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December 31, 2007

Living a holy life, and being a writer.

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This has been on my mind quite a bit lately - and yes, it's another blog about writing, but don't worry, I do have a non-writing blog planned here very soon, perhaps even tomorrow. Anyway, I write, so I blog about writing.

Moving on....

I'm in a strange and wonderful place where after years of writing in my own dark little room all by myself, suddenly my stuff is getting "out there", in so many different ways: which is cool, because I really want to make a living writing someday, and I'm getting the idea the best way to do that is to be willing and motivated to write lots of different things. In any case, my stuff - in its own, small way - is getting out there. This, I've found, is both wonderful, exciting, and good....and bad and troubling, also.

Why bad and troubling?

Because I've found, much to my chagrin, that with the excitement and momentum, my focus has turned ever inward and more and more on writing. Now, when this comes to choosing to write over wasting time watching The Simpsons, good. When it comes to choosing to write over playing basketball with the guys...tough choice...but also good. When it comes to choosing to write over goofing off, also good.

When it comes to choosing to write over my morning devotions....not so good. Choosing to write over evening mediation on scripture? Not good again. Getting overly annoyed at the interruptions of life on my writing - say my kids, work, chores, fixing the dripping faucet, taking out the garbage? Certainly not good.

I tend to be obsessive and driven by nature. In some cases, it's not a bad thing. I get my grad work done on time, want to make sure I hit every criteria in my research papers, never miss a deadline with the newspaper. In some cases, it's not so good, because when I become invested in something - deeply invested - I don't want to pull away, even when I know I should.

This all hit me in analyzing my thoughts concerning some pieces I have out there. I realized - with a start - that even with all the recent success, I was still basing my sense of self worth and affirmation by the potential rejection/acceptances out there, which is just silly. I know the drill by now, have seen it in action: if something is rejected it's not personal, just re-tool and re-write until it gets accepted somewhere. No big deal.

That was when I forced myself to put aside my current short story, do my devotions, and pray. I keep coming back to a humbling truth, which I'll share in a moment.

We're imperfect, yearning to live for Christ. Some of us have it together, and are living pure, holy lives. Some of us are doing well, struggling with a few things but still moving forward, still others are little behind on the path. I know for myself, I still struggle with giving writing too high a priority. It's crazy, but I can't seem to convince myself that the half an hour or hour I save by skipping my devotions ISN'T going to help me get any more writing done. Instead, I end up feeling defeated, frustrated, struggle with sin, and seek for affirmation of self in writing success.

I have no idea what my writing future will be, but a scary thought has developed lately. Whatever future God has for me as a writer, I'll never be satisfied if I'm not living for Him, "seeking Him and finding Him with all of my heart". It goes beyond writing for the CBA or ABA, because I could be turning out the most theologically correct and spiritual manuscripts ever, but if I'm not living right, it would always sound hollow, and God would not bless it in the end.

What if God only wants me have one book published - and then only through an indie or small publisher - have a smattering of short stories published, write my column, do a few local signings and talks, and that's it? What if?

If I'm living a holy life, walking in God....I'll be content. If not, I'll be miserable, feeling that I failed, always wondering if God didn't bless me and my writing career. The irony is if I'm holy and content with the former, God could still have great things planned for me.

As an example, I'm going to pick on fellow Shoutlifer and friend (I hope;), Bryan Davis. For all the rest of you, please feel don't feel slighted in any way; Bryan is just the only one I've actually spent time with chatting in RL, although I hope to remedy that soon. (Can anyone say, "Shoutlife Writers Conference?).

If you've never heard Bryan's testimony about his writing career, you should email him and ask - it's amazing. In most or all ways, he exemplifies what holiness and the pursuit of a Godly life can mean to anyone, not just a writer. But anyway, for the purposes of this blog, let's say what it means for a writer to live a Godly life.

Bryan - after many, many rejections, one in which a rather snarky editor responded to Bryan's illustration of C.S. Lewis being a Christian Fantasy author, "Well, you certainly aren't C.S. Lewis" - was picked up by AMG Books. Though a respectable, professional house, it certainly wasn't Zondervan, who he's with now. From what I understand of Bryan's story, they weren't even sure how his series/initial book would turn out, and viewed it as sort of an experiment.

If you've never met Bryan in person, someday if you get the chance, don't pass up the opportunity. I spent several days with Bryan in my home, and it was a great experience. He was very tolerant of my then sick daughter, who took every chance to throw up when Bryan was around - even at diner!

I digress.

In any case, more so than any person I've met recently, Bryan embodies what a holy life should look like. If you've never read his devotionals for fathers, men, I highly recommend them. He, as a person, puts the biblical practices he writes about into daily use.

One thing that occurred to me while Bryan was staying with me, especially in regards to my own life spiritually, was that he'd been living a holy, God-fearing life LONG before he became a best-selling author, long before he wanted to write, even.

Everyone's lives are different, they come to a fullness in Christ in different ways, through different paths, along different schedules. However, it's been weighing heavily on my mind lately, that I don't focus on this as much as I should - being a holy Christian first, and a hard working, driven writer second (after father, husband, teacher, role model...goodness, the list goes on...).

By all rights, Bryan landed his first book contract with a middle-level publisher. Perhaps if he'd not lived a Godly life, he would not have been content with that, would've made different decisions, and if he'd been living a vastly different life, perhaps things wouldn't have worked out the same. As it is, he goes on to become a best-selling author, has a LEGION of devoted fans, (I know, I sat with him while he ran his forum and answered his email, I think it rivals even Ted Dekker's fan base, honestly), and is now writing for Zondervan.

Is this to say that a holy, pure life = success? Yes...but not on Earthly terms. Bryan's ultimate success, I dare say, (besides his writing ability), is living a life that allowed God, (yes, I know we can debate the word "allowed" and whether or not we allow God anything, but WHATEVER! :) to carry out His plan for Bryan's life. Because he'd been living a Godly life for years before writing, the seeds of his "success" were laid long before he picked up a pen. By extension, I dare say guys like Ted Dekker, T.L. Hines, Robert Liparulo, Eric Wilson, Wayne Baston Thomas, and dozens of others, were living holy lives first, too.

I don't know what God has for my future as a I write. I just pray I can become more content with what I've done and whatever the future offers, so I can enjoy in fullness whatever the Lord sees fit to bless my family and I with.

That having been said, my services are - loudly - being required by my daughter to mediate a dispute between she and her brother over a plastic car or something else highly important like that.

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Oh, and that's Sue Dent in that picture...she's pretty cool, too. My students keep asking, "When is the cool lady in the leather jacket coming back?"

Posted by kevinlucia at 08:32 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

December 29, 2007

Open Letter to Writers

I remember very clearly the first time I received money for writing; just as clearly as I remember my two favorite college literature courses. During my junior year at Binghamton University in upstate New York, I received my first EVER check for a short story: a whopping $10 for a little science fiction diddy I sold to a small digest called Millennium Science Fiction Magazine. It was a glorious day, especially because I'd initially thought the envelope containing the slightly cheap-looking check was a bill.

I splurged that $10 on half a tank of gas in the old Ford Tempo AND Taco Bell for lunch. Wild times, indeed.

Unfortunately, I went on to ignore the short story market entirely, plodding along instead on a manuscript that to this day lies in a dusty box somewhere in my office. I had accomplished a great feat at the tender age of twenty-two - I finished something - but instead of trying to recreate its success, I swallowed the hook upon which dangled "novelist dreams". I dismissed short fiction as "not worth my time", a distraction from the main goal: becoming a novelist.

