Bryce Beattie's Blog, page 11

Issue 1 updates, 7/21

Quick updates:



I believe I have now responded to all submissions for this issue of StoryHack. Contact me if you’re still waiting.
I’ll post the lineup sometime next week after contracts are all signed and whatnot.
Still waiting on the cover. The artist sent a cover sketch about 2 weeks ago.
I started an editing pass on the already contracted & paid stories
I commissioned the first piece of interior art. Once the authors are all paid, I’ll double check against my original budget to see how many more I can get.

Another Pulp Story Formula

Author Note: Nelson S. Bond wrote and had dozens of pulp stories published by a wide variety of magazines, including Blue Book, Fantastic Adventures, Weird Tales, Esquire and Amazing Stories. He also wrote for radio and television.

Copyright Note: This article comes from the October, 1940 issue of Writer’s Digest. The copyright records from 1940 do not show a filing for either the magazine issue or the article itself. Neither is there an entry in 1968, the year it would have needed to be renewed. So I believe it is in the public domain.

It’s All A Matter of Timing

A Foolproof Fiction Formula

by Nelson S. Bond

It’s the damnedest thing! I stand up there with my heart full of hope and my mitts full of driver; I wiggle and I waggle; I straighten my left arm and lower my head; I haul my hips back. I swing. My clubhead goes swoosh! – and the ball goes ploop! A one hundred and fifty yard drive. Fifty up, fifty down, and fifty yards into the lush tangle of crab grass between the tee and the fairway.

My companion says, “Tsk,” and stares after my ball thoughtfully. “You going after it?” she asks. “Be careful. There’s lions and tigers in there!”

She takes her stance. She’s tiny and slim, and her hands are soft. She weighs 106 in her Kaysers. Her biceps are about as tough and sinewy as a cup custard. She swings. A gentle little swaying motion. But the club head goes splat! against the ball. Said pill takes off like a homing pigeon; soars high and far and true, and comes to rest at long last, gleaming whitely upon the green bosom of the fairway halfway to the pin.

Why? I weigh more than she does. I’m taller. I’m stronger. My clubs are heavier.

* * *

If I wrote like I golf, there wouldn’t be any long, lazy, blood-pressure-raising afternoons on the links. There would be handouts and patched breeches and truckloads of rejection slips. But by some quirk of fate-possibly because the gods have a celestial budget to balance-I am so lucky as to possess, in my vocation, that which I can’t grasp when I’m playing. A sense of timing.

I’m not sure that I can tell you what it is, or how to do it. I suspect it’s One of Those Things, like swimming or swinging a golf club or knowing that the third Scotch-and is enough.You have it or you don’t. If you don’t, you just keep on plugging, going through the motions, until one day, suddenly, there it is and you know what I’m talking about.

And when you’ve got it, you’re sitting pretty. Meat on the table, checks in the poke, and luh-huv in my heart for yoo-hoo!

You’re bound to get it, too, if you keep working at it. You know the old gag about how “every writer has to get a million lousy words out of his system.” Of course, that’s the old malarkey. Some writers click on the first go-round, others (like myself) have to do it the hard way. The truth remains, though, that those first, feeble, fumbling attempts are valuable. Every word you put on paper is another lesson in writing. Even if the story comes bouncing back with the stamps still moist, you’ve learned something from it. Maybe you’ve just learned how not do it next time. And, buddy, if you have-that’s valuable!

Did I hear a snarl in the audience? You want me to skip the fight-talk, huh? Get down to business? All right. You’re asking for it. Here’s my theory on the way to “time” a normal, 5,000 word story in such a way as to make it fast, dramatic and salable.

I don’t guarantee it; I don’t claim that all other methods are wrong. I believe, with Kipling, that “there are six-and-twenty ways of constructing tribal lays . . . every single one of them is right!” All I say is that this works for me.

