Archive for the ‘short story’ Category

The Second Short Story For The Collection Is Done

Posted: December 23, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, short story, Writing
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And it was much shorter than the first short story. This one, called “Addict”, is just under 3000 words but it’s pretty extraordinary in itself. For example, I told it all in 2nd person. It’s also more literary in nature than my previous work, but it straddles the line between literary and genre in certain ways, and I like that ambiguous nature to it. But most importantly, it’s based on the experiences of a friend:

My friend, who I’ll call SA, mostly because that’s about as far from his real name as I can get, had an addiction to pornography and sex that he only told me because he felt he could trust me. It was very difficult for him. He never told anyone, and for a long time, he denied he had a problem, believing he just had a bigger libido than most. Eventually it got to be problematic for him though, and began to interfere with his life, his work and his studies. Eventually he sought help, and he’s moving ahead, one day at a time. He’s fallen off the bandwagon once or twice, but he’s apologized for his mistakes and gotten back on as soon as he can.

I’ve known this friend for a long time, so he knew he could trust me with this secret. He told me a lot about his struggles, and he still tells me. I got his permission to write this story only after I asked if I could use some of the stuff he’s gone through as base material. He told me that I’d probably turn it into something unrecognizable (which I did), so it was alright; nobody would know it was him.

In any case, I think this short story came out very well, and the fact that it’s in second person may make it very personal for current or recovering sex and porn addicts. I’ll bring it to my creative writing class to workshop it, as I signed up to volunteer a short story on the first day. I hope to get some good feedback for it, because this is a short story I think has potential.

That’s all for now. I’ll start the third short story tomorrow, but first I’d like to take a shower and then spend the night reading “Silence of the Lambs”. All for now. Blog on you later.

The First Short Story For The Collection Is Finished

Posted: December 20, 2012 in ideas, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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And what a short story it was! It scared me a little during the writing process. Me! And I’m the guy who thanks Mrs. Voorhees for her hockey-masked son Jason. Tells you what sort of a story it is.

Now, how can I tell you about this short story without giving too much away? Well first, it’s longer than the average short story. But then again, this is for a collection. Most writers who release collections will make their short stories a little longer than usual just because they can. Stephen King definitely does it a few times, even if his stories end up as novellas in the collection. Thankfully this one didn’t get to novella length (20k-40k words) but it’s longer than usual.

But like I said, this story scared me. Why? Well, imagine yourself placed in a situation like The Hunger Games, where you’re in a battle you don’t want to be in and someone else is controlling everything that’s going on. Even worse, it’s a psychological battle. No weapons, just some crazy crap that’s messing with your head. It can be taxing, especially if you’re in a space that doesn’t get much bigger than your high school campus.

And then I added a few other things. For one, I added a religious zealot with a bit of charisma and a thing for power? Well, after every disaster–real or just percieved in your head (I’m talking to Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris on the latter)–there’s always someone saying the world’s about to end and we better do as s/he says or we’re all going to hell in a shopping cart. And occasionally, people believe them. Which leads to a bunch of problems.

Add a little doom and gloom, a bit of Celtic/English mythology, and my disturbed mind, you get a rabbit’s hole that scares the person who dug it. Nice!

Oh, I forgot to tell you the name of this short story. It’s called “The Quiet Game”, and I think I’ll also make it the title of the collection. It feels like the right thing to do, and it was the right choice to write this story first. I like it, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

But first, I’ve got some editing to do, including turning a male character into a female character, because if the character’s male, there’s a romantic element in this story, and I just don’t want that there. So I’ll take it out and turn the character female. No romantic element, but still plenty of emotion and psychological terror. It’ll be awesome.

Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a shower and then watch the original Die Hard movie, because the new one is coming out in two months and I’m psyched to see it. Tomorrow I’ll do the editing, send it off to a friend, and then I’ll start on something else.

Trust me, this next story will be something else. It’s based on a friend’s experience, but it’s given the Rami Ungar treatment, so you know it’ll come out twisted and freaky!

I’ll Write A Collection of Short Stories

Posted: December 17, 2012 in ideas, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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“Doth quoth the raven, ‘Write some short stories. CAW!'”

With the first draft of Snake done, I want to work on short stories for a while. And since Reborn City is taking a little longer than expected. I don’t want to work on RC‘s sequel until RC actually comes out, and I won’t get to Snake for a while, I’ve decided to take the short stories I write during this period and make them into a collection, which I’ll release as an e-book for a $1.29 download fee–the same price as a song by a popular artist on iTunes. In addition, I also plan to publish each short story individually, though if you get the whole book there will be extra goodies that don’t come with the short stories alone.

What sort of extra goodies, you may be asking? I’ll let you know another time. First, I got to get to work on the five short stories I plan to include in the collection. Then I have to have the short stories critiqued and edited, then I have to come up with a name for the collection, get some illustrations, purchase copyrights…you understand where I’m going with this, right? Publishing is never easy, even with free e-book creation and distribution.

Oh well. That’s the price we pay, and I’m certainly happy to pay it. Wish me luck and I hope to have more news soon.