If only Professor Peabody's "Way Back Machine" really existed, because if so, I'd hop on that baby, set it for 1997, and give myself a quick retroactive kick in the pants.

Out of all the literature courses I've taken during my college career, my two favorites are American Short Story and Detective Fiction, taken at Broome Community College, in Binghamton, New York. In those classes I discovered the raw power of short fiction; Flannery O'Connor in one, Ellery Queen in the other. In Broome's library I discovered Asimov's Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, and Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine. I remember pouring over them for weeks, snared in rapt attention by the power these writers exhibited in a handful of pages.

Did I try submitting stories to them? Well?.no, because I was writing a novel, and I didn't want to "waste time". I wanted greatness; and right quickly, at that.

Sigh.

What did I accomplish? After nine years I produced a 178,000 word science fiction manuscript no one wanted to publish, as well as a partially finished manuscript that I'd changed countless of times. Along the way, I'd written dozens of character studies and isolated scenes that I planned on using for my "great work", and while I occasionally pondered tweaking them into short stories, I never did because I didn't want any "distractions". I had a book to write, after all.

I can partly blame immaturity; for a long season I was never completely at peace with who I was as a person. Landing that "big book contract" was my Holy Grail; the thing that would "complete" me. Falling down that particular rabbit hole is easy; writers, after all, are often strange folk with the oddly contradicting desire to hide, but also to shine.

Anyone pursuing a career writing fiction walks a tenuous tightrope; they write because they simply love the craft, but writers also want their characters out there, running through the minds of readers. Unless a writer has plugged themselves into the market and done their research, the most popular and most glamorized avenue for their fiction is the "novel".

Unfortunately, hordes of unscrupulous folks posing as literary agents, publishers, and scads of shady print-on-demand companies have swooped in over the past ten years to feed off the dreams of unsuspecting newbies; I myself narrowly avoided several such scams (though it should be said all POD printers are not bad, by any means; Iuniverse.com being one of the best as far as I know, and Lulu.com very good for personal projects).

Now would the perfect time to clarify: I've never finished writing a book or had one published; I hold a mere thirteen published short stories to my name, several years worth of non-fiction writing credits, and I currently write a weekly book review column with The Press & Sun Bulletin, the city newspaper in Binghamton, New York. I am by no means an expert authority, merely one who's recently been cured of "novel fever".

I'm certainly not saying that pursing novel publication is a bad thing, by any means. I'd be lying if I said there doesn't remain in me the wish to see my name on a book spine someday. However, in a world that touts "bigger is better", it's very hard not to become obsessed with the novel "Holy Grail".

A large part of the problem is symptomatic of our generation; folks in general have very little patience. This is why so many college athletes forsake collegiate careers to shine under the lights of pro athletics; it's why so many marriages end in divorce and why - to steal from Langston Hughes - so many 'dreams are deferred', because no one has the patience to wait for said dream's fruition, anymore.

It's amazing to consider some folks used to make a career out of short stories, with nary a New York Times Bestseller in sight. Ray Bradbury spent years writing short stories; one right after the other, before he ever wrote a novel. However, imagine this: how odd would it be to hear someone say, "I'm really not interested in writing a novel; I'd rather focus on my short stories"?

I only speak as one recently cured of this same fever. Writing had become a chore for me; a dreaded occupation; something I wasn't sure I liked anymore, but still needed to do. I plugged away, day after day, re-working the same tired old manuscript, never seeing my name in print, getting more and more frustrated. I dragged myself out of bed every day at 4 AM, (I now get up at 3:30, but because I see my name in bylines, it's FUN again), until finally, about two years ago, I hit a wall.

Writing was starting to suck, big time. I had no credits, no publications, nothing to show for my efforts but a manuscript that had been refried more than twice baked beans. In a word, writing had become a chore, and it wasn't fun any longer. At that point, I did the only thing I could: I gave up for a several weeks and tried to figure out what the heck was wrong with me.

Salvation came in the form of short story writing and review writing. Not coincidently, around that time I finished Stephen King's On Writing, (a must have, gotta tell ya), and I realized that in re-writing the same old manuscript over and over and concentrating solely on novel success, not only was I completely cutting myself off from an entire world of writing that had nothing to do with novels, I was also having NO FUN AT ALL! At a certain point, especially with writing, you have to ask yourself: Why the heck am I doing this? Fame? Fortune? Do I even like the dang thing, at this point? So, in the spirit of introspection, I asked myself:

"Self?"

"What???!" Surly, because still obsessing about novel success.

"Let me ask you a question. Say you'll never make ANY money writing at all?"

"Oh, well that's great! Ruin my day, won't don't you? While you're at it, ruin my freakin' life!" Probably throws something at this point.

"Oookay?less caffeine for you, writer boy."

"ROWWRRR!!" Frustrated, caffeine-deprived writer howl.

"Yeah, that's great. Anyhoo, let's play pretend. Let's pretend the most you'll ever make from writing is a scattered thousand bucks or so over three or fours years of writing short stories and reviews?"

"That sucks. How can I buy a Ferrari with only a thousand bucks?"

Sigh. "?and let's say the biggest sale you'll ever make for a short story will be, say, $200 bucks?if you're really lucky?"

"Two-hundred bucks??!?! That's not even half the monthly mortgage payment! Are you nuts?"

"Focus, buddy, focus. Here?have a Monster Energy Drink, Lo-carb for that waist of yours?." Tosses can.

Pops can, guzzles, and sighs. "Yessss. Caffeine, it's the precious, my preciousssss?.."

"Riiiiiight. Anyway, what if that's it? No big cars, no money, no hobnobbing with Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Kevin J. Anderson. What then?"

Wipes Monster off mouth with arm. "Huh? Whaddya mean?"

"I mean?.what's the point, Bozo? What would make writing fun for you, even if you knew you'd never make it to the big time? What would make you keep writing, no matter what?"

Another sip of Monster, a scratch on the head. "I dunno. It would be cool if someone actually saw something I'd written somewhere. Y'know, like they saw my name in a byline with my email, so they could email me and say, 'Hey?that's sure didn't suck', or something like that."

"Hmmm. A byline. You mean like a newspaper, or something, right? Like maybe book or movie reviews?"

A shrug. "Yeah, I guess."

"Would you need money for it?"

Deep sigh. "I suppose not. It would just be cool for someone to read something of mine, for me to be noticed?.even if only by the milk man or someone like that."

"Okay, cool. Remember that ratty little newspaper you wrote for in college?"

"Yeah, sure. I wrote book reviews for them."

"Well?.what the heck? See if they want you back."

"Okay." Pause. "What now?"

"What about that short story contest you found out about last week? How about that? You've got a bunch of excerpts from your WIP that could be tweaked for that. Why not give it a shot?"

Mumble, kicks the ground.

"What? I missed that."

"I SAID?.I tried already. The editor rejected it, said it used too much italics and stuff, and was too long."

"Yeah?.but don't you have time to resubmit?"

"I suppose?but I can't write a short story; that's just not my style! Everything I write is long and complicated?OW! Why'd ya hit me?"

"I'm gonna keep hitting you until you resubmit that story."

"No way, man! The editor was a jerk! I don't need to deal with small time guys like that when I'm going to be a novelist someday! I mean?he wanted to change like, a whole freakin' paragraph!"

"Dummy. That's what editors do; they edit."

Deep scowl. "I'm a stinkin' English teacher with a BA in English. I dont' neeb and editors?"

"?dont' neeb and editors?? Hello, did you just hear yourself?" SMACK!

"OW!"

"Editors edit. That's what they do. The only way you can escape that is by xeroxing your stories at Kinko's and handing them out on the sidewalk. Sound like fun to you?"

