Flash Fiction challenge early results

When I issued my flash fiction challenge a few weeks ago, I’d hoped a few readers would take up the gauntlet. I am pleased that some of you did, with some most interesting viewpoints and stories. So, to honor those who expended so much thought and effort in rising to my challenge, I plan to publish the stories that have met the challenge’s criteria here, beginning with this post. I’ll post them in the order I received the original manuscripts for the sake of fairness.
I plan to post them every Friday while they last. As I said, the deadline for this challenge isn’t until 15 December, so there’s still plenty of time to show us what you can do with flash fiction.

So, here’s the first. I hope you enjoy it and you are welcome to ooh and ahh profusely.

 

Birthday Gift

©2013 by Elizabeth Rowan Keith

Chatting over a cup of tea with my next door neighbor is a pleasant part of most Saturdays.  We both looked forward to it.  This visit, with the holiday season approaching, the conversation turned to gifts.

“What’s the strangest gift you ever received?” asked my neighbor as I sipped my tea.

I thought a moment, and then said,  “That might be a camouflage machete scabbard.”

“Oh, you’re kidding,” she replied.

“No, it was a birthday gift.  My boyfriend at the time came to the door with this unwrapped, folded piece of camouflage nylon in his hand.  I said, ‘What’s this?’  He said, ‘It’s your birthday present.’  I said, ‘What is it?’  He said, ‘It’s a scabbard for a machete.’  I said, ‘I don’t own a machete.’  He said, ‘I do.’  And then he waited.  So I handed him the scabbard and said, ‘Here, then.’  He said, ‘Thank you.’  And then he left.  That was my birthday.”

My neighbor sat speechless.

“The story gets better,” I said.  “Not long after that, when he and I had broken up, the neighbors across the street told me they had seen him pick the scabbard out of their trash.”

“What’s the best gift he ever gave you?” asked my neighbor.

I smiled.  “This story.” 

Slainte,

Challenge accepted and a forewarning

Wow. I must say that your response to my flash fiction challenge has been most heartening. I received a number of entries within three days of issuing my flash fiction challenge, so I'm going to make a slight change. Oh, the deadline I announced is still valid, but I think it's only fair to publish those of you who have already sent me your stories. After all, your hard work deserves reward.

So beginning next week, I'm going to publish one story every week, my duty schedule permitting. I shall publish them in the order received so it will be fair to all.

I'm also planning to issue more challenges as time goes on, including making this flash fiction section an annual affair. I'm not sure just yet what areas other challenges will cover, but rest assured they'll be fun and will hopefully help you grow as writers. That being said, I'm considering such areas as poetry (yup, you'll have to write a poem), observations, opinions, and even different genres such as science fiction, fantasy, or children's/young adults. It's going to be fun, I promise you.

One more thing: this and all challenges are open to anyone who dares to accept them, whether professional or amateur or, and especially, rank beginner. Don't think that you're not welcome here just because you're not part of some group or other or have never had anything published before. Part of the reasoning for making these challenges, after all, is to help you perfect your writing. Look at it as practice...and accept the challenges.

So check in next week for the first to rise to the Flash Fiction Challenge 2013. Oh, and if you've not sent me anything yet, don't fret. As I said, the deadline for entries isn't until mid-December. You have plenty of time.

Slainte!

Story as sound bite: A Challenge

Working the night shift can give one time to think—not always, but those rare moments of quietude amidst all the alarms, phone calls, and co-workers or patients wanting things do occasionally happen. And when they do, a writer can explore a bit of the alleys and closes of hiser mind. Those are good moments.

A while ago, a co-worker and I were talking about writing and we got to talking about flash fiction. She said it should be pretty easy to write, being only 200 words or so. Well, anyone who has tried writing flash pieces know otherwise - it’s not as easy as it seems, not by far.

I told her that and said that’s because, like poetry, every single word has to count, to add something substantial to the story.

“It’s not like a novel,” I said. “In a novel of 50,000 or 100,000 words, there are lots and lots of words that really don’t move the story forward. They’re used to fill out the characters or fully set the scene or to add flavor or color to the overall picture the writer’s trying to paint, but, in the end, they really don’t mean all that much. In flash stories, the writer must make every word count. This, of course, leaves a great deal to the reader’s imagination, and that’s part of the appeal of flash stories.”

