Aaron Polson's Blog, page 42
November 3, 2010
WIP Wednesday: In Which I Leave My Body
Ever have one of those moments when you feel like you're living in another person's body?
I read a snippet from Geoff Willmetts brief mention of Triangulation: End of the Rainbow at Stephen Hunt's SF Crowsnest and had just such an experience:
'The World In Rubber, Soft And Malleable' by Aaron Polson has a title you have to love. A small town has a population that is slowly vanishing and one of the local graffiti painting teens remaining decides to celebrate their lives. This story wouldn't have been out of place under the auspices of Ray Bradbury.
Ray effing Bradbury? Knock me over with a feather.
Speaking of out of body experiences, it seems I've won the Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award for October with my magical realism flash, "Different Strings". You can read "Different Strings" online. You can also read some curious comments about one of Mercedes M. Yardley's previous entries. Thanks, Mercedes. I wouldn't have entered without your prompting.
Okay, enough of that astral traveling. Here's a piece of my as-yet-untitled WIP:
Here's the truth about growing up in a small town: you tell lies to survive.
I worked in a grocery store in high school, part time on the evenings and weekends. I saw plenty of strange things there: avocados stuffed in a barrel of fresh popcorn left to rot, a co-worker who used an awl to punch holes in the caps of beer bottles, pies marked "Verda's own home-baked" which came frozen on pallets with the Sunday dairy truck. I found a body in the trash bin once, but nobody can prove who put it there.
I read a snippet from Geoff Willmetts brief mention of Triangulation: End of the Rainbow at Stephen Hunt's SF Crowsnest and had just such an experience:
'The World In Rubber, Soft And Malleable' by Aaron Polson has a title you have to love. A small town has a population that is slowly vanishing and one of the local graffiti painting teens remaining decides to celebrate their lives. This story wouldn't have been out of place under the auspices of Ray Bradbury.
Ray effing Bradbury? Knock me over with a feather.
Speaking of out of body experiences, it seems I've won the Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award for October with my magical realism flash, "Different Strings". You can read "Different Strings" online. You can also read some curious comments about one of Mercedes M. Yardley's previous entries. Thanks, Mercedes. I wouldn't have entered without your prompting.
Okay, enough of that astral traveling. Here's a piece of my as-yet-untitled WIP:
Here's the truth about growing up in a small town: you tell lies to survive.
I worked in a grocery store in high school, part time on the evenings and weekends. I saw plenty of strange things there: avocados stuffed in a barrel of fresh popcorn left to rot, a co-worker who used an awl to punch holes in the caps of beer bottles, pies marked "Verda's own home-baked" which came frozen on pallets with the Sunday dairy truck. I found a body in the trash bin once, but nobody can prove who put it there.
November 1, 2010
Hey, NaNoWriMos, What's the Problem?
All you literary, avant-garde types please avert your eyes. I know you care less about plot than character development. Go about your business.
Every story, especially a novel, must have a problem. The easiest way to accomplish this is to thwart a character from getting what he or she wants. And any character, if drawn properly, wants something. (Because characters should be like real people, right? I certainly have wants.)
In The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, the Time Traveler wants to prove his theory about the 4th dimension.
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor wants to learn the secret of life.
Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey wants to keep hiding.
Even in more "literary" work, the protagonists have desires--love, acceptance, other universal human themes.
The story happens when a character is blocked or thwarted from achieving what he/she wants...or sometimes faces consequences of seeking the object of his/her desire.
The Time Traveler arrives in the future (yay!), but his time machine is stolen, thwarting his return to the present (boo!).
Victor brings the Monster to life, but ugh...dude is ugly. And scary. And lonely. (Um, did I mention vengeful?)
McMurphy punches holes in Chief's defenses and helps him realize there's more to life than hiding--but living life comes with a cost.
In each case, story happens when wants are interferred with.
My latest WIP, a novel (no, not a NaNo novel), my protagonist wants to keep hiding bodies like he's always done, but then a girl moves to town...and he's just not sure anymore. That and the metaphysical consequences of so many unexpected deaths in a small town.
Yeah, that too.
I hope NaNo is going well.
Every story, especially a novel, must have a problem. The easiest way to accomplish this is to thwart a character from getting what he or she wants. And any character, if drawn properly, wants something. (Because characters should be like real people, right? I certainly have wants.)
