S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 91

No Pain No Gain

When the first shoe flew I knew how this charming and uplifting video would end. See if you can guess how, too (dialogue, background sounds and some music, for those of you at work):

ONE MAN'S LOSS from Philip Sansom on Vimeo.

Motorcycle Story Sub Op

Elektrik Milk Bath Press has an open call for their upcoming motorcycle-themed antho: "We are looking for unusual, original stories that, in some way, shape, or form involve motorcycles and/or their riders, surroundings, etc. Perhaps the entire story revolves around a particular motorcycle and/or its rider. Maybe a motorcycle is important to the setting or the background, maybe it’s just passing through... While motorcycles or their elements must figure into the piece, the actual degree of involvement in the story… well, we’ll leave that up to you. If you want an idea of what we like, check out one of our favorite motorcycle-themed stories, Julio Cortazar’s “The Night Face Up.” The above mentioned stories are just ideas. We want to see what you come up with, so show us your creative best. Stories can be dark fantasy, horror, magic realism, literary, etc. Humor is okay, too. What we want, more than anything, is a good, solid story—stores that touch us, as readers, in some way. We love stories that are written from an unusual perspective, contain unusual but believable characters, or show us something we’ve never seen before. We don’t mind sex or blood—not even a bit—but we are not huge fans of excessive gore. If it is necessary to the story, no problem at all—we get that. Gore for gore’s sake... not so much." Length: "We are accepting stories from 1000—5000 words, with the majority of stories probably falling in 2000-5000 word range. We are pretty flexible with word count as long as it’s a great story. Impress us and even if you are a little over or a little under, we will sneak you in." Payment: $30 plus contributor's copy. On reprints: "We much prefer original stories but if you have a reprint you feel is exceptional, query us. We are usually more than happy to give reprints a read, although preference is given to original pieces." Electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: May 16th, 2014.

TMT

Tip of My Tongue is one of those little online tools that is insanely helpful when you need a word but you can't remember exactly what it is. You feed it what you can remember: letters, partial fragments of the word, the meaning, what it sounds like etc., and it searches for word matches and produces a list of possibilities.

My guy and I were on a walk the other night and we passed a palm tree I thought was lovely -- but neither of us could remember the proper name of it. All we had was "sa-something." When we got home I fed the letters and meaning (palm tree) to TMT, and got this:



It was a sabal palm, as the TMT correctly guessed on the first run. When you're writing there is nothing more annoying than being unable to remember a word exactly, so this online tool can serve as a very helpful search and rescue for your brain.

Eat Your Books

Library Thing has been holding their third annual Edible Books contest (which I didn't know ends at 6pm today or I would have posted about it sooner than this) and the gallery of entries is pretty neat. If I could have sweets I'd definitely want that Dune cake for my next birthday.

When my kid was in her last years of high school she always wanted to make her annual English Lit art project in cake. The class loved edible projects because at the end of class they got to eat them, so presenting one made you instantly popular. The kid also had me in her corner as an assistant (of all the cooking I do, I'm best at making cakes.) Unfortunately the teacher always assigned the unhappiest books for the annual project, which is how I ended up helping her to craft these two wonders:

Animal Farm



The Jabberwocky



I've never thought about turning one of my novels into a cake version, but it would be fun to try. A scene from one of my Toriana books might be cool; a steampunk alt-history cake would be a real challenge to pull off. But then I'd have to find people to take it away and eat it somewhere else -- I really miss cake a lot.

Have you ever turned a book into something edible? Let us know in comments.

Free Class Ten

Ten Online Writing Classes You Can Take for Free

Alison.com's English Writing Skills

Author and Screenwriter Steven Barnes's Free Writing Class

Author Jeffrey A. Carver's Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing

The Crafty Writer's Creative Writing Course

Education Portal's video series Conventions in Writing

Writing Coach Sarah Lovett's Dream It, Write It

Online Creative Writing's Copywriting Clinic

Online Creative Writing's The Challenge (online marketing writing class)

