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Sound-off Saturday: A Leap of Faith
BY BENJAMIN IRELAND
I was inspired by a recent blog by the Xchyler co-owner, Penny Freeman, to tell my Xchyler story.
Through mutual acquaintances Penny and I became Facebook friends. One day, I posted how much work it takes to write a book when you don’t know what you’re doing. Then Penny messaged me and said, “Send me your manuscript”
I didn’t know what she was talking about. I was unaware, at the time, that Penny could do anything useful with a manuscript. So, I did some investigating, and it turns out she runs an indie publishing company.
The manuscript in question is a novel i’ve been working on for eight years, Kingdom City. So just handing it over to someone that I didn’t know ran a publishing company seemed to be a bit too much of a leap of faith.
In my investigation I discovered that Xchyler holds quarterly, open-submission anthology contests. It was then that a pillar of light appeared and I heard angels singing. A voice spoke to me and said “remember that story you wrote in college? Finish it and submit it”
Okay, some of that was a lie, but I thought, why not? If Penny really is worth her stuff, she’ll reject my story outright and I can move on with my life. I submitted ‘Kissed a Snake’ and waited to see what would happen.
The anthology submissions are anonymous. So despite being acquainted with Penny, I had just as much chance of being accepted as a complete stranger. So I went for it.
Much to my dismay, I was accepted. I was convinced Xchyler couldn’t know what they were doing if they thought my drivel was worth publishing. But I decided to go with it. I had nothing much else going on but balancing a full time job, commuting for more than two hours a day, my wife’s full time job, and taking care of our three kids.
Then ‘Kissed a Snake’ got into the hands of the editors, and that’s when the magic happened. For me, at least. They threw out the bad stuff, told me what needed to be fixed, and respected my creative voice. The end result was not the same story i’d submitted. It had transcended.
At this point I figured, if they could make something i’d written mostly in college result in a story that I was thrilled with, maybe I could let them take care of my fourth baby—which was also my first—my novel.
I submitted it, they considered it, and then miraculously accepted it. And now, i’m waiting for the dump trucks full of money to pull up to my house.
That hasn’t quite happened yet. However, working with the brilliant folks at Xychler is the realization of a lifelong dream. They work entirely from profit, so they are as invested in your success as you are.
Having my short story published was an enjoyable and rewarding experience. So if you’re wondering if Xchyler is a good fit for you too, do it. You have nothing to lose.
When he’s not wrangling with real life, Ireland takes it on the chin from his editing team with good grace from his home in southeast Texas. His short story, “Kissed a Snake”, is featured in A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology, released in July, 2013. His novel, Kingdom City, is slated for release in January, 2014.
Featured Friday: Fact vs. Fiction
BY J. AUREL GUAY
It was fiction that first inspired me to become a scientist. I most blame Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island. In the story the character Cyrus Smith uses his scientific knowledge not only to help the group of castaways survive, but to forge amazing technology, including a telegraph system, from the basest of components.
His ability to use his knowledge to create things from nothing awed me, and placed a desire in my heart to be able to likewise change my world. Ironically, now that I am a scientist, I find that I am driven back to the arms of fiction—this time as a reprieve from the narrowness and tedium of ‘modern’ science.
In the days of Jules Vern, the depths of knowledge had only just been scratched, and it was possible and necessary for scholars to have a breadth of knowledge about all fields of science. I was disappointed in my academic career to learn that, today, each field has been mined so deeply that in order to thoroughly understand any one topic you must adopt a very narrow focus of study to the exclusion of all others.
I could talk for hours about the interactions and signaling circuits of the mesangial cells within the glomeruli of your kidneys (as exciting as I’m sure that sounds). However, I know relatively little about how the neighboring hepatocyte cells of you liver work, and far less about the neurons in your brain.
As you might predict, with this narrowness comes a repetition and sense of constriction that doesn’t set well with that spirit of adventure that first spurred me on to science.
But, this how science drives me back to fiction. In fiction I can be, not only free to read and explore uncharted lands, but to forge and breathe life into new worlds of my own. Within the realm of words and imagination, I find the explorer within me refreshed and invigorated—inevitably though, I turn back to reality only to find my eyes freshened to the uncanny in our own world.
Everywhere we look in nature we see the unexpected and amazing. Did you know that a zebrafish can regenerate large portions of its still beating heart? Or that many plants posses more genetic material than humans? The puffer fish has, unlike most species, shed all but the barest essentials of its genetic material. Various animals can see in ultraviolet, heat, electromagentic fields, or sound.
Monarch butterflies migrate across continents to the very same locations every year, despite multi-generational voyages, somehow retaining the memory of the path their grandparents undertook the previous year. Tazmanian devils suffer a cancer that is contagious, passed through breaks in the skin during fights. Tiger salamander larvae, when overpopulated, will spontaneously morph into larger cannabilistic morphs that can eat their bretheren . . . We truly live in an awe inspiring world.
