Chuck Wendig's Blog, page 213

What The Hell Is A “Hybrid” Author, Anyway?

“Hybrid author.”

Sounds like we were made in a lab. A squirmy worm-mote in a test tube. Growing at an alarming rate. Genetics forged from a hundred different authors — Joyce, Woolf, Dickens, Rowling, King, a dash of Lee Child, a squirt of Neil Gaiman, an injection of Danielle Steel. A thousand books in our blood spinning, whirling, forming a helix-pudding of raw literary puissance. We swell. We burst from our enclosures. We run amok. We form tribes.

We create, and then we destroy.

Okay, maybe not.

The “hybrid” author is not so exciting as all that, I’m afraid.

The hybrid author merely looks at all the publishing options available to her. She is told she is supposed to check one box and move on — “Stay within the clearly-marked margins,” they warn. “Check your box, choose your path, then shut the door gently behind you.” But the hybrid author checks many, even all the boxes. The hybrid author refuses to walk one path, instead leaping gaily from path to path, gamboling about like some kind of jester-imp. She says no to coloring within the lines of a traditionally-published or a self-published drawing.

She opens all the doors. She closes none of them.

“Do one thing?” she scoffs. “Do all the things!”

Then she mutters something about “fucking the system” and she takes a poop square in the eye of The Man, whose expectations for her were far too restrictive. His poop-eye is deserved.

The term “hybrid author” is getting lots of traction these days (though I’ve been using it for over a year at this point — and, if I may toot my own boobies, I’ve been suggesting authors “do both” since 2010), and I think as a term and an idea it’s going to only grow. Diversity is good in biology, in the people with which we surround ourselves, in investment portfolios, in pretty much everything. And so it is with writing and publishing: diversity is a winner. When one door closes we’ve already pried open five others and maybe a window and some fucking duct-work, too. The hybrid author is squirrely. Flexible. Better. Faster. Stronger. ROBOT.

Okay, not a robot. (And not “better,” either, before you get your nipples in a twist.)

Still, here’s the thing: for all the talk of how awesome it is to apparently be a hybrid author, a lot of authors still lean one way or the other. And that’s totally normal, by the way, because it’s not like you can perfectly bisect the publishing world into equal portions. Just the same, it’s a thing to be aware of, because you’ll still find proponents on both sides of the fence who give lip service to a hybrid approach but at the end of the day wear biases on their sleeves.

(A recent post by Barry Eisler based on a conference keynote makes a strong case for the hybrid author while also noting the complexities of how publishers handle digital distribution. Though I’d argue he muddies the waters and shows his biases by removing nuance and simplifying publishing as being nothing more than a paper distribution system, ultimately kind of hand-waving away editing and cover design and marketing as non-essential functions. It’s this kind of dismissive attitude that fires up the self-publishing base but still does a lot to suggest traditional avenues are in some way inferior. That said, I choose to focus on Eisler’s point that this is no longer an either/or world, which I totally dig.)

Hell, I’ve been accused of “pouring cold water” on self-publishing at the same time I endorse it. Which I’ll agree to, though I pour I think just as much cold water on traditional publishing too because I’d much rather splash you in the face with a shock of ice cubes than gently warm your nethers with hot stones and lure you into a state of false comfort.

So, in the interest of making sure the cold water gets splashed on all of you for all the reasons, let’s take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the various publishing approaches. This is not an endorsement of any one path but only an endorsement that you should examine all paths and attempt to discover which one suits you and your books THE MOST BESTEST.

Let us begin. (And if I miss stuff, shout it out in comments.)

Traditional Publishing

+1: Money up front! Maybe really good money!

-1: Could be shit money, too!

+1: Gatekeepers ensure that material of relative quality gets through the door.

-1: Gatekeepers are also notoriously risk-averse. (And occasionally: dicks.)

+1: Access to pro-grade editors, cover artists and kick-ass marketing systems.

-1: Sometimes the marketing is left to you, poor author, because fuck you, that’s why.

+1: Likelier access to: film rights, foreign rights, reviews, actual bookshelves

-1: Holy shit, it’s fucking slow!

+1: Entrenched systems have value (i.e. “not building parachute on way out of the plane”)

-1: System does not respond well to change.

