Writing Practice

I know you've heard it before: the comparison of the need to practice with athletes or musicians and writers. If you want to remain competitive, or even competent, you, as a writer, need to practice. That's not the issue here. We know it's true.

The thoughts I want to give about writing practice are more practical. What constitutes writing practice? Do you need to run though rote exercises like musicians practicing their scales? Not at all! Writing practice can be whatever you make of it.

If your idea of writing is fictional prose, why not use your writing practice time on poetry? You might never let anyone see what you create, but it may spark story ideas, character traits, interesting settings, or any number of things to help your fiction. Or why not take ten minutes and whip up a flash fiction story? It may not be salable after that one pass, but that doesn't mean that you can't take time later to revise it into shape. Or not. Maybe you'll simply be happy with having created it, and no one needs to see it. That's the beauty of writing practice; it only exists to help you grow as a writer.

If you're not sure what you want to do in your practice session, why not choose a writing prompt? Bookstores, both brick and mortar and the online versions, sell plenty of books that have a number of writing prompts in them. Magazines like Writer's Digest also usually have at least one prompt per issue, and their on-line content usually contains a number more. Or hit your favorite search engine and type in "writing prompts," and you'll have plenty of options to keep your practice schedule fresh for years to come.

One thing to remember about writing practice is that it should be fun. Everyday you write isn't going to be a picnic. Some days the words fight you and refuse to get down on your page. It doesn't matter whether you're a novelist, a poet, a journalist, a screenwriter, or whatever; if you write, you'll have tough days. So why not rekindle your love affair with the written word by taking ten or fifteen minutes a day to enjoy yourself? If you do this, your writing will do nothing but prosper. And to me, that's what writing practice is all about.

Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Short Story Podcasts

Today I thought I'd let everyone know about some great podcasts on iTunes for free short stories. This is the perfect format for the short story in this age of on the go. I believe all of these podcasts have websites where you can download these stories, but since I subscribe to them in iTunes, that's the format I'm going to talk about today. Remember, if you don't have iTunes, it's free to download. Get it straight from Apple's website. You don't even need an iPod. You can listen to these or any podcasts on iTunes right from your computer.

It's easy to find these podcasts. Simply go to the iTunes store and put the title in the search bar, which is in the upper right corner. Click "subscribe," and you'll get plenty of great short stories for free! I'll list these in alphabetical order.

The first I listen to is called Clonepod. This highlights great fantasy and science fiction stories. Most of the stories run about 25-35 minutes, but there are a number of flash fiction stories that hover around 10 minutes.

The next one is The Drabblecast. This is a speculative fiction podcast that likes stories on the weird side. Most stories run about 15-25 minutes.

The next one is Escape Pod. This one focuses on science fiction short stories. Most run about 30 minutes, but there are quite a few flash fiction stories under 10 minutes.

The next one is The Mad Writer Fictioncast. This is a group of speculative flash fiction stories all written by author Warren Stallworth. Each story runs under 10 minutes.

The next one is PodCastle. This is a podcast that focuses on fantasy stories. As with most collections of fantasy stories, some are light and airy, while others dark and grimey. Most run about 30 minutes, but there are plenty under 10 minutes.

The next one is Psuedopod. This podcast focuses on horror fiction. Some are subtle tales, while others make no bones about the horror and violence of life. Most run from 20 to 35 minutes.

The final short fiction podcast I subscribe to is Well Told Tales. This one focuses on Pulp Fiction stories, and most run about 25 minutes or so. There are occasional flash fiction stories here, as well.

If you enjoy reading short stories, but rarely have the time to browse print and online magazines, these podcasts might just be for you. Just type the name in the search bar in your iTunes store, and enjoy hours of fun. If you have some short story podcasts that you subscribe to that I didn't mention, feel free to mention them in the comments. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Novel writing process

I recently started working on a novel, and I'm happy with how I went about all of the pre-writing exercises to allow for an easier first draft experience. I got a book called Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, not because I wanted to pound out a book in thirty days, but because it looked to have a good structure. I honestly feel that I've had trouble in the past getting a novel written because I lack structure in my writing process. I've tried other methods, but nothing has ever really sung to me. This one looks like it has promise.

I'm using many of the exercises and worksheets provided (though I'm doing so in a separate notebook, not right in the book, because I'm cheap that way), and I'm tweaking others to fit me. The book is set up to use each of the 30 days, with reminders of things to be looking for and exercises on how to throw a creative curveball into the mix. I've decided, since I don't want to dash it out so quick, that I'd move on to the next page with every 7 or so that I write--that'll get me to a good word count for a middle-grade novel. I made scene cards on 3x5 cards, and those have become my outline for the story. I sketched out my main character with enough information--using the book's character guide--and I'll fill it out more as I write. This seems to be an excellent way to get going on a novel for me.

