This Time I'm Starting the Game

Susan Tepper tagged me in a recent merry-blog-go-round about writing process, but having been tagged by someone else I decided to come up with new questions and I thought it would be interesting to ask writers about their characters.  This came out of a discussion at FFC’s New and Emerging Writers Group which focuses on the art and craft of writing.  The discussion question, posed by Jim Harrington, FFC’s Managing Editor, was, “How do you select character names?” I want to expand on that, so here are some new questions for writers who want to play along.  I’ll start with my own answers.

1). What surprises you about your characters? And why?

I’m always surprised that they show up because I rarely begin a story with a character in mind. Usually I begin with a situation and then just GO.  I suppose this means they come out similar to me, especially if I start with a first person narrative and that makes sense because the situation—if told from the “I” viewpoint usually resembles something I’ve been through.  The third person pops up if the situation isn’t that close to home.  I’m surprised I just admitted that. 

2). What do you draw upon to create your characters?

Of course as with most writers, I pull my characters from myself, from people I know, and from people I observe, but rarely have I ever consciously created a character from a single person.  I remember one case where the character is exactly like real life but the details are changed.  Other than that, most of the time my characters spring from what I know—or think I know—then evolve with the story as I make decisions—or I’m led toward decisions.  This is where it gets a little loopy, the chicken and the egg syndrome.

3). Out of all of the characters you’ve created, who is your favorite and why? Please name the story and supply a link if that’s possible.

Right now it’s Abbie Palmer who is the main character of my suspense novel, What Came Before.  She is a lot like me in so many ways, but certainly she has been molded to fit the story.  There is a reason why I don’t do memoir because my own life has been extremely ordinary and satisfying. This is not what good drama is made of.  Another favorite who is alive now in Pure Slush’s 2014-A Year in Stories anthologies is Sybil.  She a landlady who has managed her life fairly well but there’s something in her past that she’s dealing with, and her ability to be everyone’s go-to person is slipping away.

4) Are there any characters you are not quite done with yet?  What other challenges do you want to give him or her?

I have two published short-stories about Nikki Hyland, Slacker Detective.  I would like to write a few more shorts or even a novel continuing to challenge her to get her you-know-what together.  Her first story can be found in LandMarked for Murder along with several other stories from members of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters-in-Crime.

5). How do you select character names?

Sometimes names just pop into my mind and sometimes I research, looking for subtly suggestive, as in the case of Sybil, the landlady I mentioned before.  I wanted her to have an old fashioned name to suggest her age and her wisdom.  I haven’t quite used this allusion to its fullest yet and I may not.  I don’t ever want names to be obvious, but rather to hint at something deeper. This though doesn’t always happen.  Sometimes a name is just a name. 

Who am I going to tag?  Susan Tepper, Nate Tower, and H.L. Nelson

Tagged-My Writing Process

“My Writing Process” is a series of blog posts in which authors ‘tag’ each other to answer questions about their work. Stephen V. Ramey asked meto take part, along with Jamie Lackey.

Stephen is an American author of contemporary and speculative fiction. His short stories and flash fictions have appeared in dozens of venues from Microliterature to Daily Science Fiction. His first collection, Glass Animals, is available from Pure Slush Books.

So here are the questions:

What am I working on?

My suspense novel, What Came Before, has just been released online at Every Day Novels. A lot of work went into getting it ready first for online and then for print, but I think that phase is coming to a close.  Now I'm in promotion mode. 

However, I do have a second exciting project that I am still deeply involved with and that's Pure Slush's 2014-A Year in Stories.  This is a monster project!  I'm participating with 30 other writers. The brainchild of Matt Potter at Pure Slush out of Australia and requires each of us to write a story for one specific day a month for all the days of 2014. 

The umbrella title for my twelve stories is "The Old Road," but each one is a separate piece about people who live in this particular neighborhood on the edge of a small city. 

What we’re publishing is a series of stories from each writer that arcs across the whole year, involving the same character or set of characters. Twelve days in the life of that person or people. So every month, as the books are released, readers can dip into these characters’ lives. Like a serial.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

In most of my work, people die.  That happens in suspense, mystery, science fiction, lit, and humor and I’ve dabble in all of them.  One thing I try to do regardless of genre is to try and make the reader feel as if she’s immersed in the story, the characters, and the setting.  I want to feel almost as if they are watching a movie.  Sometimes I get it right, other times, not so much.

Why do I write what I do?

When I was a kid and spending most of my time reading, I would sometimes draw a picture of the spines of books with their titles in different colors, with different kinds of handwriting (no computer fonts to fake it with in those days) and these were all the books I was going to write.

How does my writing process work?

I write every day and I commit to a lot of projects: contests, writing groups, ideas that are juicy over a period time.  I keep track of these projects using my sticky notes with deadlines in bold.  This way I always have something I can open when I grab a few minutes.  When I have something that is burning to get free or just as powerful something I’ve promised to someone, I attack those first. 