+1: Better discoverability of books published this way, so far.

-1: If your publisher shits the bed, you might be fucked.

-1: If another major bookstore chain shits the bed, you might be fucked.

+1: You will learn a lot about writing/publishing via this path; it will improve you.

+1: You will earn more respect and prestige, if that’s a thing you care about.

-1: Occasionally punishing contract clauses and low-ass royalties. Which leads to:

+1/-1: You need a good agent. Hard to get, but worth it to have.

Self-Publishing

+1: You have a lot of control over how the book exists in the world. Editing, marketing, cover design, e-book design, promo, and on and on.

-1: Money investment up front means more financially risky (may spend money, gain none). Anticipate spending anywhere from $500 to $5000 to get that book “out there.”

+1: Great percentage of the money earned stays with you (~50-70%).

-1: Significantly reduced access to film rights, foreign rights, reviews, bookshelves, etc

+1: Strong self-publishing community full of resources!

-1: Gets a little cultish sometimes, brimming with motivations based on bitter rejection.

+1: Allows you to offer riskier materials in format (short fiction, novellas, serials) or content (edgier work, genre mash-up material, weird stuff) that publishers might not touch.

-1: Some genres don’t do well self-published, yet.

+1: Some genres do fucking gangbusters!

-1: A lot harder than it looks because it means being a publishing company as well as an author.

+1: New options every day (crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, direct sales, etc).

-1: Based overly so in digital; trad-pub is still the strongest way to print.

+1: It’s as fast as you want it to be! (Just click “publish.”)

-1: It’s as fast as your impatient twitchy self wants it to be! (Don’t be so fast to click “publish.”)

+1: You retain all rights to your work!

-1: A rising tide of turd-froth in terms of self-published bilge; must rise above or die. (The often poor discoverability of new self-pub authors can be murderous.)

+1: You get to bypass a potentially archaic and outmoded system for publication.

-1: Easier to self-publish when you already have earned your audience, however small.

+1: Digital shelf-life is largely eternal, or at least until SkyNet nukes us from The Cloud.

-1: Amazon is the 800-lb gorilla here; if Amazon shits the bed, so do you; if Amazon changes the percentage split, not much self-publishers will be able to do about it.

+1/-1: No agent required, but honestly, one is recommended anyway.

At The End Of The Day…

All of this only matters if you write the best book you can and give it the right amount of time and love and nether-massage it needs to flourish both on the screen and in the marketplace. This is simplified, of course: lots of bad books have done very, very well, but really, fuck that. We also eat lots of shitty foods and drive lots of shitty cars and do lots of shitty things and “shitty but successful anyway” is a pretty piss-poor hoop to aim for, don’t you think?

If you have written what you believe to be The Best Damn Thing You Were Able To Write and you want to know what to do with it, well, hopefully  that list above will at least get you started considering how both paths are separate-but-equal and how the modern author is best-served by placing books in both “chutes,” so to speak. You do that, you gain the advantages of both (while still admittedly wrestling with the downsides, too). Further, when one ocean dries up (as it inevitably will), you are not left upon a rotting raft moored on a dead coral reef somewhere, baking to death in the sun with all the other bloated whales.

Some folks will espouse a particular magical order to this process — “Self-publish first,” they might say, even though plenty of authors published traditionally first and then used the audience built there to self-publish, even though an author like me did both paths at almost the exact same time. Blah blah blah. Point is, as always, we have many ways up the mountain. Walk as many of them as gives you comfort and confidence.

NOW PLEASE REPORT TO THE LAB FOR HYBRIDIZATION AND EAT THESE BOOKS

*scans you with ticklish gene-warping laser*

The Birthday Book

If I have studied the entrails of this pelican correctly, and if scholars are correct in that the Seal of Baal-Ashtoreth has finally split in twain, that means it is my birthday. I am, by all reports, “no longer young,” but also, “not quite old,” which means I’m “middle-aged.”

I’ll buy my sports car next year.

For this year, I’ll buy myself a book.

Because books and birthdays go together like chocolate and more chocolate.

So: recommend to me a book you liked that you read recently.

Please do not recommend your own books because this is not that time.