* * *

DESIGN FOR BRICKLAYING A STORY

(Patent not worth applying for)

General Instructions

Lay out approximately 20-25 sheets of clean, white paper. I prefer Corrasable Bond because it actually does-as Arnold Gingrich of Esquire puts it-“take erasure with dignity.” And an ordinary pencil eraser, to. If the Eaton People want to send me a check for this plug, I’m not proud. Use the 16, rather than the 20 pound weight. It costs less, and keeps down the postage.

Lay out an equal amount of yellow “second sheets,” a piece of carbon paper, your cigarettes and matches-Hold it! Change that typewriter ribbon! Your chances of selling fade in direct proportion to the fading of your ink, friend! Now put that damned thesaurus away. Hide it! If you don’t know the words and use them in your ordinary conversation, they’ll bulge in your story like an olive in a snake’s gut.

We’ll take it for granted you know how to title and identify your manuscript. If you don’t you shouldn’t be reading this; you should be studying back issues of Writer’s Digest. Name and address in upper left corner, approximate number of words in upper right, title and your name halfway down the page. All right! Let’s go!

* * *

First 1000 Words. Ends on Page 5.

Get going with a bang! Remember, you’re writing a short story, not Gone With the Wind. You can’t waste words, nor will the editor permit you to waste his or the readers’ time. Your first thousand words must tell who are to be the central characters of this work-of-art, when the story takes place, where the scene is set, what the problem is, and set the question as to how the hero expects to take care of it.

Get me straight! I don’t mean you should start off anything like this-

“John Marmaduke Frasier, tall, blonde and handsome Sheriff of Burp’s Crossing, Arizona, strode down Main Street wondering what he should do about saving the property of his fiancée, sweet Hildegarde Phlewzy, from the clutches of rich bank president, Phineas Gelt, who threatened to foreclose the mortgage on August 19th, 1904, twenty days hence . . .”

You think I’m crazy, eh? Nobody ever introduced a story that way? Guess again! I sat beside Harry Widmer of Ace Publications for a full hour one afternoon, reading over his shoulder unsolicited manuscripts that opened in exactly that fashion. Needless to say, the stories were not offered by “regulars,” nor did they come in the folders of an agent. They were the “unrush” mail, i.e., the free-lance offerings that earn pale blue slips reading, “We regret to say-”

But get the thing moving. Start with something happening to somebody; not with mental maunderings, Grab your hero by the neck and shove him smack into a mess of trouble. Then show who started that trouble-and why. Introduce the other persons involved in the problem, make their opening speeches depict their characters. As you write, keep an eye on your page numbers. Remember that this phase of the story must be finished by the middle of page 5.

End the opening sections with the implication that Our Hero recognizes his difficulty and knows what he’s going to do about it.

Second 1000 words. Ends on Page 9-10.

This is the phase wherein Our Hero’s star is in the ascendancy. Things move along with reasonable assurance of eventual success. Looks like the problem wasn’t so terrible after all. With matters moving smoothly, this section may also be used for brief, telling “flashbacks” (if required), and for strengthening characterizations.

A word about scene changes. Many beginning writers seem to go haywire over time and place transitions. That’s simply because they make an easy job tough for themselves. For instance, We’ve all seen manuscripts in which a character leaves a room, goes to another place, meets other people. The beginner, his “timing” hopelessly off, tries to follow the character all the way-

“He stalked from the building indignantly, found a taxi at the door, rode uptown, got out at his own apartment, paid off the cabby, took the elevator upstairs…”

Sharper-edged, neater and vastly more readable is a device used by all professionals and editors. The bridging of time by a quadruple space. Finish one scene. Slap your space-lever twice-and begin your new section with a scene as fresh, as new, as clean-cut as if you were starting an entirely new story!

Here’s the way it works in actual practice. Scene one was in the apartment of a detective, Sid (“Softy”) O’Neill. A policeman has come to bring Softy to headquarters. The first scene ends and the second scene begins as follows.

“Okay, let’s go!” (said Softy.) Then he remembered and jerked open a drawer in his desk. Dull blue glinted as he jammed something into a harness beneath his left arm-pit. “Let’s go!” he repeated.

