If You Don't Have Time, Write Poetry

This week has been extremely busy at work. I have been staying late to get the store ready for opening. What does this mean for my writing. I have been finding it difficult finding the time to invest in my fictional writing. This is going to have to change if I am to write a 50,000 word novel next year. 

One of the things I do when I am not sitting in front of a computer is write haiku. I might be waiting for one of my kids or sitting in the car on my lunch break. I will pull out my notebook and write a haiku or two. I use whatever is going on in my life at the time as inspiration for my haiku. It is amazing what you can fit into 17 syllables.

You don't have to write haiku in these short spans of time. You can write lyrics or sonnets or even a few lines of free-verse. It doesn't really matter what you write as long as you are forcing your mind to be creative. If you can do this, maybe you can reset your creativity so when you do go back to the longer piece of fiction, there will be something there to write.

Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo 2012

This year will be my 8th or 9th year participating in National Novel Writing Month. I have a blast every year attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I find that it is nearly impossible for me to complete the challenge. I think the furthest I have ever gotten was about 30,000 words. This year I intend to go all the way. In fact I am planing to go to 80,000 words. I want a full novels length.

I have a simple plan to get to the number of words that I want to get to. I am going to write a daily journal of my main character. You are going to get to see the life of this man through his eyes and through his thoughts.

What I like about this format is that I can write the book in really short sections. I figure if I can write about 220 words for each day for the whole year, I will have an 80,000 novel (220 words x 365 days = 80,300 words). 

To get the story across, I will probably write more than 220 words per day. It will be more like 300-500 words average per day. If I can do that I might even end up with a 120,000 word novel. That will be great.

I am trying to plan out an arc that will work itself out over the course of the year. I want the main character to meet a woman and find her fastening and worth taking the time to include her in his year long project. I guess this is going to make this story a romance. We will see how it comes out.

Flash Fiction Rejected

I got a rejection today for one of the pieces of flash fiction I wrote a couple of weeks ago. They were right. They did get back to me within three weeks. The response was a standard "Thank you for your submission, but it is not right for our publication." rejection.

That is OK. I am already working on my next piece of fiction and hope to submit it soon. It is due at the end of the month of October. From everything I have read, you should not listen to the rejections as they come in. You should keep sending out new writing as you write it. As your work comes back rejected, you should find a new market to send it to and keep it out there in the world.

My intention for my rejected flash fiction is to read through it again and to see if there are any improvements I can make, then see if I can find somewhere new I can submit it. It is flash fiction, so the places I can send it to are limited, but I am sure I will find an appropriate market to send it to.

So Close to the Finish Line I Can Taste It

I am about a thousand words from the end of the short story I am writing, yet I don't want to sit down and finish writing it. I don't know what it is. It might be the fear of writing a bad ending. It might be the fear of having to send off the finished piece to see if I can get it published. It might be I don't want the story to end. Whatever the case, I still need to sit down and write the ending of this story.

Here is another problem that I come across when I am trying to finish a story. I find myself thinking about several other different projects I want to start instead of doing what I should be doing. I should be writing the end of my short story. Right now I am finding myself thinking about the month of November and what I want to write for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I need to think about what must be written. I need tho think about how I am going to force myself to sit and write till it is done. I think I am going to have to carve out 2 hours of time with an egg timer set and the will to sit there till the two hours are up or I finish my short story.

Hmmm....

I think I am going to go make a sandwich.

Trying to Understand the 7 Point Story Structure

I have heard about the "7 Point Story Structure" on several different podcasts now about writing. I thought I would take a few minutes and see if I could break into the idea and apply it to some of my future writing.

Where did it come from? I think the idea has become popular right now because of a series of YouTube Videos where Dan Wells, Author of "I am Not a Cereal Killer" teaches a class about Story Structure. Here is the fist of those videos. You can watch the rest when you have time:

According to him there are 7 Points you should visit when you are creating structure for a story. It could be for a short story, a novel, a roll playing game or anything else you might be able to come up with. Those points are: A Hook, Plot Turn 1, a Pinch, a Midpoint, another Pinch, Plot Turn 2 and a Resolution.

He says your story should start with some sort of Hook. You need to catch the imagination of the reader. You also have to be somewhere other than where your Resolution should be. What does that mean? You should know what your resolution should be before you start writing. Preferably you will want your hook to be the opposite of where your resolution will be. This will give your story something to strive for.