Flash Fiction Challenge: Titular Titles

Last week’s challenge is, “Choose Your Opening Line.” Winners will be chosen in a week or two because lawds-a-mercy, you folks sure turned in lots of entries!

This week is a simple one.

I want to you to come up with a title.

Just one. A single title to a future and unwritten flash fiction story.

Post it in the comments below. I’ll pick my three favorites and they will get RANDOM GOODIES FROM ME. Somehow. Then, the following challenge will be for you folks to write stories based on the chosen titles. You picking up what I’m laying down?

You may enter once.

Enter by next Friday, the 26th. Noon EST.

Now, name that story.

Sriracha-Basted News Nuggets All Up In Your Clicking Mouthparts

Random news bits flung into your eyeblobs:

First up: whoa, the Guardian suggests I’m one of the best young novelists in the SFF universe. *eyes pop out of my skull* Well, that’s all a bit unexpected, isn’t it? Doubly amazing here is that I’m put with a list of incredibly talented people: Seanan McGuire, Joe Hill, Tom Pollock, Lauren Beukes, Saladin Ahmed, James Smythe, Catheryn Valente, Robert Jackson Bennett, Madeline Ashby, China Mieville, Carlton Mellick, Hannu Rajeniemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Elizabeth May, NK Jemisin, Joe Abercrombie, Aliette de Bodard, Francis Hardinge, and Hugh Howey (who may not like being on that list with me at this point, I dunno). Point is: holy list of amazing people. Triply amazing is how some of these people are people I consider friends, which makes me the luckiest little jerk in the whole wide world.

(You better watch for the day that Seanan McGuire and I combine forces. The world will hear our murder ballad, by gosh. AND IT WILL SONG ALONG AS IT PERISHES.)

Let’s see, what’s next?

Oh! Hey holy crap, I’m going to have four novels out in the next few months. For those unaware, that means: Gods & Monsters, The Blue Blazes, Under The Empyrean Sky, and Beyond Dinocalypse. It’s a veritable Wendig-palooza and for that, I apologize. I’ll try to keep the self-promo noise to a manageable level, a sweet seductive murmur in the background of your daily signal. BUT I GOTTA TALK ABOUT MY BOOKS because that’s how I feed my child and oh yeah also my wanton gin habit. (Seriously, spring and summer come around and bottles of gin come and go like hobos riding the rails, man.)

*checks notes*

Ah! Right.

Wanna read the first chapter of The Blue Blazes? Tor.com has you covered.

Need to read a review? Well, in this review, the reviewer notes [sic]:

“The pacing is just short of break neck, but Wendig gives readers a well placed moment or two to catch their breath. But don’t be shocked to find yourself reading well into the night. The action sequences are bombastic, brutal set pieces that leave the surrounding landscape in reduced to gleefully described rubble. It’s all a hair’s breadth from over the top, but Wendig manages never to lean on the gas enough to send the story into a tail spin. It’s a blancing act to keep from slipping into parody  but Wendig manages it deftly.”

And –

“As I’ve said, the real star of The Blue Blazes is the prose. Wendig writes with blunt force choreography, full of brutally disturbing descriptions, and wrecking ball action. Noir sensibilities are in full force here, and Wendig uses them brilliantly to craft a portrait of a New York that is at the same time instantly recognizable and disturbingly alien.  The staccato rhythm of Wending’s prose fits beautifully with the story he tells, and I’ve rarely seen such an usual voice used so effectively.”

We’ll just ignore the fact he misspelled my last name as “Wending.”

Need more? WELL OKAY. Another reviewer notes:

“This is urban fantasy, horror and gangster noir all rolled into one tight, fast-paced drug trip of a story – and the drug trip part is literal a lot of the time. New York City is sitting on top of an open gateway to Hell, and monsters aren’t the only exports. The ‘Blue Blazes’ of the book’s title refers to a mineral, mined from the rock of the Great Below, that allows those who use it to see the true nature of Hell’s denizens through whatever illusions they use to appear human. In the time since Hell broke loose, this mineral has become a new drug of choice, particularly among New York’s criminal organization – but there have been rumours of other kinds of drug. Different-coloured minerals, that are said to have even crazier effects – even one that can help the user to fend off death itself.”

