Dissecting the Short Story: "Memories of My Mother" by Ken Liu

As discussed recently, this is the first post in the reboot of my Dissecting the Short Story series. Remember that I won't be shy about including spoiler material in this analysis, so if you haven't read this story it might be worth your time to read it first before reading the bulk of this post.

Story:
"Memories of My Mother" by Ken Liu
Published in:
March 19th, Daily Science Fiction
Approximate Length:
1000 words
Presentation:
First Person, Chronological, Mixed Past and Present Tense
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Sunday Links & The Week in #storyeachnight: April 15, 2012 Edition

The first link I want to draw everyone's attention to is Ken Liu's short story "Memories of My Mother." This will be the subject of April's Dissecting the Short Story post, which will appear on 4/26 or 4/30. So, if you want to be able to join in the discussion around this story, you could go ahead and read it now to be ready for that.

I've finally gotten back into the groove of regularly doing #storyeachnight. Here are this week's entries:

4/8 - "Amor Vincit Omnia" by K. J. Parker from THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, 2011 EDITION. Some rather fascinating worldbuilding in Parker's story, though not sure how I feel about the overall story arc.
4/9 -  "Older, Wiser, Time Traveler" by M. Bennardo from DAILY SCIENCE FICTION. I liked this story. Good voice and sense of where the story was going which, in a time travel story, can always be a bit tricky.
4/10 - "Final Exam" by Megan Arkenberg from the 6/12 ASIMOV'S. An interesting, very non-linear structure though I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a good bit shorter.
4/11 - "Waiting at the Altar" by Jack McDevitt from the 6/12 ASIMOV'S. Decent space exploration story though I enjoyed his recent "Maiden Voyage" (which featured the same characters) more. ("Maiden Voyage" was the subject of my January 6th "Dissecting the Short Story" entry.)
4/12 -  "Lethal Injection" by Kevin Levites from NOIR NATION #1. Seems like a lot of snake research went into this one. It had a very authentic feel.
4/13 - "The Green Book" by Amal El-Mohtar from THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2011. A great, rather short, story about an enchanted book and people who have interacted with it.

4/14 - "A Brief Respite From Eternity" by Alex Shvartsman from STUPEFYING STORIES 1.5. A nice flash fiction which worked for me even though it deals with a particular subject area I'm getting a bit weary of.

Now, here are this week's writing-related links:

Dissecting the Short Story Update & "Lucky 7" Novel Excerpt

OK, so barring a last minute surge of votes for one of the other two stories, it looks like Ken Liu's "Memories of My Mother" will be April's Dissecting the Short Story entry. I'm planning to have that post up either 4/26 or 4/30. Thanks to those who participated in the voting. I'm hoping that having the story be readily available for others to read along will help generate some discussion.

The other piece of business today is following up on a blogfest tag, Fellow writer Rance Denton tagged me in the Lucky 7 blogfest. I'm not going to tag other writers, but will play along with the game otherwise. I'm supposed to "Go to page 7 or 77 of your current work-in-progress, go down to the 7th line, and post on your blog the next (approximately) seven lines!"

Current work-in-progress could be any one of a number of things. But the only one with a page 77 would be my NaNoWriMo project "Adrift." Since any excuse to bring that back towards the front of my mind momentarily is a good one, I'll go with this excerpt from page 77 of the first draft of "Adrift."

"Julia sat up. She was outside, in the same place that she had been two times before. But when was she? The only way to find out was to get up and head towards the road and the town she had found before.

She stood and began to walk, heading in the direction that she remembered going before. A compass would help, she realized. Add that to the list of things that she would need to hang onto as she went to sleep if she was going to do this again.

The thought momentarily struck her that it was amazing that she could simply accept this now. One moment she was in her home, in 2012. Another moment, she was somewhere else and probably somewhen else as well. And yet she completely accepted it. There was no doubt in her mind that this was reality, no matter how impossible it might seem."

Dissecting the Short Story Voting Has Begun!