Sulking now. "No."

"So when an editor asks you to change something, turn-off the pride-bot running your brain and CHANGE IT!"

"Yeah, fine, whatever. Just don't hit me again."

"Soooo?..did you respond to those online magazines that wanted you to write book reviews, even offered to send you ARC's and free books to do it?"

"I dunno?.who really cares about online credits, anyway? Plus, half the books they want to send me are stinkin' romance novels; I don't wanna read that crap?.."

Raises hand, doesn't say a word.

"Okay, okay! I'll email them today! How's reading a bunch of chic lit books gonna help my writing, I'd like to know?"

"DUH. You plan on writing about a female character eventually, right?"

"Yeah, but?.oh. Reading chic lit might help me understand chicks better, huh?"

"Not very PC, but you're getting it." Pause. "Okay, here's one last thing: with all your short stories?."

Looks alarmed. "All? I thought I was only doing the one story?.."

Only raises eyebrow this time.

"Okay! SHEESH!"

"Anyway, with all your short stories, follow this guideline EVERY time: write, revise, edit, submit."

"Okay; write, revise, edit?.whoa, whoa! That quickly? How'm I gonna make the thing perfect? I can't just edit it a few times and then send it out!"

"Oh, well, c'mere then?.."

"Okay! I'll do it! I'll do it!"

"And while you're at it?..start writing poetry."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's good for the soul."

"Yeah, but poets NEVER make any money?."

Harsh glare. "ITS. GOOD. FOR. THE. SOUL!"

Throws up hands in despair. "Fine, fine, whatever you want! At this rate, I'll NEVER get a novel published!"


Okay, so maybe it didn't go exactly like that. However, two years later, I can't say I'm a publishing wizard, but I've done some stuff: thirteen short stories published, a fourteenth waiting in the wings; some poems to be published in January, I write a weekly book review column for our city newspaper for money of all things, and one of my short story prizes didn't bring in $200, but it did get half that, but then I traded $30 bucks of it with the editor for three more contributor copies.

Am I any closer to getting that novel published? Who knows? But it's fun again, and that's all that matters. Now I'm eager to get out of bed at 3:30 AM instead of dragging myself up, and I can't want to start writing, because with short stories and reviews, the end is always in sight.

So, advice? Well, every writer is destined to tread a different path, but I will say this: don't take the quick and easy road to publication. Smell the flowers. Take time to learn the craft. Have fun.

Who knows? That fun may be the only thing that lets you survive, and then when you're hobnobbing with Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Kevin J. Anderson, you can swap writer survival stories and stuff.

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December 27, 2007

Perseverance Pays, If Only In Contributor's Copies....

Heard by email today that another one of my short stories, "Darkness Road", was accepted for publication in a new genre magazine called "NewGen Pulp". Again, no cash for this, but contributor copies, and it's a magazine - not an anthology. Would like to get into a few more of those, honestly.

Anyway, it was another lesson for me regarding rejected stories, and what we should do with them. I think this is something writers need to develop over time, but after several drafts of a story, we (or at least, I do), get an idea either that a particular story has something "good" to offer and can be pitched elsewhere, it needs some major changes, or it's just as good as it's going to get, and either should be shelved away for that big "collection" that will be published someday when we're famous, or submitted to the smallest, thinnest, yet still "legitimate" place that can be found.

For example, I had a cool short story I liked about a haunted house and how one man's memory of his brother's death in that house ruined his life, until he finally finds some "closure" in confronting his memories. I really liked that story; it was actually the first short story I ever attempted. However, one of places I submitted it to didn't like the alternating future/past narrative, although they were nice enough to ask for a re-write and re-submit. I thought about it for a moment, then thought to myself: "No. I like the story the way it is; it needs to be told this way." I brushed it up for mechanics, sent it out, and it was picked up by a Canadian magazine called All Hallows. In that case, my gut was proved right.

"The Sliding", which recently was placed in Darkened Horizons, is an example of one of those stories that had done the rounds, and though I liked the story, I also knew it was very stereotypical: nosy teens find something in old house they shouldn't, and it haunts them forever. I knew the story was just what it was, and probably couldn't get any better. However, I didn't shelve it, but sent it to the smaller, more indie Darkened Horizons, which admittedly is published through Lulu, no big placement. However, thanks to a minor scandal with one of the other contributing authors, my story got a lot more good exposure than I though it was going to. However, I was right, I feel, in assuming that story just wasn't going to go anywhere big.

This story, "Darkness Road", had been to a lot of places and rejected, and though I felt it had something "good", it really needed a lot of work. Too many adverbs, some of the dialogue was really bad in places, and it had a few plot holes. Reworked it through several magazines, until New Gen - also small, but a magazine this time - picked it up.

So what does this all mean? Nothing much, except to prove the following maxim:

Write. Revise. Submit. - when rejected? Write. Revise. Submit.

Posted by kevinlucia at 12:19 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

December 22, 2007

A Day In The Life of A Teacher....

The secret of a good blogger is to blog about everyday, average things that everyone is interested in. I've read some of them, (the best, in my opinion, is author Brad Listi), and it's amazing how they write: I swear, they're plugged into contemporary America and beyond, and are able to siphon the most interesting trivia from that thing we call life. It's amazing how they do it; truly a testament to their writing abilities, and how their minds work.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of those gifted folks. I always seem to blog about very specific things, like writing or publishing, so even if folks do read my blogs, they don't often comment because, well...what else is there to say?

So of course, tonight, I'm going to blog about something very specific, again, and blog about a day in my life as a teacher.

Just like everything else I do in my life, I seem at odd times full of self-confidence and riddled with insecurity. I love what I do, but I often obsess that I'm simply not good enough to do it for the long haul.  I also suspect I suffer from a lingering sense of self-doubt left over from my days as a youngster: before I filled out and discovered my rather dubious talent of putting a leather ball through an iron hoop....



 I was that skinny kid with no cooridnation that everyone picked on, complete with a bad haircut and pimples. Today, even at the supposed mature age of 33, often when I walk into a group of people laughing, my automatic instinct is: "they're laughing at me. I did something; what did I do?"

Also, I'm often plauged with the guilt that I'm not a "real teacher". I didn't go into teaching, after all, with grand plans of turning everyone into a "6" level writer who'd go to Harvard someday. In fact, I don't care much for learning standards, state tests, or final exams, either. I have the radical belief that as long as a student learns a decent work ethic in something, establishes a moral ethic they are true to, and finds something that is theirs they can excel in, they'll be just fine - even if they fail the English Regents.

Anyway, there's some residual guilt that I only became an English teacher because I love reading and writing with a passion, and would like to get some kids to love it, too.


The fact of the matter is I'm sometimes at a loss as to what I'm really meant to do as an English teacher. Cram their heads full of standards and writing guidelines that often don't mean a flippin' thing in the real world? Have them read only books that are "recommended" or that they can "handle"? Do only things in the classroom with clearly defined "educational goals"?

At the bottom of it, I often think I'm just not that good of a teacher. I'm so much more organized than I used to be, but that's not saying a whole lot, honestly. My classrooms are often a lot like holding onto a tiger by the tail, and that's because when push comes to shove, I just don't have the heart to be constantly thundering away at my class or throwing kids out to dentention.  It takes me forever to grade papers, (not just because of my crazy life), because I want to write every single comment on there I possibly can, AND I want to be involved in other school things like plays, creative journals, school projects, etc. I often want to go and meet students in their world, rather than drag them into mine, and I've no idea if that's bad pedegogy or not. I rather suspect it probably is.