In The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, the Time Traveler wants to prove his theory about the 4th dimension.
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor wants to learn the secret of life.
Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey wants to keep hiding.
Even in more "literary" work, the protagonists have desires--love, acceptance, other universal human themes.
The story happens when a character is blocked or thwarted from achieving what he/she wants...or sometimes faces consequences of seeking the object of his/her desire.
The Time Traveler arrives in the future (yay!), but his time machine is stolen, thwarting his return to the present (boo!).
Victor brings the Monster to life, but ugh...dude is ugly. And scary. And lonely. (Um, did I mention vengeful?)
McMurphy punches holes in Chief's defenses and helps him realize there's more to life than hiding--but living life comes with a cost.
In each case, story happens when wants are interferred with.
My latest WIP, a novel (no, not a NaNo novel), my protagonist wants to keep hiding bodies like he's always done, but then a girl moves to town...and he's just not sure anymore. That and the metaphysical consequences of so many unexpected deaths in a small town.
Yeah, that too.
I hope NaNo is going well.
October 30, 2010
Happy Halloween from Owen
"The Monster in the Night"
by Owen Polson
Once there was a monster named Harold. He didn't know how to trick or treat. He heard voices in the distance. He didn't know who it was so he went in the graveyard. It got louder and louder until he could see them. They were zombies. The zombies were his friends. He said, "Hooray they will help me trick or treat."
Happy Halloween, everyone!
by Owen Polson
Once there was a monster named Harold. He didn't know how to trick or treat. He heard voices in the distance. He didn't know who it was so he went in the graveyard. It got louder and louder until he could see them. They were zombies. The zombies were his friends. He said, "Hooray they will help me trick or treat."
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Halloween Treats
Treat #1: Being an obsessive Googler of my own name (as all good authors should be, right?), I'm not sure how I missed this lovely review of "Empty Vessels" from Morpheus Tales VIII:
"... modern-day horror story set in the bayou and the Gulf of Mexico after a disastrous flood has drowned hundreds of local people. Elroy Jantz, a boatman who occasionally contracted for shrimp companies, is drafted along with many other small boatmen to retrieve the water-logged bodies from the waters. This was one of the gems of this issue and made for a strong finish. The imagery is dark, but unique, and the development of the reader's understanding of Elroy's past is revealed carefully, without stunting the pace of the story."
Read the rest of reviewer Maggie Jamison's take at Tangent Online.
Heck, read "Empty Vessels" for free via Scribd.
Treat #2: Tangent keeps coughing them up...a bit about "Precious Metal" (Albedo One #38) from reviewer Dave Truesdale:
"...Aaron Polson's "Precious Metal" gives a snapshot of a post-collapse world where professional gangs ravage the countryside for anything of value, in this case scrap metal of any sort. Using mob tactics, they regularly extort from one old man who lives in a junkyard and who, on the sly, makes the most wonderful creations. His pride and joy is a mechanical owl who can think (think steampunk here). When the mobsters visit the kindly old man in what turns out to be their final visit, the tragedy turns poignant as we learn the mechanical owl has been imbued with feelings as well as thought. Though reminiscent of the devotion flesh and blood animals feel for their owners/masters (especially dogs), this—for want of a better decription—"emotional vignette" achieves its purpose. The final image is well drawn."
More here.
Treat #3: The incomparable Gef Fox allowed me to write about two of my favorite movies (with the same name): Thing One and Thing Two for the Monster Movie Marathon. I like to talk about monsters...
And finally, Treat #4: Joe Nazare has some author blurbs about their favorite Halloween costumes. The blurbs won't be posted until Halloween, but I suspect I'll be busy. Check it out at http://www.macabre-republic.com.
"... modern-day horror story set in the bayou and the Gulf of Mexico after a disastrous flood has drowned hundreds of local people. Elroy Jantz, a boatman who occasionally contracted for shrimp companies, is drafted along with many other small boatmen to retrieve the water-logged bodies from the waters. This was one of the gems of this issue and made for a strong finish. The imagery is dark, but unique, and the development of the reader's understanding of Elroy's past is revealed carefully, without stunting the pace of the story."
Read the rest of reviewer Maggie Jamison's take at Tangent Online.