The way I work is force myself to do something a project every day or even several times a day.  I believe that—just like with crossword puzzles or jigsaw puzzles—there are advantages to stepping away from whatever I’m doing so that when I come back, I always find some easy to do.  A misspelled or left out word, awkward language, something that jumps out and then I’m off with a fresh mindset working away.

I am tagging Christopher Allen and Robert Vaughan.

Christopher Allen is an expat, gluten-free, photo-literary travel(b)logue writer.  His fiction and creative non-fiction have appeared in many places over the last few years. Links to these publications are at I Must Be Off!

Robert Vaughan leads writing roundtables at Redoak Writing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He’s won several awards, He was former fiction editor at Thunderclap! and is senior flash fiction editor at JMWW. Find out more about his publications at robert-vaughan.com/.

The Tribe of Us

by me and reblogged from Valarie Kinney's Organizing Chaos and Other Misadventures

In February, I spent the five days in the beautiful city of Seattle experiencing what community really is. I’m not talking about Pike’s Market--though charming with its wealth of tulips in buckets, its yellow-clad fish mongers, and yummy fish tacos--nor am I talking about the city’s juxtaposition of old and new, the brick and arches of the Corner Market flanked by sleek Washington scrapers as seen from the Ferris wheel.

 No, I’m talking people, those writers who come from all over the world like Christopher Allen from Munich and May-Lan Tan from London as well as from every part of the U.S. including San Diego’s Bonnie ZoBell or Staunton Virginia’s Clifford Garstang. There are so many more I could name who’ve helped create a virtual community out of the ether and know what the word “kinship” means.

What brought us together this week—in real life—was the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. AWP hosts a conference in a different U.S. city every year, and I’ve been lucky enough to travel to two of them, Boston in 2013 and Seattle this year. There were over a rumored 12,000 writers who braved snow-bound airports to come to this Pacific Northwest city and the lime green ribbons worn by each reminded me that we are a tribe of artists and teachers and students who love the written form. For me, it’s been an opportunity to meet writers I know from the various online communities such as Zoetrope, Fictionaut, and Facebook.

Why is this important? If you write, you know. Slumping over a laptop until the sun yawns over the horizon can be a lonely business and often loved ones can’t figure out why a warm quilt and a soft bed aren’t as important as pounding out words until your fingers ache. But 12,000 writers en masse understand. And those who take the time to tap out encouragement to you on Facebook or offer you thoughtful critiques of your work at Zoe, they are your compadres, your soul mates, your honest evaluators, who keep you focused on your intention: to put out the best work you can.

The planners and executors who work behind the scenes of conferences like AWP’s deserve applause for bringing in people like Annie Proulx and Ursula Le Guin so we can learn from masters and for coordinating the panels that increase our skills and artistry. I appreciate all of you, and thank you for your efforts. Even more, for me, and I suspect for most, the precious jewel in this is just being with and surrounded by the word people—publishers, editors, and writers, new, emerging, established and those exploding wide open.

Kathy Fish Talks about Writing and Together We Can Bury It

 This is a reprint from an interview I had with Kathy Fish for Flash Fiction Chronicles, published June 6, 2012.

One of the first names I heard when I discovered Flash Fiction was “Kathy Fish,” and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to interview her about her newest collection, Together We Can Bury It.

Gay Degani: Your stories are clear-eyed and lyrical with characters that provoke curiosity and concern. It’s easy to make a connection to them, their humanity, their strength, and their frailty. But there’s something else, something I find most intriguing about your writing.

Your work is subtle and sometimes the “meaning” seems just outside my reach—until I read the story again. Each new look produces a fresh nuance and I can't quite figure out how you create something that circles back on itself the way "Swicks Rule" or "Baby, Baby" "Orlando" or "Maidenhead to Oxford" or "Moth Woman” do, and still satisfy the reader so thoroughly? How do you break the "rules" we take so seriously?

Kathy Fish: Thanks so much for the kind words, Gay. You're asking such an interesting question here. I've had to ponder this a little. 

The simplest answer I can give is that the way I write is the way I think. I've always stayed pretty loyal to the voices in my head or rather, the sound in my head. I hear a certain rhythm to a narrative and plug in words and images to fit that rhythm. This is especially true of first sentences and paragraphs. 

Imagery takes over after sound and I just layer image upon image and somehow in that process, something like a narrative emerges. I guess when you put sound and imagery first, rather than plot and characterization, you're going to break a few rules. I know what the rules are and I know I'm breaking them, but it feels right to me, so I trust it. 

And that's not to say I don't revise. I just don't revise to fit the rules, I revise to get it closer to how I hear and see it in my head. 

As to making it work, I think there's something to be said for staying true to your own style and voice. There's a certain authenticity to that. Also, I realize it probably doesn't work for every reader, but I'm very grateful there are readers for whom it does work. 