This year has seen a turning point in my career. After six years of duking it out in the junior high, I had hit a wall. I was prepared to come back and do it all again the following year, but I also knew it would be the first time since I started teaching that I didn't want to do it.

My current position at Seton Catholic Central High School has been a godsend. It saved me, quite frankly, and made me believe again that teaching was a worthy thing. I'll say this plainly - I have the best students around, and I love where I am.

Even so, there are days when things go well, and days when they don't. This last week has been a rough one; trying to convince kids that Shakespeare is important, and NOT so they can pass a test someday. I also picked the wrong week to schedule time in the computer lab - the week before Christmas break - so not much was accomplished there either.

When classes go well, I feel on top of the world. Not so much that I'm a Super Teacher, but that I've chosen the right career path, and I doing right by my students. The days that don't go well, I often let myself get caught up in the defeating cycle that I'm letting my students down, and they're not going to reach their full potential because I'm not leading them there.

The responsibility of teaching them, guiding them, and molding them is a heavy responsibility, one I accept and welcome, but paradoxically feel I'm unfit for. A lot of times, other influences in the class reduce my role to babysitter, and again, I'm a victim of my own idealism: in all reality, I should toss those influences out to detention, but I still I hope I can at least make them NOT HATE English someday, if not actually like it.

Today, as is Christmas custom, several students gave teachers presents. I received several nice ones from thoughtful students, and then I recieved one which actually blew my mind. It's possibly the most thoughtful present I've ever received from a student, (tied with the life-sized cardboard cut-out of Darth Vader my first ever homeroom gave me when they graduated from junior high), and honestly, I'm still reeling a bit, a little overwhelmed.  I don't think I've ever gotten a more insightful gift from a student, and coming as it did when the last three days have been a bit frustrating seems Providential as well. It also makes me feel very unworthy of their appreciation.

Of course, I'll still struggle with the doubt that I'm not servicing my students the way I should; because that's part and parcel of who I am. If I ever get to a place where I'm supremely confident of my own abilities as a teacher, I probably should quit. In any case, a gift like what I got today is enough to reaffirm that I'm doing something right, affecting someone's life somewhere in a postive way. In the end, that's all I really think I want for Christmas...and beyond...is the knowledge that what and who I've left behind, I've impacted for the better.

But of course...I wouldn't be the insecure nut I was if said present didn't also make me even more mindful of the responsibility I hold in my hands, the hearts and minds of these students...but then again, if I wasn't mindful of that, I wouldn't be fit for the classroom at all.

Posted by kevinlucia at 12:18 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

December 16, 2007

My Story Is In An Anthology With a Content Warning

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There it is, pretty spooky, right? Anyway, my newest short story, "The Sliding", appears in this issue of Darkened Horizons. It's a pretty decent little story, based on some experiences my two best friends and I had in an old house back in college...

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...also spooky, yes? Anyway, the account is fictionalized, but it reads so well - to me, anyway - because I placed myself as the narrator, and used my two best friends' names. They say the best fiction is based on real-life, and I think that's especially true for spooky fiction.

Here's the most interesting part: this issue comes with basically an "R" rated warning for Graphic Violence, Profanity, and Sexual Content.

One of my stories....in something like that?

Here's the best thing: my story, with the exception of two P-13 words, (and in retrospect, those aren't even central to the story), is solidly a "Twilight Zone", P-13, classic haunted house story, sans (without) graphic violence, sex, or profanity.

The editor - a relative newbie himself - really like my story, too, even surrounded by all those other really bloody stories. I think it's cool there's one story in there that runs counter to all the rest of the violence.

Now, because of it's rating, I'm not going to post a link to it here, because I want run the straight and narrow with the Shoutlife content guidelines. However, if you do want a link to the Lulu store to either purchase a softback or digital copy, PM me, or visit my website. If you really want it, I might recommend the .pdf copy, because the problem with Lulu is the price. To download from them it's only about five bucks, but at 190 pgs total, even I can say the $13.50 is just not worth it, unless you REALLY love horror, (some of the other stories are decent enough), or have a nice paypal account saved up.

But even then, I'd recommend waiting entirely. When the rights revert back to me, I'm going to do a graphic novel experiment with the story, mostly as a surprise gift to my two friends. I'll probably make the download of that free, or at the very least, make the softback version only $6 bucks or so. Fellow Shoutlifer Corey Clubb is doing the cover for me, (check out his blogs, he's done some GREAT work, those of you in need of covers):

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and other Shoutlifer Mike Bunt is doing the inset graphics for the graphic novel. In fact, here's his rendition of evil old "Bassler House" so far:

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Nice, huh? It's mostly an experiment, because I really have no desire to dabble in self-publishing ....I just love comic books; graphic novels in particular. So in that case, how do I feel about having a short story published in an anthology printed through Lulu? Not so bad, really - I believe Dragons, Knights, and Angels utilizes Lulu, so that doesn't necessarily mark something as bad. As far as how much of a publishing credit it counts for, I don't really know. I'm starting to develop the idea - I don't know if I'm wrong - that for the most part, there's not that one or two publication credit, (other than an novel, or maybe novella/novelette), that's going to put me over the top. Plus, I could have a STELLER list of credits, and if my manuscript stinks, I handle myself unprofessionally, and I don't work well with publishers, it doesn't really matter.

I get the idea, (again, I could be mistaken here), that a good, solid BODY of work counts more on a whole than individual credits themselves. This editor invited me to submit again, and I may....but I also have an idea than an ENTIRE body of credits published in self-published anthologies might not necessarily be the best thing either.

I think it's all about a happy medium; as my creative writing professor stressed this semester, (back when he was still sane and actually a good teacher), it's important not to turn up your nose at small, indie magazine/journal/ezine/anthology publications. On the same token, I need to aim AND write for the heavies like Cemetary Dance, (just sent something to them), and Weird Tales (they've rejected me twice now, but very nicely and professionally); but if I have a story that just doesn't seem to be going anywhere, no matter HOW many times I re-edit it, and I really don't think any more changes can be made to it, why be snooty and not send it places like Darkened Horizons?

That's what happened with this short; it was mostly born on the spur of the moment, reaching back to a memory about a spooky old house. As a good writer friend pointed out to me, while it was a pretty good story, it really wasn't that original. Seeing as the story itself was mostly a writing exercise for my Creative Writing class, and after it got rejected a bunch of times elsewhere, I said, "What the heck? I'll just send it to the small, self-published mag."

I've got stories targeted all over the spectrum, for that matter. I've got two stories in at the next round of Coach's Midnight Diner, I'm REALLY laboring over a fairy tale for a HUGE contest at CatsCurious Press, I just sent in a submission to "Spec the Halls", and I'm working on a story for MindFlights, too. (I'm really working the fairy tale/fable angle lately. I like it!)

At the same time, I have one story that's bombed out of everywhere, despite numerous re-writes. If it hasn't been picked up by the time Darkened Horizons has it's next issue, and if I've picked up some other nice credits before then...well, why not?

Some of you are probably scratching your head, looking at all this spooky stuff and asking, "Wait; isn't this the guy who just last week said he's going to have some creative non-fiction published by Tyndale? What's going on with all this haunted house stuff?"