Heck, read "Empty Vessels" for free via Scribd.
Treat #2: Tangent keeps coughing them up...a bit about "Precious Metal" (Albedo One #38) from reviewer Dave Truesdale:
"...Aaron Polson's "Precious Metal" gives a snapshot of a post-collapse world where professional gangs ravage the countryside for anything of value, in this case scrap metal of any sort. Using mob tactics, they regularly extort from one old man who lives in a junkyard and who, on the sly, makes the most wonderful creations. His pride and joy is a mechanical owl who can think (think steampunk here). When the mobsters visit the kindly old man in what turns out to be their final visit, the tragedy turns poignant as we learn the mechanical owl has been imbued with feelings as well as thought. Though reminiscent of the devotion flesh and blood animals feel for their owners/masters (especially dogs), this—for want of a better decription—"emotional vignette" achieves its purpose. The final image is well drawn."
More here.
Treat #3: The incomparable Gef Fox allowed me to write about two of my favorite movies (with the same name): Thing One and Thing Two for the Monster Movie Marathon. I like to talk about monsters...
And finally, Treat #4: Joe Nazare has some author blurbs about their favorite Halloween costumes. The blurbs won't be posted until Halloween, but I suspect I'll be busy. Check it out at http://www.macabre-republic.com.
October 29, 2010
Hammer for Halloween
Yes, Halloween is a very special time of the year.
October 28, 2010
Back from the Dead for Halloween: The Bottom Feeders
Look what's back from the "dead" in time for Halloween.
Download The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories for Kindle.
Download The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories for Nook.
Download The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories at Smashwords.
(You can even download a shorter version for free at Smashwords.)
...and The Bottom Feeders would like to be your friend at Goodreads.
October 27, 2010
WIP Wednesday: The Inferential Power of Hint Fiction
Yes, I was one of those who received my pre-order of this:
...before the official release date. I shared a story, Joe R. Lansdale's "The Return" with students and had them riff on it during a quick, three-minute writing session. My favorite (I haven't edited a word, but I want to):
They buried him deep again. The morning before we buried that old man six feet deep and covered him good. But last night, we found his open coffin with no one in it. The town was quiet. No one told their children. Our arrogant sheriff said it was rain that washed him up, but it was hardly a storm.
I love the last line, especially the well placed use of the word arrogant. Sometimes, I feel like the students are "getting it". (I reprinted that little snippet with permission, of course.)
The other magic I've found in the pages of Hint Fiction is how each tiny story encourages inference.
From the Kansas State Reading Standards:
1.4.5 - uses information from the text to make inferences and draw conclusions.
This is hint fiction--it's all inferences and unsaid conclusions. Many of the stories, even in the life & death section, are quite funny.
Nice work, authors. Nice work, Mr. Robert Swartwood. Thank you for helping me reach my students.
In WIP news, I'm looking over edits for Loathsome, Dark and Deep. If you haven't checked out the novel's web site, here it is. I smell a contest coming...
Oh, and buy a copy of Hint Fiction, okay?
...before the official release date. I shared a story, Joe R. Lansdale's "The Return" with students and had them riff on it during a quick, three-minute writing session. My favorite (I haven't edited a word, but I want to):They buried him deep again. The morning before we buried that old man six feet deep and covered him good. But last night, we found his open coffin with no one in it. The town was quiet. No one told their children. Our arrogant sheriff said it was rain that washed him up, but it was hardly a storm.
I love the last line, especially the well placed use of the word arrogant. Sometimes, I feel like the students are "getting it". (I reprinted that little snippet with permission, of course.)
The other magic I've found in the pages of Hint Fiction is how each tiny story encourages inference.
From the Kansas State Reading Standards:
1.4.5 - uses information from the text to make inferences and draw conclusions.
This is hint fiction--it's all inferences and unsaid conclusions. Many of the stories, even in the life & death section, are quite funny.
Nice work, authors. Nice work, Mr. Robert Swartwood. Thank you for helping me reach my students.
In WIP news, I'm looking over edits for Loathsome, Dark and Deep. If you haven't checked out the novel's web site, here it is. I smell a contest coming...
Oh, and buy a copy of Hint Fiction, okay?
October 26, 2010
Saying "No"
Some of you undoubtedly read my tweet yesterday:
"I just turned down a book offer. Why?"