The Chief said, “Gentlemen, meet Detective O’Neill. Sid is not a member of the city force, but as I told you . . .”

It is not until some paragraphs later that the Chief is introduced by name, or the second phase of the plot determined. But story stuff is unimportant here; we are concerned only with the question of time-and-place transitions. During the blank space left above, Softy O’Neill presumably covered a number of city miles and consumed a half hour’s time. The reader is made conscious of that by implication. You don’t have to drag him along the route with you. How Softy got to headquarters is unimportant; all that matters is that he got there! Save words, save time. It’s all a matter of timing!

Third 1000 words. Ends on Page 13-15.

Here’s where the Hero stubs his toe. Things looked good-now the Villain heaves a monkeywrench onto the woiks! Trouble-with a capital “Boo!”-pops up. Technically this is known as a “plot complication.” Which is just a literary way of saying it’s a, “Dood Dod, what do I do now?” mess.

Let’s backtrack a moment and dovetail this. We’ll suppose our story to have been (1) sports, (2) science-fiction, (3) detective, (4) love, (5) romantic adventure. Show how a “complication” piles on the major problem in each of the aforementioned.

Hero flashy player, without his team cannot win championship vital to athletic future of small college. In phase one, main problem set forth. In phase two, path looks easy-hero going like house afire. Phase three, complication-vital blocking back busts leg before crucial game!
Hero hastily finishing spaceship with which to visit Mars; must get special Martian desert weed to stave off dreadful scourge which threatens to destroy Earth. Complication. Enemy scientists corners market on beryllium, vitally essential metal for construction of spaceship.
Detective hero hunting Red Jornegan, gangster, whose fingerprints were found all over gun that murdered cop. Tracks Jornegan to hide-out. Complication. Finds Jornegan dead, killer’s gun lying across room with Jornegan’s fingerprints on it! (Whew! This one came off the top of my mind. I wonder whodunit?)
Hero admires movie idol, wangles introduction, succeeds in making him veddy, veddy interested. Soft odor of orange blossoms in distance, and then-complication! Learns his contract has a nix-wedding-bells clause.
Hero, Foreign Legion lieutenant, besieged by a mob of howling Bedouins. Must carry news of uprising to post. Remembers cache of ammunition in desert. Finds it. Complication. Bullets are for different rifle!

In short, then, this complication is generally something he did not nor could have possibly expected; it may even be a break the villain himself did not count on. But it makes a heluva situation for Our Hero.

Fourth 1000 words. Ends on Page 17-19.

Herein, two things happen. The Hero, finds, thinks, or fights his way out of the complication. This consumes almost all of the fourth phase. And when we’ve suffered with him, bled him into open country again-

Up pops the Villain with his deepest, most dastardly plot, unfolded, finally, in all its dire ramifications!

This is the trouble! Ossa on Pelion, if youse lugs know what I mean. This is the spot wherein (in the ancient mellerdramers) Nick Carter used to get two busted legs and a broken back, while a horde of savages armed with scythes and swords and Stuka bumbers swarmed in on him.

That won’t go today-thank heaven! I’ve heard too much poppycock and balderdash about how “the pulps demand an excess of emotion.” Action, yes! True emotion, yes! But in my opinion, they neither want, nor will buy, blatantly overwritten mellerdrama.

Anyway, that’s a good rule to go buy. Figure it this way and you can’t go far wrong-the only reason pulps print hokey stuff is that sometimes they can’t get the smooth kind of writing they’ll grab when it’s offered to them. Let a man learn his trade, and he’ll be snatched up by the slicks in a split-second. I think none of the following ex-pulpateers will object if I mention their names in passing: William R. Cox, who has parlayed his Dime Sport muscle men into American, Liberty, et al. Ernest Haycox, who sells super-Westerns to every top-ranking magazine and to Hollywood. Richard Sale . . . Jacland Marmur . . . William Fay . . . but why go on? Their stories had what it takes; they’ve moved up (Yeah, yeah, I know, they still sell some to the pulps!) and others can profit by studying their techniques.

