Lots of people out in the park today, lounging, enjoying the free lunch-time concert series, and, yes, splashing in the fountain. I ended up crossing through twice today, once while running errands, and once on the way home, so I took quite a few pictures. These two are my favorite.
One more after the cut. It’s a typical touristy pose, the picture everyone wants to take in Love Park, but I find it pleasing for its symmetry and color coordination.
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Sad things have to happen, sometimes. So says Emiliana Torrini, whose song Dead Things is the suggested musical accompaniment to my story Under the Leaves in the current issue of Sybil’s Garage.
I’m in pretty damned good company, too. You can check out the full table of contents, and even purchase a copy of your very own here.
I watched The Black Dahlia last night, and it got me thinking about stories. A story that weaves together multiple plots and subplots can be very effective when it’s well done, for example Catherynne Valente’s Orphan’s Tales duology. The stories build upon each other, making the whole richer. The way the stories interlock have real consequences for the characters, and change the meaning of the tale as a whole. In the hands of the right story-teller, multiple story threads become a beautiful tapestry. When handled poorly, they turn into a horribly tangled knot.
Musings and movie spoilers below the cut.
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Boosting the signal…
The wonderful Oz Drummond (aka birdhousefrog) is organizing a writing workshop to take place at ReConStruction in Raleigh, NC. If you happen to be going to ReConStruction, and you’re at all interested in writing, you want to sign up for this, you really do. The workshop will function like the one Oz organized for Anticipation/Worldcon. The basic idea is two pros and three writers so into a room, and only one person emerges…No, wait, that’s not right. The basic idea is that three authors get fantastic advice from two pros in the field, as well as critiquing each other’s work. If you’ve never been part of a workshop, it’s a truly invaluable experience, and if you have been part of a workshop, then you already know how helpful they can be, so I don’t need to tell you.
A mere year ago, I found the whole idea of workshops confusing and intimidating; I had idea how to get involved in one, and had the vague notion that if I did manage to find one, it would be terrifying. Now I’m hooked, and I can’t imagine how or why I went so long without workshopping. This style of workshop is especially good if you’re just starting out; it’s small, intimate, and a nice introduction to the whole critique group thing. For more information about the ReConStruction workshop and/or to sign up, go here.
Two things that my dog found for me during our walk this morning, within a few feet of each other no less: an empty wineglass, hidden in the bushes, and a dead moth about the size of my hand. A quick search reveals the moth is a Giant Silk Moth (Hyalophora cecropia).
Of the two objects, I kept the moth. It’s raggedy looking, but that’s kind of why I like it. I may try to put it in a shadow box for display.
An empty wineglass and a dead moth…it feels like the beginnings of a story prompt. In fact, I can already feel the seeds of something germinating. If any of you writer-types out there feel like playing along, consider this a bonus piece of inspiration for the day.
Prompt: Write a story incorporating the following elements - a dead moth, an empty wineglass, and a child’s chalk drawing, or hopscotch game.
Happy writing!
Rich Horton posted his year-end summary of Electric Velocipede yesterday, and he picked A Mouse Ran Up the Clock as one of his favorites of 2009. Woohoo!
I’m a writing process geek. I’m fascinated by the chance to peek behind the scenes and see how different authors do what they do. I can say - completely without irony - that I find discussions of fountain pens and moleskin notebooks absorbing. Yes, I’m weird. Given that, I’m naturally loving these posts by Jeff VanderMeer about his choices while writing Finch, one of my favorite reads of 2009. If you happen to share my highly specific brand of geekitude, you should definitely check it out.
Even though I love reading about other people’s processes, I rarely post about my own. Partly because it’s not interesting to me when I do it; partly because I don’t really have a process other than: type words onto a laptop and poke them until I don’t hate them anymore. In terms of my writing “career” I did everything more or less backwards. I jumped into the deep part of the lake, then five years later, I decided it might be a good idea to learn how to swim. So I don’t have a process right now, but I’m working on getting one. I’m learning how to learn.
In my totally unscientific observation of things, years that end in an odd number tend to be worse for me in terms of publishing than years ending in an even number. 2009 was no exception. My submission stats for this year:
47 stories submitted
42 stories rejected
5 stories pending
1 story accepted (submitted in 2008)
I was pickier about which markets I submitted to this year, I spent more time editing and re-writing than in previous years, and overall my output was lower. (For comparison purposes, last year I had 72 submissions and 6 acceptances). I’m hoping that the odd-even pattern will hold true for 2010, making it a successful publishing year.
If you’re a member of the SFWA, John Klima, with the help of Mary Robinette Kowal, is making issues 17/18 and 19 of Electric Velocipede available for your reading (and Nebula Award consideration) pleasure. Details are available on John’s blog. Even if you’re not a member, and you just want a taste of what’s offered in the current issue (#19) or any of the past issues, you can read excepts of each story on the Electric Velocipede website. Regardless of your membership in any organization, if you have a particular fondness for clockwork and alternate history, may I humbly suggest checking out my own offering in Electric Velocipede 19, A Mouse Ran Up the Clock? But remember, only the first taste is free…
I’ve been inspired (thanks, Jeff!) to try posting an excerpt from a work in…let’s call it motion. I hesitate to call it a work in progress, because progress implies steady forward motion. This thing, which claims to be a novel, would be more accurately described as lurching violently in several directions at once (very few of them forward) in erratic fits and starts.
Since it seems highly unlikely that this beast will ever get finished, let alone see the light of day, it seems only fair that it should get at least one moment in the sun. So, without further ado, here is a thing. It has flies.