Finally, there’s this German review. Translating a snippet here…

“After I had read Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig and Mockingbird, I knew pretty much what to expect. However, with The Blue Blazes again but he puts up a notch and skin so right on the plaster. Anyone who takes a book from Chuck agile in the hand must be prepared that is cursed without end that are not exactly sympathetic character through the series that the atmosphere from beginning to end is depressing and gloomy that it is not in force come up short and you will not be sure in terms of action on the track.”

Okay, so Google Translate maybe isn’t ideal, there.

I think they liked the book.

So: there you go!

News. Enjoy. Tell your friends. Drink some gin.

Readers Owe Writers Approximately Zip Nada Zero

Ah, memes.

I love you, memes, I do.

Surly pets! Tubby children chasing bubbles! Various hedgehogs!

I fucking love hedgehogs.

Which is different from “I love fucking hedgehogs,” by the way, so don’t get it twisted.

Anyway.

One such meme going around has appeared in multiple guises, the latest (and it’s really not that recent, but I see it pop up again and again) is The Care and Feeding of an Author, and you know, I totally appreciate the sentiment. We’re authors. It seems like we can barely take care of ourselves. (“Did you shower? Did you forget to eat today? Are you even wearing underpants? YOU NEED TO BREATHE, STUPID AUTHOR.”) And we are genuinely allowed to exist because of readers. Not publishers. Not distributors like Amazon. At the end of the day all that matters are that we have readers who support the hell out of us, helping us and our books find other readers. Like some kind of imaginary story virus that transmits via recommendation instead of sneeze.

I just want to clarify that, while we appreciate it, you don’t owe us anything.

Really.

You’re not obligated to care for us or feed us. That’s not the kind of relationship we have. I appreciate it. Certainly if you like a book I want you to be enlivened enough to share the book with others in whatever way you feel excites you best. But I want you to share it because you want to share it, not because of some idea that you’re obligated, that it’s your responsibility.

I mean, damn, the menu of actions you must undertake to do to care and feed us in that list is pretty intense. I don’t even do all those things and I love me some books and some authors. It’s like, by the time you’re done, your whole day is gone because you’ve spent hours clicking like buttons and +1s and copying links and taking out Craigslist ads and instituting sinister hallucinogenic meme viruses — that’s awfully punishing to you, the reader.

What’s next, you have to let me use your couch? Eat your food? Borrow your dog?

Warning: I will borrow your dog if you let me.

(The list is also very Amazon-specific. It assumes you buy all your books there. And, maybe you do, and that’s totally fine — you buy books however you like, by golly. But other folks buy them from bookstores or Wal-Mart or use these old things called “libraries,” which I hear are pretty awesome if you can find one OH WAIT THEY SHOULD BE EVERYWHERE.)

Seriously: fuck yeah, libraries.

Anyway.

All this is just to say, you don’t owe us anything.

Not a click, not a drink, not a buy, not a review, not a hand-job or butt-tickle or nipple-squeeze. We appreciate any attention you give us. We doubly appreciate any money you care to cart our way in trade for our storycraft. We triply appreciate you going beyond all that and using whatever means you like to share the book with other people. (Caution: please do not touch authors unless the authors ask to be touched. We’re like aquariums: don’t tap on the glass.)

You do not owe us anything.

It is we who owe you.

Ten Questions About Promise Of Blood, By Brian McClellan

Once in a while, I find a brother-in-beard — someone whose beard cilia reach for my own and we enter a hive-like state where we commune with our hirsute overlord and OH you don’t want to hear about that. You want to hear how beardly Brian McClellan talks about his new bad-ass book, Promise of Blood, right? Right.

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?

I’m Brian McClellan; epic fantasy writer, amateur beekeeper, computer gamer, reader, husband, son, brother. My job is to entertain you.

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:

Muskets and magic. Guillotines and bayonets. Revolution and revenge. This is flintlock fantasy with smoke rising from the barrel.

WHERE DOES THIS STORY COME FROM?

It comes from a desire to see what happens to a fantasy world when it progresses into an industrial age. How does the magic evolve with the technology? How do the old regimes fall, and what rises to take their place?