I've listed the three choices for April's "Dissecting the Short Story" feature. They are:

• "Nightfall in the Scent Garden" by Claire Humphrey from STRANGE HORIZONS
• "Memories of My Mother" by Ken Liu from DAILY SCIENCE FICTION
• "The Day They Came" by Kali Wallace from LIGHTSPEED.

Voting will be open through April 12th. The resulting analysis of the selected story will be posted in late-April.

While we're on the topic of Dissecting the Short Story, here's a neat little fact: P. N. Elrod's short story "Beach Girl" which was the subject of my fourth Dissecting the Short Story entry won the 2011 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Award. Well done, P. N.!

Dissecting the Short Story Returns & #writemotivation Goals Status

Last month I ran a pair of surveys to see which genre magazines and major pro-rate on-line venues were read frequently by people visiting my blog. The results are further down the page. A total of 12 votes for print magazines came in from 17 voters, or approximately 2/3rds of a print venue per voter. A total of 22 votes for online magazines came in from 15 voters, or approximately 1 1/2 online venues per voter. (There were two more options in the online poll, which presumably accounts for a bit of that skew.)

The point of these surveys was to see what publications might be best for a revival of the Dissecting the Short Story series. I've determined that doing story dissections for mystery fiction just isn't in the "sweet spot" of my readership and that looking to utilize online publications, particularly ones where a story is available to be read on-line for free or a very small cost, is probably the best approach.

Here's my plan:

• Within the next week or so I'll identify three stories which meet the criteria I described above (In an online publication, available to read free/cheaply, from a pro-rate market) and create a poll on my blog so people can vote on the three choices. The three stories will also all be ones which have been published very recently.
• Voting will be open through the end of the month.
• In early April, I'll publish the dissection of the selected story and also set up a new list of three choices.
• I plan to try this for two or three months and see if it increases the level of discussion around the stories. From there, I'll determine whether I'll continue the series or put it back on hiatus.

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine	1 (5%)
Analog	2 (11%)
Asimov's Science Fiction	4 (23%)
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine	1 (5%)
Fantasy & Science Fiction	3 (17%)
Interzone	1 (5%)
None of the Above	11 (64%)

Total Voters: 17

Apex Magazine	2 (13%)
Clarkesworld	5 (33%)
Daily Science Fiction	5 (33%)
Flash Fiction Online	1 (6%)
Lightspeed/Fantasy Magazine	4 (26%)
InterGalactic Medicine Show	1 (6%)
Redstone Science Fiction	1 (6%)
Strange Horizons	3 (20%)
None of the Above	7 (46%)

Total Voters: 15

The other order of business today is my weekly #writemotivation update. Just like in January, those of us in the #writemotivation activity are posting statuses for our March goals every Monday. Here's my current status (past the jump)

Dissecting the Short Story: "Observations on a Clock" by D. Thomas Minton

As mentioned on Wednesday, this will be the final post for now in my Dissecting the Short Story series. Remember that I won't be shy about including spoiler material in this analysis, so if you have a copy of this magazine, it might be worth your time to read it first before reading the bulk of this post.

Story:
"Observations on a Clock" by D. Thomas Minton
Published in:
February, 2012 Asimov's Science Ficton
Approximate Length:
2200 words
Presentation:
Third Person, Chronological
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Dissecting the Short Story Preview and Update

First, the update. The Dissecting the Short Story feature will be going away temporarily starting in February.

I'm planning on making some other tweaks to my blogging routine starting in February, but since I was already going to be talking about Dissecting the Short Story today, I figured now was as good a time as any to make this particular announcement.

I'm not sure yet if the removal of Dissecting the Short Story from the routine will be a temporary or permanent change. Another possibility is that I may bring it back later, but in a different form. If you're interested in providing any feedback on the feature, feel free to do so, as I had always hoped it would be a bit more interactive than it has been. Thoughts on how to improve it would be welcome.

Friday I'll write about "Observations on a Clock" by D. Thomas Minton. It's in the February 2012 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, if you're interested in reading it in advance of the discussion on Friday.

Dissecting the Short Story: "Maiden Voyage" by Jack McDevitt

It's been a while, hasn't it? With the Christmas weekend hiatus, I haven't run a post from my Dissecting the Short Story series in nearly a month. For anyone new to the series, the goal here is to look at a story which was sold to a pro-rate fiction market, generally one of the large digest magazines, and see what we -- as writers -- can learn from it.

