Apr
19
2011
SED 2011 Day 7!
Another day’s efforts. A little over 500 words, loosely inspired by the brilliant Jack Kirby and his Kamandi.
Apr
18
2011
SED 2011 Day 6!
I have spoken before of my disdain for the sort of high fantasy that we’ve generally seen over the past decades – stories about kings and princesses and full of politics and the great games that nations play. I understand why that’s usually the stuff of stories. It’s grand and epic. The stories matter. It is the stuff of history. But, much like history books, you end up getting just the stories of the people at the top, not the stories of the people who have to put up with their bullshit. I grow weary of that perspective.
I went to see The Conspirator (not fantasy, but there were people in very fine hats). It is story of normal people having to put up with the bullshit. Different century. Same nonsense of ordinary citizenry offered up on the altar of political convenience. Nothing has changed.
The movie is quite good, by the way.
Anyway, this is a bit of a fantasy story. I thought, why not a police procedural in a world of gods and magic? The first few hundred words of the nearly 1,400 that I wrote.
Apr
15
2011
SED 2011 Day 3!
I will post just a portion of this one. It came out to over 1,300 words and is set in the same world as my recently finished and (so far) thrice submitted historical fantasy story, Mercier’s Flight. Maybe I’ll look for a market for this one, though I don’t have the faintest idea where to start. Anyone know of a good historical fantasy war story market?
Apr
14
2011
SED 2011 Day 2!
I imagine this to be part of my Chuck Chaykin space western universe. Almost 600 words of two-fisted robot-busting action!
Apr
13
2011
SED 2011 Day 1
A little something. Will it go anywhere? Who knows! Just about 500 words.
Apr
12
2011
Every Day!
Today begins the writing group’s annual Story Every Day event. Should be fun! I’ve got a jump on a story already that I’ve been working on, so some of my SEDs will likely be chunks of that. We’ll be meeting tonight to get started, as a group. I’ll be posting as much as I can here in the process.
In other news, I’ve been watching “Luthor” via Netflix. Sooooo good. If you need a good example of how to write great villains without overshadowing your equally great hero, this is where you want to look.
Edit: SONUVA–link removed because there are some major spoilers there. I just ruined some major plot points for myself. Thanks, BBC!
Jun
22
2010
Story a Day Day 12
Or whatever day we’re on.
Not really sure where this one was going, but I kind of like the beginning. I was up late watching Whale Wars the other day. People that feel so strongly about issues that (ultimately) don’t affect them interest me, regardless of the cause. I have no idea what it’s like to be that passionate about anything, unless we’re talking about casting Summer Glau in a Scarlet Ranger television series.
At any rate, here’s what I’ve got.
Jun
11
2010
Story a day Day 2
I may have something with this one. Finished with literally about 30 seconds to spare. Here’s a bit. Exciting!
Jun
9
2010
Story-a-day Day 0
I almost forgot, but the writing group is doing our annual Story Every Day contest this month. For the next couple of weeks we’ll be churning out a short story every single day. It is crazy!
Thanks to some forgetfulness and a minor communications snafu, we’re actually starting today instead of yesterday like we’d originally intended. But no biggie. So I’ll be trying to post excerpts of my attempts each day.
This is a little of what I wrote last night at the write-in to kick things off. I thought this might serve as a good companion piece to a story I’ll have appearing in A Thousand Faces later this year.
Jun
22
2009
SED Day Whatever
Clearly, I’ve fallen way behind on my Story Every Day exercises. I just barely squeezed one out for today.
Still, I thought it would be fun to play around with a minor bit character I created for Shades of Red way back when. I had to look him up just to remember his name. In a way this is sort of a follow-up to that story, one of the consequences of that adventure. Some of the best genre stories are from the point of view of someone not directly involved with the big epic that’s taking place. The little guy on the side who’s a witness to these big events can offer a fresh perspective on the action and help flesh out the universe at the same time.
This story involves Radio Gal, who if you’ve been around here long enough you’ve seen once or twice before. Just the first few hundred words. For some reason I have a blast writing these scenes of superheroes just sitting around talking. Continue reading