HOW IS THIS A STORY ONLY YOU COULD’VE WRITTEN?

It’s very personal story because it comes from my own eclectic tastes and desires. I love epic fantasy; the sense of adventure, the second-world nature of the stories, and of course the magic. I also have a great interest in historical figures like Napoleon Bonaparte—the driving force behind him and the volatile time period in which he lived.

I wanted to write a story that would appeal to a wide demographic. There’s nothing new in the desire of a writer to craft something that will sell well. The idea of epic fantasy in an industrializing world had a newness about it that appealed to both my artistic and business sense. It seemed like a great way to give a fresh flare to an old genre.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING PROMISE OF BLOOD?

The rewrite.

I was offered agent representation by the awesome Caitlin Blasdell based upon my first draft. The first thing she said to me, though, was that we needed to edit before she’d submit it to publishing houses. Little did I know that by “edit” she meant rewrite half the damn book.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s ten times the book it was and I’m so glad that Caitlin made me rewrite huge sections. But that year of editing after having finally gotten an agent was extremely difficult.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN WRITING PROMISE OF BLOOD?

I learned a lot about pacing a 160,000 word novel. That size of a book can become an unwieldy beast. It takes plotting and thorough notes to keep track of everything going on inside.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT PROMISE OF BLOOD?

The cover art.

No, seriously. Take a look at that art. Orbit did a fantastic job on that cover.

In terms of what’s inside the book—I love that it’s entertaining. That’s what I’m here for, after all. I’m not asking deep philosophical questions of my readers. I’m asking them to have a good time. The characters are relatable, the story moves quickly, and people will have fun reading it.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

More central female characters. I am a little terrified of writing a female viewpoint badly, so all three of the main viewpoint characters are men.

While there are some seriously badass women in the book, the reader doesn’t get much of a chance to see the world through their eyes. I’d like to do that in the future.

GIVE US YOUR FAVORITE PARAGRAPH FROM THE STORY:

Not a single paragraph, but a short exchange. Field Marshal Tamas is interviewing the young sergeant chosen to be his new bodyguard:

Tamas watched the man for another few moments. Among the troops, Olem was well known and well liked—he could shoot, box, ride, play cards or billiards. He was an everyman as far as soldiers were concerned.

“You’ve one mark on your record,” Tamas said. “You once punched a na-baron in the face. Broke his jaw. Tell me about that.”

Olem grimaced. “Officially, sir, I was pushing him out of the way of a run-away carriage. Saved his life. Half my company saw it.”

“With your fist?”

“Aye.”

“And unofficially?”

“The man was a git. He shot my dog because it startled his horse.”

“And if I ever have cause to shoot your dog?”

“I’ll punch you in the face.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AS A STORYTELLER?

The sequel, THE CRIMSON CAMPAIGN, is coming out from Orbit Books in February of 2014. The third book in the series should be out around September of 2014.

After that? Who knows.

I’ve got a lot more stories floating around in my head—a young adult historical fantasy, another epic fantasy series, and more books in the Powder Mage universe. Time permitting, you’ll get to see them all.

Brian McClellan: Website / Twitter

Promise of Blood: Amazon / B&N / Indiebound

“When Can I Use Work By Another Artist?”

A thing happened yesterday.

A woman said on Twitter that she was selling a book of inspirational quotes by writers.

I was one of the writers with a quote in the book.

Alongside Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Austin Kleon, Lisa Cron, Chris Baty, and, well, presumably another 90+ authors. I don’t know as I’ve not seen the book.

I am obviously flattered that anyone things anything I say is inspirational.

I did, however, comment on Twitter that while I found it flattering, I also found it a little strange that a person was trying to make money off other people’s words. Not just, say, borrowing a quote here and there to bolster a book about writing but, instead, a book of curated quotes said by other people. Regardless of the legality, I found that a bit baffling — charging three bucks on Smashwords to sell what amounts to other people’s content.

Upon commenting (and not naming the person), said author demonstrated a somewhat… aggressive attitude, attacking me and revoking my potential exposure from the book (?) and telling me I “sicken” her (?!) and — well, on and on. I obviously touched a nerve. I’ve since heard from other authors (I’m so tired I originally typed that as “author others” which perhaps works, too) that she’s given them some problems in the past — so, hey, whatever.

