WRITING STUFF:

Are you an Honorable Recipient of Freedom?

I know it's not a holiday - but I was taken with the writing and the sentiments of this article published in the newsletter of a veteran's group.

My brother is a disabled Viet Nam veteran - yesterday was his birthday, and he gave me a present! He wrote this article for South West Arizona Stand Down, a veteran's group in which he volunteers. He wrote this in response to some folks in his town who were saying unpleasant things about a homeless person.

Are you an Honorable Recipient of Freedom?

by William J. Thornton

In America, on any given night there are as many as 275,000 American Military veterans without a place to sleep. Nearly all have Honorable Discharges from Military Service to our country defending our freedoms. 23 to 40% of all the homeless persons in America are veterans of military service. Nearly 500,000 veterans experience homelessness every year. Many are veterans of the War on Terrorism. You’ve seen them here in town.

They are the few, the proud, the soldiers, sailors and airmen that suffer from flashbacks and nightmares from their war experiences. Others are crippled, disfigured and helpless. None will ever be well again. Many will never get better.

What’s the government doing about all this? Our current administration has tried to cut their benefits, deny them mental health care, and can only provide beds for about 10% of the veterans sleeping on our streets.

Would you appreciate it if a complete stranger were willing to listen to your concerns without being judgmental? How would it feel if your life were a mess, and someone you don’t even know offered to help? Ever been hungry and wished you had a simple meal? Ever seen someone on the street in filthy rags, and wondered how it would feel if you could hand them fresh clean clothes, then point them toward a shower? Would it matter if he’d saved your son’s life in combat?

Could you spare ten minutes of your time once a year to listen to a veteran who had fought for your own freedoms? Would you be big enough to serve that veteran a meal?
Could you be appreciative enough to shake that veteran’s hand? Could you smile into his empty eyes?

The men and women who earned your freedoms appreciate these small gestures.

If you don’t care about the men and women who fought for your freedom, just stop reading this letter and throw it away.

This isn’t a government issue. It’s a local community issue. These veterans live in your town, on your streets and in your doorways. They dive in your dumpsters, and beg for your change. They exist in the midst of folks living the American Dream, like you. They are ignored, shunned and cursed as lazy, worthless and shiftless. “They’re filthy, no-good bums.” ‘They expect something for nothing”. We hear this everyday from people who take their freedoms for granted.

We’ll go to the Veteran’s Day Parade and wave a flag on the curb. We’ll wear red, white and blue. We’ll eat hot dogs on the Fourth of July, and drink beer. Then we’ll forget those who gave so much that we could enjoy these freedoms.

Just once, see if you have what it takes inside to be an Honorable Recipient of Freedom.

Look into the face of a veteran, if you dare. Try to convince him that what he’s done really means something to you, personally. War gets pretty personal when you’re out there in it. Can you return the favor, or do you just take it for granted that you deserve these sacrifices?

Just once, make a difference in the life of one veteran. Just tell a veteran, any veteran, “Welcome home”… and really mean it. Shake his or her hand. Dare to show them you appreciate their sacrifices.

Show respect for those who earned your liberties.

Be an Honorable Recipient of Freedom.

I am a 100% disabled Vietnam Veteran. I remember 9/11. I’ve stood before the awesome spectacle of Rolling Thunder at Arlington, and I cried at Veterans Memorial Park in Washington, DC. I led the Pledge of Allegiance at George Washington’s Tomb and I fell to my knees at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. If a simple veteran can do this much in appreciation for his brothers and sisters, why can’t you?

Today, I serve my fellow veterans in any way I can, because I can. Because it’s right.

What have you done for a veteran today?

---William J. Thornton

South West Arizona Stand Down is a non-profit Association serving veterans of Yuma, LaPaz and Mohave Counties, Arizona, and may be contacted at (928) 503-0552 southwestarizonastanddown@yahoo.com

My brother - he's a good brother and a good writer, too. I'm very proud of him.

(If you wish to reprint this, you may as long as you reprint it in its entirety and give the author his credit.)

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Well, obviously, my brother is top o' the list today. Actually, today he's all Three Beautiful Things rolled into one... happy birthday, Bill!

THE DAY JOB:

WORKING ON THE DORK SIDE

Back when I first started working in the Defense Realm - not my Army Days, mind you, which I have always viewed as just something you give back for all the other opportunities you have in this country - but when I started working in the Defense Contractor World, it was a strange and wonderful place.

My first jobs were at Lockheed and Hughes, two of the biggest contractors of that time. I was a junior security rep on several interesting programs, but mostly I was the kid who made up charts, did briefings to the cleared folks about not committing crimes or getting into debt or otherwise making themselves vulnerable to blackmail, and helped everyone with their voluminous and complicated security clearance forms. I met lots of interesting people and got to see some truly spectacular things.

