After my disappointment with The Lovecraft Investigations, I thought it would be a good idea to write our own Lovecraft inspired work.
The Story Ark
Hey Y'all. This is a place for story lovers. Whether you create stories, or you just love to experience them, come join us as we write and talk about the tales which inspire us.
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
Sheldon@TaleTold
July 01, 2024
Flash Fiction
How are the WIPs going?
I think I'll take a break from my poem and focus on a flash fiction contest this week. I was struggling to find an idea, but I finally got started a little bit ago with a few opening lines. I think I can make the basic plot fit in under a thousand words. If not, I'll have to do some trimming.
- Do you write flash fiction?
- What are some of your favorite works of short prose?
- Do you plan to write something for the contest?
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Proof Copy of Post Mortem
A little, sneak-preview, if anyone's interested, in my novella. Still waiting for the cover as patiently as I can. (The artist isn't late or anything; I've been going crazy since I placed the order.)
- Are you publishing/self-publishing anything?
- Would you, maybe, want a copy of my story?
- Would anybody want to read my story?
00:01:30
קהלת | Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
So, I tried my hand at writing my own translation of one of my favorite passages in the Bible.
1 The words of the Preacher, son of David, King in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher. Vanity of vanities; the whole is vain.
3 What is left over for man in all his toil in which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation comes and a generation goes; but the earth remains forever.
5 And the sun rises, and the sun goes [down]; And to his place, there he strives to rise.
6 Going to the South, returning to the North—turning, turning, the wind goes; And over its turning, the wind returns.
7 All the rivers run into the sea, but the sea is not full.
[From] the place where the rivers run, there they return to run.
8 All these words are tiresome. Man cannot utter [it].
The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled by hearing.
9 That which is is that which will be, and that which is done is that which will be done; and there is nothing wholly new under the sun.
10 Where is...
Three Things Before I Go
How are the WIPs going?
A lot of my writing energy this last week has gone into preparing posts for my blog. I'm going on a vacation next week, and I want a break from everything. That being said, I don't think I'll stop writing anymore than I'll stop breathing. Maybe, somewhere between all the driving about, I'll get some time to work on my short story collection, maybe even finish that long poem I started.
The poem itself seems like it's coming to a head. I try to put in a little work on it every day; I'll add a few more verses here and there, or I'll work out a better rhyme somewhere. Eventually, I hope, I can finish it up and publish it, though it begins to feel like that will never happen.
Yesterday, I usually make it a rule not to write on Sunday, I had an idea for a play I jotted down. I'm not sure it makes any sense, but I've always wanted to do a sort of radio drama. Maybe I'll turn this into a short podcast for Halloween or something. Who knows?
Let me know how your WIPs are ...
Images
How are the WIPs going?
I just jotted down some notes for a story that has been haunting me since last winter. C. S. Lewis talks about how stories come from images.
"Everything began with images: a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord. it was part of the bubbling."
Well, I have one very vivid image that has haunted me, and one less vivid in its orbit; together, they make a very definite beginning and end. I have a sense, too, about how this story should flow, what directions, what choices, I will have to make; however, when shall I write it, or what shall I not write to write it? The limits of time upon me feel overwhelming, though that is what the story itself is in some sense about.
Here's the working of an opening sentence that, I hope, can express that haunting image:
"It was in the afternoon, the hour when the sun first whispers comforting secrets of...
First Draft and Other Updates
How are the WIPs going?
I finished a first draft for the Flash Fiction Contest. Going to polish it up over the next week or so and then turn it in. I'm still waiting for the book cover I ordered, but once it gets here, I'm going to have to focus on getting my novella ready for self-publishing.
I suppose it's time to put my focus back on the narrative poem I keep working on. Hopefully, I'll finish it one of these days.
- How many projects do you try to balance at a time?
- What are some of your favorite writing contests?
- What's one of your favorite things about your WIP?
My (Insane?) Plans
I saw an interesting question posed on twitter: Would you write an entire book series and not publish a single book until it's all done? Now, that is precisely what I've been doing, or, perhaps I should say, what I've been planning. Right now, I've somewhat given up on traditional publishing, partially as it seems like traditional publishers want me to do the marketing as well as the writing, and partially because it seems like most forms I fill out ask me how well I've self-published my own work so far.
So, I started to consider whether to self-publish the book I have written, and it seemed to me that since I had already organized it into three major sections, each about the length of a short novel, it would make sense to self-publish it in those organic pieces. As my original outline extended beyond this book, I figured I ought to finish writing to the end of my outline. That should make a fourth part. Furthermore, when I finished that outline, I jotted down a few notes for a continuation of the story. I've been working on a new outline, off and on (mostly off), and hope to finish it and add it to this possible series, thereby reaching a total of either five or six parts.
Now, why do I want to chop up my story like this? For one, I think these breaks in the story make sense. Also, one piece of advice I've heard about self-publishing is to keep a steady flow of work coming out. So, before I self-publish, I want have a ready well of titles to publish at regular intervals. My overarching plan is to, over the next two to three years, get ten titles ready, half or so consisting of this series and the other half based on a few short outlines I've jotted down here and there throughout the years. Then, take the leap and self-publish.
- Am I being stupid?
- Would you try something like this?
- Have you written any series?
Why Write
I was listening to a video talking about harnessing creativity. It didn't say much that hasn't been said before, but it did get me thinking about my own reasons for writing. It is, in a sense, a bit of a mystery: I can tell you I write because I want to tell stories and because I love books and language, but why do I want to tell stories? Why do I love books? Why do I find language such a captivating subject?
The question was, "What did the first frog say?" And the answer was, "Lord, how you made me jump!"
~Chesterton
The stories are just there. They pester me. They want time and thought and form, and it's my great joy in life to give it to them. A story appears and demands my attention, and it just so happens that that is what I love to do. I find no answer beyond my own actions; I simply do it.
Books, at least the written word, are my medium, and I can hardly put into words the way printed words make me feel. If I ever won the lottery, I would probably convert my whole house into a library. Here there is some explanation: Certain associations from childhood may have molded this love, but I can remember some fairly bitter experiences here as well as good, in fact some of my earliest encounters with books made me swear I'd never read anything ever again; it was only in my later childhood that I learned to love to read.
But just as the stories I tell come to me seemingly from out of the æther, and just as my love of those stories is something that merely is, so I find another love, an unexplainable delight in language itself. Every tidbit of etymology is my treasure, every quirk of grammar my delight. It is a struggle, the work can even become drudgery at times, and yet I can't escape.
I don't know why I write; I just know I do.
- Why do you write?
- When did you start writing?
- What was the first thing that made you say, "I'm going to be a writer"?