GD: What about the "voices" in your head? Most writers experience this, but often discover "voice" only takes them so far, but I see in your response you've developed a process that goes beyond voice. When you say, "I revise to get closer to how I hear and see it in my head," what questions do you ask yourself?

KF: There is always that voice asking me, "Why are you writing this?" that I have to try to shut out. Confidence, as a writer, is not so much always feeling like your instincts are right, but doubting them and writing anyway.

I think process is ever changing, for all of us and what works now may not work later, but it helps to have an approach to writing fiction and that's my approach. My road blocks in the beginning had to do with not knowing my own voice and trying out all kinds of other writers' voices. I suspect that's how we all start, like learning to speak, it's all about imitation. Also, there was the self-doubt that had me changing tenses and POVs compulsively. I still do that, but not like I used to.

When I revise, I read the story aloud, over and over again. Almost always I will find myself stumbling in the same places and it's usually where I've overwritten or gone off-voice. Flow and rhythm are huge for me and where a story is lacking in those becomes really obvious when it's spoken. I think it does take practice and lots of trial and error.

GD: Your work has a lyrical beauty to it that must come from this technique of reading your work aloud. I see it especially in your opening sentences. You say "Flow and rhythm are huge for me and where a story is lacking in those becomes really obvious when it's spoken."

I love sentences like "I stand hugging my light sweater around me on Platform 6 at Maidenhead Station." Or from "My boyfriend and I grab our bikes and pedal across town for a parade that has probably been cancelled." ("Tenderoni")

Or "It was like the time we broke icicles dripping from the low eaves and brandished them like swords, slashing and sparkling, and you cut my cheek and dropped your weapon." ("Watermelon")

Or my favorite: "My twin cousins, Margie and Mae, are manning the grill, telling me about their diverticulitis." ("Swicks Rule")

You do more with these opening sentences than seduce the reader with rhythm. You promise something else is in store for the reader.  The way you work is to "get closer" to what you hear in your head. Is this how structure evolves for you?

KF: I think a mosaic structure is a means of reining in stream of consciousness writing. Thoughts and images and language shifts from section to section rather than sentence to sentence or word to word. Meaning emerges from how the sections are ordered, emphasis, etc. I like using it when it feels right for the story. 

GD: “Mosaic structure” doesn’t seem easy to pull off, yet you manage to do so time after time. Can we talk a little bit about pulling this collection together? You've created section in your book using lines from one of the stories in each section. What were your guiding thoughts?

KF: Pulling the collection and ordering the stories was very difficult. My stories are all over the place in terms of theme, point of view, and style. I envy writers who write all their stories in first person, for example. And write stories that are semi-autobiographical. There you already have one voice, a unifying theme, a sense of cohesion. I just don't do that. My narrators are not "me" and so there are all these disparate voices. 

But some themes do run through my stories with consistency and that was our starting point. Molly Gaudry, who runs The Lit Pub, was extremely helpful with this task. She gave me lots of intuitive and intelligent feedback as to how the stories felt to her. She also noticed how the stories seemed to weave in an out of the seasons of the year and also, the seasons of one's life: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This gave us a starting point and we started grouping the stories this way. I also wanted to begin and end on "wintry" stories so that the book resonated with the stunning cover art by Jana Vukovic.

I pulled sentences or phrases from the stories to introduce the different sections of the book. I felt those phrases gave a good sense, emotionally, of the stories for their sections. I wanted each section to feel like a mini collection in its own right. It took a long time to get it just right but I think we were successful. I am very happy with how the collection reads and flows and the overall feel of it. 

GD: You've been a pioneer in the genre of flash. What advice would you give new and emerging writers about writing in general and writing flash in particular?

KF: That is a very kind thing to say, Gay, thank you. My advice for new, emerging writers:

1. Work hard. 

2. Actually have something to say. Maybe you will have to do a lot of thinking to figure out what you want to say. Thinking takes time and you might be in a hurry to get published, but there is enough trite bullshit in the world. You're better than that. 

3. Read read read read read. Read only what excites you. Don't read, ever, out of a sense of obligation. Read what inspires and challenges you. Fall in love with stories and books and other writers. They're your true teachers. 

You can purchase Kathy's book at the Lit Pub store HERE.

Kathy Fish’s short fiction has appeared in Indiana Review, The Denver Quarterly, New South, Quick Fiction, Guernica, Slice and elsewhere. She was the guest editor of Dzanc Books’ Best of the Web 2010.  She is the author of three collections of short fiction: a chapbook of flash fiction in the chapbook collective, A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks of Short Short Fiction by Four Women (Rose Metal Press, 2008), Wild Life (Matter Press, 2011) and Together We Can Bury It, the 2nd printing of which is forthcoming from The Lit Pub.

What Came Before, my serialized novel, is Launched!!