A Paper-Clip of Short Stories

Posted: December 12, 2012 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I’ve received a lot of support from friends, family, and readers on the possibility that after I finish Snake, I could work on some short stories and possibly turn that into a collection, and publish it before I publish Reborn City or Snake. Well, I’m still a little undecided on that, but I’m definitely taking some time this vacation to write a few short stories. I actually picked out five of the fifteen ideas I had amassed on my tack board and put them on a paper-clip. And I don’t mean I had some ideas, wrote them on pieces of paper, and paper-clipped them together. What I meant was, I put down some short story ideas on pieces of paper, and then poked them with the business end of a paper-clip. I’d take a photo with my camera and post it here on my blog, but my writing is big and recognizable. There’d be no point if one of my stories gets stolen.

So I’ve selected my short stories. When I get home tomorrow and I finish Snake, I’ll start working on them. Shouldn’t take me too long, especially if I’m not distracted by anything. Unfortunately I tend to get very distracted somedays, so hopefully I can keep my mind on work long enough to make some progress.

So, if anyone is wondering on the short stories I’ll be working on, here’s the ideas I have, without anything that’ll give away anything important:

  • An isolated girl’s school becomes even more isolated one morning, and something dark is beneath it all…
  • A man trying to go clean gets a strange and spooky experience while going cold turkey…
  • A politician running for reelection gets a very deadly and undead visitor while in an old mining town…
  • There’s an old, abandoned hospital on the outskirts of town with a bloody history. And that history is very much alive…
  • A young boy with autism gets an encounter with the spirit world, and his small world might get a shock that’ll shatter it to pieces…

Sounds pretty awesome, right? Especially with the … after every idea. And if, God forbid, the two short stories I sent out recently get rejected, I could add them to this list; they’d make a great collection. Either way, 5 and 7 are lucky numbers for me, so either way I’m good.

Now assuming I decide to do a collection, what should I call it? Definitely nothing with the word “paper-clip” in it; that’d sound too comedic for what I’m doing. Perhaps “The Bells At Dusk”? Or “Eyes in the Smoke”? Or perhaps I’ll take a title from one of these short stories. Who knows? Any suggestions would be great.

Well, I’ve got work to do. Blog on you later!

Submitting the Succubus Story

Posted: December 4, 2012 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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So a friend of mine who looks at my short stories as an unbiased third party just got back to me and said he enjoyed reading my succubus story and he thought my writing had improved (thanks, Marc!). So before I started the next chapter of Snake, I went over the story one last time, made some minor adjustments, and now I think I’m ready to send it off. I don’t know any magazines off the top of my head that might publish this sort of story, but hopefully I can find a publication that will be interested and maybe they’ll publish it.

That’s the hope, anyway.

Now that that’s over and done with, I’m going to start working on the next chapter of Snake. It’s a sex scene though, so I have a feeling that my writing will be slowed down my sheer awkwardness and embarassment! Wish me luck.

A Story For The Black Dog

Posted: December 3, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Peek-a-boo! Woof!

Peek-a-boo! Woof!

Well, I’ve finally come up with an idea for a story that features a black dog spirit, and it came from the most unexpected place. You see, I was writing the latest chapter of Snake while listening to some Native American meditation music on YouTube. I paused to go and take my medication, and while I was taking it, I had epiphany: why not bring together the black dog spirit–normally a harbinger of death and occasionally an emissary of Hell–and meld it somehow with a Native American ceremony? It might require a lot of research, but the payoff would be enormous.

After I took my medication I went and filled out a sticky note, which I then put on my tackboard, bringing the new total to fifteen ideas on that tackboard. As you can tell, I’m going to be extremely busy when I’m done with Snake, but I finally figured out what I’m going to do with that idea for a story and I’m very happy with it.

Now, I know very little about Native American myths involving dogs. I know some of the Plain Indians equate the coyote with evil spirits and sometimes the Devil or King of Darkness. I’ve also heard of something called a “manitou”, but I think that’s some sort of shapeshifter. That’s all I really know, to tell you the truth. However one of my two majors is History, so we’re trained to do research. In addition, I’m at Ohio State, one of the biggest and most diverse schools in the country. More likely than not, we have a department that deals with Native American history and culture, and I’d be more than willing to ask them for help. And if I have to make a trip to our humungous library, all the better; I like to read, and I love that library (if you’ve seen it, you know why).

So before I go, I thought I’d embed the video that inspired me in this post. You should listen to it, and since it’s a long video, you should listen to it when you’re working on something and you need a little background music; you might find yourself inspired, or at the very least you’ll feel relaxed while you work. Enjoy.

