Step By Step

For this week's writers roundtable, let's talk about step-by-step story creation when writing for a themed anthology.

For example, if I were your editor, and I asked you for a story about "insert topic or character here," what would be your process for coming up with a story? Would you begin with the character of the protagonist? Would you begin with a plot? Would you instead immerse yourself in research? What works for you, and why?

Gordon Dymowski: It depends on my familiarity with the topic/character - if it's one that I'm not as familiar with, I always try to immerse myself in research. (If it's a character, I try to read that character "in their natural habitat" - get a sense of *how* a story with that character works). As I'm researching, ideas usually begin floating, and once I begin getting them down on paper (real or virtual), a storyline begins to emerge....and then the *real* fun begins.

Marian Allen: Well, in all honesty, the first thing I would do is see if I already something written that would fit -- or could be made to fit -- the topic. If not, I would cast about and try the topic on my existing characters/worlds to see if any of them would like to do the work. If not (and also meanwhile), I would do what I do for one of those writing exercises where you take a word or phrase and use it to spark a story.

"If this, then that." If the topic is coffee, then what? Anything from the many places coffee is grown and all the landscape and politics and personal stories of the plantation workers, to all the many places coffee is and has been and will be consumed.

How much time do I have for research? Do I already have a couple of good books on the subject? Is the anthology literary, fantasy, mystery, of science fiction? What's the word count? The answers to all these questions will outline my possibilities and contain my musings.

Then comes the time of wandering around staring into space while I, consciously and subconsciously, poke bits around in the soup I call my brain to see what will stick to what else. Eventually, I'll get a notion of a character, a relationship, a conflict, a compelling setting, a story line, a tone, or SOME damn story element that will be the first solid beginning. That particular element might or might not survive the writing process, but, if it gets cut, it'll go in the bits box for possible future use.

Ray Dean: If it's Alt History, I usually like to start with history/technology research. Looking for some odd facts or historical notes. Sometimes it's just something mundane that sparks a 'what if' idea.  If the 'theme' is character centered, like a superhero, werewolf, etc. I start with the central character and build from there. If it is a genre, I look at the elements of the genre. What makes it tick? What elements are the heartbeat of the genre? Once you have the set or the tone of the piece it's time to start asking the 'what if' questions and see who is kicking around in that world. But you really never know what is going to spark an idea. And sometimes you start in with an idea and it fizzles before you've even finished a first draft. Sometimes you change direction with the idea, go back and take a different path in the plot. Starting over with another idea is necessary at times, but that's when it helps to be more of a plotter than a pantser. Outlining ahead of time to make sure you have a solid plan. With themed anthologies it can be a different process each time, a combination of ideas or brainstorming processes. It helps to be open to consider odd ideas or look to unusual sources of inspiration.

Andrew Salmon: For me, I get to know the characters/world I'm working in. Research is the key. Then I grow the plot from the characters.

Rock and Roll Pulp/Noir Anthology Looking for Submissions

See, even Gene Autry gets it!

BEEN A LONG TIME: STORIES INSPIRED BY ROCK AND ROLL CLASSICS
A Pulp/Noir (yes, there’s a difference) Anthology
Edited by Sean Taylor (yep, your friendly, neighborhood blogmaster is editing a new book)

Theme:
I was driving home last night listening to some music, and it hit me that Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" would be a great starting point for a 1950s jazz noir story. Poor musician has to sell his guitar while his girl works in a diner, all the while trying to salvage their strained relationship. Then they get caught up in a local kidnapping with ties to the mob (okay, it takes a turn there...).

Which only made my mind wander into this territory: What other great rock and roll songs would make equally great pulp or noir tales if recast to some time between the 1920s and 1960s? 

Details:
We’re looking for stories set in a historic noir or pulp mood and tone between the 1920s and 1960s. No fantasy. No sci-fi unless it’s clearly pulp or noir in tone (a la Blade Runner). Horror is fine as long as it doesn’t go too far into elements of the fantastic (hinted supernatural is fine, but don’t have imps and devils and monsters running around New York or Chicago; think a Lovecraftian story inspired by "Hotel California," for example).

Do not simply retell the story of the song. The song must serve as a “jumping off” point to create your story. If you have questions about what that means, just ask.