I can't believe this is actually happening!!  I'm flying high (both literally right now on Alaska Airlines in a Boeing 737) and metaphorically too.  My suspense novel, What Came Before, is being serialized on-line beginning today and continuing through seventy 1000-word chapters.  Eventually you will be able to purchase it in paperback or in kindle and e-book format, but you can get started right now.

Please, if you have time, check it out and spread the word.

Here's a link to find out more.

Here's the link to begin reading.

Here's what readers have to say about What Came Before:

"What Came Before is a remarkable achievement." ~ Clifford Garstang

"Fast-paced and sharply written, with unforgettable characters, this novel by Gay Degani will grab hold and not let go." ~ Kathy Fish

"What Came Before is a fast-paced murder mystery set in the heart and spirit of L.A." ~ Tara Laskowski

"Do not sit down to read this with only a few minutes. You won't want to put this stunner down." ~ Bonnie ZoBell

Racial tension, an unexplained sibling, a fire, and plenty more action make this a page-turner. ~ Susan Tepper

"I can't think of an afternoon spent so energetically without moving an inch from my armchair!" ~ RKBiswas

"A brilliant and complex whodunit with a memorable, imperfect character at its helm." ~ Christopher Allen

"What Comes Before, Gay Degani's debut novel rumbles along at break-neck speed." ~ K.C. Ball

"Part murder mystery, part family saga, Gay Degani's What Came Before is an exciting debut not to be missed!" ~ Robert Swartwood

  ARTWORK © 2013 AINI TOLONEN

Surrounded by Water by Stefanie Freele, A Review

Stefanie Freele’s collection, Surrounded by Water, contains stories with strong, often lyrical, language and believable, down-to-earth characters, each piece, a reading experience.  It’s her women I am drawn to.  They’re tough.  In “Over the Rolling Waters Go,” the creeping reality of a wife and mother is juxtaposed against the peppy gung-ho spirit of her husband and his idea of family dynamic.  What seems at first blush to be an innocent virtue turns out to be bullying very quickly.  The suspense builds and…I won’t talk about the ending. 

Another mother, in the short but totally satisfying, “If the Unsuitable Neighbor Smells Snow,” shows her own fierce determination. 

“A Bunch of Cash Landed my Way” brings us humorous wishful thinking and “The Problem of Pillows” illustrates Ms. Freele’s deft touch at dialogue. For example, when a student runs into professor with the instincts of a sybil.

“You again,” she [the professor] says without glancing my way.  “You’re not locked in the Bermuda Triangle.” This is stated like a professorial fact, one she may test me on next Tuesday. 

I check my person and confirm I’m not locked anywhere; but as always, I’m intrigued by mention of the Bermuda Triangle, a place you may enter, but gamble on an exit.  I respond, “I’m free to come and go.”

The professor predicts the student will need a new pillow and because the prof has been right in the past, and the old pillow is one of “procrastination,” the student runs out and buys a new one, “a down one, filled with pluckings from once-warm bodies.”  One of my favorite lines in the story is “All of my unfinished business lies upon that pillow, snuggles along its two-hundred thread count loveliness.”  

Wonderful combination of image and meaning and this kind of language can be found throughout. 

And then there is “While Surrounded by Water,” for which the collection has been named.  I’m tempted to call it a “flash novel” because though it is the length of a short story, the content is as gratifying as a much longer work with characters in crisis coming to grips with who they are.  Once again there is a strong, tough woman at its center, one who is underappreciated but full of life and determination.  This seems to be a theme in Ms. Freele’s work.  Quiet triumphs over what life dishes out. 

Published by Press 53 out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with gorgeous cover designed by Kevin Morgan Watson and art by Dariusz Klimczak, Surrounded by Water is a collection worthy of a large appreciative audience.  

Storm Interview, Me and Gloria Garfunkel : Pure Slush's 2014- A Year in Stories

Gloria Garfunkel interviews me about my story cycle for Pure Slush's 2014 A Year in Stories.* 

Gay Degani 
The Storm
January 20 2014 
Interview by Gloria Garfunkel 

There’s no doubt about it, this is the Gothic opening of a creepy tale. How did you decide to start with the point of view of a distant narrator and then switch to that of the protagonist, Jamie. 

 I’m not sure this was a conscious decision, but rather what occurred to me as I thought about how to sustain a group of stories that would arc over the entire year. I realized I had to create something to entice readers to come back and the stranger showed up on the screen when I first sat down to write. When I began this project, I knew I wanted to use the creek and some 1920’s bungalows I pass by on my walks in the late afternoon. It can get rather eerie along the Arroyo and I found these elements compelling. I also knew creating a neighborhood would allow me a variety of interconnected characters, but who they would be, I didn’t know. Who was the stranger? I didn’t know that either. 

Do you like Gothic tales and movies and if so, what are your favorite? 