Once, outside the Lockheed buildings in Burbank, a bunch of us looked up into the sky to see a missile launch failure of some sort out of Vandenberg turning the sky a thousand different colors. Another time, I got to see the Chairman of the Senate Joint Services Committee when he came for a meeting and I was badging visitors.

I had previously worked in libraries and for financial institutions, so this was a new and fascinating world. I really liked it, and was pleased that it paid so much more than what I was used to making. I had bounced around various jobs before, but I knew I would make this my career.

And for nearly twenty years I did. I still bounced from job to job, but this time it was because contracts come and go and in the contractor world, you follow the work. Also, companies merge, split, swallow up other companies and change their names. During one job that lasted a good nine and a half years, I worked for four different companies from the same desk. The next position - in the building next door - sent me to four locations for the same company, which changed its name three times during my three years with them. I even spent three years at a manufacturing company which had a government contract.

But it is coming to an end. The Dork Side - the Defense Contractor World - has changed dramatically since 9/11. Heck, it changed dramatically after the Wall came down and the Soviet Union broke up, too. But this is different. My world is darker, scarier.

My physical limitations are making it difficult for me to continue working in this field. I gave up being a soldier with some reluctance, but no regrets. I guess I'm going to have to give up the Dork Side as well.

The good news: I will be writing more, taking better care of my health, and having a healthier and more positive view of the world.

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

The red Eames DCW - Dining Chair Wood - in the living room. It's a vintage beauty.

My friends Nancy & Joan at dinner at the house. My Dear Husband pulling up photos on the MAC and everyone talking. The warm summer evening.

Running into old and new friends at the vintage furniture store.

WRITING STUFF: GENRE DOESN'T MATTER; STORY MATTERS

TELLING THE STORY

It's good to know grammar. It's good to have a wonderful vocabulary, use it properly, and know when to be concise and when to throw it all up in the air at one time. It's good to listen to your teachers: Strunk & White, Roget, Oxford English.

But nothing beats telling the story, except telling it well.

Miss Snark - bless her pointy stilettos - used to say "Good writing trumps all." She was right about this just as she was gloriously right about a lot of other things. But she made it clear that the good writing needed something to tell.

This post is really aimed at fiction, although there may be a good morsel or two for the non-fic writer as well. But this story is about stories.

I have recently read two very good stories: A Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. The first one, a woman's story of widowhood and getting through the days immediately after her husband's death, is slow-going at first, but pulls you into her changing life a piece at a time until her story is told. The second, a story-within-a-story of a biographer and her unusual subject, sucks you into the dual plot immediately and just doesn't let go.

Both stories had the requisite beginning-middle-end, but there's more to good storytelling than the mechanics. Don't get me wrong - the mechanics are vital. I don't care how great your story is, if you can't spell or don't have at least a rudimentary grasp of grammar, I'm not going to read it. If you distract me with inaccuracies, or take me out of the story with intrusions, I'm not going to read it. If your writing is sloppy, your story isn't going to be neat and I won't read it.

But the story is the key and central part of a work of fiction.

Lots of people think they can write a book when they don't know anything about telling a story. These are the same folks who will look at your book and remark vaguely, "Yeah, I could write a book too, if I had the time…" implying both that your achievement is pretty ordinary and you have way too much free time on your hands.

No. They couldn't. What they are really saying is, "I could write a book, if I had a story worth telling and knew how to tell it in an interesting way. But I don't."

When your novel starts edging up to that hundred gazillion word count, check to see where your story is - did it get buried in the details? Is it squished flat under your heavyweight characters? Could you take your main story - your primary plot line - and tell it to me in one page? You know, like you will have to eventually do in a query letter?

Could it make a wonderful and interesting short story?

Or is it just a chronicle of your character's doings, a slice of life with drippy edges…

Read it over - does it have an end? Stories need a logical, satisfying conclusion. Make sure your book gets put down with a smile or a sigh or a poignant gaze after all the words have been read.

Leave 'em full, but wanting the next one.

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

My new closet. My Dear Husband built it for me over the past weekend.

Mango sherbet. I wanted watermelon, but mango is what they had. It was terrific.

Susie Eaton, my framer, who has opened her own shop and looked happy to bursting at her own counter with her own work displayed, and dozens of orders lined up.

