Aaron Polson's Blog, page 19

The October Contest

This is the greatest month of the year. Not only does the end of October bring Halloween, but the horror movie marathons fill cable channels, the leaves do their annual color-change magic (around here, at least), I convert leftover sub-flooring into tombstones for the yard (above), and I can hold a ridiculous contest.


Ridiculous as in awesome.

Grand Prize: You name and supply physical/psychological characteristics for a character in my next book. Here's the teaser: Four friends gather at their twenty year high school reunion to pay respects to a friend who died in high school... Within a week of their meeting, one of them is murdered. I'll leave it there, for now.

1st Place: You supply me with two characters (general types, e.g., plumber--you can name them if you wish), a situation, and a setting, and I write a piece of flash fiction (of at least 500 words) to share with the world.You may even name the piece, if you wish.

2nd Place: I will write a Friday Flash (of at least 100 words) with any title you supply.

So how do you enter?

Every time you do the following, you receive "points" (points like tickets in a raffle):

1. Comment on my blog anytime during October. 1 point

2. Tweet about the contest (include my Twitter handle: @aaronpolson) 2 points

3. Tweet about any of my books (include my Twitter handle: @aaronpolson) 2 points

4. Write a review of any of my books at Amazon, Goodreads, or Smashwords; better yet, post the same review at all three. 5 points each  (15 to post at all three...whoot)

5. Buy a book.  You'll have to let me know at aaron.polson(at)gmail.com.  5 points


To facilitate #5 (and celebrate October), I've lowered the price on all my self/indie published books to 99 cents at Amazon.com for the next week.  Get 'em while they're hot.

The contest ends on October 31st at midnight Central Standard Time; winners will be announced November 1st.

The Chilling Effect on Internet Anonymity

Should individuals be allowed to use "false names" (or pseudonyms) on the internet?

This story on NPR begs the question. Big sites like Google + and Facebook say no. 


From the piece:

"Part of the L.A. Times site still operates under what Orr calls the old Wild West system, where all you need to comment on a story is an email address. He says those sections have more trolls, commenters who bait each other with racism or personal attacks. The sections with Facebook logins, on the other hand, are pretty civil."

 I have no love of trolls--the internet kind. (I like them in fantasy stories.) While I understand why some have the need to use false names online (just like I understand why Peter Parker wears a mask as Spider-man), in many cases the right to be anonymous is abused--e.g., trolls. Being anonymous allows individuals to be as mean and nasty as they can, which, in turn, can have a chilling effect on others who don't want to be mean and nasty.  The term "chilling effect" usually refers to laws which infringe on the freedom of speech.

I think anonymous internet trolls infringe on the freedom of speech.  They are bullies and cowards.

Once upon a time, newspapers required a phone number with a letter to the editor. I've had a few published in the past, and every time the paper called me to verify I was who I said I was in the letter.  

Anonymous has spun out of control. I respectfully disagree with the argument that internet pseudonyms are the same as literary pseudonyms as "Gardin Winslow" suggests (in the NPR piece).  (Did you find this blog via Google, Gardin?  I hope you're well.) I do understand your need for anonymity and I respect your perspective. But the same?

Hardly.

Internet anonymity has become a way for people to be as awful as they want, to play with their demons in public without any sense of how those demons might stomp all over others. In the worst cases, some folks loose their demons on purpose because they like to hurt others. 

Of all amendments in the United States Bill of Rights, I hold the first most dear:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Language is what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. Excercise it.

But do so with care.

A student once wore a t-shirt with the phrase "Freedom of Fucking Speech" emblazoned across the chest.

Oh... Really? I'm glad men and women have died over the centuries for this freedom--all so you can don the F-bomb and stride into the school.  Well played.

Freedom of speech is a powerful thing--and power must be used carefully. I rewired part of the basement this summer, but I didn't let the kids play with the bare wires. And you can be damn sure I flipped the breakers before I touched anything. I only needed to watch one light switch spark and melt to know the power humming through those thin copper lines. Speech carries more weight. Speech has started and ended wars, caused religions to be born and crumble...