It’s funny that you cast this as Gothic. I hadn’t thought about this project as anything but suspense, but it makes perfect sense to me. I realize now how inevitable it is that I would write in this way. I’ve been an avid lifetime reader of Gothic romances (no vampires or werewolves, please, just brick up the wife in the wall of the manse). 

From my first Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt novels to the Brontes and Daphne DuMaurier, I’ve never tired of them. I even wrote my dissertation on feminism in Gothic romances of the 19th century. 

What do you think are the Gothic elements in this first story and were they all intentional or did some just creep in? 

Although I would answer this question “they just crept in,” it is obvious years of reading these kinds of stories has had its influence on me. What could be more Gothic than angry nature? And wind! Night! A heroine who feels threatened and takes action? A dark stranger? A seemingly interested male? I just realized too, that though they live in the bungalows, there’s a deserted mansion next door! Wow. 

Discounting what happens later, does the hero, the stranger Mars who is the son of Mr. German, give you the creeps like he does me? 

I wanted Mars to be unsettling and suspicious. I want the reader to wonder about him so I made him aggressive with his attentions. Creating tension is the only way I know to get people to move on to the next story. 

Is the Gothic element just an opening scene or does the story proceed to a Gothic ending? Don’t tell me, but I hope Jamie’s kids are safe. 

My goal has always been to have mystery in this story. As I said before, I hadn’t really thought of it in terms of labels, so I hadn’t considered a “gothic” ending. In Jane Eyre and Rebecca, fire destroys Thornfield and Manderlay respectively. Both Mr. Rochester and Maxim de Winter are ruined men, but their women are faithful. I’ll have to think about this. You’ve opened up a door here, Gloria. The ending is, as yet, unwritten.

You can read interviews by Gloria Garfunkel with other authors participating in Pure Slush's 2014-A Year in Stories here: http://pureslush.webs.com/gginterviews.htm#931986546


*Pure Slush’s big project for 2014 is under way. It’s a multi-volume anthology called 2014, it includes 12 volumes, each volume devoted to a month of the year, and therefore named January Vol. 1, February Vol. 2, etc.

Each writer involved is contributing one story per month ... so 12 stories in all, from 28 of the 31 writers involved. (11 from two of them, and 7 from the last.)

And each of these writers is taking one day of each month - the 5th, the 13th, the 21st, for example - and setting his / her stories on that same day of every month.

So, for example, a writer takes the 10th – Friday 10th January, Monday 10th February, Monday 10th March, Thursday 10th April, etc – throughout the year.

What we’re publishing is a series of stories from each writer that arcs across the whole year, involving the same character or set of characters. Twelve days in the life of that person or people. So every month, as the books are released, readers can dip into these characters’ lives. Like a serial.

Each volume is being released (in print and eBooks) a month or more before the start of each month in 2014 ... so readers can read a story a day, in real time.

Written in the present tense, these stories can be read as if they are happening NOW ... which if the reader chooses to read one per day, will be like experiencing these characters in real time.

All the days of the month were assigned to writers who said yes, I want to be involved, put my name against a date! ... and you can check out who they are by clicking here.

Sunday Flash

mint
science
video
feline
god 

55 words

The Faithful 

Video cameras around the Washington Mint are gods to the feline population along 9th Street. They gather to pray several times a day when a high priest makes his rounds dropping sardines at each surveillance point. No rhyme or reason to this ritual, but cats never question religion or science.

The 2014 Project-Win a Free Book!

The drawing has happened. The winners win the month of January for Pure Slush's 2014-12 Months of Stories!! They are--puh-rumpuh-bum--Jo Gatford,Jayne Martin, Debbie Kirby,Jeff Brown, and Inga Harris!!!

*****************************************************


I want to give away January!!! Participate!! You just might win a free 2014-A Year in Pure Slush's 2014-12 Months of Stories book, vol. 1!!!!

If you add your name in the comments below (it may take a while to appear)  between 12:00 AM PST January 19 and 11:59 AM January 19th, you may win 1 of 5 free print books of 2014-A Year in Stories!! Yep, I'm having a random drawing on January 20th. 

Or if you are on Facebook, you can enter at my regular page: Gay Degani or my Gay Degani-Author Page.

****

Nineteen days into the 2014 Project - A Year in Stories and it's kind of taken over my life.  Well, not really, but it's kept me busy reading.  So far I've read the following:

The Miracle of Small Things by Guilie Castillo-Oriard
La Ronde: Made and Gina by Townsend Walker
The Meet Cute by Derek Osborne
Ralph Rudinsky here... by Gloria Garfunkel
Carmine by John Wentworth Chapin
first Impression by Lynn Beighley 
Wingy by Andrew Stancek
Isa by Rachel Ambrose
Carpet Muncher by Gill Hoffs
Snakes and Snails by Susan Tepper
Father Eleanor by Jessica McHugh
You Can't Choose Your Friends by Shane Simmons
Cornfield by Michelle Elvy
Storm Lake by Len Kuntz
First Inning by Michael Webb

Making Music byJames Claffey

The Suicide Club by Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz

Compassion by Stephen V. Ramey

These stories are available in print as well as an ebook or Kindle edition.  And they go on for the whole year.  Here's what editor and publisher Matt Potter says on the back of the January edition:

So this is the idea...a year of stories, one story a day for an entire year, all written like they're happening now as you read them...and each writer has a set day each month, where the read can watch /read about/discover again/enjoy characters' lives as they unfold across the year.