WRITING STUFF: LAST NIGHT IN L.A. - INDEPENDENCE IN LOS FELIZ


INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES

Last night I was on a book panel at the Los Feliz Public Library, just down the road from the Griffith Park Observatory and just up the street from Skylight Books, site of the former literary institution, Chatterton's, a raucous, beat, hip and oh-so-charming bookstore now long gone. But Skylight, now celebrating four years, is a wonderful bookstore, with many of the things that made the old Chatterton's attractive to me in my long-gone youth. Beloved independent bookstores, how I seek you out and spend as much time (not to mention money) as I can in your comfy nooks. Skylight hosted a book signing a couple of years ago in which I was a participant. It's one of my new Hillhurst landmarks. I won't miss Chatterton's anymore: I have Skylight.

INDEPENDENT LIBRARIANS

Cheers for PEARL YONEZAWA, the Library Manager of the Los Feliz Public Library. In an eclectic Los Angeles neighborhood which is also home to the local Public Television Station (KCET) and a myriad of fab little ethnic eateries, this library has expanded from a one-room building across the street to two rooms and finally the magnificent modern structure that it is today, serving a diverse and literate community.

Pearl booked us in for an evening of chat about LANDMARKED FOR MURDER and how to write short stories and where do we get ideas and how do we do research. All writerly stuff, and so much fun! Up in front were mystery writers Michael Mallory (who also moderated), Gayle Bartos-Pool, Jinx Beers, Darrell James, Pamela Samuels-Young, A. H. Ream and Susan Kosar Beery. And me, too.

And there was icy cold water and fruit salad (!) for everyone. Even though there was a heated local political thingy going on at the same time elsewhere (groups for and against the serving of liquor at the new restaurant at the Griffith Observatory) which took a few of our expected participants away, we still had nearly a full room. It was fun and lively and Pearl did things like reserve parking spaces for the participants.

INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS

The magnificent SARNO'S was once just around the corner on Vermont, a knock-your-socks-off Italian restaurant and bakery. Opened in 1946 by Umberto Sarno of Naples,.. Alberto, brother of Umberto, joined them in 1964, after years of voice studies in Italy, stood up one day to sing to the customers, and the coffee shop was turned into Sarno's Caffè dell'Opera. Alberto "served up Puccini nightly with the pasta, drawing a clientele that included Sophia Loren, Jimmy Durante, Gina Lollobrigida, Tony Bennett, Mario Lanza and—when he was in town—Alberto's friend, Luciano Pavarotti."* The pastry chef in 1960 was Antonio Neiviller - who in 1987 opened Il Capriccio on Vermont, just down the block. Sarno's closed in 2000 and is now the Vermont Restaurant. I will miss SARNO'S.

*quote from "In Los Feliz, Life Will Be a Little Less Sweet," by Beverly Beyette, Los Angeles Times Southern California Living; Part-E, Aug 1, 2000, pg. 1

INDEPENDENT PARTICIPANTS

Okay, there's always one in every crowd. Once last year at a similar book talk in a library auditorium in Burbank- a large one - it was raining and a lot of the people sitting before us had just dashed in for shelter. One guy sitting up front looked homeless: unkempt, scraggly beard, old Army jacket, plastic bags at his feet.

He asked a lot of interesting questions, though - and he turned out to be a famous screenwriter.

But last night the guy in the old Army jacket with the plastic bags at his feet turned out to be a Scientologist with a persistent interest in Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. Sigh.

Aside from him there was a great assortment of interesting people who nodded and smiled when we up on the stage mentioned our favorite authors.

Let's hear for the odd ones out - even if they don't want to talk about the stuff you want to hear. Even if they need a bath, a new focus or a new plastic bag for their notebooks, they're the ones I remember, the ones who will make a repeat appearance in a story someday.


THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

RICK'S BURRITOS in Pasadena. It's the home of the best taco burgers on the planet, but they're going to close down and move. Maybe they'll re-open. I have been reveling in their food for more than 30 years. They have been in business for 40 years. I had my last Rick's Taco Burger last night - hope it'll hold me until they get back up and running.

Rick's burrito - the famous "Spuderito"

ALL LIBRARIANS. How can they not be beautiful? They keep the world of books and information flowing, giving access to the world to everyone. Let's hear it for them all, and particularly Nancy Hoskins and Joan Schipper (two of my favorite private firm librarians) and for Pearl Yonezawa of the Los Angeles Public Library, Los Feliz Branch.

Loz Feliz Branch Library

APPLE PIE. It's what's for breakfast sometimes. There are three tiny apples on the Fuji tree this year. We transplanted it at the wrong time of year, but had no choice as the concrete went in and it had to be moved to its new permanent home. Not enough for pie this year, but next year should be glorious!

RECIPE ALERT!