The Open University's Start Writing Fiction

The Open University's Writing What You Know

Shop at Your Library

My reading habit is usually heavier than my wallet, so when my new book budget for the month runs out I'll hit flea markets, rummage sales and used book stores to browse for bargains. I also like to stop in public libraries and see what books they're selling (usually offered by friends of the library in some shelves upfront or a separate room), and I make a point to always go to library book sales, like this one:



Library book sales are pretty wonderful for a couple of reasons: the variety of books (awesome), the prices (even more so) and the neat sectioning and alphabetizing of the books (I think when you work at a library this becomes second nature.) There are also lots of long, lovely tables tables like these:



On my most recent trip I was primarily looking mainly for purse books, aka a book I can throw in my purse and take with me wherever I go. For this kind of purchase I like Harlequin Presents because they're short reads and the romances are over-the-top and often quite exotic. I've also been reading HPs since I was a teen, so for me they're comfort books, too. That said, brand-new HPs cost about four bucks each, so I only pay retail for titles by my favorite authors. I also like to look for old paperbacks, interesting hardcovers and pretty much anything that looks like a decent read.

And here's my haul:



I picked up two hardcovers -- an Amanda Quick for my friend Jill and a keepsake how-to by Victoria magazine -- as well as three rare old paperbacks I'd read way back in my teens and twenties. I also scored 27 HPs, most by two writers I like and a copy of a Robyn Donald favorite to serve as a lender. Retail for all these books new would have been in the neighborhood of $175.00; even at the Dollar store they would have cost me $32.00. At the library sale I paid $4.95 for the entire pile, or about fifteen cents a book. All profits from the sale go directly to support the library, too. When I'm done reading the books I bought I will pass along the best to friends and then donate the rest back to the library, perhaps to be sold again at another library book sale in the future.

Escape Your Muggles

Any J.K. Rowling fan can now (virtually) attend the famous school from the Harry Potter books, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry -- for free! -- thanks to the ultra-cool website Hogwarts is Here:

Thanks to the Wizengamot, the British and American Ministry of Magics and a handful of tech-friendly professors from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry , a Hogwarts education has now become available online to all aspiring witches and wizards.

You are now able to enroll at Hogwarts, collect your textbooks and begin taking our 9-week courses online. You can now progress through all seven years of schooling and be assigned a professor, homework assignments, quizzes and more.

Meet other students online by joining a House dormitory, chat with others in the Common Room, browse and contribute to the Hogwarts Library, collect chocolate frog cards, earn galleons & house points and so much more.

Thanks to the efforts and resources (plus a little magic) from the Wizard-Muggle Integration Movement, this online Hogwarts experience and education is entirely free. With a lot of passion from fans and with extraordinary creativity, anything is possible.

(Hogwarts link nicked from Gerard at The Presurfer)

Stay the Night

I don't often fall in love with contemporary music videos, but for Zedd's Stay the Night I'll make an exception (the fact that it shares a title with one of my novels may factor in a little, too.) It is amazing, romantic, filled with energy and the perfect showcase for the gorgeous voice of Hayley Williams (so if you haven't guessed by now, it contains wonderful singing and dance music. Also includes some flashing lights, for those of you who don't like/can't watch them):

Two Ops

Sub Op for Writers:

Timeless Tales magazine has an open call for their upcoming Pandora's Box themed issue: "We only accept fiction (no poetry or non-fiction) that are retellings of the theme that is currently open. It can be a modernization, sci-fi, a mash-up, etc. Content: While Timeless Tales is not targeted specifically at children, it is a fairly conservative magazine, especially when it comes to sexual content, so I intend to keep the stories in the PG-13 range or below. However, I have a deep appreciation for the darker side of many original fairy tales, so don’t assume I only want “happy” stories." Length: "Up to 2000 words, with under 1500 preferred"; Payment: $15.00 + one year premium subscription; reprints okay if you hold all rights, electronic submission only, see see guidelines for more details. Deadline: April 30th, 2014.

Job Op for Editors:

Kirkus Media has a job opening for Director of Kirkus Editorial in NYC, and is "currently seeking a connected, self-motivated editor with an entrepreneurial bent for the position of director of Kirkus Editorial, the company’s fast-growing book editing and promotional copywriting division. This position will oversee a large roster of freelance editors and copywriters who are available for projects from both individual authors and publishing houses. The ideal candidate will be a great multi-tasker who is comfortable with change and open to new ways of doing things. He or she will have a passion for writing and bringing out the best in others’ writing. If you want to play an important role in developing something totally unique in the industry, this could be the job for you!"