Some digression. We were in Phase Four, where Our Hero is up to his neck in Trouble. And the Villain is on the bank, heaving rocks at his head.

How to get him out? That’s your problem, pal! If I knew, I’d write the story, not donate the outline. But there are several sturdy, tried-and-true methods. By his superior knowledge. By a quirk of chance carefully planted in the earlier part of the story (none of that long arm of coincidence stuff)! By sheer fighting ability.

And he accomplishes this in-

The Fifth 1000 words. Ends on Page 21-25.

This is the phase of the solution, of final explanation, of denouement. In the detective story, here’s where your cop or shamus explains whodunit, why, and how he figured it out. In the western, science, sport or action story, this is where Our Hero fights free and, tying up loose ends, explains to his public how he knew just what to do.

The fifth phase of begins with violent action, tears along swiftly, leading to a swift, decisive conclusion-and ends happily.

Watch your timing here! Pace your final conflict so that the action of it consumes approximately 500 words or more. Previous action may have been truncated to move the story along-but not this final scene. Your readers have suffered with the Hero for 4,000 words. Give ’em a blow-by-blow description of the Last Stand, let their empathies jump with glee as the Villain flinches, cowers, and dies.

I could mention a half dozen writing “tricks” that arouse this emphatic feeling, but there’s no time to do so in this article. Nor is this the proper place to do it. This is simply a blueprint, a method of mechanically plotting the short story, that has worked for me-and it will work for you, if you’ll give it a trial.

If you’ll hew to the page-markers set forth here, I think you’ll have no more trouble with tedious openings, long, drowsy middle sections, stories that refuse to end. Because writing-like that confounded golf swing I cannot master-is all a matter of timing.

Oh, I said that before, didn’t I? Well-it still goes!

Podcast: Interview with Jon Mollison

Today on the podcast I interview author Jon Mollison. He currently has three books out (see links below.) His story “Desert Hunt” appeared in StoryHack issue zero, which you can still get for free by signing up for the newsletter.

Notes:

[0:20] A little bit about Jon
[4:01] Re: the #PulpRev crowd
[4:30] How do you define pulp? Jon mentions these 5 pillars of pulp.
[6:05] Action. Adventure. Romance. Heroism.
[7:05] Jon plugs the magazine. Thanks, bro.
[8:15] Classic Fictioneers
[10:15] Modern Authors with Action, Adventure, Romance & Heroism
[14:35] Jon’s writing proccess
[17:15] I’ve only missed my goal to post this by what, 3 weeks?
[17:30] Audiobooks
[18:15] That time Lee Merriwether (60’s movie Catwoman) shot Jon.
[19:30] Jon’s high tech recording setup revealed
[24:40] What Jon is working on now.
[28:30] The best advice
[31:01] Jon pimps the magazine again. I swear, I’m not paying him to say this stuff.
[32:20] Possibly Jon’s best line of the interview. “I have too much to read, and it’s still not enough.” I want this on a poster and a t-shirt. Maybe even a mug.
[33:05] Seagull Rising

For more about Jon, go visit him on his blog. And buy his books.

Jon’s Books:

Five Dragons
Sudden Rescue
A Moon Full of Stars

Issue 1 Submissions are Closed

Submissions are now closed for StoryHack Issue 1. Thanks to everyone who has submitted. I wish I could select more stories. I don’t feel like a gatekeeper standing watch at the entrance to the Great Hall of Quality Fiction.  I feel like an explorer of an ancient temple who has just found the pulp treasure room, but only has one pocket available to fill with action/adventure jewels.

Getting through the remaining stories should take me another week or ten days or so. Acceptances and rejections will be going out every day now.

Author Business (Cards)

While I was busy pretending to be a real author at Fyrecon, I did sit in on a couple of very good classes.

One of these was on networking and was given by Jason King from Immortal Works. It wasn’t revolutionary or anything, but had lots of amusing slides and I had 2 very important takeaways. So, thanks, Jason!