EASTER BUN

It is a Beautiful Thing - thanks to all who were interested in this delicious Caribbean treat.

Here's a source online for purchasing a real Jamaican Easter Bun:
The 17th Street Market in Tucson, AZ

And if you want a whole panoply of Caribbean treats, hop on over to SAM'S CARIBBEAN ONLINE STORE - there's a whole assortment of EASTER BUNS in the BAKERY section!

Here's a recipe for those who are culinarily gifted:

(Compliments of COOKING CARIBBEAN STYLE)

Jamaican Easter bun

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ozs margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs honey
1/2 cup stout
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1 egg
4 Tbs raisins
4 Tbs Currants
1 Tbs mixed peel
2 Tspns mixed spices

Method:

Melt margarine,sugar, honey & stout on a Low flame, stirring.
Sift flour and baking powder and spices
Add beaten egg, fruit and cooled melted mixture.
Mix well.
Pour into a greased and lined 1lb tin and bake at 350 for approx. 45 minutes or until done.

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WRITING STUFF:

THE NOVEL APPROACH

I write mostly short stories - concise, complete, beginning-middle-end pieces with one or two plot points, one or two (or at the most three) main characters and maybe a satisfyingly twisty ending. I take a week or so to get one out, sometimes longer, sometimes much shorter. The "thought time" - the time I spend ruminating about an idea - can be much, much longer, years even. The end product is usually no more than a page or two for flashes, and not much more for the rest.

But I have been thinking about a novel. Yes, it's a big project. Yes, it makes putting together a precise if not precious little short story collection look easy, and yes, I must be out of my mind. But the idea is there, lurking in my head like a well-behaved child, quietly playing in a corner, smiling when I look directly at it.

I did start something, a first page of a mystery set in Connecticut, I think, with lost dogs and lost children and at least one spooky old house full of secrets and dread. I like my Main Character and I like the vacation premise, a nifty device which limits the amount of time that MC can hang around and get the meat of the story on the table. I like the setting as I myself have recently vacationed in that part of the world. I like lost people and lost stuff and old secrets and spooky houses.

But writing a novel is hard. Even the "thought time" is hard. I know I just want to tell a story, and when I tell the story in short form, I get to the point pretty quickly. But in a novel, I have all this room. It's like being a container gardener who enjoys the little pots of color and scent but is now thrust onto an acre and told to grow food. I *did* write that first page, it *is* intriguing (well, to me, anyway) and I really do want to push forward. But the landscape is daunting.

So maybe I need to do something I have never done before: outline. Outline the big story, and then fill in the smaller stories, maybe. Make character lists in which I describe them so they don't change hair color or family ties or gender mid-story. Sketch out locations, descriptions, where the tension is, where the body is. Okay, *who* the body is - and why they are now just worm-fodder.

But I am afraid to outline and then lose interest, because once I know the whole story, what's the point in telling it? Is this what all novelists face? Do they plod on anyway? Is it really more work, more trouble, more tedium than it's worth?

Maybe. Maybe I'm just really a short-story writer with a screwy idea. Maybe the novel form is more difficult than I imagined, harder than anyone who hasn't tried it knows. For all those folks who sneer and say, "Huh, I could've written this!" after reading a novel, I just want to publicly say, "Oh, yeah? Well, show me!"

Because it's hard. But it's not impossible. At least, I don't think so yet.


THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

My new Florence Knoll couch. Okay, not new - used. Very old in fact, and re-upholstered and really modern looking. Sort of a purpley color, little pointillism dots of red and blue. Very firm, and just the right height. Long enough to stretch out on for a nap, too.

The fireworks last night. We always pick up a chicken dinner and drive to a parking lot and watch the fireworks show put on by a local high school. It was really nice, complete with patriotic music and a local band playing, inexplicably, old Jefferson Airplane hits.

The "Easter Bun" our friend Greg gave us. He lives in the Cayman Islands and gets all kinds of cool Caribbean foods. The Easter Bun turned out to be a particularly delicious kind of fruit cake, perfect for slicing, toasting and slathering with butter. Ideal with cups of tea. What a treat!

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS
LIVING IN HAPPYSTAN

Well, it's time for me to list THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS at the beginning of my sporadic essay about writing instead of at the end. I realized yesterday that I am rich. No, I don't have a lot of money, but - here's the revelatory part - I have what I need to be happy. I read a New York Times article yesterday about "Richistan" - that foreign country where US folks go when they become wealthy, but don't necessarily gain any sense or wisdom with their dollars. I decided that I live in Happystan, a much better place.

I celebrated a birthday yesterday - not one of the great big milestones, but the sort that draws you up short and makes you wonder where all the years went.