The key word here is CLASSIC. It must be a known song, no obscure indie “hits” only hipsters know. And we’re talking about rock and roll, not so underground, so alternative it doesn’t even sound like music anymore stuff. Deep cuts are welcome, as long as they’re from a classic album.

MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL: Do not quote the song lyrics in your title or your story. That would constitute copyright infringement. Each story will begin with a line that reads:

Inspired by Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer”

And each will close with a line that reads:

“Living on a Prayer” written by Desmond Child, Jon Bon Jovi, and Richard Sambora.
© Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Aggressive Music, Bon Jovi Publishing, Universal Polygram Int. Publishing Inc., Polygram Int. Publishing Inc., Universal Polygram International Publishing.

Word Count:
We’re looking for a pretty solid 6,000 words per story.

Deadline:
March 31, 2016 for final draft versions of stories.
Proposed publishing date of June 1, 2016.

Payment:
Royalties will be paid to all contributors.

What to do if you’re interested:
1. Send your paragraph synopsis to staylor104@aol.com, and tell me clearly which song you’re using as inspiration.
2. That’s it. I’ll get back to you within a week to let you know if you’re in or if I need changes or alternate suggestions.

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#153) -- Name Your Poison

As a writer, what's your poison? Novels, collections of your own shorts, or shared anthologies? What are your preferences, and why? (Thanks to Jim Beard for the question.)

You have bought my short
story collection, right?

I got my start on short stories, and I'll always be partial to them, I think. I still like the definition I learned in my writing classes in college (learning under the tutelage of a working writer, not just a "those who can't, teach" type) that writing a novel is like throwing paint at a wall and seeing what sticks, but that in a short story, with space at a premium, it must be carefully crafted by precise strokes of paint.

I have recently gotten into writing longer stories of 15,000 words, and I plan to tackle a novel or three over the next year or so, but my first love will always be short stories. I just love the immediacy of them, the way characters and style must hit hard and fast to win over the reader without having the luxury of "it really picks up after chapter three" that I often hear when people describe some of their favorite novels to me.

I also love (as my second favorite) writing comic book scripts. It's such a different way of telling a story to an audience of one (the artist) in hopes that what you describe, what you see in your head, and what the artist interprets all match up for the finished product. It's a beautiful, messy, terrifying sequence of possibilities that can drive you crazy as a writer, but in a good way.

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#65) -- Working Up to Longer Word Counts

How does someone get into writing short stories and work his or her way up to novel-length books?

That's a very good question, and it also is a very revealing one. For starters, you don't have to work your way up from short pieces to long, particularly because they're really different kinds of animals, so to speak. Think of a short story as a small painting, as opposed to painting a house, i.e. a novel. That's not to say one is more or less artful than the other, just that one is a single image to be viewed in a sitting and meaning gleaned from it right then and there, and the other is something to be taken in total, as one part adds to the cumulative effect of a world that is indeed "lived in."

All that fancy, schmancy talk is just to say that they're different. It's not as though a novel is a grown-up short story, like a man is a grown-up boy. It's more like a man and a watermelon, or some other unrelated thing.

But, to specifically address the question, you can most definitely try your hand at shorter works first to exercise your writing muscles and find a sense of completion for a project. That sense of completion certainly can help a beginning writer build the confidence that "Yes, I can do this!"

Another option is to see your novel as a series of short tales, and take them one at a time.

Of course, if your goal is to build your confidence, nothing beats having a short story or two published in an anthology or magazine. That, more than just about anything else, will instill in you the confidence to keep going and have the guts to tackle a longer work.

Good luck and happy writing!

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#26) -- Writing Anthology Shorts

What advice do you have about writing anthology pieces (short comic book stories)

to help writers break into the business? -- republished from Inside the Lines magazine

Bigger Ain't Always Better
(Eight Guidelines for Getting Down to Business in Anthology Shorts)

     

As I write this, I'm listening to Jimi Hendrix scream, "Let me stand next to your fire," and it's really driving home the one point we writers need to wrap our minds around -- you'd better light a fire on page one or scrap what you've written and start over with a better piece of kindling.

Particularly when writing a "break-in" story for an anthology.