Takeaway #1

I have to network if I want anything to ever come of my writing & publishing pursuits. No use trying to deny it. And it’s not like I didn’t know this, but it was a good kick in the pants.

Takeaway #2

I need an author business card. Again, I suspect that I knew this somewhere deep down, but I have never felt like it was that important. However, after the class I became hyper aware of how many cards I collected. And three or for times during the rest of the conference I really wished I had one to give out.

I also recognized that most people’s business cards are boring. Even if a card has a little personality, there’s no reason for me to keep it after I’ve sent a single email.

I think it’s high time for that to change. To that end, I set the hamster cage in my mind to whirring and I came up with an idea that everyone should totally follow. It started with the following question:

What if an author’s business card was not only useful, but collectible?

People would remember you better, and they’d keep your contact info around longer. They might even show it off to other people.

To that end, I spent some time thinking about what a collectible author business card might actually be like. After much reflexion, I have come up with the perfect solution. So here are the guidelines to the perfect style of business card that every author everywhere should always make and use from now on.

Forget traditional size. Make it playing card/trading card game size. There is a good reason for this, which I shall disclose in a later guideline.
Make it of a playing card stock/lamination. It will feel more keepable.
On the back side, put the cover art from one of your books. People like pretty things, and your books all have pretty covers, right? I suppose you could fill the back with a quote from one of your works, but it should at least be jazzed up with clever colors and typography. This is the primary reason for the size. Cover art fits better on a playing card.
Front side should have a picture, your name, best contact, and your website. Honestly, you don’t need every bit of contact. People can get your twitter handle off your website.
Front side should also have a description of what the back side is. I put the name of the work and credited the artist. I had to put the name of the work because I put the raw art without lettering

That’s it. As a test I made three different versions and had them printed at a print-on-demand game company, as I knew they’d have the type and quality of paper I was looking for.

And if you want to know what’s on the other side of these cards, well, I guess you’ll have to track me down in person.

Podcast: Interview with comic & new pulp legend Ron Fortier

Special treat today on the podcast. I had a chance to interview Ron Fortier. He’s probably the greatest living expert on the Green Hornet. I guess that makes sense, as he used to write the Green Hornet comic book. He’s been a writer of comics and pulp fictions for over 45 years. He’s the co-founder of the new pulp publisher Airship 27, which has over a hundred titles in print. Next year I want to go to Pulpfest or Windy City Pulp & Paper just so I can meet him. This interview went twice as long as they usually do, and now I wish it was even longer. I might be just a wee bit excited about this.

Notes:

[0:10] Ron has been a working comics writer for longer than I’ve been alive.
[7:21] How Ron got into writing.
[11:58] Getting into big name properties. (Terminator & Green Hornet…)
[21:15] Preparing for the right moment.
[22:30] How the Green Hornet came to be
[28:58] Crafting a legacy backstory from many sources
[35:05] Ron’s thoughts on the Green Hornet movie (2011)
[39:25] Writers have to be bad guys
[43:00] Airship 27 – If you’re a writer
[47:00] Airship 27 – if you just plain like pulp fictions
[53:15] Where is new pulp headed?
[55:00] Final advice: share your talents.

Special Note: There is a movie based on Ron’s “Brother Bones” character currently being kickstarted. Go check it out.

For more about Ron & Airship 27 check out:

Airship 27
Airship 27 Hangar (catalog)
Airship 27 on Facebook

StoryHack Issue 1 Updates for 6/26

On Friday last week Kickstarter finished doing the things it had to do and it sent me the pledged money for Issue 1. That means I can start paying authors and artists. In fact, I’ve accepted and sent out contracts on the first three stories. I already have several other pieces on my shortlist, and a couple more acceptances will go out this week. Also, I’ll put out feelers to artists this week for the cover. One of the stories that’s been accepted suggests exactly the sort of cover I’d love to have.