Ten years ago, I thought that by now I would be winding down a successful career, in the last two years of satisfying work for that same company where I was working, with the prospect of retirement in sight. But things don't always work out the way you think. Shortly after that I was laid off from my job and bought a little house in a different town next to the one my husband had bought. They were too small for us both, but we joined the backyards and lived in both. It was an unusual but really great arrangement. I found work at a different company, and started to plan again. Being a homeowner was fun, but I missed living in Pasadena where I had spent 28 wonderful years.

Shortly after that, 9/11 happened. I retired from the Army and had a stroke. You just never know when that strong body will stop working. It made the other milestones pale in importance.

Okay, I pressed on and went back to work. Different company, closer to home. In 2005, I took a job that didn't work out and went through the trauma of a lawsuit in 2006. I had to sell my sweet little house.

But the real estate market had changed a lot - my husband and I found a beautiful mid-century modern house and sold our two little cottages to buy it. We lucked out - those little houses had really appreciated.

Now I had the house of my dreams, but no job. Then, just as my unemployment insurance ran out, I got a job offer. I am working in that job still, although the contract will be ending shortly and I'll once again be out of work on September 28th.

Or will I? Just when I got used to the idea - was looking forward to it, even - I got a lead on a wonderful job. Okay, it's a long drive, but I've driven that far before. I am definitely going to check it out, at any rate. I know they want someone sooner than I am available, but maybe I can help them recruit someone. I know lots of folks in my biz, after all.

Our beautiful house is almost paid for. We enjoy working on it and in October, it's going to be on the Pomona Heritage Home Tour - the only modern house on the tour this year!
I have to say, the house is certainly one of my BEAUTIFUL THINGS.

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday - my Dear Husband brought me a weird-looking plant which I love. It's a bromeliad, and he is always one of my BEAUTIFUL THINGS.

After a really nice phone call, a prestigious company sent me a great email along with an application and a list of their benefits. Getting job interest at my age - and in my physical condition - just made me grin the whole day. Maybe I'm not ready for the rocker yet.

Even if you can't dance, it's still great to be asked. That recruiter's email is certainly a BEAUTIFUL THING. I'm going to go talk to them in person as soon as I can. I think I'm all excited about my work again.

I look at it this way. I am living in Happystan. I have enough to stop working when this contract is over and spend more time writing and gardening and improving my health. (Physical therapy is difficult and time-consuming, but it sure makes a difference!) I am not rich - but I don't need much, either.

But Happystan's borders are not limited to retirement; I love the idea that my last job before retirement might be something I really love, something where I really fit in and where the work is right up my alley, unlike my present job. I don't need a gold watch, but I'd like a retirement lunch, again unlikely in my present contract job. Just the possibility of this has set me to daydreaming about making the long commute and wearing an access badge and working in a place where we all know the same acronyms.

So maybe I am rich. I have choices I never considered before. I have opportunities and offers and new horizons, as well as the security of my home and family and garden. I have almost enough to get by without working, but I love my work. I make time to write, and I love that, too.

Maybe this euphoria will wear off - maybe the job will fall through and my electric bill will shock me out of complacency. But I will still be living the good - and simple - life in Happystan.

WRITING STUFF: THE SHORT STORY WORKSHOP

Over the weekend, I attended the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles NO CRIME UNPUBLISHED Conference and co-hosted a short story workshop with writer Gary Philips.

It was fun, but we were strapped for time and only had an hour. An hour is not enough, so I want to not only hit the highlights of the workshop for you here, but also to expand on it a bit and give you some of the information I did not have time to impart to the live class.

The Craft of Writing: Short Stories

Okay, how long is a short story?
Here are the official lengths from the Short Mystery Fiction Society (the folks who award the Derringer prizes each year)

Flash Story Up to 500 words
Short-short Story 501 to 2000 words
Mid-length Short Story 2001 to 6000 words
Longer Short Story 6001 to 15,000 words


Bear in mind that every venue in which you wish to publish will have their own idea of what lengths they will accept.

What makes it different from a chapter of a novel?
A short story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It is limited to one main plot point and the cast of characters is of necessity short. It tells a complete story with a resolution or revelation of some sort at the end.

A written scene without these completing elements is a snapshot or vignette, not a short story.

You may certainly use characters, settings, chapters or scenes from your novel in a short story, but your short story must stand alone as a complete story all by itself. It must have an ending, even if you – or the reader! – do not agree with the denouement or ending.

What's more important, setting, plot or characters?
They are all important. But while you may have the luxury of exploring settings in great detail in a novel, using multiple plot twists and turns, and an array of characters right out of Cecil B. DeMille, in a short story you must narrow your focus. The shorter your story, the more important it is to write concisely and to keep the telling of your tale simple while retaining its color, premise, style and voice.

