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!]:
Friday, September 30, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Value of Ideas
A question that's frequently posed by non-writers to writers is "Where do you get your ideas?" It's such a common question that some authors have taken to giving obviously-sarcastic answers.
I can understand where the question comes from, though. During my past writing hiatuses I haven't been inundated with story ideas and just thought "Nah, I'm not going to do anything with that." During those times, I'm not consciously aware of many, if any, story ideas. So for those who don't write, I would expect that the same would apply. They never have that "Oh!" moment where a writer starts thinking "Hey, I could do something with this idea." And it's not because they aren't creative or aren't smart or anything like that. It's because they aren't thinking in the mindset of a writer.
I can understand where the question comes from, though. During my past writing hiatuses I haven't been inundated with story ideas and just thought "Nah, I'm not going to do anything with that." During those times, I'm not consciously aware of many, if any, story ideas. So for those who don't write, I would expect that the same would apply. They never have that "Oh!" moment where a writer starts thinking "Hey, I could do something with this idea." And it's not because they aren't creative or aren't smart or anything like that. It's because they aren't thinking in the mindset of a writer.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday Links: September 25, 2011 Edition
Summer has officially given way to Fall. The next time I put up one of these weekly link roundups it will be October! Among other things, this means that NaNoWriMo is just a little bit over a month away. I'm planning to participate this year. Any readers who are also participating this year and would like to be "Writing Buddies" on the NaNo site, let me know in the comments below.
This week in the blog world has been busy, especially with the extremely challenging 2nd challenge in Rachael Harrie's Platform-Building Writers' Campaign. If you read mine ("My Name is Imago Montoya...") and enjoyed it, I'd truly appreciate you voting for it by clicking here and "liking" entry #42. That's also where you'd go to see the complete list of entries -- there are some great ones out there, so it's worth a browse.
With that little bit of BSP out of the way, I hope you'll follow me past the jump to this week's links!
This week in the blog world has been busy, especially with the extremely challenging 2nd challenge in Rachael Harrie's Platform-Building Writers' Campaign. If you read mine ("My Name is Imago Montoya...") and enjoyed it, I'd truly appreciate you voting for it by clicking here and "liking" entry #42. That's also where you'd go to see the complete list of entries -- there are some great ones out there, so it's worth a browse.
With that little bit of BSP out of the way, I hope you'll follow me past the jump to this week's links!
Friday, September 23, 2011
#FridayReads - What I'm Reading
I'm reading several things that I'm really liking right now, so this seemed like a great time to do a #fridayreads blog post. Before I get to the titles, yes, I'm one of those people who reads multiple books at the same time. (Oh, not at the same-same time. You know what I mean... I don't finish one before I start another.) I have been for as long as I can remember. When our house isn't in the middle of major renovations, there's usually a gigantic stack of to-be-reads and just-finished-readings and being-reads and started-but-didn't-finishes sitting on a nightstand by our bed.
That brings up another point.
That brings up another point.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
"My Name is Imago Montoya..." (2nd WriteCampaign Challenge)
Rachel Harrie's Writer's Platform-Building Campaign is now onto its second challenge. This one was a doozy! In 200 words or fewer, include four -- shall we say, uncommon? -- words. Oh, and if you can throw in a reference to a mirror all the better.
If you like this, please consider going to the Linky List and voting for me. To my great delight, I am #42 in the list.
Without further ado...
The twins shriek through, chasing each other with plastic swords, dollhouse mirrors as shields, misquoting The Princess Bride.
No one’s killed me. I’m sitting right here, trying to write. You couldn’t tell from my progress. A miasma of doubt and frustration fills my brain.
Cindy comes in, fresh from the shower. An oversized Lacuna Coil tee hangs to her knees. Was there really a time we got to go to concerts? Her fingers flutter over my shoulders. “Getting anywhere?”
My sigh answers her. I’m getting nowhere on this sequel to my first novel, Synchronicity Blues.
“Prepare to die!” one girl shouts from another room. Cindy leaves to settle them.
I review my last few paragraphs. My heroine yawns three times in them. Thesaurus time! Gape, gawp, … oscitate? No. Maybe just better to rewrite, so I delete the troublesome text. Keep those eyes off the wordcount!
The girls dart in, Cindy following with an “I tried” shrug.
“Tell us a story, Daddy!”
I spin a tale of heroic princesses and treacherous dragons. Their rapt attention reminds me why I love storytelling.
My excitement must show. Cindy herds them off to bed. “Looks like dad’s ready to get back to work!”
If you like this, please consider going to the Linky List and voting for me. To my great delight, I am #42 in the list.
Without further ado...
"My Name is Imago Montoya"
The twins shriek through, chasing each other with plastic swords, dollhouse mirrors as shields, misquoting The Princess Bride.
No one’s killed me. I’m sitting right here, trying to write. You couldn’t tell from my progress. A miasma of doubt and frustration fills my brain.
Cindy comes in, fresh from the shower. An oversized Lacuna Coil tee hangs to her knees. Was there really a time we got to go to concerts? Her fingers flutter over my shoulders. “Getting anywhere?”
My sigh answers her. I’m getting nowhere on this sequel to my first novel, Synchronicity Blues.
“Prepare to die!” one girl shouts from another room. Cindy leaves to settle them.
I review my last few paragraphs. My heroine yawns three times in them. Thesaurus time! Gape, gawp, … oscitate? No. Maybe just better to rewrite, so I delete the troublesome text. Keep those eyes off the wordcount!
The girls dart in, Cindy following with an “I tried” shrug.
“Tell us a story, Daddy!”
I spin a tale of heroic princesses and treacherous dragons. Their rapt attention reminds me why I love storytelling.
My excitement must show. Cindy herds them off to bed. “Looks like dad’s ready to get back to work!”
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
One Size Doesn't Fit All
There's a lot of writing advice out there. If you add up all of the blogs with tips on writing, editing, querying, ePublishing, and more I'm sure there's enough every day to fill a good-sized book. It can get overwhelming trying to make your way through all of the information. You're wanting to tell your story, and you've got dozens of "Do"s and "Don't"s floating through your head, crowding out your characters, plot, and dialogue. What's more, you can easily find one person touting an approach that worked for them and another suggesting that writers should do the exact opposite.
There's a simple explanation for this. Not every tip is going to work for every writer. In fact, I'd go so far as to say for every writing suggestion, there's at least one writer that it just won't work for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)