Sunday Flash (55 Words)

river
scrap
award
edge
performance


Juliet Fails

She finishes her 'Juliet' and stumbles through backstage mayhem out into traffic. Horns honk. Lights blind, but she knows how to find the Thames. Her performance belongs on the scrapheap, no awards here. Worse. Only humiliation can follow. On the edge of the river, she doesn’t  hesitate, knowing only too well, she’s a better “Ophelia.”

Beyond the First Goal

When we are new at something, sometimes all we can think about is that first goal.  Learning to roller skate (blade!) doesn’t look that hard.  If  we can stay upright, feet on the sidewalk, body vertical, we’ll soon be doing figure eights and sailing backwards. The same goes for writing.  When we sit down at the keyboard to write a story, we figure if  we can get enough words on the screen, we’ll have a tale worth telling. 

In some ways, we need this attitude to get started.  If we knew we’d fall on our asses for the first twelve times we skated over a twig, a crack, our sister’s Barbie doll, we probably wouldn’t try.  We need that initial belief in ourselves to put the skates on in the first place.  The same is true for writing.  We picture ourselves  clacking away at the computer keys with lines of type building and building.  It is the only way to deal with our initial fear.

However, how we handle the results of those first attempts can dictate success or failure.  For many, a bruised butt and bloodied knees spell defeat.  “I don’t want to do this!  This is too hard” and they head inside to watch Saturday morning cartoons.  Others wear their scabs like badges of honor and take a moment to reassess their goals.  They realize they can’t jump from standing upright on skates to skimming down Devil Hill, carving eights in the liquor store parking lot, floating backward to the awe of the younger kids without blood and guts.

The same is true with writing.  Although there are those who have a natural talent for the written word can sit down and write it without too much angst.  But these are rare cases.  Most of us may write a story that has many strong elements, but as a whole it doesn’t work.  Not yet.  And we need to reassess and learn the craft.

This is the make-or-break moment for most writers, the moment of looking at a piece of writing as it might be read by others, readers who do not live in the head of that writer.  The ability to look at one’s own work with a critical eye does not come easily.  It is a skill that is learned with practice, patience, and awareness of what works and what doesn’t.  An expertise that evolves over time. 

Just as a young roller skater learns the sidewalk is smoother than asphalt, a writer learns clarity is more important that an obscure turn of phrase, but to do this, both must be willing to see beyond their first goals.  They must accept the reality that becoming good at something requires the understanding that learning is a process, that the large goal must be broken down into smaller goals because everything is more complex than we first perceive. 

There is a difference in skating and writing.  We teach different muscles to work harmoniously together.  In skating we train our bodies and our brain too, but most it’s about legs and balance and reaction.  In writing we train our brains–and our hearts. 

How do we train our brains to write?  We set up mini-goals, lots of them, beyond our first goal.  Here are a few I believe in, though sometimes I find it hard to actually do them all!

Mini-Goals for Each Story

• Create content by taking notes, brain-storming, writing a “shit” draft
• Write a draft
• Do research to understand the world you’ve created or the personalities
• Think about story structure
• Make certain everything in a story serves a purpose (especially in flash)
• Be willing to delete that which doesn’t fit into the structure
• Go through the story to improve the language
• Make certain everything that needs to be clear is clear
• Make certain that verbs are active, that nouns are specific
• Proof-read carefully
• Set it aside (this is one of the hardest mini-goals because usually at this stage we are sooooooo excited about what we’ve created, we can’t wait to send it out)
• Reread and make changes after it’s been set aside
• Ask a trusted reader to read it (trusted: gentle, supportive, yet honest, honest, honest)
• Decide what notes you agree with and what you don’t and make edits
• Set aside again, at least an hour or two so that when you proof-read for the final time, you have enough distance to find now what your eye skipped over before
• Send out and cross fingers

Mini-Goals for Personal Growth

• Read widely and deeply
• Talk to others about writing
• Be open-minded
• Try new genres
• Be a mentor

 None of this is necessary if a writer is writing only for himself.   Just as skating up and down the block might make one child happy, putting together a story for fun can work for the “Sunday author.”  But if your goal is roller-derby, you’d better to be willing to work.  And if you want to be published?  Guess what…

This article was first published at Flash Fiction Chronicles on November 22, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 and some tidbits you might be interested in!

