Archive for June, 2010

Knowing Your Limits

When I first started writing, I had a sentence in mind, and some ideas for where I wanted the story to go.  I had no idea how to get there, of course, and hoped like hell I could make a creditable story out of it.  I followed my heroes around, and occasionally they got themselves into a jam from which only my incredible authorly powers could save them.  The perils of walking down a street, or getting dinner.  Can’t have that, so let’s throw in a trapdoor to a netherworld dimension, or a monster attack.  But, oh my god, how was I ever going to make this book stretch out to 200 pages?

Click here to buy it now!

It finally weighed in at over 400.  It got where I expected it to go, but a lot more happened than I ever expected, and when I got there everything meant something else.  Which is good.

Then I was asked to write a short story.  A funny one.  I’ve told the story before so I won’t do it here, but it eventually came in at 40 pages.  The sequel to Chasing His Own Tale, the artfully-named and eventually-to-be-published Chasing His Own Tale 2 (trust me, it’s the subtitles that matter) is a bit longer, as I recall, although I don’t have the exact figures.  It’s even a better story, IMHO, although my wife wonders how that could be possible.  I’d like to think I improved a bit, what with time and experience and all.

Click here to buy it now!

Then I wrote Boys Will Be Boys, which was much harder.  Why?  Because the contest organizers had strict word limits on it.  I don’t know what will happen in my stories until we get there, and while getting there is always fun and eventful, it could also take a while.  Or not.  Stone went on much longer than I expected, but my latest, St. Martin’s Moon, is a fully-fleshed out werewolf novel  at less than 250 pages, and for a while I was thinking I had done something wrong.  Or maybe I just got less chatty.  Now that I think of it, that sort of fits the book, which begins with people living very circumscribed lives due to a variety of curses.

My stories are like my characters, hopefully like me: they grow as I tell them.  Even Off the Map, written about a real person and hence more of an adventure than an exercise in character development, was a bit of  a struggle, in spite of its higher word limit.  Limits are a bit of a challenge to me, and as Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau once said, “I am always up to ze challenge”, only he said it in an outrageous French accent.  Paradoxically, writing for a confined space stretches my abilities.  Just a little while ago, during the whole six-word story craze, I actually came up with a good one.  Now I’m aiming for that middle zone, between 6 and 5000.

Keep reading, I’ll get there.

2010
06/27
CATEGORY
General
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Eureka!

by Pam Ripling

My first published work was a short story. It was for THEMA, a literary journal that publishes a list of themes or premises for upcoming editions. The story I chose was themed “EUREKA!”

Eureka, of course, translates from the Greek to “I have found it” and was supposedly the word shouted by Archimedes upon discovering a method of finding out how much the gold of King Hiero’s crown had been alloyed; also by the first person to discover gold in my home state of California (a city is so named in the northern part of the state.) My interpretation, however, was a little different.

My father had recently passed away, so I was spending more time with my mother than usual as we went through Dad’s things together. A lot of emotion passed between us during those days, and I got to see another side of Mom as she worked through those first stages of grief. She’d misplaced something, a diamond ring belonging to my father, and I knew it troubled her. She worked crossword puzzles as a diversion while I carefully boxed up Hawaiian shirts and trousers for the charitable pick up. While we didn’t talk about it, I knew she blamed me for pulling the plug on Dad’s life support when he could no longer live on his own. I grieved as much for the loss of her love.

One afternoon in particular, she fretted over a six letter entry on the puzzle. “Discoverer’s cry,” was the clue. And when she later found Daddy’s ring tucked away in his sock drawer, she did, indeed, cry out: “Eureka!” The ring, in this case, meant a lot; it was never really lost, nor was–as it turned out–my mother’s love.

Do ghosts time travel? Of course they do. Find out why one particularly haunting spirit travels 60 years to the future in CAPE SEDUCTION by Anne Carter, now available from Echelon Press. BUY IT HERE for your Kindle, Omnilit for nook, Sony eReader and others. Official launch September, 2010!

Visit Pam Ripling/Anne Carter at Beacon Street Books.

2010
06/24
CATEGORY
General
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Copy editing pet peeves

One of my tasks in my day job is copy editing summaries of court cases for legal newsletters.  If you’ve never been a copy editor or worked with one, let me clue you in: Copy editors have a TON of pet peeves, especially if what they’re editing is supposed to follow specific guidelines.
In my line of work we follow Associated Press rules for writing news stories and use Blue Book guidelines for citing court cases.
Copy editors are also generally detail-oriented, type-A, obsessive-compulsive people (and not necessarily in that order).
Here’s a short list of errors that drive me crazy:
1. Overuse of the word “that.”  Ninety percent of the time, it’s unnecessary.
2. Misplaced or missing commas.  You can’t just throw them in willy-nilly.
3. Using pronouns to describe two or more of the same things in the same sentence.  ”He gave him his book” could be interpreted as “Billy gave Tom Billy’s book” or “Billy gave Tom Tom’s book.”
4. Run-on sentences.  Enough said.
I would to say that being a copy editor my writing is impeccable.  Sadly, I am not immune to errors in my stories.  But I guarantee that if I need to include a court citation in one, it will be correctly constructed.

Katie Pasek is the author of “Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy” and Junior’s New Home.  For more information, please visit http://www.katiepasek.com.

