Hey folks. No flash fiction for you at the moment, just another piece of story from Last Days of Loneliness, the YA horror novel that I’ve been working on for a while. Here’s the most recent piece I posted. I think I’ve rewritten this scene about five times now, but this opening for it just came to me while I was lying in bed last night, so I had to give it a try. Enjoy!
Yearly Archives: 2015
Flash Fiction: First Healer
This week brought another random title challenge from Chuck Wendig, and while this particular post is a bit late for that challenge’s schedule, it’s still done. It turns out that my Nonsense Literature class is awesome and also takes up more time than I’d first anticipated. It’s nothing unmanageable, though some of my poor poor friends are taking Nonsense along with another class that has an absurd reading load (and I say that as a Reedie).
This is another experiment in not really knowing where things are going until I start writing, and I think I like it. Enjoy!
Unfinished Flash Fiction
Last week I mentioned that I was writing something to submit to a contest. I didn’t finish it. Instead, I submitted something else (Cosmo Katie, from earlier this year) to Flash Fury. Wish me luck.
I’m currently rather busy with schoolwork, so all I have for you today is the unfinished piece which I tried to write last week. I still haven’t decided what my new schedule should look like, but it will probably end up being a post on Tuesday or Wednesday, and another on Friday. Read on for violence.
Whoops!
I goofed up! I was writing a piece of flash fiction earlier today (something I intend to submit to the Flash Fury contest run by The Molotov Cocktail), but then I got distracted by life here visiting my mom. I’ll have this piece of flash fic up for you in a bit (maybe tomorrow, maybe next week), but I’m afraid I don’t have the usual stuff for you today.
Actually, I’m going to have to change my schedule starting next week, because I’ll have classes on Mondays and Thursdays and I have no desire to try going to class and post on the same day. I’ll figure that out soon.
Flash Fiction: Thin Line
This week’s flash fiction prompt required me to come up with a title by randomly selecting a song from my music collection. I got “Thin Line,” by Jurassic 5 (featuring Nelly Furtado). While we weren’t required to use the song itself as an inspiration, I, uh, listened to Thin Line on repeat while I was writing. The result feels very different from most other pieces that I’ve written, and follows the song’s theme of questioning how romantic / erotic relationships can coexist with friendships. I was, quite honestly, surprised by the end. And that’s all I’ll say about that. Enjoy!
Meta-flash fiction?
This week, Chuck Wendig wants fuel for his flash fiction fires. It just so happens that I’d already been thinking of ways to use my foray into random D&D material for the purposes of flash fiction, so I came to this topic with an idea more-or-less prepared. Some modification may be necessary.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use this Random Adventure Generator to create your prompt. You may use as much of it as you like, but you must at least use the Theme, the Story Hook, and the Climax. Write your story in 2000 words or less.
Also, I should mention: I’m going to be incommunicado for the rest of the week, and will thus miss my normal second post! It’s time for me to live in a tent and do larp-camp staff training again. If you’re anywhere near upstate New York, you should consider sending your children or your friends’ children to The Wayfinder Experience. It’s good stuff.
Flash Fiction: The First Is The Worst
This week’s flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig involved a 1000 word story that starts with a dead body. I ended up with this piece without even knowing where I was going, but perhaps you’ll like it. In case you’re wondering about the setting, I think it takes place in my Elven Progenitors story-world (though I still feel like it desperately needs a punchier name).
Enjoy!
Sweet Deus, Ex Machina is Good
This movie has left me feeling conflicted… but not about whether or not I thought it was good. Ex Machina is excellent. It is a very good movie, in so many ways. The people who made this movie knew what they were doing, and they did it very well. I think I’m going to keep this one on hand as a reference for my own storytelling in the future. Continue reading
Miracle at St. Anna
They’re looking at the narrative, just offscreen.
When I first saw the title and plot summary for Miracle at St. Anna, I thought that I was going to see a refashioned telling of the battle of Sommocolonia (which I’d just read about shortly before watching the movie). I was totally wrong. This movie was never quite what I expected it to be.
Possibly valuable, probably confusing, Miracle at St. Anna is a composite of several different stories, all mashed together in a fascinating but bewildering mix of historical fiction that feels more like very subdued historical magical realism. The narrative focus wanders back and forth, encompassing so many story lines that it never feels like it zeroes in on any one of them. Nor does it ever focus enough to mold a sense of coherence out of the disparate pieces. I like the story at its core, I think, but … I feel lost. It’s almost too nebulous to really understand, in some ways, and it certainly leaves many questions entirely unanswered. Or maybe it answers some questions, but in unsatisfying ways? It’s a bit of a mess.
But why? It seemed so promising, after all.
Flash Fiction: Bloody Expanse
Not exactly how I imagine Hobb, but Isom Dart is close enough.
Chuck Wendig’s flash fiction prompt this week involved a randomly generated title and a 1500 word story, which led to what you can see above and below. I’m not sure exactly what caused that to make me think of what follows, but it felt about right. Ideas I passed over in favor of this one include: medical drama, massacre, way more murder… etc. I think I like this one better, as it’s an indirect sequel to my piece Trouble Close Behind from January 22nd. Enjoy. Continue reading
Fistful of Wits 