 INNOVATIVE READING

I'm participating in a writing project with 30 other writers. This is the brainchild of Matt Potter at Pure Slush out of Australia and involves each of us writing a story for one day a month for all the days of 2014.  

I picked the 19th of each month since my birthday is the 19th of March (St. Joseph's Feast Day and the day the swallows return to Capistrano and now "a very special episode" in 2014 Volume 3). The umbrella title for my twelve stories is "The Old Road," but each one is a separate piece about people who live in this particular neighborhood on the edge of a small city.  

Matt's idea is that readers will read each story on the day it is supposed to have occurred as written by the author.  All stories are told in the present tense to enhance the feeling the action is taking place RIGHT NOW.  

Some of the writers are making the experience more interactive.  For example, below you will find a link  to Stephen V. Ramey's blog,  Ramey Writes, where he intends to discuss each story on the day it is published.  Discussions to ensue!!!  For a taste of Guilie Castillo Oriard's work for January 1, "The Miracle of Small Things." 

I have a Pinterest page where you can find my research and inspiration for the stories I'm writing.  You can find this HERE. Other writers will be doing similar things to make this a fun experience.

To participate, you will need to purchase either the print volume for each month or an ebook. Worth the price to go on this reading adventure. 

If you want to challenge yourself to read the stories, the link to buy the ebook is HERE. 

For Kindle, go HERE. 

For print (and these are gorgeous books!), go HERE. 

For free shipping on print, use this time-limited code: SHIPSHAPE14

THE NOVEL IS STILL ON ITS WAY

I confess I've been holiday-hazed. Exact date for What Came Before is unknown (blame the vagaries of my current life), but coming soon, out in time for AWP in Seattle at the end of February, but hopefully on-line sooner.  Camille Gooderham-Campbell and I are busily doing edits and proof-reading the text. I have a Pinterest Board for this too, HERE.

'Tis More Blessed Giveaway Contenders & WINNERS

Here is a  list of those eligible for the 'Tis More Blessed Giveaway organized by Milo James Fowler.

Stephen Ramey
Linda Manning
Milo James Fowler
Cliff Garstang
Kristy Gillespie
Diane Aurit
Sean Bennick
Katherine Lopez
Glenn Landry
Mia Avramut
Gary Hardaway
T.L. Gray
George Wells

Since I had thirteen entries, I'm giving away two copies of Pomegranate Stories!!!

The winners are, selected from a hat, Linda Manning and T.L. Gray!!!

Please send me your address either by Facebook Message or via email: gaydegani@yahoo.com.

'Tis More Blessed Giveaway - Pomegranate Stories

Just a note that I'm participating in the " 'Tis More Blessed" giveaway sponsored by Milo James Fowler so if you enter you may in a copy of Pomegranate Stories.  I haven't actually figured out how this works!!!  I think it has to do with a helicopter but I don't know how to set it up this late in the game. Sooooooooooo.... If you enter and want my book and can't figure out how to do it through the helicopter thing, just put your name in the comments section and I will have a drawing on the 20th.

My brain is like the rotor of a helicopter at full speed right now and I've got people yakking at me as I type this so please please please put your name down below and I will send the winner a copy of Pomegranate and if over ten people  enter, I will select a second winner, and if over thirty people enter, I will select a third winner.  So enter enter enter.  And as I bonus I will choose one winner (a fourth winner) to receive my new suspense novel, What Came Before, in February.

Serendipitous Flash Fiction Day

I've been busy this morning trying to keep up with all that's out there in the Flash Fiction internet world.  Phew!  A lot is going on.

First up is the December Quarterly issue of Smokelong #42!  And it's just like opening a great big holiday present!  Authors and stories this time around include Caren Beilin'sPortrait of a Writer I Remember as a Young Masturbator, Craig Buchner's Masters of Matchsticks, Michael Chaney's As If a Bestiary Had Wings, Michael Czyzniejewski's The Meat Sweats, Matthew Dexter's Preemie, Kate Folk's Summer of Pinbugs, Rosie Forrest's Next Rest Stop, Twenty-Two Miles, Brendan Gauthier's Freckles, Megan Giddings's Twenty-Five Minute Wait, Jason Jackson's Queuing, Photographs, Morning Eyes, Alisha Karabinus's Everything in This House Is Crooked, Rebecca King's Lot's Wife, Adam Peterson's When You Look for Us, I'll Be Here, Heather Rounds's If You Find an Infant Squirrel, Peter Schumacher's Habits, Nicole Simonsen's How to Write a Hardship Letter, Ashley Strosnider's The Low Hum of Vegetation, Jacqueline Vogtman's Whose Voice We Wanted to Hear, and finally Allison Williams's Śūnyatā.  

My interview with Matthew Dexter is HERE.
My interview with Kate Folk is HERE.
My interview with Rose Forrest is HERE.
My interview with Alisha Karabinus is HERE.