Sometimes it seems that if you can imagine it, you can find it somewhere in nature already. In this way, imagination and awe for nature feeds my passion for science, and the cycle renews.
So, next time you are short on inspiration for your writing, look up ScienceNow and scroll the latest discoveries, or open a National Geographic and take a look at how amazing our world really is.
Hailing from New England where he lives with his bride and their two children, J. Aurel Guay writes both fantasy and science fiction with emphasis on strong plots and meaningful themes. His short story, “The Death of Dr. Marcus Wells,” anchors Shades and Shadows: a Paranormal Anthology, slated for release October 31, 2013.
Follow Guay on his blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, and Twitter.
Editor’s Notes: The Shape of a Story
BY LAURISA WHITE REYES
As some of you know, I’m mid-way through grad school. One class I’m taking this semester is Advanced Narrative Writing in which we are reading and examining a wide selection of contemporary short stories by Amy Bender, Joe Hill, George Saunders, Neil Gaiman, Ben Loory and a few others.
We are not reading them just for the sake of entertainment, though the stories are definitely entertaining, but we are discussing the various techniques these authors employ in crafting these stories.
One of the techniques we’ve been talking about is the shape of a story. Traditional stories tend to follow a linear path, detailing a sequence of events leading to a climax and resolution. But many of the experimental stories we are reading don’t exactly fit into this pattern. Well, at first glance they do, but on closer examination they do something radically different.
For example, in the Neil Gaiman story “Other People” (from his collection Fragile Things) the unnamed protagonist arrives in hell and is met with a demon with scars on his back and a collection of instruments of torture at his disposal. The narrator endures thousands of years of punishment that ends and begins over and over again until finally it all stops and he becomes the demon set to torture hell’s newest arrival. This story has a spiral shape to it. The story wraps around on itself many times over, and finally ends where it begins.
Amy Bender’s story “The Rememberer” (from her collection The Girl in the Flammable Skirt) is even more convoluted. Beginning at the end of the story, or nearly the end, the narrator jumps back and forth in time, describing the de-evolution of her boyfriend from human to ape to finally–something microscopic and primordial. Very odd story, but an excellent example of how the shape or structure of a story can be bent and manipulated to create something extraordinary and unpredictable.
And then there are stories that are indeed linear, but do not end with a predictable, “nice-little-package” resolution. Instead, the stories seem to implode or explode or just leave you going “huh?”
Like George Saunders “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” (from his collection of the same name). This is just a bizarre tale about a wimpy kind of a guy working at a run down Civil War amusement park. He sees ghosts. Gang members get shot. Weird things happen. And then he dies. Yup. It is does in fact boggle the mind. It is a linear story, but with a frayed and tangled ending.
I mention these examples because I’ve been paying closer attention to the shape of the children’s stories I’m reading—and writing. I’ve always been interested in weaving experimental techniques into my work. I’ve noticed that the vast majority of books written for children and teens are linear. Simple, straight forward, one event follows another, climax, resolution. The end. And there is nothing wrong with that. But what about stories that veer from the norm? Are there any out there?
The first story (or stories) that come to mind are The Hunger Gamesbooks by Suzanne Collins. On the surface, these are linear stories. Right? Well, yes—but where does the story begin? With the protagonist anticipating the games in her home in District 12. Where does the series end? At the close of Mockingjay, Katniss is back in District 12. While the plot is linear, the overall story arc is circular.
Another example of a circular arc is Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Just the opposite of The Hunger Games series, which ends where it begins, Gaiman’s story begins at the end. The narrator is an adult returning to the town of his childhood, recollecting a series of bizarre incidents which bring him full circle.
What about spiral-type stories or stories that bounce around?
The best example of these kinds of shapes I can think of is 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. A boy receives a collection of cassette tapes recorded by a girl who committed suicide. The story jumps back and forth between Clay’s life today and Hannah’s life pre-suicide. And, like Gaiman’s “Other People” it ends where it begins when Clay passes the cassettes to the next person fated to listen to them.
And finally one last example:Forgotten by Cat Patrick, a story of a girl who wakes up every day with her memory of the previous day erased. She only remembers “forward.” The story is constantly skipping ahead while she tries to get through every day by piecing together the pieces of her future.
All of these stories are highly experimental in form, but I’d love to see more like this. Notice, too, that they are all Young Adult books. I couldn’t think of any contemporary middle grade books that tamper with story shape. (Of course there are several classical ones, such as Peter Pan and Alice and Wonderland, both circular.) Maybe this is an area that could use a little experimenting.
Can you share some other examples of children’s or young adult books that play with story shape and structure?
Author and editor Laurisa White Reyes lives in Southern California with her husband and five children. She has published two middle-grade fantasies, The Rock of Ivanore and The Last Enchanter. Her first project for The X, A Midsummer Night’s Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet, is slated for release November 30, 2013.