As always, I won't be shy about including spoiler material in this analysis, so if you have a copy of this magazine and would be planning to read this story, it might be worth your time to read it first before reading the bulk of this post.

Story:
"Maiden Voyage" by Jack McDevitt
Published in:
January, 2012 Asimov's Science Ficton
Approximate Length:
words
Presentation:
Third Person, Chronological
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Dissecting the Short Story: "Calculus for Blondes" by John H. Dirckx

This week's entry in my Dissecting the Short Story series is, unless I'm mistaken, the first I've covered from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. As with all entries in this series, my intention here is to look at a story which was sold to a pro-rate fiction market, generally one of the large digest magazines, and see what we -- as writers -- can learn from it.

As always, I won't be shy about including spoiler material in this analysis, so if you have a copy of this magazine, it might be worth your time to read it first.

Story:
"Calculus for Blondes" by John H. Dirckx
Published in:
January/February, 2012 Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
Approximate Length:
3200 words
Presentation:
Third Person with Multiple POV Characters, Chronological
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Dissecting the Short Story: "God Bless" by Barbara Westwood Diehl

Welcome to the new installment of my Dissecting the Short Story series. This week's entry is a timely one, being for a story set around the holiday season. As with all entries in this series, my intention here is to look at a story which was sold to a pro-rate fiction market, generally one of the large digest magazines, and see what we -- as writers -- can learn from it.

I thought this was a fantastic story and one which went in directions I would not have expected before reading it. If you have a copy of this magazine, it might be worth your time to read this one before reading my notes below.

Story:
"God Bless" by Barbara Westwood Diehl
Published in:
January, 2012 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Approximate Length:
2500 words
Presentation:
Third Person, Chronological (Well, pretty much...)
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Thanksgiving Week "Dissecting the Short Story" Preview

We've been very busy with Thanksgiving prep today along with other things, so I'm going to keep this really brief (and just get it in under the wire for Wednesday, to boot).

This week's "Dissecting the Short Story" entry will be for the story "God Bless" by Barbara Westwood Diehl from the January 2012 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. If you have the issue and would like to read along, now is the time.

On the NaNoWriMo front, I'm up to nearly 44,000 words and I did manage to get my 500-word minimum in for the day and for my Seinfeld Chain.

For those celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday I hope that it is a wonderful and safe day.

Carrie Cuinn Interview

Not that this is really "news", but one of the great things about the internet is the way it allows people to come together and communicate quickly and easily. Earlier this year, after posting the first in my "Dissecting the Short Story" series, I contacted Dave Zeltserman and asked if he would be interested in talking about the story and my thoughts on it. He agreed to do so and my interview with him appeared on the blog shortly after the original post on the story.

This time it's Carrie Cuinn who has agreed to discuss her story, my thoughts on it, and the writing life in general. I greatly appreciate her taking the time to discuss this, as I know she's very busy with both her own writing and her work as a small-press publisher.

Michael Haynes: You've already talked a bit about how the general idea for "Call Center Blues" came to you in your author notes published on the Daily Science Fiction site. As far as the specifics, was the story essentially fully formed in your mind before you started writing it or did you start with the basic idea and see where it took you?

Dissecting the Short Story: "Call Center Blues" by Carrie Cuinn

Welcome to the new installment of my Dissecting the Short Story series where every other Friday I look at a recently-published short story from a major genre fiction publication. This time, I'm doing something a little different. The story being examined this week is one published by Daily Science Fiction, a pro-rate publication whose stories are all made available to read on-line for free.

Story:
"Call Center Blues" by Carrie Cuinn
Published in:
November 2nd, 2011 Daily Science Fiction
Approximate Length:
900 words
Presentation:
First Person, Chronological
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

"Dissecting the Short Story" Preview

This is a "Dissecting the Short Story" week. Friday I'll be posting my newest entry in that series, and it will be for a story which is available to read free online. Daily Science Fiction is an on-line venture which -- as the name suggests -- publishes a new science fiction short story every weekday. They pay professional rates (and then some) and have recently been certified by SFWA as a pro market.