The tough part, of course, will be actually writing the thing. I've set myself a goal of two pages a day/6 days a week. I like to set my writing goals low so I have a hard time missing them. Often I write more than that, so it's a nice little confidence boost for myself when I do write more. I started in the middle of last week, and so far I've met my goal every day. I'm confident this system will serve me well not just through the first draft, but through the revision process as well. That's all I have for you this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

2 Short Story Reviews

I want to highlight two short stories I read this week that I enjoyed. Both are from The Absent Willow Review, an online speculative fiction magazine that I check out every new issue, which I believe is about every two or three weeks. One of my short stories, Planetary Fear, is in the December 16, 2008 issue. Both of these stories are from the July 15, 2009 issue, which, as of this post, is the newest.

The first story is called Claims, by Timothy P. Remp and Peggy McFarland. It's a story about an insurance investigator who must travel to Mars to discover the truth about some missing robots that a farmer has a claim in for. I found this a neat story to read simply because of the descriptions of the vast wastelands of Mars. The mysteries of the story tied into the insurance investigator's past, and made for an excellent read.

The second story is called The Binder, by Derek Ivan Webster. This one is about a monster in the form of a binder. I thought this one was a fun little read with a nice climax to the tale being told. It also gave an open ending, which I always find entertaining, not because I expect a sequel, but simply because the tale begs the reader to use his or her imagination to decipher what happens next.

I'm not really interested in giving detailed reviews, but just in making short stories that I enjoy visible and available for others to read. I enjoy reading and writing speculitive fiction short stories, so I decided that I'll occasionally give the links to some. I hope you enjoy them. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Harry Potter and Short Story Reviews

My wife and I are going to see the new Harry Potter on Friday, and I can't wait. In the past few weeks, I've re-read all of the books and watched all of the movies. One thing that jumped out at me was how the movies really are just loosely based on the books. It really started to bother me, and I hated movie 4 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) because of it. By the time we watched 5 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), though, I made peace with it. I'm just telling myself that it's an alternate universe. The characters are the same, but the actions are different. I'm glad I've (mostly) come to terms with this because I've heard that the sixth movie (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is again only loosely based on J.K. Rowling's text. That should be fine because I've also heard that it's an excellent movie. I've enjoyed the many previews I've watched on the Internet (how did we anticipate movies before it, eh?), so I don't think I'll let the departure from the book bother me. I guess I'll know on Friday. Let me know in the comments what you think. (I figure I need to re-watch 4 sometime soon with my new mindset. I'm sure I'll enjoy it the next time around.)

I've decided I want to start writing occasional short story reviews, and I may occasionally do so more than once a week. I want to point out some of the great online magazines that give excellent short stories for free. My plan at the moment is to give a short blurb about a story (no more than a teaser sentence or two) and a link so you can check them out for yourself. Since I have a few stories floating around cyberspace, I figure I should help publicize the market. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Writing Prompt

This week I'm at my parents house, dog-sitting. In honor of that, I thought I'd make it real simple on myself this week and give you another writing prompt. Remember to share your outcome in the comments section below, or forget that and try to get it published!

Write a story, article, poem about dog-sitting and/or house-sitting. Throw in some babysitting, too, if you're feeling ambitious. A twist to make it a bit more interesting is to set it either in a fantasy world or on a distant planet.

Have fun with it! Until next week, keep reading and/or writing.

Fear (or Writer's Block)

One thing writer's always must fight against is fear. It strikes different writers in different ways. Some writers might fear the blank page. They're afraid that as they stare at it, a little paper monster will pop right out and bite them on the nose. No, no, I kid (though that'd make a pretty cool story). They're afraid that if they start writing on that blank page, the words won't be profound, won't be interesting, won't be salable. As soon as they start marking up the page (or typing words on the screen), the masterpiece that could have gone there will now no longer be able to ever fill that spot. Some people never become writers because of that fear.

Some writers might fear ridicule. When someone else reads their heart-felt laughter will greet the author, squashing the very soul of the author. For that reason, words might not make it out, or if they do, the work itself might never leave the would-be author's possession.

Some writers, on the other hand, might fear success. If this work comes out great, another will be expected that should be better than the first. People will want a piece of the author. Fame will surely follow. Is it all worth it?

Fear is a part of everyone, and writers have their own special cases. If the words build up into you, and you won't be happy unless you can release them, you must ignore the fear. Turn off your inner critic and write. No one has to see these words until you're ready for them to. When facing a blank page, you're still a long way off from needing your inner critic. Your muse is the one you should be listening to. Is it difficult to fight through your fears? Absolutely. Is it impossible? Not on your life!

What fears have you had that made your writing feel miserable at times? How did you work through it? Or are you still fighting those demons? If you'd like to share, please leave a comment! Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Writing Prompt

This week I'm going to throw a writing prompt out to you. It's something I've decided I may do from time to time. I think writing prompts are excellent ways to get started on short stories, articles, poems, or whatever.