And now, mean people abuse it so they can be royal assholes online with impunity. 

Am I worried about the chilling effect of "real" names being required online? 

No.

I'm more concerned with the audacity of mean people to abuse their fellows and then cry foul when someone wants to take their weapons away. 


Boo-hoo.

WIP Wednesday: On Running the Marathon

I've heard the metaphor "it's a marathon not a sprint" too often lately. Okay, maybe not too often--but many times. It's an appropriate one for many things in life because, after all, life is a marathon, not a sprint.

Writing a novel is a marathon. Selling short stories is a marathon (at least it takes a looooong time to develop your craft and wait for market responses). Selling a novel is even more of a marathon. Should you decide to go "indie" (or self-publish), selling books is a marathon. At least it should be--the sprints will kill you.

In a meeting yesterday, our superintendent said a school improvement process was a marathon, not a sprint. One of my colleagues freaked out: "I'm better at short distances!"

It's not the distance, dear. It's that you shouldn't blow all your energy in one, short burst. You'll need to pace yourself.

I love selling ebooks, but I'm not one to go crazy with marketing. These are the sprinters. I do a few things, here and there. The most effective being Library Thing giveaways (they'll let you give away ebooks--unlike Goodreads which requires dead-tree editions) and making books free at Smashwords. Nothing else comes close as far as impact for the amount of time involved.

And time, these days, is a very precious thing. With two very busy children and a third on the way, my life outside of school is torn in several directions. How do I find time to write? I don't know. But, like sleeping and eating, I need to write to live--at least to add quality to my life. I probably need to sleep a little more, though.

In the Memory House is almost finished. It will be a short novel at about 60K.  If I was worried about querying agents, I might as well stop and forget about it. No one will touch a 60K novel. Good thing readers aren't so picky. I've really run the marathon with this book, and I hope to push to the first of many finish lines later this week.

How's your marathon going?

Flash Fiction and Me: Small Magic

Here's the real truth:

I owe any writing chops I have to flash fiction.  Flash fiction taught me the power of the right word at the right time. It taught me how to edit, how to cut, how to tweak to fit the most impact in the fewest number of words. Striving to "get it right" in a piece of flash did more for my writing craft than any novel, story, or blog entry I've penned over the last five years.

Quite simply, flash fiction is magic.

Anyone wishing to be a writer should--no must write a little flash.

I've collected 71 of my flash stories in one e-book*:


Stories reprinted in Small Magic represent some of my very best. Several have been reprinted in The Best of Every Day Fiction (volumes Two and Three). Several stories are award winners. Some of them will make the reader cringe, cry, or laugh. A few will do all three.

(You might notice the cover on Amazon is different... I haven't had a chance to update it yet.)

*a paperback version is in the works (stay tuned)

Flash Fiction and Me, Part 1

Time for the truth: I've had a rocky relationship with flash fiction through the years.

In the beginning, I didn't think much of it. Real writers penned novels. Between novels, they wrote short stories. Less than a thousand words? Please. Less than five hundred? That's just obscene.

During one sleepless night in 2008, I decided I needed to push myself, stretch the boundaries a little. Maybe there was something to this "flash fiction" thing. Maybe I just disliked it because I wasn't any good at it.

I decided to call for submissions for a new magazine; 52 Stitches was born. Of course, during the first year, I called it Fifty-Two Stitches.

I'm not the greatest magazine editor on the planet. Some of the stories... Well let's just say I'm not sure I always picked the best from each litter.

I loved doing Stitches. I kind of miss it. I'd love to do it again, but with the impending birth of our third child--I just can't.

If you're new to this blog and haven't read any Stitches yet, most of the stories are still available online (52stitches.blogspot.com).  Both years are collected in dead tree editions as well. 