So Many New Ideas But No Time At The Moment To Write Them

Posted: November 29, 2012 in ideas, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Last night before I went to bed, I came up with another idea for a short story. It didn’t involve black dog spirits, but it did strike me as an interesting idea, so I got out a sticky note, wrote it down, and tacked it to the tackboard above my desk. The idea was someone who had an unusual addiction (I’m not going to say what this addiction is, for obvious reasons) and what happened to him when he tried to get clean (again, I’m not going to say what happens to him, just to be mysterious). I considered saving it for my creative writing class next semester, where the teacher has a bigger emphasis on literary fiction than my previous teacher, but I felt this story would be better written with some dark, supernatural elements, and besides, I wouldn’t know how to make the conflict interesting if it was just getting over his addiction (there’s enough stories out there, real and otherwise, that are like that).

This makes fourteen stories if you include the black dog idea that’s still forming in the mess that is my head. And yet with my school and work schedules and trying to write Snake in a timely manner (I started Chapter 68 last night), it’s difficult to find time to write them. I probably won’t even consider starting one of these stories until after I finish the first draft of Snake. So until then, I’ll just have to keep them on the tackboard till then.

But after Snake is finished? Well maybe I’ll do some short story writing. It’ll be fun and good practice for me. And who knows? I could get some of them published in magazines, or I could create a short story collection and put it online as an e-book for $1.99. I really won’t know until I start writing.

Until then, I’ll keep collecting ideas as they come to me. When Snake is done, I’ll have plenty of work to keep me occupied until Reborn City is published and I’m ready to tackle its sequel and editing Snake. And keeping busy is a good thing in my book.

The Final Revision of Doll’s Game/Animal Child?

Posted: November 28, 2012 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Well, we went over my revision exercise in class, and overall everyone loved how I tweaked my short story. Or perhaps “tweak” is too light a term for what I did. Anyway, they gave me some final suggestions for how to improve the story, so all I have to do is edit the story one more time and then turn it in with a few other documents for a grade by December 6th. After that, I’ll probably wait until I have the actual grade, but I’ll try submitting Animal Child somewhere for publication. I can already think of a few places it could go.

Let’s hope that I can write an awesome story that is also literary and not horror and get it published. Fingers crossed.

Snake & Black Dogs

Posted: November 27, 2012 in ideas, Novel, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Well, it’s been an interesting day for me, and I’m going to end it by watching NCIS and writing during the commercial breaks. I’ll start with the first chapter of Part IV of Snake (wasn’t that a small break?). This part is where the Snake is offered help from a powerful sponsor in his goal to bring down the mafia family he hates so much (why does he hate it? You’ll have to read the novel once it comes out).  This section is much smaller than Part III, with only sixteen chapters, but what sixteen chapters they are! The Snake doesn’t just meet allies: the family he’s fighting calls on its biggest and baddest hitman; someone comes dangerously close to the Snake’s true identity; the Snake has an episode; and there’s a sex scene. Yes, you read that right. A sex scene. It’ll be awkward to write.

WOOF!

As for the “Black Dogs” part of that title up there, I got another idea for a short story. Or perhaps the beginning of an idea for a short story. Black dogs are more than just cute; in folklore, particularly Celtic and English folklore, the black dog is a portent of death and a messenger of the underowrld. Occasionally they also double as benevolent spirits that watch over children and traverlers, but more often they are not something you want to run into on a dark, lonely night. So I’m going to write a short story based on the idea of a black dog spirit. First I’ve got to think of a context for it that’ll be exciting and not relatively used. Nothing’s come to mind yet, but I’ll come up with something; I did with the dybbuk idea.

You know, now that I think about it, this’ll make 13 short story ideas on my tackboard. What do you think? Should I create a collection of short stories and put it on the Internet as an e-book? I could write several of them over winter break. Let me know what you think.

Write And Don’t Be Ashamed

Posted: November 17, 2012 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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A classmate of mine in my creative writing class sent me (and the rest of the class) an email today. In the email, she said her mother and her aunt had wanted to see the short story she’d written, but the problem was her story dealt with subjects like drinking and random hook-ups. Guess what? Her mom and aunt don’t approve of those sorts of activities.

So my classmate–whom I’ll refer to as “Freya”, because that’s as far from her real name as you can get–whipped up a little short story that doesn’t involve any of that, and asks all her classmates to take a look and edit it if we can spare the time.

Naturally, my instinct as a writer is not to encourage this, so I write back to Freya and tell her that her mom and aunt should be proud that she’s grown into a strong, independent woman with her own thoughts and feelings, and they should be proud that she wrote a story with her own original ideas in them. If she has to be ashamed of her own work–which for romantic fiction set against the background of a wild college party, is actually a quality story–what’s the point of even writing the story in the first place? If Freya’s family doesn’t like the topics voiced in the story, then she should just tell them so, and leave it at that. If they still want to see it, then show it to them. These women might actually like it, and might also be fans of Fifty Shades of Grey, but are too proud to admit it.

I hope Freya get’s my message and doesn’t feel she needs to hide, because honestly, if a writer can’t be proud of their work, or at least admit they wrote such subjects, what’s there for the future of writing and fiction? Be proud of your work writers; it’s your brainchild, after all. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it, no matter what objectionable material within. Instead, shout it to the world, “I wrote a story and it has stuff people don’t like in it but I don’t care.”

If I didn’t do that, why would I bother writing a novel with a serial killer in it?

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