Google Can Help You as a Writer.

Imagery and Other Things in C.S. Lewis's works

Someone shared this on my writer's loop and I wanted to post it here so that I can refer back to it:

Literary Techniques in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"

Inside Avenir Eclectia: Nomads

I added some more info on Inside Avenir Eclectia concerning Nomads:

A Few Notes on Nomads

Installment #10 up at Avenir Eclectia

#10, "Sanja's Veil" is up. It is a rare look inside the mind of an Eclectia Nomad.

http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/12/sanjas-veil.html

Three New Blogs Added to Blog List

For those interested in writing for Avenir Eclectia, there is a place with much info concerning this shared universe. The blog is called "Inside Avenir Eclectia" and hosted by Grace Bridges, founder of the Avenir Eclectia story world.

Through my friend, Walt, I found "Rocket Science for the Rest of Us" hosted by Karina Fabian. Okay, I admit it. I have it in my blog roll for my own sake because I'M interested in space and rocket science. Walt is doing a smash up job giving an eye witness to the space race starting in the fifties.

The third and final addition is "Travis's Big Idea". Hey, I listen to anyone who can help me get my mind around dimensions that the human mind cannot naturally detect. He is also in my list so I can find him faster. Anyone else who wants to tag along can enjoy the benefit. Also, Travis is a fellow AE author exploring ideas and pushing creativity in Grace's playground for speculative writers.

Number 9 Is Up At Avenir Eclectia

What could be worse than the dreaded Avenir Eclectia ailment "Ash Lung". Well, if Jereth Davis is telling the truth this time, the answer may lie here:

http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/11/worse-than-ash-lung.html

Installment # 8 Up At Avenir Eclectia

#8, "The Offering" is up. Thanks to those who have commented over there already.

http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/11/offering.html

Titles in Flash Fiction

In flash fiction, every word counts and often does double duty.
Because you can use precious few words, the title becomes even more important and can be utilized to do double duty.
The title can help place the characters in their setting so less words are need in the body of the work.
Grace doest this in "Maddie's Pub" on Avenir Eclectia by letting the reader know where this story takes place even before it starts.
http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/05/maddies-pub.html

It can also can be used to foreshadow and add extra 'punch' to the last line or hook of the story. I did this in "Just Remember".
http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/09/just-remember-flashback.html

These are two ways to get the most out of your titles. I wouldn't mind knowing more ways if anyone has any ideas.

Installment # 7 Is Up At Avenir Eclectia

I'm kind of excited about this one.

It's my first attempt to interact with other people's characters, Grace's Maddie, and Kat's Jax.
I hope to do more of this in the future.

http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/10/meeting-at-maddies.html

Installment # 6 Is Up On Avenir Eclectia

Dangerous Jobs, #6 of my story thread is up on Avenir Eclectia.

http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/10/dangerous-jobs.html

It's fun pulling some of the stories together.

Power of Imagination

I Reckon entirely upon the reader to add for himself the subjective elements that are lacking in the story.
--Anton Chekhov

It is true that writers have imagination. But so do readers.
I've heard it said that there are actually two stories contained in every book. There is the story that the writer wrote and then the story the reader reads.
I know this is true for me.
Have you ever read a book and then tried to watch a movie made from it. It never looks anything like I imagined, even with movies that stick close to the book. How the movie is visually made is based on the imagination and vision of someone else. And their pictures and take away info is different from everybody elses.

The reader fills in the holes and creates their own visual of a story that may differ a bit from what the writer envisioned. But this is not a bad thing.

And flash or micro-fiction leave more holes than regular story telling. Because word count is so low, fewer words are used. It's kind of like trying to get a overloaded airplane or other flying ship off the ground. It's too heavy and you have to start throwing things overboard.
In a story, a lot of description has to get tossed out. Not all of it, by any means. There has to be some setting, otherwise our characters are floating in space with nothing to attach to. But there are a lot of holes, a lot of details left out because they have to be. If they aren't, then the writing is all description with little or no action or plot.

So as flash fiction writers, we have to have faith in the imagination of the reader, that it will be strong enough to fill in the details. I find this leap of faith exhilarating

Avoiding the "Skim Zone"

If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as thought writer had stated them -- Ernest Hemingway

I also remember reading somewhere that a writer should only write what the reader will read, implying that there should be no skim-worthy prose in what we write.

I'm a novel writer trying to write flash or micro fiction for Avenir Eclectia. It is a true challenge to get "The Big Picture" down in micro sound bites. Even though I look at each piece as a chapter to a whole, they are very short chapters. AND the power in each chapter has to be ramped up, no setting or info dump filler allowed.

This became abundantly clear when I had a 'chapter' that I was working on and it wasn't working. Long and short, I realized that it simply wasn't powerful enough nor important enough to justify its existence on Avenir Eclectia.

So what did I do?

The only thing I could do.

I scrapped the whole piece.

It was painful but doable. And ultimately, it was a blessed release to let the thing go rather than to fight with it to make it into something it couldn't be. The important information that I wanted to convey will make an appearance as a sentence or two in another piece that will keep the reader reading and avoid the "skim-zone".