First person? Third person? Omniscient Narrator?
Whatever works for your story. I have read beautifully-written short stories comprised entirely of dialogue. Beware when using a narration technique that you do not just dump the story on the reader by telling, not showing. Even a very short story must be interesting enough to hold the reader's attention, to make the reader care about the story. I like the way first person makes the reader an immediate part of the story. But I like the way third person omniscient can make the reader privy to every secret, every action as it unfolds.

I want to write a short story. Where do I get ideas?
Good – let's try writing a short story. Ideas come from everywhere, but I find that themed contests and exercises ("Write a story based on this picture!" or "Write a story about sheep!" or "Write a story with a lemon, a goat and an alien princess in it!") can be very good jump-starters.

Other ideas can be a childhood incident or other real-life event. Remember you are writing a short story – a piece of fiction – not a memoir, so make sure you have that old beginning, middle and end.

One of the best exercises you can do if you want to write short stories is read them. Read in the genres in which you want to write - and the ones you don't. Read the masters: O. Henry, Saki, Sommerset Maugham, Edgar Allen Poe. Read Guy de Maupassant, Ambrose Bierce, Shirley Jackson.
Go here for some great classics

You will not only get ideas, you will get a feel for the short story form. You will also see how language has changed over the last hundred years or so.

Now read some contemporary shorts: Ed Hoch, Stephen King, Raymond Carver, (here's a link to one of his, "Vitamins" in Granta) Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Munro, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Michael Chabon, Annie Proulx, Lorrie Moore.

Look at the differences, but more importantly, look at what is the same. Look at the "bones" of the story, the structure as well as the sheer reader's delight of total immersion in a good story.

Now, try to write a short story of your own. Don't hesitate - start writing now. Write until you have all three elements (beginning, middle, end.)

Tinker with that first sentence until it makes you want to read more. This is your "hook" - hook those readers up front. Remember those classic stories?

Help! I wrote a story, but…
You knocked out 180,000 words? Okay, maybe your wrote something between 100 and 10,000 words. Well, congratulations on writing a story - now let's tighten it up. Every first draft of a story can use some improvement. Take your newly-finished work and put it away for a few days. Write something else in the meantime. Remember - there is no limit to what you can write.

Some time later, take it out and read it aloud. You'll probably find a few things you need to fix right away.

Here's how I tighten a story - I have been known to successfully reduce a rambling 2,000 word story to a succinct 500 word short-short - without losing the essence of the story. I go through it and take out all the -ly words first. Adverbs are not your friends. (Okay, maybe I leave in one or two. But what do they contribute to the story?) Next, I look at the dialogue tags - the "he said, she saids." Do they make sense? Are they monotonous? Too colorful? Confusing?

Next, I read for extraneous phrases which do not advance the story. They may be beautifully-written pieces of deathless prose, but if they do not advance the story, out they go.

Finally, I read for pacing and continuity. Does the story unfold smoothly and at the right pace? Does stuff happen in the right order? Did I forget a name, change a hair color by mistake, forget that it was night in one part and day in the other? Do I need to change a few sentences around to make them clearer, smoother, more readable? Do I need to ditch a sentence or two entirely? And why did I name the heroine Gypsophylla when Lisa is a better fit? (Yippee for find-and-replace!)

With any luck, skill & effort, your story is now a better one.

Marketing your finished work
I want to devote a whole day in the future to marketing short stories, so this is going to be very short:

1. Know your genre. Do you write mystery? Science fiction? Romance? Contemporary literary? I write mostly mystery and science fiction, but I firmly believe that if you can write, you can write anything you want to. Look at your story and figure out where it might belong. Chances are, it could fit into more than one category.

2. Research your markets. Know what they want. Every magazine, anthology or contest has submission guidelines. Read them carefully and give them what they want. If they say under 1000 words, don't send 1001. If they say snail mail only, get out those envelopes. If they say no vampires, robots, brunettes, or cats, don't send your epic space opera vampire story about the furry dark robot cats. Keep on looking for a market that fits - or revise your story to fit the market. Either way works.

3. Polish your story again. Give it one more read, made sure it looks great and is in the right format.

4. Submit. Go on, do it. And keep a record of your submissions. A simple Word or handwritten document giving title, market, date of submission and date/type of response is perfect. That way you don't miss a market or submit the same thing twice to the same market.

A note about cover letters.
Short stories are usually sent with a short cover letter (not a query letter, which is something else entirely.)