The anthology short story remains one of the best ways for a new writer to break into the comics business. Not really much of a shock, is it? Sure, there may be fewer of them than just 10 years ago, but the market is still paved with small press anthologies that can be a new creator's best hope of entering the world of comic book publishing, whether in internationally distributed books such as Shooting Star Comics Anthology and Digitial Webbing Presents or in any number of one-hit, oversized books and locally distributed comics.

But how do you actually condense a story so that it will work in only six to eight pages instead of the 22 or 32 pages you're used to hammering out to make your series pitches to DC, Marvel, or CrossGen? Well, here's the sad news. You don't. You can't.

As editor of Shooting Star Comics, I see lots of anthology submissions. Sadly, many of them suffer from the same malady -- writers who don't grasp the concept of telling a full story in just a few pages. New writers often try to condense a larger story into a smaller page count. And as an editor who has to wade through those submissions, let me tell you, it just ain't happening, my friends. 

The art and craft of writing a short story differs radically from that of writing a 22-page comic book script. It's closely akin to the difference between writing a short story for a literary journal and writing a novel for Doubleday. Perhaps it's a bit unfair to the novelist to put this way -- but I believe it's apt and accurate -- in a novel or longer piece you have more room to lose your focus a little, and the reader may be willing to forgive you, but in a short piece, it's one strike and you're out.

So, how do you avoid that strike? Try following these guidelines for developing stories more effectively suited to the short format: 

1. Think small. If you don't have room for an epic dinosaur tale featuring a cast of seven, then forget the epic and pare down the cast. Focus in on one single incident and one or two primary players trying to avoid becoming breakfast for a hungry family of raptors.

2. Start after the beginning. Perhaps the best writing advice I ever received came from Chuck Dixon, and I'll steal it for this column since it applies so perfectly. Begin at a highpoint of action, danger, or violence. In a short, your character doesn't have the luxury of getting out of the car and walking up to the front door. It's much more efficient and effective to have him start out standing at the open door, staring up at the killer who is threatening to massacre his date inside the foyer.

3. End before the denouement. Repeat after me: "I will ignore the stupid, little voice inside my head that makes me want to write a page or panel to explain the ending. This is not an Agatha Christie mystery, and my readers are smart people, so I don't have to spoon feed them." A good writer knows that readers expect for something to have happened both before and after your story. But that doesn't mean you actually have to write that part, especially when you don't have room for it.

4. Don't wander backward after your opening action. Do your job right on page one, and you shouldn't have to take a breather for a page of back story or use the common "Here's how I got into this situation" approach. This can be a useful tool in a longer story, but you don't usually have the time to spare in a short. 

5. Don't overwrite. This applies both to your dialogue and internal monologue or narration. Sometimes in a long piece you can get away with unwieldy sections of expositional dialogue or flowing narration, but a short story should be like a restroom in a public venue -- everyone wants to get in and out quickly and easily. They don't want to be bogged down by long lines or lots of people talking to them. 

6. Let the artist do his job. Nothing bugs me (both as a reader and an editor) more than to see a panel in which someone enters a dimly lit room and then read a narrative caption that says something like, "I crept into the dark room." Well, duh. We can see that, right? It's bad writing anyway to describe the action your artist has already conveyed, but it's downright unforgivable in a short piece. Words are a limited resource in a short, and you should use them for the important business of moving the plot forward and developing your characters, not describing the action in the panels. 

7. Break the rules for all the right reasons. For every rule, there is an equal and opposite reason to break it. But only after you understand the reason for the rule in the first place. (Much like ignoring the rule about not using sentence fragments, like the one I just wrote.) I'll admit that I've written stories that backtrack or don't start at the latest point possible, but I can only get away with that when I know why I'm choosing to ignore tried and true writing procedure. Sometimes it's for effect or for parody, but it's always for a reason, never out of ignorance or lack of diligent editing.  

8. And finally, copyedit your story. And don't just rely on your spell checker. Learn to recognize common errors like confusing "too" for "to" or "of" and "or." Your editor will not only thank you for it, but he or she will be a lot more likely to run your story. In a long script, a typo or two may not seem as big a deal, but in a short one, it can be the kiss of death that labels you an amateur in all the wrong ways.

Well, that's it for now. Happy writing! (Wait, was that a denouement?)