Follow Laurisa here:
Website: http://www.laurisawhitereyes.com
Blogs: http://laurisareyes.blogspot.com & http://middlegrademania.blogspot.com
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Featured Friday: The Small Business Owner
BY SCOTT WILLIAM TAYLOR
The author’s other definition.
Almost every writer has, at one time or another, heard that being a writer is like having a second job. Some writers turn their part-time job into a full-time career. But for the mass majority, we work during the day so we can write later.
I think most people can relate to the concept of a second job. Most have done it—many are doing it now. In order to be successful at both jobs (and remain sane), the trick is to budget enough time for both, get enough sleep and food, and try to keep your life together.
As a writer, I am always looking to improve my craft. Books have been written, conferences given, all in an effort to help others capture that elusive muse.
One resource I find both informative and entertaining is the Writing Excuses podcast, and it was in one of the more recent installments I received advice that struck me. Brandon Sanderson, one of the four authors in the podcast, said that part of being a writer is being a small business owner.
The statement was brief, but for me, it packed a punch. Owning a business requires more effort—and more risk—to succeed, much more than just working part-time for someone else. A writer is not only the Director of Creative Content, but also needs to become a President, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, as well as have an understanding of marketing channels, distribution trends, and resource allocation.
Yes, publishers and editors are involved in getting a book from the mind of the author to the hands of the reader, but ultimately, the responsibility for the success of any project rests squarely on the shoulders of the writer. Without the writer, there’s nothing to sell.
Would a person opening a corner deli or a computer repair shop expect their business to grow if they aren’t there every day? I doubt it. They would never treat their business casually. If it’s going to work, it requires serious commitment to that dream of success.
Using this perspective I hope to change how I look at my small business, and treat it not just as another part-time job.
When Taylor isn’t pulling his hair out implementing Obamacare, he writes from his home in northern Utah. His short story, “Little Boiler Girl”, (a reader favorite) appeared in Mechanized Masterpieces: a Steampunk Anthology, released in April 2013.
His short story, “Split Ends,” will appear in Shades and Shadows: a Paranormal Anthology,to be released August 31, 2013.
Sound-off Saturday: My Two Bits
BY SCOTT TARBET
All y’all ain’t from around here, are ya? Bless your hearts. Boy says he gets letters on that shiny little doo-hicky of his. And can send ‘em too. So I asked could I say howdy and set somethin’ straight. He’s writin’ it all this down. With his thumbs. Tarnation.
All this time I thought that doo-hicky was a telephone. Don’t look like no telephone I ever seen, and I seen plenty, let me tell ya. They had ‘em one at the general store up there in town that I seen near ever’ week . . . when I used to get to town. Never talked on it though. Who would I talk to?
Anyways, that’s neither here nor there.
So just the other day the boy’s clear up top the roof paintin’ shingles and the dadgum doo-hicky sets up an ungodly racket in his pocket, like the carousel I seen that time me and the missus went all the way down to Beaumont. The boy like to jumped out of his skin. Figgered he’d fall off the roof, and then where’d we be? Likely he’d’a broke his neck. Least I’d’a had company while we wait around for some other kin to happen by here another fifty years from now.
He goes to jumpin’ up and down, right there on the roof, thirty-some foot off the ground. “A signal! I’ve got a signal!” Like he just got kissed by the purtiest girl at the fair.
So he gets a whole ton of letters all at once on the doo-hicky. Reads some of ‘em to me. Says how folks been readin’ in that story Tombstone about how I been buildin’ this house ever since I died.
Then he starts laughin’ out loud, sittin’ right there on the roof, about some feller name of Jed Clampett. Says some other feller says I bring to mind this Clampett feller.
The boy even shows me pictures of Clampett on the doo-hicky. Dangedest thing.
Me, I don’t see the resemblance. I was much better lookin’ when I was young as him. ‘Sides—he’s from Arkansas or somewheres. Anyone from East Texas will tell ya’ Arkansas is a good place to be from . . . far from. If he was from God’s Country he never woulda loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is.
And he wears a coat all the time. He’d cook in East Texas—stew in his own sweat.
And he don’t take no pride in his hat. A Texan always always always takes pride in his hat. No sense lookin’ like a dadgum hillbilly, my mama always said.
Oh—and the boy says Clampett got rich sellin’ his land for the oil. Bubblin’ crude my Aunt Fanny!
Now, I ain’t one to stand in the way of progress or nothin’ . . . oh, all right, so I am. But I’m sendin’ this letter on the doo-hicky, ain’t I? That’s modern, right? Gotta count for somethin’.
Anyhow, that’s my say. Y’all come on by anytime and see me. Or come on by and don’t see me. Probly.
Tarbet lives happily ever after with his wife in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he writes and manages his Texas BBQ catering business. His short story, “Tombstone,” appears in Shades and Shadows: a Paranormal Anthology, slated for release October 31, 2013.