To be very plain: I'm experimenting; having fun, writing stories that call out to me. When the submissions call for the Tyndale project came around, I had in my mind a story of how I met my wife which simply called to me, so I wrote it. When Midnight Diner rolled around, I had been playing with part of my now-shelved WIP, and I thought an entry into the Diner would be an excellent way of fleshing out some backstory for one of my WIP's many characters. Then, I did some spooky stuff; one of which was picked up by All Hallows for a future issue, the other which is still languishing, and will probably end up going to Darkened Horizons. Then, I switched gears, wrote something very emotional for the annual "Faith in Fiction" contest, didn't win, re-tooled and submitted it to The Relief Journal, they didn't take it, re-tooled it - and then it became "Breathe", (available here on Shoutlife), was published on Infuze, and has been re-printed a bunch of times. Then I went back to horror/weird taleville, I've been in fantasy/fairy tale/fable land for months now, and in the Spring I'm looking forward to some crime/noir/mystery/gumshoe time. Over the summer, it'll be time for some space opera science fiction, with Ray Gun Revival and Marcher Lord Press in mind.

It's gonna take a long time to get published (if ever), a lot of time spent, hours logged, and blood sweat. I should have fun along the way, right?

Anyway, that's all! Have a good one!

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David Wolverton's Daily Kick in the Pants--Dec 15

David Wolverton's Daily Kick in the Pants--Dec 15

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As promised, I will talk a little bit about J.R.R. Tolkien's use of resonance in the Lord of the Rings.

The word "resonance," as used in literary criticism, of course refers to the idea that certain works gain power by referring either to other works to the life experiences of the reader. Thus, as writers we often craft works that are designed to be more powerful simply because they are written to our current audience who has most likely been exposed to certain books, movies, and video games.

Tolkien was a master of the use of resonance. I recall reading LOTR as a teen and feeling overwhelmed by its power and originality. Now I have to warn you that this article will be a spoiler, and by the time that you're done reading it, you may lose some respect for Tolkien's work. Don't. Tolkien drew inspiration from not just hundreds but thousands of sources, and it is beyond the scope of what I'm doing here to detail all of them. In fact, I'm sure that I would fail in any such attempt. I'm only trying to give you a taste for what he is doing. So here goes.

Before I begin, it's important for you to understand that Tolkien was a master philologist (lover of words)t, and his first civilian job after WWII was to work on the Oxford English Dictionary researching the roots of Germanic words. For those who are not familiar with the O.E.D., it is the most valuable of English dictionaries in that it discusses in detail not only the meanings of words but their history, usage, and etymology. When we talk about the O.E.D., we are not discussing the condensed volume you sometimes see in stores. The last published O.E.D. was 20 volumes long.

Use of Resonance in the Title of Lord of the Rings
It has long been a habit of writers to try to use resonance in creating titles for works, and one of the most fertile grounds for this comes from the bible, since until perhaps a hundred years ago, it was commonly read by most native English speakers. For example, Ernest Hemingway used to trade letters with John Steinbeck when they were looking for titles. Hemingway once complained that he'd been through the bible several times looking for a title for one of his books. Steinbeck got some information on the book and suggested The Sun also Rises for what later became a classic. Thus, the word Lord--which is used extensively in place of the word Jehovah--had more resonance than many of its alternatives--controller, dominator, king, etc.

But that is only a minor point. The name is actually taken from Wagner's classic German opera Der Ring des Nibelung, which is best translated as "Nibelung's Ring." From Wikipedia, here is a brief synopsis: The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold stolen from the river Rhine. Several mythic figures struggle for possession of the Ring, including Wotan (Odin), the chief of the Gods. Wotan's scheme, spanning generations, to overcome his limitations, drives much of the action in the story. The hero Siegfried wins the Ring, as Wotan intended, but is eventually betrayed and slain. Finally, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, Siegfried's lover and Wotan's estranged daughter, returns the Ring to the Rhine. In the process, the Gods are destroyed."

Does it sound at all familiar? In "Lord of the Rings," the ring is made of gold and gives the wielder the power to rule the world. As in LOTR, many people struggle to gain the ring, and eventually instead of casting it into a river, it is thrown into the Crack of Doom, from whence it was forged, and thereby its creator is destroyed.

So plot wise there are a number of similar elements between the two works. Upon reading LOTR, one might be tempted to conclude that the One Ring is an allegory for the nuclear bomb. Both, it would seem, are an ultimate weapon. And Tolkien's use of a quest to destroy the ring certainly mirrors many a person's desire to rid the world of this "ultimate weapon." But Tolkien wasn't writing an allegory about the A-bomb. He was familiar with war, and I'm sure that he knew that in every war, there is a new ultimate weapon, whether it be the howitzers and tanks of WWI, the rapid-fire pistols and underwater mines of the Crimean War, it is all the same. In the 1100s it was the trebuchet and the crossbow. Every war brings its new horrors, and the ring that represented those horror is based upon sources lost in antiquity.


While the story form itself was probably inspired by the opera (or by one of the German sagas that inspired the opera), both stories also share a lead character--the Norse god Odin, a god of wisdom, war, and travel. Odin of course is often depicted as a man robed for travel with a walking stick and a long gray beard, and among the Roman pantheon he is equated with the god Mercury. There is little doubt that the two were one and the same god. There is also little doubt that Gandalf is modeled on Odin--a wise traveler who is also a master of war. In fact, here is the artist George von Rosen's 1886 depiction of Odin, taken from Wikipedia's article about him. No one who has seen the movie or other representations of Gandalf can fail to recognize that the two are one and the same.

: An 1886 depiction of Odin by Georg von Rosen.

So Der Ring des Nibelung and Lord of the Rings share a number of plot points and one single primary character. But in establishing the use of resonance in the title, perhaps the most important thing that you need to know is that in the course of the opera Der Ring des Nibelung, each character who holds the magic ring is referred to as the "Lord of the Ring."
----
Tomorrow I'll talk about more about Tolkien's use of resonance in creating his world.

Please feel free to share this email with friends. If you would like to be added to this list, just email dwolvert@xmission.com and say, "Kick me!"

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December 13, 2007

Paper finished, sent my book proposal to Realms Fiction



So here I am, wrapping up my research paper for Diasporic Romance. The actual title is: "Craft and Construction of the Caribbean Post-Colonial Narrative".

Yeah. As you can imagine, breath-taking stuff.

Actually, I enjoy writing research papers on all things literary and digging into musty tomes of literature and literary theory, (although I consider Derrida a hoot; how in the world can you even BEGIN to formulate a theory that nothing has meaning outside of itself? Isn't that basically saying that your own theory of no meaning has no meaning? HA!), but I've taken one too many post-colonial Lit classes at this point, and let's be honest, I've never been that interested in the Caribbean.

Ah well, next semester, it's back to good classes: Shakespeare 564 and Composition Theory 570. "Cry Havoic! And let slip the dogs of war!" Julius Caesar.

On a related note, I filled out my first book proposal with Realms Fiction last night. I did it mostly as a curiosity, because I pitched the short story collection that I'll be compiling for my thesis in my Creative Writing program track at BU. I intend on finding a traditional publisher for that, (honestly, the only thing I ever plan on self-publishing is MAYBE a travelogue of a cross-country trip my best friend and I have been planning but have yet to take), but I imagine it will have to be   small run, indie traditional press, because short story anthologies - unless you're Joe Hill, Dean Koontz, or Stephen King - just aren't big sellers. In fact, one traditional/small run press, Artic Wolf Publishing, has already expressed interest, and I like the looks of them so far; maybe because as a mainstream publisher, I'll have freedom of creative expression, or maybe just because of the really cool looking wolf on their website.

A collection of short stories at this stage in my career is like a book of poetry; it's personal, will not make a lot of money, and will only ever become a "hot item" if I end up becoming a "hot item" for something else like a novel. The best I can hope for with a collection of shorts is to get published by someone listed with Baker, Taylor, and Ingrham, so I can  at least have fun and do a few book signings locally, and for it to be a decent, respectable publishing credit.