One of the hardest writing assignments I had in university was to write a complete story in exactly 100 words, not a word more nor less. Try it sometime—it ain’t easy. But, oh, was it fun! And so very educational. I did it, too. That story, “An Accidental Shooting,” now resides in my book Reaper Files, which is available on Amazon for the Kindle or at Smashwords.com. You’ll find handy links to both on www.novemberfirstpublications.weebly.com.

Being the ornery sort, I am going to issue a challenge to you: write your own flash fiction piece. It must have all the elements of any story: beginning, middle, and conclusion and must be a complete story in its own right—no cheating by merely writing the first few lines of a larger work. Include everything a good story needs: plot, theme, characters, conflict, resolution. I’ll be kinder than my college professor, however; I’ll set the limit at 200 words and will even allow you up to 10 words above or below that.

They must be prose fiction stories—no poems, essays, or diatribes, please. Genre, theme, and all the rest are up to you—as my 7th Grade teacher used to say, “Write on whatever subject you wish.”

Once you’ve accepted this challenge and written your story, send it to me for grading. Yup, it’ll be graded, just like any assignment. Email it in Microsoft Word format to hs.seeker@gmail.com. Because we writers live by deadlines (even though they are often self-imposed), submit your piece not later than 15 December 2013. Make sure you put your name and email address atop the manuscript and, by all means, don’t forget to give the story a name. “Untitled” may work for paintings and sculpture, but we writers are much better than that, right?

I’ll judge it for completeness, quality, publishability (it might need some editing, but that’s part of the fun), and, of course, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I don’t care if you use American, British, Kiwi, or Ozzie English (or even Texan), but I would prefer you use some sort of English. Dialect is fine, and can even make the story that much better, although it’s not required. Dialogue, of course, is a vital part, but don’t confuse that with dialect (they do look a lot alike, those words, and I find myself slowing down to make sure I’ve read them right myself).

Once I’ve read them, I’ll get them back to you, along with your grade. Oh, the grade won’t go on your “Permanent Record” or anything nasty like that, but it should give you an idea of how you can improve your skills with these sound bites of stories. And, to perhaps entice you further, I’ll publish each story on my blog. Naturally, I’ll give you a chance to make any final corrections first.

Let me know via a comment to the blog or a separate email if you plan to participate. I’d appreciate the advanced notice.

So, there it is. There’s my challenge to you. Are you up to it?

Slainte!

Review Writing 101

You’ve just downloaded an eBook that caught your eye. You read it…and then what? Do you just toss it aside and move on to something more “fun”? Or do you take a few minutes to let people know what you thought of the book?

Sadly, most people do the former, and that’s too bad. They’re missing out on a wonderful opportunity to let others know what they think of the book as well as helping the author with future projects. You probably tell your friends or relatives about books you’ve enjoyed, so why not share your opinion with everyone? Think of a written review as another form of FaceBook entry. Everyone wins, especially you.

I’ve heard people say that it’s “just too much trouble” to write these things. Really? All it involves is going to that book’s page in your vendor’s site (Amazon, Smashwords, whatever), and clicking on their equivalent of “Write a Review. Then you just write. Simple, easy, and takes only a few minutes. You might have to login to the site (Smashwords is famous for that), but that adds only a few more seconds.

Reviews needn’t be like those in the newspaper; in fact, they shouldn’t be. People who write those reviews have a certain amount of space to fill in a short time, so they tend to go for wordiness. That’s not your job. You should just write what you think. A simple paragraph will suffice, although you may certainly wax poetic if you were completely enthralled with the book. Just remember, do you take time to read lengthy reviews? If not, then consider that a great many others don’t, either. In this über-busy world, people tend to rely on sound-bites for most of their reading and decision-making, and that includes reading book reviews.

So, how do you write one of these things? Mostly, just write your opinion of the book. Be honest; if you didn’t like the book, that’s okay. Not everyone likes every book they read and it’s okay to say so. On the other hand, if you enjoyed the book, say you did. Who knows, maybe someone will decide to read that book simply because you recommended it, or to not bother because of what you said against it.

DON’T BE A TROLL. No one likes these creatures, not even themselves. That includes writing spoilers. Everyone else enjoys finding out for themselves if the butler did it or Col. Mustard did it in the den with a pickaxe, and they have serious problems with those who ruin their fun. So unless it’s really important to your review, avoid telling how the story ends or what happened to the characters or similar events.