Point is, it escalated quickly.

Her defense of using my quote was “fair use,” which it may be — I don’t know because again, I have not seen the book. (She’s reportedly cribbing a quote of mine from 250 Things You Should Know About Writing.) One assumes I am expected to pay for the book to be inspired by myself? Is that a good deal? It doesn’t feel like a good deal.

Let’s talk about when you can use another author’s — or artist’s — work.

Assume the answer is “not without permission,” especially when you’re profiting from the use.

Now, that’s not necessarily functionally true. “Fair use” is a real thing, but it’s very rarely as cut and dried and one would prefer. The author’s dead, so it’s fair use? The estate may yet be involved. It’s before a certain date so it’s fair use? Again, the estate may be involved or there may be other legal entanglements. It’s just a quote, so it’s okay? Maybe. Maybe not.

This is a pretty good look at fair use, from NOLO.

It asks whether or not you’re contributing new content or just repurposing old content. It notes, too, that the amount of material cribbed is less important than the quality and value of material cribbed. Lots of little vagaries and legal eddies you may get caught in, which is again why I say:

Always ask the author or artist. It’s just good to be safe.

I have people sometimes repurpose entire terribleminds posts, and I usually ask as politely as possible that they excerpt the post and link back. (To be clear, I don’t fight if they don’t back down, generally. Is that really the hill I want to defend? Probably not.)

For the record, I’m entirely supportive of folks using quotes or excerpted material in blog posts or across social media or in educational material — long as the author isn’t making money off me or my work, I’m pretty loosey-goosey with how my stuff gets out there. If you’re not sure if your use falls on the right side of this, you can always email me at terribleminds at gmail dot com and I’m happy to chat. I won’t bite. Unless cornered. Or paid handsomely.

A Thrown Fist Always Hurts The Hand

Some really nasty business went down in Boston yesterday, as I’m sure we all know. It’s tough stuff, and as I said yesterday on Twitter, it becomes easy to fall into the trap of cynicism and suspicion, fear and finger-pointing, but for me it’s about trying to pull away from those baser instincts and look to the people doing so much good immediately after the shit hits the fan. (That proven Mister Rogers quote about “looking for the helpers” is one I’ll share with my son when he’s old enough to parse this sort of thing.

Yesterday I said a related thing, which was, “The evil of a handful of fuckos cannot be allowed to outweigh the love the lion’s share of us can and do feel for one another.” Patton Oswalt said a similar thing (I’d link but I’m writing this from my iPad in a hotel room in Florida): “So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerence of fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, ‘The good will always outnumber you, aand we always will.’”

I ruminated a little too on the images of violence that spring up after this sort of thing — on the one hand, I think seeing the realities of war and violence is useful if only so it turns us away from any potential bloodthirst we may have. On the other hand, I don’t know that it works that way, particularly when images that trend toward gore porn end up in front of us without warning — stuff like that can trigger some deep emotional responses in people, including depression or PTSD

Someone then responded on Twitter with an interesting question of whether or not I feel bad about the violence in my fiction, and my thought then and now was, well, that’s a bit different, isn’t it? Violence in fiction is, first of all, fiction. But it’s generally expected — we read a crime novel or a horror novel, that violence is usually part and parcel. And in the realm of fiction, violence can be framed by context and informed by consequence.

Or, more to the point, it should be. And that, I think, is what I want to say, here — in fiction, violence even in silly pulp material is best when it has some sense of consequence behind it. It isn’t just candy-floss or cartoon fun — a fist thrown always hurts the hand. Things happen as a result to violence. Sometimes good things. But something always bad, too. Even in the Dinocalypse series I try to inform the pulp action with a sense of cause-and-effect; the pulp heroes aren’t violent because they like it, they’re driven to it because that’s sometimes how you stop the bad guy. But even still there exists a kind of lightly erosive, corrrosive component to it — like I said, even if that is just so simple as a hand that hurts after throwing a punch.

Anyway, random thoughts here — apologies for the slap-dash nature of it, but such is the way of hammering together a post while on a trip. I’ll be back home later today (well, much, much later today), so, see you on the other side.