Cover letters usually say something like this:

Dear Editor,

Attached (or in the body of this email) please find my original 750 word short story, "Lost in the Woods."

I am an avid reader of your magazine, and have had work published in "Sewage Monthly," "Cat Lovers USA," and "Coal Digest" (or leave credits out if don't have any - it won't matter if you don't have any.)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Avid J. Reader
123 Writer Lane
New York, NY 10000
(212) 555-5555
avidjreader@wtf.com (Your name, address, phone number & email are important!)

Then you wait. But while you are waiting, write something else. Keep on doing that.

Where? Where do I submit?
Here are the links to 2 of my favorite online market guides.


Ralan's (look over on the far right for market listings)
Duotrope

There are others, of course. And if you post to any writers' forums (or fora for you linguistic purists) you will also find market info. Try these:

Absolute Write
The Mystery Writers' Forum

Okay - that's the Short Story Course for today - like I said, I'll cover marketing in more detail in the future (you can check the archives for a few more markets - and a lot more advice!)

***

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

The faces of everyone at the No Crime Unpublished Conference. Rochelle Krich, the keynote speaker brought me to tears. Sometimes that is a very sweet thing.

Two Barbara Karst bougainevilleas in my garden. Every week I see something new and wonderful.

No lines at the ladies' room at the conference. I really dislike waiting in line at a ladies' room when there is no line at the men's room. I have been known to dash into the men's in an emergency. There are more urgent needs for this as I get older…

WRITING STUFF: SHORT STORIES, or WRITING INSIDE THE LINES


SHORT STORIES
I write primarily in this form, anywhere from 100 words to 5,000 words (although I have written a 55-word mystery for Mr. Andreychuk's Bullet Points and a 23,000 word epic for Mr. Moriyama at Aphelion.) I am most comfortable in the 500-word flash category and the 2,000 standard short story realm.

Because I write mostly mystery and science fiction, I am constrained not only by the short story form, but also the conventions of my genres. Within these self-imposed structures, I prefer to create entertaining puzzles and character-driven stories. I don't usually write romantic fiction (although I have done so) or literary fiction (that too) but I think writing is writing and if you can master the craft, then you have a shot at creating the art.

So what is this Art and Craft business, anyway? Well, the Craft of Writing is something that can be taught and learned and everyone who calls themselves a writer or aspires to be a writer needs to learn the basics. These include grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation. Add to this skills in vocabulary and common usage. Mix in sentence and paragraph flow and pacing.

The Art comes in the story. You might have all the tools with which to re-write someone else's work, but nothing with which to craft an original piece of your own fiction. The Art is in the ideas.

You need both pieces to write fiction – you need the ideas and you need the means of executing these ideas into readable, sensible stories.

Short stories are not vignettes or snapshots or pieces of a larger work. They are self-contained works with a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning should hook the reader with that first sentence, and introduce both characters and conflict. The middle should develop both characters and story, while the ending should provide a satisfying conclusion to the preceding events. (This is not to say all loose ends are tied up, or that the reader agrees with the denouement, only that the writer has provided closure or the means to a conclusion for the reader.)

A short story is more than a heartfelt romp through the writer's disorderly psyche. It is an orderly display of the writer's ideas conveyed through a specific form. These ideas may be horrifying, grisly or perverted – or they may be tender, sweet or poignant. The ideas can be disorderly; the execution cannot.

NO CRIME UNPUBLISHED
This coming Sunday – June 10th – the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime is hosting their annual NO CRIME UNPUBLISHED Conference in Alhambra, CA. Details are here. If you are in the Southern CA area and want a day of murder, mayhem and solid publishing advice, check it out. I'll be co-hosting a Short Story workshop in the Craft of Writing Track with Gary Phillips. It doesn't get any better than that!

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

One of the puppies in the spa, wanting to jump in, but not knowing how deep it might be, gingerly standing on the top step, one foot raised out of the water.

A yellow Western Oriole at the bird feeder – first one I have ever seen.

A barbecued Tri-Tip Roast. My Dear Husband barbecued it according to his brother-in-law's recipe and it came out perfectly. I love these summer barbecue days!

WRITING STUFF: GOODBYE, MISS SNARK

I got back from my wonderful trip to the Hudson River Valley and Connecticut to find one of my favorite blogs, MISS SNARK, ended.

Miss Snark, a New York City literary agent, has been blogging for a couple of years, dispensing valuable information, extraordinary assistance and incredible wit and wisdom to the clueless. Her snarkisms have entered our vocabulary: Dear Dog! Rabbitania, the clue gun, nitwits, not to mention the delights of her poodle, Killer Yap, and Grandmother Snark's wisdom. Miss Snark's infatuation with George Clooney and gin in pails gave us hours of speculation and amusement.