There is only one week left for submissions to Issue 1. Space is filling up fast. I haven’t even had one modern thriller type story submitted. So if you’re working on something like that, your odds of getting in are increased. But even if I don’t get any, there will still be a good spread of genres for this issue. When I have the lineup nailed down, I’ll announce it everywhere.

I love the energy and the excitement that surrounds pulp-styled fiction these days. Fun fiction is making a comeback in a big way.

Thanks again for your ongoing support.

Cheers,

Bryce

Podcast: Interview with Martin McConnell

Through a suggestion via a friend on twitter, I met (in a virtual sense) Martin McConnell. He’s a fascinating guy, and took the time to chat with me via skype.

Notes:

[0:15] What it really means to be full-time in the writing business
[1:05] The joy of RC Helicopters
[1:25] What happened when Martin looked up (at the stars)…
[4:00] What do you get when you cross astronomy and writing?
[4:50] Historically accurate mooning in fiction. (Would have been a great linkbait title for this post)
[5:40] Things he has written
[7:35] The story of how Martin bought the farm.
[13:00] How his farming affects his writing
[15:05] Martin’s kick in the pants (for writers)
[18:37] Coming soon
[21:30] For more about Martin…

For more information about Martin:

Write, Farm, Live
@spottedgeckgo on Twitter
Martin’s Amazon Author Page

Just how introverted am I?

My 2oth high school reunion was this past Saturday. No, I didn’t go. I didn’t have that many friends in high school, and of the people I actually want to catch up with, I know how to reach most of them. So it seemed like a lot of work to drive the 13 minutes into Salt Lake just so I can feel like an outcast again.

And it’s not like they’re bad people or anything. There’s a lot of people that I liked and thought highly of, and perhaps I still would. I fully recognize that I’m the problem here. I’m an introvert, and that’s okay.

“But Bryce,” you say, “Didn’t you teach Lindy Hop and run/DJ dances for almost four years? Didn’t you go out of your way to get a presenting gig at Fyrecon?”

Yes, I did those things. Because I love swing dancing and I love writing. So it’s worth the psychic energy required to get out in public and teach/talk about them. But I’m still an introvert.

How bad is it? I looked at the facebook group for my graduating class and glanced over the pictures taken at the reunion. I recognized very few faces. If there weren’t names attached to the posts, I would have no clue who most of those people are. And in reality, I only vaguely recognized most of their names. But it gets worse. On Sunday, a woman in my ward (congregation) came up and asked me if I had gone to “our” reunion. This is someone with whom I have been in the same ward for 4ish years. This is someone who has taught at least 2 of my kids in primary. I had literally no idea that we went to the same school and graduated in the same class. The same thing happened in my previous ward, too. A guy who ended up being one of my best ward buddies graduated same year, same school. I was in the ward with him for 3 years before I figured that out.

So if we ever are in the same room together and I don’t rush up to introduce myself, let me apologize now. Feel free to come say “Hi” though. I will probably like you, and I’ll be grateful for the human contact.

Fortunately writing is a hobby/profession that lends itself well to introversion.

Submissions for StoryHack Issue 1 are open!

Thanks to a bundle of support during a successful kickstarter campaign, it’s time to get moving on Issue #1. So I’m firing the metaphorical starting gun now and opening up submissions. They’ll be open until 12:01 AM on July 3rd, 2017, three weeks from now. I may open them up again for a bit afterword if I need to, but that’s currently the plan.

Go check out the submissions page for full details on submitting.

There’s this submission system used by several pro magazines. I emailed and tweeted at it’s programmer a few times to see if he’s sell me a copy or whatever. He never got back to me. I’d like to use Moksha, but I can’t exactly justify the $50 a month just yet. So I started coding up a submission system the other day, but it’s not to a point where I can use it. Maybe for issue #2…

It has also become clear to me that I’ll be needing to change up the theme of this blog now that I want to do the whole magazine thing. Now I need to decide if I can be happy with a theme that’s already out there, or if I should just grind out one of my own again.