Dan also states that you should know what happens at the Midpoint of your story. This is where your characters learn something about the Resolution, and makes the decision to go towards the resolution. You have to know where the characters make that turn so you can figure out how they can get to the Resolution.

Next we have to get from the hook to the midpoint. To do this we need some kind of Call to Action. That will be the first plot point. There has to be something that gets the characters out of the hook.

Next you need a plot point that gets the characters from the midpoint to the Resolution. This is usually something that happens that gives the characters what they need to make the Resolution happen. They need that something otherwise they will loose or the point of the story will be lost.

Finally you need a pinch before and after the midpoint. The pinch is something that happens that puts pressure on the characters. Usually you want the pinch in front of the midpoint to show the characters just how bad things truly are. Then there needs to be a much bigger pinch after the midpoint. This is where the characters lose something or someone extremely important. They are beaten almost to death or they find they are completely surrounded with no way out. This is when the plot turn 2 comes in handy.

So I thought I would take the liberty to rename the points for my own benefit. Then I think I will use this system to help me plan out my next short story. Here they are:

1. Hook the Reader
2. Call to Action
3. Something Goes Wrong
4. Reveal the Answer
5. Everything Goes to Crap
6. Last Piece of the Puzzle 
7. Resolution

There is So Much Out There to Read

I discovered a used bookstore a few weeks ago in the shopping center I am training at. For a used bookstore I found their prices a bit high, but maybe I am used to buying my books from resale shops and places like Goodwill. These days I don't ever pay much more than $1.50 for a hardcover. There are just too many books out there to read, and being that I am a slow reader, I will only ever read about 6-10 books per year. (Maybe I should take a speed reading class)

Outside of this used bookstore, they keep a small rolling rack of books they know they can not sell. So they have a sign on the front of the cart with the word "FREE" written on it. I have taken about 10 minutes at least once a week looking through this cart. Yesterday I found a few old volumes of "Reader's Digest Condensed Books" I picked up two of them that seemed to be in really good condition. Then this morning, I started reading one of them.

The story is called "The Secret Project of Sigurd O'leary" by Martin Quigley. It was included in the second volume of the 1959 edition of Reader's Digest Condensed Books. It is set up as a journal, written with a month and date for each entry. It is about a boy and his older brother making a life for themselves after both of their parent's died.

The story was set in the 1920's. I am finding a lot of the little things written about fascinating. The boys were punished for low marks on their report card by missing dinner. If they made a B, they missed one dinner. If they earned a C, they missed two consecutive dinners and if they got a D, they missed three dinners. If they failed a semester, they would go all week without dinner. I suppose they would be given breakfast in the morning. I also think dinners were lighter back then. You ate more for breakfast because you needed the energy for the day.

Their main transportation was the Railroad. They hopped on an open car with the hobos. The camped in the woods till they found an abandoned shack to live in. There was no electricity. They heated their homes with coal fires. They ate a lot of beans and bread. It was an interesting time I think.

So, what does this all mean?  I have been told time and time again that I should read a lot if I want to learn how to write. This book has already given me an insight for some of the setting I want to include in a short story I am writing right now. I have found that the more I read, the more I want to write. Just look at the length of this post compared to the posts I have written the last few days.

Also, I really don't like to spend a lot of money on books. I have always thought $28 was a lot of money to spend on a hard cover book. This is why I spend time in the thrift stores in their books section. You will be amazed at what you can find. I find Stephen King books all the time. I found a copy of Anthony, Robbin's book "Unleash the Giant Within." I also found a bunch of Dale Carnegie books. Those are classic and many of them are still relevant in today's market.

If you don't like going to the thrift store, check out the Amazon Kindle store. They always have several dozen books you can download for free. That doesn't include all the public domain books that are available. I recently listened to the "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin". It was extremely insightful. You will be amazed at what you can learn by reading anything you can get your hands on.

"In" From "Carrie the Musical"

If you have not taken the time to check out the new Musical of Stephen King's masterpiece "Carrie" You should find a way to watch it. I know you can watch old footage from the musical when it played back in 1988. From what I understand is that version of the musical only lasted through 5 performances. It got such bad reviews that it didn't last but about a week.

I have been looking around at the reviews of the new version of the musical. They are saying that the theme is important. Today our youth are plagued with bullies, Kids are afraid to go to school, or they get into fights that get them into trouble that they normally would not get into. I am not sure what this story brings to the kids other than if you are a bully and you continue to push your classmates, eventually they will break and something bad will happen.