Go outside after dark. Look up into the night sky. Write about the first thing you see.

If you feel like it, post your finished product in the comments section below. Or take it and try to get published. Or use it as simple writing practice for no one else to see. Whatever you do, just write! Until next week, keep reading and/or writing!

Updates to My Blog

I've added a few things today. First, at the top right, you'll see a badge for the "500 Words a Day Challenge." It's not a contest or anything, but just more of a promise to myself to write 500 words a day. It is from Inkygirl.com, and I think an excellent reminder to get my buns into my writing desk and get moving on my novel, which I'm using the challenge for. I'll be writing short stories and non-fiction pieces (not to mention blogs, twitters, and response posts), but I'm only counting words on my novel for this challenge. Started on Monday, and so far I'm batting 1000!

I also added a link to blogs I read. They're on the right hand side of the screen. Just scroll down a bit if you don't see them. I also added the search gadget in case anyone wants to search through what I've written about. And at the bottom of the page I have a guest book which you can sign. I'd be thrilled to get some more people in there. That's it for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Submitting Work

Today I want to bring up the subject of submitting work, be it short stories, novels, articles, or whatever. The most important thing is to appear as professional as possible. Read the guidelines. I can't state that clearly enough. Make sure you read those guidelines until you understand exactly what that publisher or agent wants. If you send something in that is contrary to their guidelines, guess what? Your work isn't even looked at. Maybe it's a perfect fit, but if you can't be bothered to send it how the publisher or agent wants it, it gets no chance.

In the guidelines, an important thing to look for is how the publisher/agent wants the submission. Do they want it sent in standard manuscript format? Do they only want a query letter? Do they only accept work through the standard mail, or do they want it via email? If they want it via email, do they want an attachment, or do they want it all in the body of the email? If you can't follow these instructions, you have little to no chance of even getting your work read, so make that first good, professional impression.

Also make sure you're targeting the correct market. A title of a magazine, for instance, might look like the perfect fit for your article, but in reality it might be about something else altogether. I'm not one that believes you absolutely have to read a magazine you are submitting to (though it can't hurt), but you have to at least know what the content of that magazine is (or what types of books a publisher publishes, or what types of work an agent represents, etc.). Read the entire guidelines; go to the Internet site; go to the library and leaf through the magazine or a book by the publisher (and read at least a bit of it if you've gone to that length). Don't show how unprofessional you are by sending a chilling horror story to a happy romance magazine. Do your homework.

One final thing I want to mention is to keep a log of where each of your stories/articles/novels have been sent. Sometimes it takes dozens of different tries to place your work, and it can go on for years. Don't forget that you've already sent a story to one place and send it back there. Just take a minute each time you send a story out to record where it's going. And when it comes back rejected, send it right back out to the next place. That's all for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Writing Without an Outline Pt. 2

I've discovered something about myself that I sort of figured. I can't write a long piece without an outline of some sort. The novel I talked about last week that I was winging just isn't happening. I've written myself into so many corners that I have to keep pasting entire writing sessions in a different file (the I don't like but don't throw away file). This seems counter-productive to me. I want to have freedom to play with the words, with the story, with the characters, but I'm learning that no outline is just too much freedom. It works for some other writers, but not for me. I don't like the idea of making a huge, elaborate outline with no wiggle room for fun writing time, but I do need something to keep me on track. My little writing exercise experiment has failed, though it really hasn't because I now know what doesn't work for me. That's a good thing.

While I get back to the drawing board, if you feel so inclined, add a comment about how you write. Are you a seat of your pants writer? Do you use an outline? Is it a bare-bones outline, or do you outline each chapter/plot point? Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Writing Without an Outline

I've found writing my latest attempt at a novel to be a strange experience. Not that I've tried my hand at many novels--short stories have been my forte so far--but when I have, it has been with an outline. This newest one, however, I just took an idea and ran with it. I sort of tricked myself into getting going on it. I've tried writing a novel without an outline before, but I always bog down, thinking I'm just going to mess things up for later since I don't know where anything is going. But this time I just told myself that it was a writing practice exercise, and it's seemed to work so far.

I write all my short stories without outlines. Almost every time I set out to write one, I just have a vague idea, and I make it happen. Occasionally I'll know exactly what's happening and where everything is going, but that's pretty rare. That's why I really wanted to write a novel without an outline. Novels and short stories are two different beasts, but I thought I could probably make it work. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy so far.

As I'm writing, I decided that I'd make a separate word file with revision ideas. I can see things that I'd rather do, but instead of stopping momentum by going back and fixing it right away, I can do so in the revision process when the first draft is done. I also have a file with about ten pages or so of a few scenes that were taking the story in the wrong direction. Instead of just erasing it all, I decided to save it in case I can fish out some good ideas from it during revision. I doubt I will, but why not keep it around just in case?