That, and with the exception of the travelogue idea, (and some minor ideas about graphic novels based on my short stories rolling around in my head), I'm never going to pay a publisher to publish my work; just can't do it. It's the old college basketball player in me; it would be tough to accept, but I'm willing to do it: if I can't find a publisher willing to publish my work traditionally, then I just ain't good enough, and need to either get better, or get a new hobby, like quilting or something.

On a related note, BIG time author Brad Listi, (who I consider the blogging king), is experimenting with self-publishing with Lulu, not for his fiction, (after being published by Simon & Schuster, that's a little foolish), but with his blogs. He's making a trial run of it, compiling all of his blogs and publishing them through Lulu under the title, "This Is What My Head Sounds Like". It's cool of a big time author to do that, just as an experiment. I'd like to think that if I'm lucky enough to get published, I wouldn't be afraid of self-publishing projects, just for the fun of it. Heck, I'm partly a tech-head when it come to graphic arts anyway, so it would be a fun project.

Whaddya think? "This Is My Brain. This Is My Brain on Monster Energy Drink At 4 AM. Any Questions?" by Kevin Lucia, published through Lulu?

At least my wife will buy a copy.

I think.

Anyway, I lost my thread of thought. I submitted a proposal for my thesis project/short story collection tentatively titled "Way Stations" to Realms, mostly because I want to see what they'd say, especially in regards to our HUGE blog concerning short stories in Christian fiction a while back. I sent them a copy of that blog, too. I'm interested in a publisher's take on a short story collection; I really don't expect them to be interested, I'm rather looking for criticism to sharpen future proposals.

Okay! Back to the paper!

Kevin Lucia

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December 12, 2007

What Christian Fiction needs more of: Revist

It's not Tuesday morning, but consider this a "supplemental blog", sorta like a captain's "Supplemental Log" on Star Trek.

A note of caution: this is going to sound very self-serving; titanically so. However, it's what my fevered brain is turning over at the moment, so if you're interested in what I'm interested, we can chat.

Also - I don't know if there is anything that can be done about my topic, because of the culture and climate of today's world. Also, by no means can I be considered an expert on anything, so if anyone sees any holes in my admittedly "Swiss-Chessian" (I'm an English teacher; I'm allowed to make up words) logic, fire away.

Anyway, I've been engaged in the last year writing short stories; lots of them. Based on the small amount of success I've had in this area, (6 shorts published or accepted for publication so far; one due to be re-published in The Relief Journal's Best of 2007 edition, one awaiting final word in a Tyndale Anthology, and a few contests won), I've felt this is where God is directing my focus at this time, and that my novel aspirations should simply be put to rest for the moment. There are very practical time-oriented reasons for this: my life is nuts right now; I don't have a schedule conducive to writing a novel-length manuscript. Short stories, however, seem to fit the bill. PLUS, writing short stories and 500-word limit non-fiction articles has been very instructive, because I tend to be a bit verbose and wordy, (did you notice?), and I've always had a hard time bringing a plot to an ENDING and finding solid resolutions to storylines. Writing short fiction has really helped me with this.

It's caused me to think a lot about the short story market. I remember my favorite two lit classes in college: American Short Story and Detective Fiction. I read some really great short fiction that year; most notably Flannery O'Connor and Ellery Queen. It was awesome to see how writers could pack such a punch into so few pages. I've been re-reading a lot of that stuff for my Fiction Workshop this semester; along with Joyce, G.K. Chesterton, H.P. Lovecraft, and will soon be moving on to J.D. Salinger, Philip Marlow, P.D. James, and others. I've also been interning for our graduate literary magazine, Harpur Palate, and reading some great shorrt fiction there, too.

I recently came across the article I posted in my blog by Stephen called What Ails The Short Story?, and it got me to thinking about how folks used to build a career on short stories alone, long before they ever wrote a novel; and not so much that they built a career $$-wise, but that writing a novel wasn't the only way to be considered a "made" fiction writer.

King's article made me think about a lot of things. He pointed out how hard it was to find short fiction digests these days; and he's right - I checked at my local Barnes & Noble, and they were nowhere to be found. I remember the days when AT least the genre-oriented fiction mags were easily availible, and that was just ten years ago...but they seem to have disappeared from magazine shelves as well.

One thing King mentioned in his article, (I have a point here somewhere, trust me), was how it seemed to him as he purused some of the best in short fiction that some of the wild "glee" of writing an awesome short story had gone away. He asserted that much of short fiction was "self-reffering", "showy" - ergo, writers wrote short stories to show off their stuff to potential agents and publishers; and newbie writers only read short story magazines to figure out what was publishable and what wasn't, rather for enjoyment.

This was very convicting to me. It made me really consider why I'm writing short stories, and I asked myself the question: "What happens if I never publish a novel? What happens if only ever publish short stories, and a novel is just not in the cards?"

Ever more slowly, the answer has been coming. You know what - I'm totally okay with it. As more story ideas crop up in my head, I think less and less about what exposure it will bring me, more and more about how much fun it will be to see the story unfold. For example: I'm almost DYING for the semester to end so I can focus on a great story I'd like to write called "Last Inning Before Nightfall" - about a boy, his father, a lost baseball field in a shadow dimension, and monster creeping in the shadows, and the only thing that can destroy it - the kid's Louisville Slugger, which has become symbolic of the bond between father and son (and of course, one of them is dead, the other dreaming or dying, and I can't tell you which!) Doesn't that sound like a fun read? Better yet - it sounds like a fun WRITE.

Oh, I was going to tell you about what I think Christian fiction needs more of. It's something that I'm worried we can't do anything about, but I wish we could, nonetheless.

We need to return prestige and honor to the short story.

See, I told you it was self-serving.

You know what would be great? More Christian literary journals like Relief Journal. A ton more Christian genre fiction digests like Dragons, Knights, & Angels, Ray Gun Revival, The Sword Review, Fear and Trembling.

It would also be awesome if Light At the Edge of the Darkness was a yearly anthology everyone could look forward to (I'm saying this, because I want to submit next year!). It would be great if the anthology publisher, The Writer's Cafe Press, did other genre anthologies as well.

What would be even better? It would be even better if the big names: Tyndale, Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Bethany House - collected some of the best names in fiction, asked them for submissions, opened submissions to newbies, and produced a few anthologies of their own. How about a mystery/crime anthology featuring shorts by Eric Wilson, Randy Alcorn, John Laurence Robinson, Creston Mapes...and newbies? How about a chiller/suspense anthology featuring shorts from Kathryn Mackel, Brandilyn Collins, T.L. Hines, and some newbies? A Sci Fi, fantasy anthology with stuff from Bryan Davis, Wayne Baston Thomas, Sue Dent, R.K. Mortenson, Frank Creed, and newbies? A thriller anthology with Ted Dekker, Robert Liparulo, and so on, so forth.

That would be cool; also a great outlet. For example, of all the shorts I've had accepted for publication, only two of them have been at Christian publications, Infuze and Coach's Midnight Diner, the rest have been at secular publications, and right now, I've got eight short stories all submitted to secular publications. Now, I'm okay with that, because I'd like to be considered as just a "writer" and not a "Christian Writer" or someone who writes "Christian Fiction", but it would be nice to level the playing field. If I've got a mainstream horror, sci fi, detective fiction or literary piece I want to write, there are tons of markets. If I have something faith-based, the markets AND their audiences are narrowed drastically.

The problem, of course, is demand, and cost issues. The American public seems to be very dismissive of short fiction and anthologies in general. For the most part, if folks are going to crack their wallet, it's going to be for a best-selling commercial novel, or at least a novel, not an anthology of short stories. For most folks, anthologies are best bought at garage sales and second-hand bookstores.