Be honest. And by all means give your reasons for either liking a book or not. If the characters aren’t well-developed or the plot doesn’t work or the technical aspects (grammar, spelling, punctuation) are bad, say so. Or, if you were captured by the story from the first paragraph and the story swept you away and left you breathless and satiated at the end, say that. Both the author and other potential readers will thank you for it.

You’re almost done. Really. Just don’t forget to give it a star rating—they’re usually located right before or after the review block and they’re crucial. Vendors such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords use these when doing their own ratings of the book. They don’t bother reading the review but just go by the star rating, so do eveyone a favor and click on what you believe the book is worth. Again, don’t be “nice” or politically correct and give it a high star rating if you don’t think the book deserves it, but neither trash a good book with a low rating.

And finally, by all means proofread your review before clicking on that “Post Review” or similar button. This is your writing, after all, so it reflects on you. Your credibility hinges on it. Other readers actually do pay more attention to well-written, thoughtful, and technically correct reviews than they do to textspeak or poor grammar or reviews that just aren’t well thought out.

And that’s it. That’s Review Writing 101. I hope it has helped.

Slainte!

The Truth About Banaby Wilde

Long ago in the Land of the Royal Fish & Chips there was born a fine wee lad to a family called Fisher. That lad, named Timothy (or Tim as he is now known) did as most boys do: he grew up and became a man. He is now an accomplished writer and, I am proud to say, a friend of mine although we've never set eyes on each other - O, the wonders of the Internet!

Being the creative sort - and perhaps to protect himself from disgruntled readers - Tim chose to write under someone else's name. He chose Barnaby Wilde for reasons known only to himself, a name which actually befits his quirky writings, all of which are enjoyable and highly recommended reads.

I am honored to present to you the following guest post from Tim Fisher/Barnaby Wilde:

Barnaby Wilde doesn't exist. Even his name is a joke. (If you haven't got the joke yet, think Steppenwolf and, if you still haven't got it, you'll have to Google).

The truth is that Barnaby Wilde is a liar. He makes things up. He confabulates. He tells stories for personal gain. You can't believe a thing he says.

The question is, why does he do it? The obvious answer, one might suppose, is that he'd like to be rich and famous, but even he doesn't believe that's going to happen. So, why?

Perhaps he just wants to be loved? Actually, that might not be too far from the truth. Certainly he's delighted when someone tells him that they've enjoyed reading something he's written. In fact, he gets far more pleasure from a piece of positive feedback, such as a book review, than he does from any commission he might make from selling it. In that case, you might ask why he doesn't give all his books away for free. Well, he has this strange belief that the only praise you can truly trust comes from the stranger who's laid out his own money. If someone takes the trouble to leave a positive review for something they've paid for, then it's probably genuine praise.

Maybe he's insecure? He needs to feel needed? Perhaps, though he has plenty of people around him who appear to find him useful. He certainly doesn't admit to feeling insecure.

Could it be that he just has an urge to be creative? Now, that surely has a ring of truth to it. He's certainly tried his hand at a few creative endeavours such as wood turning, pottery and painting in the past. Writing, though, has been there at some level or another ever since he was a kid. One of his earliest memories is of his father one-finger typing a story that Barnaby had written at his Primary School and turning it into a miniature book. (No idea what ever happened to it, sadly).

On the other hand, could it just be conceit? Maybe he just wants other people to see how clever he is? He swears it isn't, but it's an unconvincing denial.

Barnaby's own explanation is that he simply wants to entertain, amuse, and maybe, occasionally, mystify people. He loves the sound of words. He loves puns and rhymes. He says his head is full of stories and he thinks other folk might find them diverting.

But, as I said at the beginning, you can't believe a word he says. He makes things up.

Barnaby Wilde has published seven volumes of Quirky Verse, and five volumes of Short Stories, as well as a series of Detective Stories featuring the motorcycle-riding Mercedes Drew and her Detective boyfriend, Inspector Flowers, plus a series of Humorous Novels (The Tom Fletcher series) featuring talking cats and parallel universes. All these books are currently available as e-books. He has also contributed to several publications by the writer's consortium 'Top Writer's Block', which publishes books on behalf of the charity 'Sea Shepherd.'