Writers work in many different ways. I'm still not certain how I'm going to go about writing the novel after this one. If this process continues going well, I may just write it from the seat of my pants again. I doubt I will write a full outline, as I find that my writing doesn't have any room to have fun to flesh out unknown parts of the story, but I my write a partial outline. I'll see what I decide to do when this project is done. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Writing for Children

When I write my stories for adults, I don't really have any interest in writing anything that doesn't have some sort of genre twist, be it horror/paranormal/fantasy/science fiction/or whatnot. You get the idea. I don't like to read straight literary or contemporary work (there are exceptions, of course, but usually not), so therefore I don't like to write stories in non-genre categories. It just doesn't interest me.

I'm finding, however, that when I right for kids, I have no problem leaving out the fantastical element. Depending on the age group--usually the very young--normal everyday things can have the air of the fantastic. A simple story about hats can be a fun thing for me to write--which just so happens to be what I'm working on now. I've sent out two children stories to publishers so far, and one is a picture book/young reader about a brother and sister on a fun treasure hunt that their mother designed, and the other is a very short story about a child looking in a mirror. Neither have my normal genre twists, yet both were quite fun for me to write.

I'm finding that for older children, my genre preference is still shining through. I'm working on a middle grade novel that has plenty of paranormal activity and elements of the fantastic. It's a blast to write. It's much different from the genre stuff I can write for adults because I really have to censor my word usage/visual images. Don't want blood and guts to be flowing all over the place in a story for 10 year olds, while that would be fine in a book for adults. It's a nice new challenge for me.

So I guess the point of my post today is to try something new when you're writing. It'll free up your mind in ways that will create fun new challenges for you. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Weird Happenings

If you've been following my other blog, Weird Happenings, which is a ghost story told in blog format, you might be interested to know I'm wrapping it up. For now. I envision at least two more posts, possibly more, in order to tell the ending. When I'm done, feel free to let me know what you think. It's very possible (probable, even) that I'll have some more in the future, but for now I'm going to stick with what's there. It'll be the same main character, but different adventures. If you haven't yet read it, go on and catch up. There are 16 posts so far.

My writing tip for the week is to make sure you always have finished work out making the rounds in the marketplace. Right now I have a dozen or so short stories for adults, one short story for young children, one short story for young adults, and a picture book manuscript out in the world looking for homes. Once they are gone, I just forget about them until I hear back from the editors and then ship 'em out again. This way I can focus on new stuff instead of the old. If something keeps getting rejected, and the comments on it aren't favorable, I'll consider retiring it, but I have so many other works that one casualty doesn't bother me very much. Other than that, they keep going out. I recently placed a short story that I wrote over ten years ago, so if I really believe in a certain work, I'll keep sending it out. That's all for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Words to Watch

I've noticed too often lately words being used incorrectly. It happens all the time on message boards, Twitter, blogs, and other places where people write (obviously). I'm not going to take too much time to go over this today, as I've seen this topic in other blogs, but it still happens, so I want to just take a post to go over it. I'm just going to take a few simple ones that should be the easiest to avoid.

One such pair of words is its and it's. This one is easy enough with just a bit of memorization. If you remember that it only gets an apostrophe as a contraction, you're good to go. It's is the equivalent of it is. If you want the possessive, there is no apostrophe.

Problems with your and you're also seem to be popping up all over the Internet. This one is even easier than its and it's in my opinion. The contraction, you're, is the same as saying you are. The apostrophe is simply taking the place of the "a" in are and the space between the words. The simplest way to describe your, however, is to call it the possessive form of you. Instead of the apostrophe used to show possessive with you, your is used instead. For example, we wouldn't say you's jacket, we'd say your jacket.

One more I want to cover is actually a trifecta: their, there, and they're. Their is the possessive form of they. For example: It is their lunch. They're is a contraction for they are. The apostrophe takes the place of the a in are and the space between the two words. There is a bit more tricky to explain. It can be an adverb, pronoun, noun, adjective, or interjection. You can click here to see its many uses. Basically, since I'm keeping it real simple today (we can go into more depth in the comments or via email if you want to get deeper into this subject), just know you're pretty safe using "there" if the word you're looking for is not a contraction or the possessive form of they. Obviously it's more in depth than that, but for quick first-draft type writings, that'll get you through just fine.

I still often type the wrong words when I'm trying to get through something quickly. Usually when you do that, it's fine to just wait for your revision before you fix it. But if you're doing something like a blog, twitter, or message board post where your first draft is your final draft, follow these simple rules to help yourself with these sometimes tricky words. There are plenty of other tricky words that I've notice causing problems out in cyberspace, as well, but remember these three for now. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.