That's a pity. I'm totally IN to Joe Hill's anthology, Twentieth Century Ghosts. Of course, he's Stephen King's son, but still, that doesn't take away from the power of these short stories.

I've rambled on too long; it's time for others to talk. If this isn't too long a blog, I'd love to have some comments. Can we bring the short story back, or is it like pressing our shoulders into an oncoming train?

See? Very self-serving blog, indeed.

Currently Reading:

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Cathi (Praying for Eric Volz)
11/04/07 - 7:25 AM

I am in total agreement with you!!! I have been thinking about it more since I read Light at the Edge of Darkness. As a reader, I like short stories for many reasons, one of which is that I can finish a story and still get some sleep! Really, I always enjoyed the tales of O. Henry, Saki, Chekhov, and Edgar Allen Poe. Usually a nice twist at the end. These are names that I mainly associate with short stories. In an anthology of short stories, you may not care for every story, but there are usually enough that you feel like you get your money's worth. At least that's the way I feel.

---
Cathi H.


Eric Wilson
11/04/07 - 7:58 AM

Short stories are an amazing art form, one that should have more appeal in this short-attention-span generation. My favorite shorts range from Ray Bradbury, to O. Henry, to Flannery O'Connor, to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Recently, James Lee Burke put out a great set of short stories.

Two years ago I sold a short story to Angelica, a start-up magazine that...well, never started up. The founder had a great vision, and I hope that doesn't get lost in this dog-eat-dog publishing business.

---
Eric Wilson
novelist


Cory Clubb
11/04/07 - 8:44 AM


Love the picture comparison with Capt. Kirk.

Great idea Kevin, now who do we contact? Come on let's get this idea moving. It would open a world of possiblites for published and unpublished authors alike. Thanks for voicing your opinion and getting the idea out. Check out the collection of short stories entitled Thriller, edited by James Patterson.
Let's hear from some publishers now, willing to take on this challenge!

--Cory Clubb


Kris St. James
11/04/07 - 8:45 AM

I'm completely with you, Kev. King is one of the few writers who is still publishing shorts (and good ones, mind you), but I LOVE the idea of major pub houses asking their well-known writers to submit a few shorts for an anthology. I'd buy it hands down. What I'm afraid would happen, though, is that some folks would begin to compare/contrast the authors and some may eventually lose favor among readers. Maybe not. From a critiquing standpoint, I think it would be an awesome learning tool for aspiring authors (like me).

Why don't you contact those pubs and see what they think? Heck, maybe even contact the authors and see what they think, too?

BTW--awesome new background!

---
Soli Deo Gloria


Bryan Davis
11/04/07 - 8:48 AM

Thank you for mentioning me, Kevin. I think putting together such a collection might be fun, but I've never written a short story before. I'm so long winded, it's hard to imagine concocting an interesting story in a short format.

But I'm open to the idea.


Kevin Lucia

11/04/07 - 9:15 AM

Case in point, Corey - Christian author Robert Liparulo contributed a story to Thillers - called "Kill Zone", which is awesome. That's what I'd like to do - have stories in both Christian and secular markets.


 

Sue Dent - TWCP Author
11/04/07 - 9:38 AM

I'm with Bryan both in thanking you and saying I'm too long-winded. Short stories would require too much think time for me. Ironically, Don Tumasonis of Norway(unless he's moved again as he was threatening to do) is an absolute master of the short story and has won numerous awards. He challenged me to write a few short stories but without his drive around me everyday, I doubt I'll worry about the challenge. First I'll have to pay the bills and since that rarely happens with a debut novel, I have to hurry and get a few more books out there. In the meantime, check out some of Don's work. He's quite searchable and has been compared to the greats of our time. I've challenged him to write a novel as has many others. His publisher is enouraging him by stating that he is writing one. No one has seen it yet though. There was a HUGE discussion about this very thing in the Lost Genre Guild forum too, just this week with some very good replies from the publishers of several small zines.

---


Johne Cook, Overlord, Ray Gun Revival
11/04/07 - 10:06 AM

It's a small cyberworld after all. I just read Kevin's post at Mike Duran's Decompose site in the comments of the thread dedicated to our common friend, Coach Culbertson:
http://mikeduran.com/?p=903

There are things we can do to address the changing realities of how people read short stories (and why they don't).

I wonder if Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) had anything to do with it.

For instance, my son has a raging case of ADD. His flitting attention is all over the map. However, when he finds something that he likes, he hones in on it with a ferocious singleness of purpose. He knows the lore of World of Warcraft the way I know my Bible.

I've been thinking about it and one of the things that irritates me as an ADD guy is that when I find one story in an anthology that I like. At that point, I find I want all the rest of the stories to be Just Like That.

I blame Rudyard Kipling.

Now, I haven't read 'all the classics', but I did read some a few years ago when I went on a classics kick. Mark Twain was fun, Alexandre Dumas was a hoot, but my hands-down favorite was Kipling. His Jungle Book (and the companion, The Second Jungle Book) were tales about India primarily featured Mowgli, a human boy lost in a truly hostile environment alien to normal human infants. He was taken in by a family of wolves and became attuned to the ways and the dangers and the thrills of the jungle. The stories were more fables than anything, but the cool thing is that while they were each self-contained, they also built on each other toward a large, magnificent whole. It was like a novel (or novels, plural) of short stories that worked together toward a common purpose.

We're doing something like that a Ray Gun Revival. Each issue contains two or so origianl short stories, a featured artist interview, and two ongoing serial novels. For the serial novels, each chapter serves as a stand-alone short story with a bonus cliffhanger that leads to another short story in the developing storyline. It is a way to give some continuity to those who finally find something they really lik, a way to read more shorter works in a larger, ongoing storyline.

Another idea is the collaborate shared world idea, ala Thieves World. Jeff Wheeler from the sadly-defunct Deep Magic was working on Kenatos, one such shared world idea at one time.

As I said, there are things we can do, but one thing we shouldn't do is remain wedded to the status quo. Readers' tastes are shifting, changing. As authors, editors, publishers, we need to find ways to remain relevant and attractive to todays readers.

---
Johne Cook
Overlord, Ray Gun Revival magazine


WayneThomasBatson
11/04/07 - 10:40 AM

Thanks for the mention, Kevin. I love short stories. Ever read "The Right Kind of House" by Henry Slessar? It's one example of the WHAM--COOL--Gotcha--Power moments that short fiction can be so good at delivering. Before getting novels published, I wrote short stories all the time. If a publisher wanted to do an anthology of short stories, I'd be up for it...depending on when the project came along. Juggling deadlines can be a bear.

By the way, cool background! What is it? Your art? CREEPY.

-Wayne Thomas Batson
Author of The Door Within Trilogy
& Isle of Swords Pirate Adventures


Sue Dent - TWCP Author
11/04/07 - 2:25 PM

Oh, it was also nice to see you mention fellow author Frank Creed. His Flashpoint is really making great progress after its release about a month ago. Does mentioning his name mean you read the review copy they sent you? I can't wait to hear what you have to say about it!

Frank's pretty good with the short story also. Much better than I am, I think.

---


Cheryl Russell
11/04/07 - 3:19 PM

Love short stories. Maybe we should start a group--the Short Story Consortium. (Don't mind me, I've been on the computer most of the weekend and it's frying my brain).

I think you've got a great idea. Start small, aim big. What would be the first thing you would do? An anchor group? Start a blog w/ multiple authors? Freebie webpage? Personally, I like the "doing it because I want to angle". ;-)

Any more thoughts, oh master of the 4am ('cause no one else is up that early) blog?