 (2009)  <p><p><p><br><br><br><br><br><br>(2010)</p></p></p>

(2010)

Tomorrow I'll discuss how flash fiction became one of my favorite storytelling modes. (And why every writer should practice this particular art.)

Friday Flashback: Let's Scare Jessica to Death

If you've never seen Let's Scare Jessica to Death, a strange, bleak gem from 1971, it's time to give it a view.

Can you tell Halloween is coming?  I'm excited. 
[image error]

The Big Book of New Short Horror

I'm a sucker for a retro/pulpy looking cover.While the Big Book of New Short Horror might not have that "PC" vibe, it certainly screams retro. And lookie here, it's out just in time for Halloween.

My story, "Lulu Learns the Stitch," is included along with 57 (57!) other tales. You can grab the lot for your Kindle ($2.99) with paperback and hardcover options coming soon. 

Thanks to editor Jessy Marie Roberts for giving "Lulu" a home. 

WIP Wednesday: Head Hopping

Some stories have a clear protagonist--others operate with an ensemble cast.

I'm reading Hell House by Richard Matheson for a third time.* Matheson skillfully weaves four characters into his narrative, switching scenes when hopping heads, and it never feels wrong. He's consistent within a scene, but the reader has four protagonists to follow. I like it.



I'm not playing the same kind of game with In the Memory House, but some of the minor characters have scenes of their own. Like Johnny, a twenty-something veteran of the Iraq war:

Funny—he hadn't thought of the cabin in years. How old had he been—seventeen, eighteen—the last time Uncle Mel had them to the cabin? That was all before Mel's prostrate cancer, the chemo, and the funeral. Years ago. Before college, the house, and Baghdad. 

Jesus, not again. 

Johnny rolled over, closing his eyes. He didn't need his eyes to see the thick layer of shit-yellow dust on clothing and skin and buildings and his Humvee. Dust covered everything. He didn't need his eyes to remember the way Ty Miller's face looked seconds before the rigged howitzer shell ripped open the side of their Humvee and a hunk of shrapnel tore a gash in Miller's throat. The blood came to Johnny in his sleep. He saw it pour from the tap. He even pissed blood.

He's not the "it" character through the whole book, but everyone in the cast has a moment on stage. 


*Yes, I'm that guy, the one who reads a book or story over... and over... and over again.**

**Only if it's good.***

***Yes, Cate, three stars are fun.
[image error]

Great Stories = Great Inspiration

Thanks to Daniel Powell's recommendation, I picked up a copy of Crucified Dreams. Funny subtitle on that book... I'm not sure many of the stories qualify as Urban Horror, but that is beside the point.

The point? Some of the pieces in Crucified Dreams are "grab you by the throat" awesome. I slapped myself for never reading Harlan Ellison's amazing "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" before. Slapped myself hard. Ellison's a little crazy (okay, a lot crazy), but he writes with passion and wit and life.I want even one-tenth of that for myself. 

I woke hours before the rest of the family on Saturday, read Ellison's piece, and immediately wrote pages of handwritten notes and prose for a short story--the first time in months I felt that inspired to write a short. "The Tiger Yawns" now stands at 2,100 words and I should finish today around 3K.

Thanks Uncle Harlan. Thanks Daniel. Thanks to all the tigers locked up in the zoo. This story is for you.


They're even scary when they yawn.

Five Question Friday: Budo von Stahl

Five questions with  Budo von Stahl:   1. What do you think makes a good story?

Good grammar and spelling, of course; engaging characters; and I'm a sucker for good world-building/backstories.
2. What is the last book you read?

Chicks in Chainmail
3. Is the book always better than the movie?

Almost.
4. Why are manhole covers round?

Because people are square?
5.  If I could read a diary of one of your characters, what would I learn about him/her?

Tillman kept a journal, and most of what I know of him and his friends came from it.  (insert winking smiley here)