The reviews also say that the music is top notch. The performances are amazing and if they could only make the climax of the play as potent as the novel or even the classic movie, then maybe they will be able to create something that will stand the test of time. The problem with the play is the lack of climax. They can't destroy the set every night. That would be too costly. There are not enough effects to make the scenes believable or even scary. Honestly, I still want to see it. Next time I'm in new york, I will make an effort to go see it, Or I will try to get a copy of the DVD when they release it.

Finish and Submit Something You've Already Written

After finishing and submitting the last two flash fiction pieces, I wanted to try something a little bit longer. I came across an anthology wanting short stories between 7,000 and 10,000 words. The theme they were exploring was fights. They wanted to read stories about battles, arguments and fights of all kinds.

I sat down and thought about it. I wanted to come up with something that would make a great addition to the Anthology. I took long walks with the dog thinking about it. I sat at the dining room table with my composition book and worked on a brainstorm tree, hoping something I wanted to write about would come out of it. Needless to day, I didn't find anything worth my while. There were a few good sparks, things that might develop into something later, but nothing that intrigued my passion right at this moment.

This morning, I was thinking about the challenge again, trying to figure out what I wanted to write, when the thought of a piece I was already working on; a piece I intended to turn into a novel popped into my head. What I was writing was a battle between two foes and what their battle was doing to my main character. The thing was, I was already planning to make this section of the novel independent. It was already going to be about 10,000 words. Now I have a reason to finish it and focus it to meet the requirements of the Anthology.

I wonder how many other pieces I can go back to and adjust them to fit what magazines and anthologies want to offer in their markets. Don't get me wrong, I still plant to write new pieces, but when something doesn't come to mind right off the bat, I should be able to find something else that I trunked or is still waiting to be sent out again.

The Art of Darkness

I am visiting a city that I am not familiar with this week. Today I stopped at a shopping center to get some new earphones for my iPod. When I parked and started to walk towards the store, I noticed there was a thrift store next to the Dollar General I was heading to. So I went into the thrift store.

I always go into thrift stores when I come across them. I know that I can sometimes come across clothes that I could use or books that I can't find anywhere else for the price point that these store provide them. Today I spend about a half hour looking through the books at this Resale store. I came across an old book about the writing and life about Stephen King.

I am excited about reading this book. It is focused on the first few books that he wrote. It talks about the first dozen books up to the collection called Night Shift. I am looking forward to seeing how and why Stephen King wrote some of these books. As I read it I will talk about what I learn as I read it.

Flash Fiction Earns Pro Rates

I spent about an hour last night working on a piece short flash fiction for a children's magazine that I found on Duotrope.com. As I stated yesterday, I have been looking for a market I could write a story for. The first market that I looked at only wanted flash fiction. They wanted pieces that were 650 words or less. I took that as a challenge to write something right then.

The first thing I did was a little research on the subject they wanted me to write about. Then I came up with a short premise that could be squeezed into short form fiction. Then I just started writing. At first I was a little worried that I would not be able to keep the story short. By the time I finished writing, I was 20 words below the limit. I was proud of what I had written.

I went back through the story twice and made the edits I thought it needed, then I put the document together by following the instructions on their submission guidelines. Everyone I have ever listened to about submitting a story say that you need to follow the submission guidelines to the letter. Then I mailed it off to them. Now I move on to the next piece of fiction. The funny thing is that the next market that I found, one I think I could enjoy writing is also flash fiction at 500 words or less. Sound like a good project for tomorrow night.

Finding something on Duotrope

I decided I wanted to take a break from some of the things I have been writing and see if I can do something a little shorter. I wanted to see if there is something I could submit to a magazine. Maybe I might be able to sell something to a professional market and make a little bit of real money. 

I have used Duotrope.com a few times. If you don't know what this site is, it is a website that keeps track of all the magazine markets that are taking submissions. The nice thing is you can filter the results to show you the markets you are interested in writing for.

As for me, I want to write something in the science fiction or fantasy realm and I figure if I am going to write anything, I would like to be paid like a pro for it. So I have been looking at the pro markets. The first one I am going to submit to only wants submissions that are, at most, 650 words. They want short folk tales. I am curious what I can come up with to send to them.