---
Unseen Worlds



Cheryl Russell


Cathi-Lyn Dyck
11/04/07 - 3:44 PM

Nice hair, dude.

Yep, it's definitely something that's missing. And, I think that if it were more popular, the novels out there would also come out better.

It's not the great "thriller-twist" short form, but I found it interesting that Alexander McCall Smith put The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency into a format of chapters with individual stories and conclusions, even while the overall book contained a longer plot. It was really refreshing. I find myself hungry for anything that's not formula.

Cat

---
"The world has little place for people of conviction, but those places cannot be filled by anyone else."

"Canadian Prairie Writer: PlainText" - Examining Your Purpose as a Christian Communicator


Kevin Lucia

11/04/07 - 4:09 PM

Wow. This has been a great blog. Wait until Tuesday's blog, tentatively titled: "Why Nuns Freak Me Out".

Really.

Corey, Cheryl, and Chris: don't know where we should start, honestly. I'm invested enough in the issue to spend lots of time talking about it, but too busy to be an editor and start an anthology myself. HOWEVER - Cheryl, the short story consortium would be a great idea, if we could figure out a way to gauge membership, things like that. We could self-publish through Lulu and stuff, but it would be better for a traditional or small print publisher to do that.

The idea has merit, though.

And Cathi - thanks. As you can see, I take pride in my morning appearance.


 

Lost Genre Tour
11/04/07 - 6:23 PM

Another idea is the collaborate shared world idea, ala Thieves World. Jeff Wheeler from the sadly-defunct Deep Magic was working on Kenatos, one such shared world idea at one time.

This is exactly the type of thing Frank Creed is doing with his Underground group; in fact, Thieves World (and the Shadow Run series, though these are novel length) was his inspiration for doing so. Currently there are a few novels in progress, however, Frank (and TWCP) are giving a lot of consideration to a Thieves World-type of book: short stories with the same characters and setting as Flashpoint, from the points of view of other characters (e.g Legacy, e-girl, Tinker), including some new characters.

The issue right now is twofold: first Frank needs to get another Underground book in publication to establish the branding. Second issue is marketability--which is probably the main reason there aren't more anthologies on bookshelves.


---
www.lostgenreguild.com
www.thewriterscafe.com


Cheryl Russell
11/04/07 - 6:30 PM

I'll think on it awhile and let you know if I get any more ideas.

---
Unseen Worlds



Cheryl Russell


Frank Creed, TWCP Author
11/04/07 - 6:54 PM

Kevin--
The next few years will be crucial for Biblical speculative fiction (sci-fi, Horror, fantasy) of ANY length. As religious fiction booms, genre fans need to know there's stuff on the shelves that has never before been on the shelves. In my booksigning experiences, Christian fiction fans in general don't shop Christian book-stores, where only 20-25% of retail space is given for books. They need to be called gift-shops, not book-stores.
Faces of sci-fi fans I met at Barnes & Nobel LIT-UP when they heard there was such a thing as Christian sci-fi. They don't think to look on religious shelves.
I'll start a rumor and say there has been talk of a shared-setting anthology for the Underground. We'll just see where the Boss takes this fiction-ministry. Who knows, Ceese and Richard just may show up in 2036 Chicago. 8D

Faith,
f

---
www.frankcreed.com
www.booksoftheunderground.com
A Frank Review
www.lostgenreguild.com
Lost Genre Guild Blog
www.thewriterscafe.com

Mirtika
11/04/07 - 10:46 PM

I actually prefer short fiction to novel. My fave writings from some of my fave SF authors, for instance, are in the short form. And I have two short stories pubbed, and I almost decided to just go the short story route, but decided to aim for the novel. I will see what happens. But it's true that making a living from novel writing is hard enough, but from short fiction is nigh impossible. And for many, that is a consideration.

But if it's about satisfaction, writing a good short fiction piece or a poem has a heckuva lot of personal satisfaction attached.

I just got Coach's Midnight Diner this week, and I read the first story and the Magi one, and both were fun. I look forward to the rest.

As for two of the mags you mentioned, DKA and TSR are closing shop as of the end of 2007, and the staff is merging to edit MINDFLIGHTS at www.mindflights.com

If you folks write short Christian speculative fiction that's of high quality, please submit. If you write speculative poetry that is of high quality, please submit. We are a magazine that Christian but inclusive. (Read our Vision Statement/Guidelines at www.mindflights.com )

It's an experiment. We hope to get enough in ads and donations to pay better than at TSR and DKA. The dream is to have a functioning, quality magazine that showcases Christian and Christian-friendly speculative literature. WE'll be publishing a novel in installments in 2008 (by Jane Lebak). We hope you all support us and pray for us.

Mir

---
Mirtika
http://mirathon.blogspot.com
http://specfaith.ritersbloc.com
http://www.dkamagazine.com


Frank Creed, TWCP Author
11/05/07 - 3:30 AM

Miritka--
Yes, yes, yes.
I should have given props to:
doubleedgedpublishing.com
wayfarersjournal.com
and residentialaliens.blogspot.com

These e-zines publish short fiction, subtle and overt, for ministry motive.

TSR stands for The Sword Review, by-the-way: not the company that once owned the Dungeons & Dragons title.

Faith,
f

---
www.frankcreed.com
www.booksoftheunderground.com
A Frank Review
www.lostgenreguild.com
Lost Genre Guild Blog
www.thewriterscafe.com

Dragons, Knights, & Angels
11/05/07 - 6:40 AM

Great blog!

I am so glad to see Double-Edged Publishing's magazines mentioned here. (That's The Sword Review, Ray Gun Revival, and Dragons, Knights & Angels.)

I see Mir has already beat me to talking about MindFlights, which is cool. (Thanks, Mir.)

I'd like to apologize to anyone who has been trying to visit DEP magazines the last few days. Our server has been down, and so the sites haven't been available since early Saturday. (This doesn't usually happen, I promise.) We've been dealing with the hosting company to try to get the problem resolved as soon as possible. Please bear with us.

On a personal note, I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of short fiction--all types, from super-short to longish, nearly novella length. So, I'd like to encourage all the writers of short fiction out there to keep 'em coming.

---
Selena Thomason at
Dragons, Knights, & Angels:
The Magazine of Christian Fantasy and Science Fiction


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DKA Magazine


Frank Creed, TWCP Author
11/07/07 - 4:35 AM

Sweet mother of squirrel--I forgot to mention the new kid in town for short fiction:
http://residentialaliens.blogspot.com/

Lyn Perry, please forgive me.
Rachel, and Selena both have shorts in this new blog-style e-zine. Kudos to you both!

Faith,
f

---
www.frankcreed.com
www.booksoftheunderground.com
A Frank Review
www.lostgenreguild.com
Lost Genre Guild Blog
www.thewriterscafe.com

Brandilyn Collins
11/12/07 - 2:27 PM

Kevin, I agree with short story anthologies would be great. It's as you said--demand and cost. It would take some publisher going out on a limb and doing one--and then seeing strong sales. If one test anthology had poor sales--the idea would be even deader than it is now. That's the way of the publishing world.

Hope someone tries it--and it works.

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~ Brandilyn Collins
Seatbelt Suspense
"Don't forget to b r e a t h e ..."


 

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December 05, 2007

No Blog Today, Slogging Through Diasporic Romance

Morning. No blog today, or perhaps even next week - we'll see - as I slog through my end of the semester twenty page paper on "Diasporic Romance and the Construction of the Post-Colonial Novel".

 Yeah. Fascinating. I know.

Anyway, I am participating in this week's CFBA tour of author Virginia Smith, so have at it below. Hopefully, an interview shall be following.

As always, walk light. 

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