You can find out more about Barnaby Wilde and his books at http://www.barnaby-wilde.co.uk or follow him on twitter @barnaby_wilde

Slainte,
David H. Keith

Surviving the Monsters

The world is full of monsters. We know this. We don’t like it necessarily, but we acknowledge it. In fact, monsters are fodder for a vast amount of our literature—writers from Bram Stoker to Poe to King and on and on have used up boatloads of ink telling us about monsters. Monsters intrigue and beguile us every bit as much as they frighten.

Monsters, however, are often adept at concealing themselves from ordinary folk. They don’t all have a pair of fangs or 12-inch talons or laser-breath capable of melting an aircraft carrier into a pile of sludge. The worst monsters, in fact, are those whom we instinctively trust, those we even rely upon for our very lives…until they strike.

Award-winning author Elizabeth Rowan Keith has just published a short ebook about such a monster, or, rather, a pair of them. It’s about a young girl’s surviving this malevolent duo and, by doing so, becoming stronger than both of them. With a little help from some extraordinary people and a mantra taken from a nursery rhyme, she survives the abuse and grows into adulthood a strong woman.

I don’t want to spoil the book any more than I must, so I’ll just say that Ashes, Ashes, Don’t Fall Down is a must read for everyone who has made it through childhood and for those who are still struggling. Dr. Keith has a knack for engaging and holding onto the reader until that very last period and Ashes won’t disappoint you.

You can find a link to her newest offering as well as her earlier works at www.novemberfirstpublications.weebly.com

Chekhov's Gun

If you introduce a cannon into the first chapter, you better have fired the thing by the end of the book.

That principle, known as Chekhov’s Gun, is an element that too many beginning writers either do not know or, worse, do not care about. The concept was named after the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov.

I want to talk about Chekhov’s Gun, though, rather than the man himself. What does it mean? Why is it important? Is it graven in stone?

First, exactly what is it? To quote the ubiquitous Wikipedia, "Chekhov's gun is a metaphor for a dramatic principle concerning simplicity and foreshadowing."  It sets the reader up for some sort of dramatic surprise and causes himer to anticipate it. It also forces the writer to consider if what hesh is introducing is really necessary.

 

So what? Why does it matter? Quite simply, if you introduce a major plot point into your book but don't use it, you will only leave your reader confused and disappointed, and mark yourself as an amateur.

Think about it. You’re writing a book about, say, the FBI and you talk about this nifty new technology they’re just bringing online, say a transporter beam to move agents here and there almost instantaneously. So many newbie writers will make a grand introduction of its existence…and then hardly ever mention it again, if ever. They’ll just leave us readers hanging.

Makes you wonder what was the point So the Feebs have this marvelous new toy. So what? Do they actually use it? If so, how did it work—or, for that matter, did it work at all? Against whom did they use it and why? What happened next?

See my point? The author titillates us with this technology but then seems to forget about it. And that, in my opinion, is just plain rude and unconcerned about the reader. It’s also the mark of a rookie.

So, if you introduce some big plot element, use it ere reaching “The End.” It’s only the polite thing to do.

With that said, is the principle inviolate or is there some wiggle-room? Well, like most things, of course there are times when violating the rules are not only appropriate but enhance the story even more. It can make a wonderful red herring. Let’s go back to that transporter beam. Our illustrious author may introduce it to send the hapless reader off on a wild goose chase while the real story continues on apace.

The Feebs are investigating the criminal shenanigans of Monster Corporation and are naturally keeping it as hush-hush as they can. Makes sense, right? But the CEO and lawyers of the corporation are canny and quite suspicious, even paranoid, thus placing the investigation (and the investigators) in peril. So, the Feebs make a huge, boasting announcement of this wonderful new transporter beam…but it’s all just a ruse. There is no beam. It’s intended only to throw Monster Corporation off the scent.

We readers, being caught up in the story, are dragged into the ruse, as well. We are looking forward to seeing the thing in action and we forget about the real purpose of the story: the investigation into Monster Corporation. We’re hoodwinked just like the corporate bad-guys.

And we love it. It adds a delicious taste of spice to the story. The author broke the rule, but, in doing so, wrote a story worth the read.

Understand, though, that the writer absolutely must use that cannon in some way by the end of the story, even if just a few words at the end explaining it was all a con. That’s the important part.