Category Archives: Process

So Where DO You Get Your story Ideas? – Part 2

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Back in So Where DO You Get Your Story Ideas? I was making the point that “ideas” as such really weren’t the issue most of the time. The trick was to recognize a story when you saw one. I don’t take back any of that, but it occurred to me that it wouldn’t hurt to clarify a bit. Some people, especially in the beginning of their development, tend to confuse “story idea” with the story itself, as in, boom, you get the idea, and the story immediately springs to mind, fully grown, like Athena sprouting from the brow of Zeus, and that’s not happening, therefore you’re just not getting story ideas, and What’s Wrong With Me!!?? If you find yourself in that particular panicky death spiral, take a breath, relax, and try to understand that, odds are, there’s nothing at all wrong with you. What you lack isn’t brains, or imagination, but experience. Brains and imagination, so far as I know, you either have or you don’t. Experience is something you have to earn.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that stories don’t sometimes appear fully grown and ready to be written down. It does happen, and it’s a grade A rush. But it’s not a story idea, it’s the story. Not the same thing at all. If it was, then recognizing a story idea would never be a problem. In truth, you’d have to be pretty dense, tired, or distracted to miss one. Usually, they’re a bit more subtle. I tend to think of story ideas like a light switch in a dark room. You fumble around a bit, find the switch and recognize it for what it is, flip it on and bang! Illumination. Now you can see what you need to see to do what you have to do. If what you’ve found really is a story idea, then that flash of illumination will always follow. That’s how you know you were right, but the initial recognition is the crucial step, and we’re back to that. How do you recognize a story? I said some things last time that I think were true enough, but when you boil them all down to essence, there’s only one way to learn how to recognize a story.

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Black Kath’s Daughter – Corporeal Edition

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Canemill Publishing Edition

I was a little hesitant to take this step, but as has recently been emphasized to me, not everyone has joined the ebook revolution. Odd that an old print snob like me had to be reminded of this, yet there it is. So. Today I’m announcing that, yes, there will be a trade paper print edition of Black Kath’s Daughter. In fact, it’s already orderable through CreateSpace. The Amazon page should show up in a few days. If you’re one of those people who think Amazon is the root of all evil, you can also order it through your local indie bookstore or even a B&N. It’s a real book. It has ISBNs and everything:

ISBN: 0615594778

EAN13: 978-0615594774

Putting this edition together has been an experience. I mean, I’m glad I did it, I learned a lot, and I won’t swear that I won’t do it again (in truth, I’m pretty sure I will), but it did remind me of just how much I don’t want to be a publisher. Getting a book into print is a lot of work, but that’s the least of it. The big drag is time. I only have so much, and when I’m editing, formatting, designing a cover, and proofing, I’m not writing. If I’m not writing, then what’s the point of all that other stuff?

Anyway, book is published, and I’m writing a new story. The fabric of reality is still holding up. For now. And if there is anything else of mine that now only exists in phosphors that you would like to see get a print edition, let me know. I may not write to the market but I do take requests.

Zen and the Art of Beating Your Head Against a Wall

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Subtitle: What Do You Think You’re Doing?

On another forum not too long ago, a well-known editor was expressing puzzlement. There was a very fine writer whose work he’d been promoting for years, buying their stories, featuring them prominently, doing all that was reasonable to do in an attempt to get readers to understand that this writer is worth paying attention to. And it wasn’t a complete bust by any means–the writer has done well by most standards: prolific, won several awards, publishes all over the place. Yet despite it all, they have no “career” to speak of. Sure, nearly every writer in the short-story field knows their work and most have high respect for it; if you follow the sf/f field at all in short stories, you’d recognize the name. But they have never developed the readership or name-recognition that the editor thought they deserved, and why is that?

Later in the thread the editor, in my opinion, answered his own question–it’s because the writer’s stories are too different. Not too different from what’s being published in the field; so far as I can see the sf/f field has a huge tolerance for the different, especially at short story level. Rather, the problem is that the writer’s stories are too different from each other.  Tone, theme, subject matter, you name it. Any reader could read three or four of the writer’s stories, all excellent, and never once realize that they were all written by the same person. Continue reading →

So Where DO You Get Your Story Ideas?

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The short but incomplete answer seems to be “everywhere.”  Or as Ursula Le Guin once remarked, turning the question back on her interviewer, “Where do you not get them?”  They’re all around, all the time. Despite this, show me the beginning writer who has not, at one time or another, bemoaned the fact that they want to write so very badly but don’t have the slightest clue as to what to write about. This makes them feel stupid and resentful. I know. I remember. One could pile on like a rat bastard by simply saying “If you can’t think of anything, then you’re probably not a writer. Give it up.”  That not only shows a meanness of spirit but, more to the point, it’s simply not true.  Beginners, like almost every other sentient human being, have lots of ideas. The actual problem is they don’t know which of them are stories. Continue reading →

In-Depth Interview Fail

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I’ve decided that I want to interview me. Because, to be blunt, there were things I’ve always wanted to know about me, but I’d never asked. 

Question: Where were you born?

Answer: Newton, Mississippi, Newton County Hospital. The hospital no longer exists. Newton, last time I checked, does.

Question: Where did you go to HS?

Answer: Hickory High School. It also no longer exists. Probably for the best.

Question: College?

Answer: Copiah-Lincoln Jr. College, University of Southern Mississippi, and Mississippi College. I have undergraduate degrees in Polymer Science and Math and Computing Science. I have no idea why.

Question: Enough biographical background that no one cares about, but we interviewers just ask to be polite. Can I ask something serious now?

Answer: Go for it.

Question: What was your first published story?

Answer: It’s in the bibliography. Honestly, do you guys even know who you’re interviewing?

Question: That tends to cloud our judgment. I like to keep an open mind. What about you?

Answer: Like a steel sieve.

Question: What’s your personal philosophy? Are you a Determinist?

Answer: I haven’t determined that yet.

Question: Fair Enough. Boxers or briefs?

Answer: The Boxer Rebellion was fairly brief, yes.

Question: You really are a silly git, aren’t you?

Answer: That’s the first intelligent question I’ve heard today. Would you like to try for two?

Question: I’m asking the questions here. You’re written a series of stories about a ghost hunter. Do you really believe in ghosts?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why?

Answer: Mostly because it annoys the Baptists.

Question: Weren’t you raised Baptist?

Answer: My point.

Question: OOO-kay. Moving on. What are your current religious beliefs?

Answer: I firmly believe that this is no one’s business but mine and any deities involved.

Question: You’re not being co-operative.

Answer: I’m sorry, but you forgot to phrase that in the form of a question. I’ll take “Bored Audience” for a thousand, Alex.

Question: Do I look like a game show host?

Answer: Yes. Sorry.

 

Clearly, I suck at this, but if anyone has any actual questions, I’ll be glad to answer them. Or not, as the whim takes me. Otherwise, I’ll be spending some quality time with the Complacence Fairy.