The archives will stay up for a while and be an invaluable resource tool for all writers. Be sure to check them out. But Miss Snark's daily dose of urbane wit and stiletto-heeled advice will be sorely missed.

I have wondered idly who this funny and intelligent woman might be – the mystery of anonymity on the internet can be intriguing. It would be both wonderful and terrifying to have Miss Snark as your agent: wonderful because she only takes on projects she thinks she can sell and terrifying because her standards are high and her advice acerbic.

I know the net can burn you out. I am glad Miss Snark is taking a well-deserved rest. I just hope she comes back once in a while to jolt us out of our clueless states. I raise my glass to you, Miss Snark: thanks so much for all you have given.

But don't weep, writers. We still have EVIL EDITOR. He too is an anonymous literary professional who dispenses wit, wisdom and genuine laugh-out-loud funny. He invites writers to submit their query letters to be skewered, shredded and put back together. He also invites us all – his evil minions – to write "continuations" to other writers' first paragraphs, make delicious fun of their titles with his "Guess the Plot" and participate in writing exercises and contests designed to make you laugh until you cry. He has even produced books of these efforts, perfect stocking-stuffers for those writers on your list. (I confess to being a contributor.)

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Coming home. I had a great vacation, but what can beat coming home? The pets were so happy to see us.

The kangaroo paws out front grew three feet while I was gone and burst into bloom. They are yellow and orange-red and the shorter ones are a brilliant purple-red.

That dinner at the CIA. (The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Yes, I have eaten in the cafeteria at the *other* CIA, but that's a different thing altogether.) I had roast chicken with wild mushrooms at the American Bounty restaurant. My waiter, Paul, was nervous, but did well – his instructors were watching!

WRITING STUFF: RESEARCH IN EXOTIC PLACES

I live in California, in the Los Angeles/Orange County part. (No one calls it "The O.C." here – except a couple of news & traffic reporters from New York)

Now, there are many folks who think just living in the heartland of sun and fun, right next to the mean noir streets of L.A., with all that film history, the beaches, Disneyland, Hollywood, and other interesting stuff should count as a sort of permanent vacation. And for me it does in so many ways. I have a 1954 mid-century modern house with patios plural and a spa. We have fruit trees, with something always ready to pick (okay, mostly lemons.) It's the good life in spite of property taxes being more than a regular mortgage anywhere else.

So why would I want to go anywhere else to write?

Because somewhere other than your home – no matter where you live – is going to yield different thoughts, different adventures, different sights, sounds, smells and characters.

And I need a vacation. I haven't taken any time off work for a year (being terribly sick over Christmas doesn't count.) I need to have some time in an exotic locale, with a bunch of my rowdy-aesthete friends. I need to see and smell and hear odd things (well, odd to me, anyway.)

One year it was The Spiral Jetty and the Sun Tunnels with a trip to Wendover, Nevada.

One year it was Marfa and Big Bend National Park. Many times it has been Death Valley.

Once it has been Ferndale and the Redwoods. Twice it has been Italy (just me & the DH on these trips.)

This time it's the Hudson River Valley – just north of the 212 (New York City for those of you who haven't been introduced to the Divine Miss Snark.)

My rowdy-aesthete friends (bird watchers, photographers, architects, librarians, art critics all) and I are going to spend a week eating, sailing, touring gardens, castles, museums, architectural wonders and at least one hot cemetery. We're going to such fabulous places as the Village of Sleepy Hollow, Hyde Park and New Canaan, Connecticut. We're going to stay in lovely bed-and-breakfasts, except for the night in the modern conference center in Catskill. It's going to be such fun.

I am going to take notes. I think it's time to start a new story, and a creepy mystery set in Connecticut is percolating through the coffee grounds of my brain.

So next week I'll be on the road – well, on the river to be more precise. I'll be missing home after the second day, especially my little doggies and the 3 cats and the garden and the house. My amiable sister-in-law will be minding the place while we're gone, so I needn't worry, but I really do like being home as much as I like traveling and seeing the sights. I hope to get some writing time in, too. I'll take the laptop and see what happens.

What about you? Do you ever do "research" in exotic locales?

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

The back landscaping. It's been a long time, but it's almost done. So nice to look out the window and see order and plants instead of the rubbish that has been out there for a year.

A package arrived from my friend Nancy – she sent me 2 bird watching books. They are beautiful. I'll turn into a birdwatcher yet.

The indoors. It's cool and peaceful and quiet in the morning. This is a picture of Sunday morning. (Before the back landscaping – it looks *much* better out those windows now!)