This week's short story dissection will be for "Call Center Blues" by Carrie Cuinn. You can click that link to read her story. On the DSF website, make sure to click the "Display Entire Story" button to see the end of the story.

If using a pro-market story which is available to read free on-line leads to more discussion, I'll probably continue to work stories like this into the mix, while still doing stories from the pro digest magazines as well.

Dissecting the Short Story: "The Gap" by Mikal Trimm

Welcome to the new installment of my Dissecting the Short Story series where every other Friday I look at a recently-published short story from a major genre fiction publication.

Story:
"The Gap" by Mikal Trimm
Published in:
December 2011 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Approximate Length:
2500 words
Presentation:
Third Person, Chronological
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Dissecting the Short Story: "Turning It Off" by Susan Forest

This is the fifth entry in my Dissecting the Short Story series. If you're not familiar with the series, every other Friday I examine a short story from a recent major fiction digest magazine to see what we can learn about how the author approached creating the story.

Story:
"Turning it Off" by Susan Forest
Published in:
December 2011 Analog
Approximate Length:
4000 words
Presentation:
Third Person, Chronological
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

Poll Wrap-Up and Dissecting the Short Story Preview

Last week, I ran a poll to see what features people might enjoy me adding to my blog over time. There weren't any runaway favorites. The most votes went to Flash Fiction entries (50%) with Contests, "Posts Highlighting Upcoming Contests and/or New Markets", and "Bringing an eBook To Market, Start to Finish" each getting 37%. (People could vote for more than one choice.) The only choice to get no interest at all was more frequent link roundups.

As I mentioned in the post introducing the poll, I'm mostly looking at working some new types of content in once December rolls around. The rest of October is going to be pretty busy with prepping for NaNoWriMo and then, of course, November is NaNoWriMo itself. I suspect the first thing I'll do once December rolls around is look at doing a periodic Flash Fiction posting, possibly on the Fridays alternate to the Dissecting the Short Story Fridays.

Speaking of Dissecting the Short Story Fridays... This week is one of them! This week's story comes from the December, 2011 issue of Analog Science Fiction. It is Susan Forest's "Turning it Off." If you have a copy of this magazine and want to read up on the story before Friday's posting, now's your chance!

Thanks again for the feedback both via the poll and comments on the post introducing the poll. See you all Friday!

Dissecting the Short Story: "Beach Girl" by P. N. Elrod

This is the fourth in a series of posts (introduced here) which will appear every other Friday on my blog. In this series, a short story from a recent major fiction digest magazine will be analyzed in detail, to see what we can learn about how the author approached creating the story.

Story:
"Beach Girl" by P. N. Elrod
Published in:
November 2011 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Approximate Length:
5500 words
Presentation:
Third Person, Large Chunks in Flashback
Summary [WARNING: Spoilers Included!]:

DtSS Preview, Blog Award, September/October Goals

Every other Wednesday I announce the story which I'll be analyzing in the upcoming Friday "Dissecting the Short Story." This week's entry will be on P. N. Elrod's story "Beach Girl" from the November, 2011 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. If you have a copy of that magazine and would like to "read along" with me, now would be the time!

If you're not familiar with the "Dissecting the Short Story" series, what it consists of is a detailed analysis of the story, focusing on a variety of issues such as characterization, plotting, and word choice. All of the stories for this series are selected from major digest magazines. The ultimate goal is to be able to take the knowledge gained from examining the story to help better understand what makes stories which receive publication in the major digest magazines work for editors and readers.

Sunday Links: September 18, 2011 Edition

Time to revisit the past week. It's seen me dive into writing a novel in addition to continuing work on my short fiction. The upcoming week has me a bit concerned. I'm on a good roll with my Seinfeld Chain (up to 17 days as of last night) but the next five days I'm going to be in training for my day job nearly 12 hours a day when you include transit time. Will I end up using a Mulligan? I hope not.

I came across some great blog posts around the internet this week, and I'm happy to present them past the jump. I hope everyone had a good week and has a great week this coming week.