As I tried to explain in the subsequent tweetage, it was an offer on my first book. I wasn't sure I wanted it "out there". But there's more, of course.
The offer was from an e-book company (a very solid e-book publisher, I might add). When I subbed the book in the summer of 2009, the poor dear had gone through massive edits--maybe twenty rounds or more. It is my oldest child, the one who faces the parental missteps and unintentional abuses. I just wasn't sure I wanted to let it leave the house just yet, and I'm pretty darn sure I don't want to sign a deal for e-rights only.
Not today. Not in 2010.
Why?
Because I can release it myself if I choose and keep the profit. Sure. Because I'm becoming a real sonuvabitch about creative control, too.
But what's the trade off?
Well, no "outside" editing, for one. While I'm fairly confident in my editing abilities (at least for my own stuff), I always miss something. I haven't touched The Last Days of the Springdale Saints in over a year. I'm going to give it another pass before making any final decisions.
Number two: the "stigma" of self-publishing. Yeah, well, whatever. I'm really not interested in hiding in the cave and waiting for the other dinosaurs to come home. I feel I've built a body of work I'm proud of, some of it published in nice, well-respected venues. I can write fairly well at times, at other times, my writing sucks. Hopefully I'll live long enough to spot the difference.
I don't know if I'm going to set The Last Days of the Springdale Saints free or not. I love the book as only a parent can love an oldest child. I've rewritten it a few times. I've edited it almost too many to count. It has taught me more than any of my subsequent novels. In its latest incarnation, a slim 67K, I've cut almost 30K words. The aforementioned e-publisher was the only one to see the slimmed down Saints. Maybe the book is ready.
Time will tell.
"I just turned down a book offer. Why?"
As I tried to explain in the subsequent tweetage, it was an offer on my first book. I wasn't sure I wanted it "out there". But there's more, of course.
The offer was from an e-book company (a very solid e-book publisher, I might add). When I subbed the book in the summer of 2009, the poor dear had gone through massive edits--maybe twenty rounds or more. It is my oldest child, the one who faces the parental missteps and unintentional abuses. I just wasn't sure I wanted to let it leave the house just yet, and I'm pretty darn sure I don't want to sign a deal for e-rights only.
Not today. Not in 2010.
Why?
Because I can release it myself if I choose and keep the profit. Sure. Because I'm becoming a real sonuvabitch about creative control, too.
But what's the trade off?
Well, no "outside" editing, for one. While I'm fairly confident in my editing abilities (at least for my own stuff), I always miss something. I haven't touched The Last Days of the Springdale Saints in over a year. I'm going to give it another pass before making any final decisions.
Number two: the "stigma" of self-publishing. Yeah, well, whatever. I'm really not interested in hiding in the cave and waiting for the other dinosaurs to come home. I feel I've built a body of work I'm proud of, some of it published in nice, well-respected venues. I can write fairly well at times, at other times, my writing sucks. Hopefully I'll live long enough to spot the difference.
I don't know if I'm going to set The Last Days of the Springdale Saints free or not. I love the book as only a parent can love an oldest child. I've rewritten it a few times. I've edited it almost too many to count. It has taught me more than any of my subsequent novels. In its latest incarnation, a slim 67K, I've cut almost 30K words. The aforementioned e-publisher was the only one to see the slimmed down Saints. Maybe the book is ready.
Time will tell.
October 25, 2010
A Repeat, a List, and an Echo
It's Monday, which means I'm tired and sunburned from watching the Kansas City Chiefs put a whooping on Jacksonville, 42-20. I'll admit there was a little nail-biting in the third quarter, but after a pick six by Derrick Johnson, the hammer was most effectively brought down.
Okay, enough sports blah-blah-blah.
1. A Repeat
Friday night (I had the day off after a marathon twelve-hour parent/teacher conference day on Thursday), we held our second trying-to-be annual "drive-in" movie night in our backyard. It was load of fun as you can obviously tell in this out-of-focus and rather dark picture:
Last time around, we watched Scooby-Doo. This year, it was Shaun the Sheep, Little Sheep of Horrors. Claymation fun for everyone! (Yes, we projected the movie on a sheet attached to our roof.)
2. A List
The table of contents for Day Terrors (from The Harrow Press) is official, and it includes:
Ataraxia — Scott Brendel
Okay, enough sports blah-blah-blah.