EDITED TO ADD:  If you want to do something for Boston, beware scam charities or “RT this and we’ll donate” nonsense. Best option right now is to donate to the Red Cross or donate blood — though I don’t suspect that the blood will go to Boston.

Where Where Will You Go?

I’m traveling, at present, lost in the Mangrove wilds of the Florida Keys, my shirt stinking of rum, a cormorant dogging my every step, a new (and stung) tattoo of an anchor on my left ass-cheek.

I’m here doing research for the next Miriam Black book, and this is my first official “research” trip. (It’s done wonders. It’s very hard to write about a place without ever having been there. Particularly if the book is set in just such a location — you can maybe get away with a scene or a chapter or two, but 3/4 of a book? Not easy, at least, not for me.)

So, it seems apropos that today’s question should focus on travel.

But, in particular, writerly travel.

Let’s say you can go anywhere in the world, but it’s for your writing. Whether to serve as inspiration or as research.

Where would you go, and why?

Flash Fiction Challenge: Choose Your Opening Line

So, last week’s challenge was for you to write a kick-ass opening line.

And the post got over 400 entries.

*blink blink*

Holy crap.

And tons of really great stuff, too.

(Though, some less-than-good ones, too. People: it’s like ten, twenty words. Spellcheck!)

Curiously, three motifs showed up with… perhaps alarming frequency:

Blood.

A gun.

Someone about to die / someone already dead (future corpse / current corpse).

Y’all are some twisted little word-wranglers.

Anywho!

I’ve posted below a handful of the ones I really liked. Fourteen of them, as a matter of fact. These are not all “winners” in terms of the contest — I still have to whittle this bunch down to three:

Once James accepted that he had no choice but to burn the books, the question became which to burn first. — Valerie Valdes

Prima donnas aren’t born.
 — Mari Bayo

The ghost of a sparrow flitted through one wall and out the other.
 — CJ Eggett

I was born beneath a black veil of mourning, a dark bud blooming deep in its shadow. — 
Gina Herron

It’s always midnight somewhere.  – Andrew Jack

My brother’s birth was preceded by three distinct and inexplicable phenomena. — Jason Heitkamper

Max sat amongst the dead, whistling to himself.  – Brad

For the second time in a week, I come over Shatter Hill at midnight and see fire at the crossroad below.  – Bill Cameron

I never trusted that statue in the garden behind the house.
 — Cat York

Larry was on the toilet, shitting his brains out, while cleaning his gat.
  – The Philosophunculist

The problem with the ringing phone wasn’t how loud it was, or that it hadn’t stopped ringing for an hour, but that Tom didn’t have a phone. — Jake Bible

When the last cherry blossom falls, so will my axe.
  – Delilah

“You must walk three paces behind me,” she said. “And never raise your eyes to mine.” — Nathan Long

Tommy beat him with a kiss, and the crowd hated him for it. — Hector Acosta

Which will be our final three?

Here we go:

The ghost of a sparrow flitted through one wall and out the other.
 — CJ Eggett

“You must walk three paces behind me,” she said. “And never raise your eyes to mine.” — Nathan Long 

When the last cherry blossom falls, so will my axe.
  – Delilah

So, there we go.

You three: email me at terribleminds at gmail dot com.

I’ll make sure to get you set up with a pre-order of Blue Blazes slinging your way upon release.

For the rest of you:

Your goal is simple:

To write a story using one of the opening lines above. You can choose from the whole lot — not just the three “winners.” Any of the opening lines you find on this page (again, I think I’ve listed 14 of ‘em) are open game. Choose your opening line and write a piece of flash fiction (up to 1000 words) with that line as the opener. Post it at your online space, link back here.

I’ll choose one person’s story — just one! — to win autographed copies of my books Blackbirds, Mockingbird, and Gods & Monsters. This is open only to US residents (international are welcome to play, but the best prize I can offer you is e-copies of my writing books).

You have one week.

Due Friday the 19th by noon EST (firm deadline).

It’ll take me a week to choose. At which point I’ll email the winner and announce here on this post both in the comments and in the post itself.

Go forth and write!