Submission!

This past week, I submitted my new short story, "Planetfall", to the Writers of the Future contest. It's the best thing I've ever written, and also serves as the prologue to the novel I'm drafting right now.

A friend of the blog, Tarly Crowbridge, won the Artists of the Future contest in one of the earlier quarters this year. I got my story in before the end of September, so if I win, my story will appear in the same anthology as her art.

Furthermore, if "Planetfall" wins, Kalisa has the right to be bitter towards me until the stars fall from the sky.

Wish me luck.

"Advice to Writers" by Billy Collins

Even if it keeps you up all night,
wash down the walls and scrub the floor
of your study before composing a syllable.

Clean the place as if the Pope were on his way.
Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration.

The more you clean, the more brilliant
your writing will be, so do not hesitate to take
to the open fields to scour the undersides
of rocks or swab in the dark forest
upper branches, nests full of eggs.

When you fiind your way back home
and stow the sponges and brushes under the sink,
you will behold in the light of dawn
the immaculate altar of your desk,
a clean surface in the middle of a clean world.

From a small vase, sparkling blue, lift
a yellow pencil, the sharpest of the bouquet,
and cover pages with tiny sentences
like long rows of devoted ants
that followed you in from the woods.

(via Kris Reisz's blog)

The Tyranny of Words

Whenever I read anything by Joe Abercrombie, I always stand in awe of his descriptions. Everything is so vivid and rich and colorful. That's something I struggle with, even though I'm a very visual writer. Crombie makes it look so effortless.

...and that's why this post on his blog is so comforting. Allow me to quote him.

Often it’s the descriptive bits that I find take the most intensive effort.

 Whew. Man. I feel better, don't you?

(Oh, and there's also some excellent thoughts on word counts and their importance. Make sure you give it a read.)

Potential

I wrote 3 paragraphs the other night. It's not a story yet, but it was pretty exciting. I have no idea where it's going to go, but I'm happy that I finally started something new.

I'm starting to gather quite a collection of little scenes that don't really fit anywhere and/or haven't been finished. One day I plan to fit them all together somehow!

The first line of my newest addition to the unfinished collection is...

They're called freckles.

Feel free to chime in with any suggestions of how you come up with or develop story ideas!

25,000

I've just hit 25,000 words on my latest story! This will be my second since we've started this venture. I'm hoping to hit the length of a short novel, and I'm just about on track. The mid-book climax is approaching swiftly, now.

I have a tentative title, but in case it changes, let's just call this The Story of the Girl Who Had Her Own Planet. It's a science fiction story, a kind of old-fashioned planetary adventure, about a teenage girl whose family crashed on a new colony world. All is not as it seems, and the girl sets out to figure out what is really going on.

I'm trying to keep TSotGWHHOP light and accessible for folks who wouldn't normally read heavy sf. I have a very specific target audience in mind, actually -- my cousin Emily. I think it might make a great YA book. We'll see how it goes.

I'll leave you with the first line...

The roar of the colonization ship cracking in half collapsed to silence as her drop pod hit space.

"World Burners"?

What is World Burners? I know, I know, it sounds like a group of paramilitary anarchists. In truth, it's something much worse: a writing group.

There are four of us - Archie, Erik, Kalisa, and Rachel. We each write (or edit) stories in our spare time. We all love science fiction and fantasy (I have hereby defined this term, from here on out, it's "sff"). This blog is... well, I'm not sure yet. Our public interface? A chat forum for our convenience? A link so that when one of us gets a story published, there's something we can direct people to for more information?

Let's begin with "World Burners". Ever played a role-playing game called Burning Wheel? Okay, well actually, neither have we. But I have read the books, and I really like their unconventional use of the word "burning" to denote creation. Character Burning? Creating a new character. We write both sf and f, and one of the biggest commonalities that set those two genres apart from other writing is the creation of new worlds. World Burning.

Plus, it was the name of an NPC from Archie's Shadowrun campaign. A really cool one.

So! We've come this far. "Where is the writing? What are you working on? When will it be published?" I hear you ask from the future, your voice echoing down the inter-tubes to my ears.

Stay tuned.

Play Along at Home

I thought of a game! All by myself!

Take a story you've written or an idea you have for a plot, then describe it in the wrong genre. If it's hard sci-fi, make it romance. If you've got an epic fantasy, make it post modern (I dare you). Explain the genre transplant only if you feel like it.

Here's some of mine:

A psychic orphan and a street-wise drug dealer attempt to escape a cycle of violence and exploitation to find that the only way to win is to play the game. (Fantasy to Urban Fantasy)

An untested page is called to serve as a squire to a knight that exists only in memory. (Urban Fantasy to Fantasy)

Amanda Blanche thought she knew dark-haired, soft-spoken Rex DuMont like a favorite book, but after a one-night stand at his apartment she'll realize she doesn't know half the story! (Horror to Romance)

Your turn.