2010
06/22
CATEGORY
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A Sense of Place

Recently I was asked, among other things, about what catches my attention when reviewing stories as editor of Mysterical-E (http://www.mystericale.com). There was a list of things, of course. So many elements will make or break a story that it’s an almost unconscious process going through that list as you read. But among the attention-getting items is a sense of place and the atmosphere in a piece.

For me, these elements are just as important in a short story as in a novel. There’s less room to maneuver in short fiction, so how does a writer fit what’s necessary into a short piece? That’s part of what being a writer is all about. Conveying a lot within the parameters set up for you is a necessary skill. No one could ever describe every detail, every nuance of a place or situation. Books that did this would be so long as to be unreadable. It’s the judicious choice a writer makes among the many facets there are that makes a story good. As an editor I look for this, as a writer, I have to make sure I practice it. I often have to cut out quite a bit after my first draft. For me, that’s part of the fun of writing, trying to see if something can be said just as well or better in a shorter way. Sometimes it can’t but most times it’s a goal that can be achieved.

How do you create a sense of place and an atmosphere for a reader? Atmosphere is probably easier than a sense of place. Almost everyone has experienced “what’s in the air.” A sense of excitement, fear, anticipation. So it can be easier to connect with readers since we’ve all experiences similar situations, even if only vicariously. Still, creating that atmosphere in words is a skill like any other. Describing that old mansion on a hill, where trees have stopped growing and birds never fly over is something you see in your mind and then make your readers see. Sometimes, though, describing the big picture isn’t what’s called for. Sometimes a small detail, exquisitely drawn in words, is what makes the atmosphere tingle.

A sense of place is a bit harder. If readers have never been to Philadelphia or Rome, how does the writer convey a sense of those places? It’s never easy. If you yourself know a place inside out, creating it on the page will be easier. Capturing the essence of a city or town or anywhere does not mean you have to live there, however. Sometimes a few trips and interviews with residents will give the observant writer enough to go on to make that locale come to life.

Again, as with atmosphere, it’s in the details. The moon tree in Washington Square here in Philadelphia conveys something that, even if you’ve never been here to see it, creates a picture in your mind and makes you want to visit. There are a thousand, thousand details that lay before the writer. Choosing the right ones to make a place come alive on the page is another skill that needs to be developed.

It can be done and that’s one of the challenges of writing.

2010
06/20
CATEGORY
General
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Of Lemons and Lemonade

In case you’ve ever wanted a peek into an author’s mind, here’s a ‘sunny yellow’ glimpse at the mildly twisted edges of my psyche:

Ah, sweet summertime! In our neighborhood homemade lemonade stands pop up regularly. Good thing too because it’s been phenomenally hot here lately. Hot enough that I don’t mind supporting the entrepreneurs of tomorrow with my spare quarters for a brisk splash of refreshment.

Long, long ago when I was being raised by people who spouted, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” I too offered up pitchers of lemony refreshment for passersby on a hot afternoon. It was a great way to earn a little cash and a lot of smiles!

Positive thinking at it’s finest – and positive thinking is essential!

One of my all-time favorite memories is of a summer day when my mother in law helped my children pick fresh lemons off my grandmother’s lemon tree. Four generations got in on the squeezing, sweetening, tasting, and eventual toasting of a perfect pitcher of sunshine.

More recently I saw a Happy Bunny tag, “When life gives you lemons squirt juice in your enemy’s eye.” This I find absolutely hysterical. (I warned you about the mildly twisting psyche). This I have on the bulletin board near my desk.

It’s a practical application of positive thinking – and it’s tough to find anyone more practical than a mother of teenagers who writes about reincarnated heroines fighting demons in 2096 or a group of high school marching band students who jump from one secret garden to another via the statuary.

No matter your outlook on lemons, make the best of every day you’ve got and…

Live the adventure!

Regan

Follow Regan on Twitter and Facebook, or find great stuff for writers and readers, plus news about her greyhounds and ‘domestic petting zoo’ at her websites: ReganBlack.com and AdoptAGreyhoundGuide.com

2010
06/19
CATEGORY
Just for Fun!
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No Kindle? No problem!!!

Some books are only released on the Kindle. For those of us who want to read them yet can’t afford to buy the Kindle reader, here’s a fantastic bit of news not even my technically-brilliant husband knew:

A FREE dowloadable application for Windows PC allows you to read Kindle books on your computer. No Kindle required!

There are many Echelon books on the Kindle. Here are some of mine:

2010
06/18
CATEGORY
General
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Everybody loves eBooks and Stories

If you’re a lover of Echelon Shorts, I just want you to know that you are no longer a member of a tiny minority of readers who go for e-books. Recently the Boston Consulting Group completed a survey of 13,000 people on the subject. They say that e-readers are poised to take off if they just get a little less expensive and have more features. Apparently the ideal would be a $200 device that will accept e-mail along with the books, magazines, and newspapers.

Almost all the people surveyed said they’d use the device to read books, which is good news for Echelon, but maybe not so good news for other publishers who will need to give up their fight with e-book prices and start offering new titles at more reasonable prices.

Some interesting statistics from the report: 49 percent of the respondents planned to buy a tablet device in the next three years. The three countries with the greatest awareness of these devices are India, China, and Japan. Some 71 percent of the people in India were at least somewhat aware of the tablets vs. 54 percent in the USA.

The survey also had bad new for the iBook. Consumers want to be able to buy content from multiple sources (like Echelon) rather than being locked in to the iTunes store.

I just hope that more eBook readers sold will mean more eBooks purchased and, most important, more people reading!!

2010
06/16
CATEGORY
General
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