1. A Repeat
Friday night (I had the day off after a marathon twelve-hour parent/teacher conference day on Thursday), we held our second trying-to-be annual "drive-in" movie night in our backyard. It was load of fun as you can obviously tell in this out-of-focus and rather dark picture:
Last time around, we watched Scooby-Doo. This year, it was Shaun the Sheep, Little Sheep of Horrors. Claymation fun for everyone! (Yes, we projected the movie on a sheet attached to our roof.)2. A List
The table of contents for Day Terrors (from The Harrow Press) is official, and it includes:
Ataraxia — Scott Brendel
Sea of Green, Sea of Gold — Aaron Polson
The Wish Man and the Worm — J.M. Heluk
The Woman in the Ditch — Scott Lininger
And the Crowd Goes Wild — John Jasper Owens
No Sin Remains A Secret — Jack Bowdren
The Heat Has Fangs — Trent Roman
In Lieu of Flowers — Chad McKee
Down Where the Blue Bonnets Grow — Daniel R. Robichaud
The Infatuate — Adam Walter
Fiddleback — Lorna D. Keach
Daddy Long Legs — Harper Hull
Miss Riley's Lot — Gregory Miller
Closing the Deal — Lee Clark Zumpe
Customs — Mark Rigney
A Day at the Beach — Lawrence Conquest
Uncle Alec's Gargoyle — Rebecca Fraser
Carrington Cove — Davin Ireland
Lollipop — Jason Sizemore
Companion — Rob E. Boley
Sands of Time — E. C. Seaman
The TOC with story blurbs can be found at The Harrow. I had fun with my story because it let me make up more crazy sh*t about Kansas. I sure like to make up crazy sh*t about Kansas...
3. And finally, an Echo...as in Leigh Blackmore has informed me that "In the Cave of Stories" will find a home in Midnight Echo #5 (Midnight Echo being a publication of the Australian Horror Writers Association). I love this piece and it was well worth the wait to hear the "yes".
October 20, 2010
WIP Wednesday: I Have Conquered #10bythen
I like challenges, and I usually attack them with vigor. #10bythen has been good to me this month...in fact, I just shipped off submission eleven. Granted, it was an old story which sat unloved in an editor's inbox for nearly two years before I pulled it...
In the past month, I've made submissions to The Zombie Feed, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Gloom Cupboard (a poem!), Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award, Pedestal Magazine, Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Scape, Trembles (another resurrected story), and Ghostology. I have three pieces of flash ready for editing, including a rather chilling (at least I think so), story inspired by Jeff VanderMeer's brilliant short, "The General Who is Dead", and bog mummies. I have two more short stories, about 3K each, which need editing, too. One is destined for submission to Kevin J. Anderson (Blood Lite 3), but I won't hold my breath that lightning will strike twice. The other is weird and haunting, but not horrific. Literary markets, here comes "The Emperor of Empty Spaces".
And, for the record, all of the markets to which I've subbed this month pay, at least a token sum. I don't like to make official decisions, but it looks like I've but my fiction where my thoughts are.
Thanks to Mercedes and all the #10bythen crew. I needed a kick in the pants, and October has been an awesome run of writing (so far). With five stories waiting in line, time to hit the edits, eh?[image error]
In the past month, I've made submissions to The Zombie Feed, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Gloom Cupboard (a poem!), Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award, Pedestal Magazine, Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Scape, Trembles (another resurrected story), and Ghostology. I have three pieces of flash ready for editing, including a rather chilling (at least I think so), story inspired by Jeff VanderMeer's brilliant short, "The General Who is Dead", and bog mummies. I have two more short stories, about 3K each, which need editing, too. One is destined for submission to Kevin J. Anderson (Blood Lite 3), but I won't hold my breath that lightning will strike twice. The other is weird and haunting, but not horrific. Literary markets, here comes "The Emperor of Empty Spaces".
And, for the record, all of the markets to which I've subbed this month pay, at least a token sum. I don't like to make official decisions, but it looks like I've but my fiction where my thoughts are.
Thanks to Mercedes and all the #10bythen crew. I needed a kick in the pants, and October has been an awesome run of writing (so far). With five stories waiting in line, time to hit the edits, eh?[image error]
