Guns & Magic

 

The i Inside by Alan Dean Foster. Not a dreadful story. But a rather poorly constructed novel.

 

-David

 

It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis.

 

-David

 

Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett by Richard Layman.

 

I couldn’t make myself finish Terminal Run by Michael DiMercurio. I made it only halfway through before calling it stupid–I mean, quits.

 

-David

 

NOTE: Originally posted 23 August 2006 on A Short Story a Day.

 

“Omit needless words.” –Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style

 

Damn straight.

 

I started out to write a longer article, articulating several points (example: “surprise endings” usually aren’t [*]), but decided that all of it distilled down to the title:

 

 

Don’t write boring endings. Don’t write boring middles. And for the love of all things holy, don’t write boring beginnings.

 

If you can kick the boring habit you can write anything and people will read it.

 

I’m not there yet. But it’s a goal, and I like to think I’m on my way. (When I get there, I’ll send you a postcard. And you’ll be blown away by it!)

 

One more time, because even Strunk & White repeated their mantra:

 

 

-David

 

[*] I’m not kidding about the surprise ending thing. Give it up. At best, your (and by “your”, I include “my”) story comes across like a Twilight Zone episode. At worst…no one even makes it to your oh-so-surprising ending. Because you tried so hard to preserve the Big Moment for the ending that the rest of the story is a real snoozer.

 

NOTE: Originally posted 4 March 2006 on A Short Story a Day. This is the first of a number of articles about writing I plan to move over from ASSAD.

 

I’ve been experimenting this week. It occurred to me that the techniques of improvisational theater might be usable in creating short stories. I did a bit of research and reading on the Web, and came up with following “rules” that are important in improvisational theater.

 

 

An example of blocking:

 

Also, Actor B simply saying “No” is a form of blocking. Either way, it adds nothing to the scene and forces the other actors to come up with something new.

 

 

An example of wimping:

 

 

For lots and lots and pages and pages of examples of wimping, read a novel by Alexander Dumas, who was being paid by the word in the time before publishers realized what a scam that was.

 

 

An example of gagging:

 

 

In improv, gagging usually means sacrificing the scene, and the input of the other actors, all for the sake of a one-off, short-lived laugh.

 

 

An example of breaking the routine:

 

 

If the scene is getting boring for the actors, the audience won’t be far behind.

 

There is, of course, a lot more to improvisational theater than just these four guidelines. My goal, though, wasn’t to become an improvisational actor (not this year, anyway). I just wanted to learn some techniques for creating meaningful stories quickly, maybe even “off the cuff”.

 

Here’s a quick rundown of how I’ve been using the above guidelines:

 

 

Fortunately, unlike real improvisational theater, I get to edit my stream-of-consciousness, build it as I find it storyline. In improv, “canceling” or negating something that has already been established is considered a bad idea. In writing, though, editing is your friend. It allows you to add a few words to expand a description or establish a plot point. More importantly, editing cuts out the stuff that doesn’t move the story along or violates the evergreen mandate of “show, don’t tell.”

 

-David

 

PS If my definitions of improvisational terms and practices are off, please feel free to educate me all proper like.

 

Earlier this week I started making plans to resurrect the A Short Story a Day project. For several reasons:

 

 

Amazingly, ASSAD still receives over 100 visitors every day, and I haven’t posted anything there since December 2006.

 

I will change the nature of the project, some. It will still be “writing practice” and narrative experimentation. But I’ll be emphasizing the “practice” aspect less and embracing the medium of expression that I found for myself back in 2006. And, as might be expected, I’ll be exploring ways to generate income from the project–but not from advertising. I despise advertising.

 

I’m busily hammering away on the next generation of my primary “day job”, so I won’t be restarting ASSAD just yet. I’m thinking July. Or maybe August.

 

More news as it happens.

 

-David

 

Terminal Run by Michael DiMercurio. It’s a loaner book. Kinda slow but not dreadful.

 

-David

 

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny.

 

This weekend I read the similarly named Night in the Lonesome October by Richard Laymon. I’m almost through with it. It’s not very good.

 

-David

 

The feedback from the Short Story Challenge 2008 judges (finally) arrived today. Here it is, as raw as I got it:

 

”Clankie” by David Michael

 

WHAT THE JUDGE(S) LIKED ABOUT YOUR STORY – Amazing character development in such a small space!……………………………It was pretty well written, and you wrote the mechanical warrior trope well.  I got a very clear image of what these claks were like………………….The concept of a “robot discovering feelings” is little clichéd, though you presented it in an interesting enough way so it does not feel overdone. Some good descriptions transport the reader into the locations and battle, (though the first paragraph should be reworked to have the same effect). Enjoyable dialogue. The open ending was good. Overall it was an enjoyable read but could be vastly improved by a good editing session to alleviate some noticeable grammar and structure woes………………….

 

WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK – I would like to know more about what the Nins look like and so forth…………………………….well, for being a race of non-questiong, non feeling mechanical things…I never got the impression that the the main character was like that.  I was forced to choose between the narator and the actions of th character–and not just gradually, as the story went on.  right off the bat–our main man wondered what fear was, and how it smelled.  he thought about death.  even as the narrator told me that he wasn’t thinking about it, becuase “clankies” didnt feel………….………The opening paragraph is worded awkwardly (mixing tenses, ie. “covering”), which isn’t the best of ways to start a story. Carefully with the improper em dash (your double hyphen). Consider dropping the “s” on “the forgeds” – it can imply plural as “the forged”, unless of course you are wanting people to read it as for-jed-zz. The story suffers from a number of grammar errors and general sentence structure flaws which make it hard for a reader to develop a good flow and stay immersed inside the story……

 

Nice feedback, actually. And it seems I still need to work on:

* visual description

* clarity

* long sentences

 

I never considered the story to be about “discovering feelings”. More about “discovering free will”. Ah, well. I’ll put that under “clarity” and work on it.

 

To whoever commented on my grammar, though: Double-dashing for em-dashing … really? That’s something you felt a need to mention? And, yes, for-jed-zz is the correct pronunciation, as indicated by the é in “forgéds”.

 

-David

 

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.

 

-David