Second up: "Why I Write Flash Fiction" essay up at FFC.  Lastly I have an article up at Flash Fiction Chronicles about why I write flash where I once again call up the reportage of Malcolm Gladwell.  Check it out, leave a comment, share with gazillions. Find the article HERE.

Third: Nonnie Augustine's book has been selected by Kirkus Reviews as a BEST BOOK OF 2013!!!!  Nonnie's book isn't flash, but she's a flasher nonetheless or should I say, Nonnietheless? Here's some LINKAGE and here's what Kirkus has to say:

"Like a well-wrought memoir, this medley of free- and fixed-verse poems combines vivid personal narrative with probing self-reflection...Poetry that often transcends its own bounds, spilling over into readers’ lives and forcing them to confront their own narratives."

Here's a sense of her language: “I almost saw Nessie,” “I almost won the jackpot,” and “I almost had a child. / She was there in my womb / until chromosomes killed her. / My God, that would have been something.” Among the losses, though, it “appears gone for good are dramas and bothers, / threats and therapists, drunk, needy lovers. / And…lovely, lovely, lovely is my cat’s furry belly.”

Folly Blaine reads "Beyond the Curve"

A few years ago, "Beyond the Curve" won a quarterly short story contest on-line.  Sponsored by Women on Writing (WOW!) every quarter, this competition offers a unique option to aspiring writers because submissions are limited to 300 and judged by literary agents, making it doubly cool.  The entire site is a great place to find articles on writing such as Brenda Hill's "Write What You Know: Sage Advice or Hogwash?" as well as links to other writers, classes, and contests.

Here's "Beyond the Curve," the story that gave me the confidence to keep writing when I was just starting to find my voice.  Voiced here by the wonderful Folly Blaine: 

Folly Blaine reads "Something About LA" Right Here

How lucky I am to have come across the wonderful Folly Blaine.  She's the podcast editor over at Every Day Fiction and records stories there.  She's also "for hire" if any one is interested. I commissioned her to produce three of my stories for my blog spot since I've been so busy I have been woefully negligent. Since my suspense novel, What Came Before, will be coming out in various formats in early January, I also figure if I'm going to try and do this right, I need to start stirring up interest so some of you out there will give it a look.  So here's Folly's reading of "Somewhere in LA."  This is the story that won The Glass Woman Prize for 2011.  Thanks you, Beatte Siggriddaughter.




To find out more about Folly, check out her very entertaining blog, Maybe It Was the Moonshine:  HERE.

9/11

Our family has gone to the White Mountains of Arizona for almost thirty years, taking our two small children strapped into the saddle in front of us up rocky mountains, into canyons, across meadows strewn with wild flowers such as purple penstemon, yellow Mexican hat, spirals of "cowboy toilet paper." It's been a respite for us from the crazy rest of the world, but in 2001, not long after we returned to the traffic and noise of L.A, the twin towers of the World Trade Center  in New York were hit by two hi-jacked airplanes.  In Washington D.C, the Pentagon took another hit, and somewhere in the green fields of Pennsylvania, passengers overtook the terrorists whose target was most likely the Capitol or the White House and died in the fiery crash that resulted from their bravery.

We have never been the same.  

Yet every summer, we've packed up our truck and headed east across the desert to the ranch and found the monsoons helped to heal, the cool evenings, balm to our souls.  As individuals, we were lucky to have such a sanctuary, as Americans we had thousands to mourn. 

We met dozens of people over the years at the ranch, strangers on Sunday night, boon companions by week's end.  For us, seeing Marty and George Rozelle when we drove up the dusty road and parked our car by the main house, was always a delightful surprise because returning guests didn't always return the same week. When they did, it was sweetness to enjoy each day of the week. These two, George with his booming sense of humor, his intelligence, his kindness, and Marty who matches him point for point, added so much to our annual visits, they became family too.  

George passed away in 2008, but he left so much of himself behind.  Last night, to honor the losses we have all suffered as individuals, as friends and families, and as a nation, Marty sent out a poem George wrote in the aftermath of 9/11. With her permission,  I'm sharing it with you.

AND THEN

They hit us hard and at home

Lives were lost and buildings destroyed

Smoke, debris, vivid pictures saturated our senses

Shock, fear and anger filled our hearts and minds

And then,

Public servants and people from all walks of life

Performed heroic acts

Rescue and recovery efforts produced

Both miracles and anguish

And then,

We came together as a nation

Reflecting on our lives and values

Families grew stronger

Strangers became friends

And then,

Time passed and old habits returned

Compassion, concern, courtesy, civility

Slowly gave way and once again

Us became me, we became I

And then,

It is now

As we stop to remember and seek meaning

Let us re-dedicate ourselves to

Being a nation of caring, considerate individuals

And then,

We will truly honor the memory of those lost.

George F. Rozelle 

September 11, 2002