For more information about the job's responsibilities and educational/skill requirements for the position, visit Kirkus Media's career section here.

Spark My Story

Storytellers are often avid collectors; I think most of us have fairly hefty libraries so book collections are likely the most popular. Before he sold most of them author Larry McMurty had a personal library of 450,000 books. I'm trying to imagine just dusting them and I can't. My own book collection is much more modest -- it's holding steady at about 2K presently -- and I only collect certain authors, but have spent many happy years hunting down and acquiring their entire backlist.

Sometimes the things we writers collect can be a little odd, too. Watergate fascinated my grandmother the poet; in addition to buying every single book published about it she also obsessively collected magazine and newspaper articles written on the subject. Author and former D&D player China Miéville is supposed to have a pretty amazing collection of role-playing game bestiaries. Edward Gorey was a huge fan of fur coats; he owned 21 of them and not only wore them but put many of his characters in furs, too (I've never owned a fur, and since I have much love for all furry things I'd rather see them on the original owners.)

I think probably the strangest writer collection I've ever heard of belongs to author Amy Sedaris, who collects plastic meats. Yes, plastic meats, as in toy play food.

Other than books, I collect art, music, handmade quilts and Victorian American photographs and ephemera. I also have a modest collection of story sparklers; these are what I call the small, random and sometimes mysterious objects the universe throws at me as inspiration on a regular basis. For something to make it into this collection it has to fill four qualifications:

1) It must be something small (if it's larger than a ping pong ball I take a photograph of it)
2) It possesses mysterious origins and/or qualities
3) It shows up unexpectedly
4) It instantly gives me one or more story ideas.

The most recent addition to my story sparkler collection is this little sketch I found this morning on my telephone message pad. Now I do know where this came from -- my daughter the artist, who can't resist drawing a pair of eyes or a face on the pad whenever she's in the kitchen or on the phone. And while I've collected most of her formal artworks over the years, I love these little thoughtless random sketches with a passion, so I save those, too -- but I don't write stories about them.

Why did this particular sketch throw a story spark at me? I'm not sure. It could be the expression, or the flowers in her hair. Because I didn't want to know, I didn't ask my daughter, either. Whatever it means to her, the moment I first glanced at it a character whirled into life in my head and started telling me her story. A minute later I was in the office looking at the sketch while I dictated the story idea it gave me to the computer. With most story sparklers it usually happens that fast, too. So when you see a character named Ivi show up in one of my books in the future, you can blame this sketch (and my kid) for her presence.

My love of all things vintage and the fact I'm constantly shipping things is responsible for this another recent addition to my sparkler collection: this slightly rusty key. I found it after coming home with a package; when I moved it from the car into the house it dropped from the bottom of the parcel onto my kitchen table.

I called my shipper to ask if they had lost a key, which they hadn't, and then I contacted the sender, who also said no. I examined the box, and found that one edge of some packing tape on the bottom of the box had rolled over. My working theory is that when the frayed cord attached to the key came in contact with that exposed adhesive it must have stuck.

Because it's small and pretty flimsy I'm fairly sure that it's something like a diary or old suitcase key. The shape of the top, however, intrigues me. I've never before seen a key with this odd triangular shape. There are some letters stamped in the metal on both sides, but rust covers all of them except a G and maybe a Y. At the moment I'm torn between wanting to clean it so I can read all the letters and leaving the lovely rusty look intact. I adore keys of all kinds, so finding this old beauty dropping (literally) into my life prompted me to revisit a story idea I had about a mystery key. Having the physical sparkler come into my hands in such an interesting manner added to the original idea, and now I have a working plot outline for the story.

Just how powerful can such random story sparklers be? Imagine you pick up some take-out from your favorite Chinese restaurant, and when you open your cookie to read the fortune you get this:



My guy did the other night when this fortune landed in his lap. Now he's not a writer, so he didn't get it, but the moment I saw it I thought, What if Elizabeth Moon likes Chinese, and collects the fortunes . . . ?