Stoney M. Setzer's Blog: Zero Hour: Christian Speculative Fiction , page 5

"The Siege of Peter Marak" is now on Smashwords

My short story, "The Siege of Peter Marak," is now available on www.smashwords.com for $0.99.  In this story, a recluse who fears germs must make a choice when a coughing woman begs him to open his door because a dangerous man is on the loose.  You can check it out at the link below:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/138329

So click on over, and feel free to leave me some feedback.  Thanks for all of your support.  Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Update on Write 1, Submit 1--February 2012

February 2012 was a little bit of a slow month in the writing department, but I still managed to meet my "Write 1, Submit 1" goal for the month.  In this case, the story I submitted was the same one that I wrote.  I have other works in progresses (yes, plural) as well, and I had held out some hope that I would finish one of them before 2/29, but such was not to be.  Oh, well, there's always March.

I'm glad I agreed to do this challenge; it's been good for me as far as goal-setting.  I'm also nearing the time of year where the stress at school is about to peak but will recede quickly thereafter, so sometime after the "Ides of March" I should be a little better able to focus on my writing.  Thanks for stopping by to check on my progress.  Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Dealing with Rejection

It's an unfortunate part of every writer's life.  You want to avoid it, and over time you get better at it, but it still happens from time to time.  You submit a piece, wait a month or two (or more!), only to get a rejection notice in return.  It's a natural part of what we do, just like striking out is a natural part of life for a baseball player, or losing a patient is an unavoidable part of the ER surgeon's world.  God never promised us that everything we did would be a success.  Sometimes we need to failures to keep us humble and/or to teach us how to do things differently in the future.

The question is, how do you handle it?  What do you do after the rejection comes?  Do you throw up your hands and quit?  Do you lambast the editor as an idiot who can't be pleased or who doesn't see the brilliance of your work?  Here's what you should do....

1. If the editor offers feedback, be teachable.  A lot of editors won't bother giving you anything more than a simple form rejection, so if they take the time to tell you what didn't work, you need to take the time to read and consider it.  You may not always agree with everything that they say, but chances are they could point out something that could really help you later on.  I used to have a bad habit of starting my stories out with pages worth of backstory (establishing what "normal" was before I shook it up), until an editor suggested that I start with the change so as to hook the reader.  After I applied that advice, I got a lot more of my work accepted.  If an editor gives feedback, they're probably trying to help you, and you should look at it in that spirit.

2. Take a good look at the story yourself.  Try looking at it with an editor's eyes, pretending that this piece is somebody else's "baby."  Does anything jump out at you?  If so, that may possibly be something you want to address.

3. Don't be afraid to revise.  None of us is so accomplished as to produce perfection everytime.  A few tweaks may be all it takes to make a story more acceptable.  Then again, it may take an overhaul, but don't be afraid to do it.  A number of my stories that have been published were once rejected until I made some changes.

4. Try, try again.  What one editor rejects may in fact look great to another editor.  Just because one market rejects a given story doesn't necessarily mean it's a piece of junk.  Isn't that how rejection works, anyway?  Few of us got the first job we ever applied for or married the first person we ever dated.  Why should submitting our writing be any different.  Keep trying.

Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Update on Write 1, Submit 1--January 2012

A while back I posted that I was going to participate in the "Write 1, Submit 1" challenge.  I opted to go with the monthly version instead of the weekly version because of what would be most realistic with my schedule.  In the interest of keeping myself accountable, I'm posting an update and plan to do so each month for 2012.

So far, I'm sticking to my commitment on this.  I finished one story in January and actually submitted it and another story, so I'm slightly ahead of the game.  However, I will consider it as being "reset" for February, meaning I have to finish a story and submit a story (maybe the same one, maybe not) to consider myself still "on track."  At the moment, I have three works currently "in the pipeline" (submitted and waiting for acceptance), with two others accepted and waiting for their publication date.

Thanks for all the support, and don't forget that the e-book version of Zero Hour is on sale this month for $0.99.  Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Special Promotion--Zero Hour for $0.99!

In a special promotion, the e-book version of Zero Hour will be available all February long for just $0.99.  Follow the link below to Smashwords, and you can download a copy in any version you choose (Kindle, Nook, etc.):

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/117798

You can also access this through my editor Lyndon Perry's blog:
http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/p/resaliens-press.html

Spread the word, and thanks again for your support.  Philippians 4:13!--SMS

The Hook: How to "Lead Off" Your Story

Every story needs a good hook at the beginning to capture the reader's attention right away.  Without one, then you run the risk of losing your audience--quickly.

We've all experienced this dynamic, haven't we?  We start to read a book (or watch a movie or TV show), only to find that within a few minutes we're not interested any more.  Why?  Because our interest wasn't grabbed--there was no hook.  Hopefully, this post will help you in coming up with the perfect hook for your story.

A lot of people think that the secret to a good hook is having an action sequence right at the beginning of the story--literally starting off with a bang.  While that is an example of an effective hook, it doesn't fit for every story.  Instead of being a rule in and of itself, the "action sequence" is just one example of a bigger rule:

Start the story with change. 

Think about whatever would have been the norm for your characters before the story starts (but don't spend too much time in the beginning showing that), and then disrupt that equilibrium right off the bat.  A good action scene will do this, but there are lots of other ways as well.  Think of all the real-life ways that change comes:   The judge makes his verdict.  Characters--friends or relatives who once got along--argue bitterly.  A baby is born.  A patriarch/matriarch dies.  A loyal employee abruptly quits or gets fired.  Start your story there.  Tell how what happens after the change, how it affects the characters and how they deal with it.  Will there be a plot after that?  Absolutely!  We've all lived through at least some of the events on that list in our own lives, and things have happened as a result of those events. 

A good hook is like the lead-off hitter in baseball--the player who bats first (the "lead-off" position) in the batting order.  Ideally, he will get on base frequently, either through getting a base hit or drawing a walk, and will often be a fast runner.  When he reaches base, the game changes.  His team gets energized, the fans in the stands get excited, and the pitcher for the opposing team has to work harder...because his equilibrium has been thrown off.

I'd like to close by sharing one of the best hooks I've ever read.  It's the opening line of War in Heaven, a book written in 1930 by Charles Williams.  "The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no one in the room but the corpse."  Makes you want to know more, right?  That's what a good hook does.  Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Backstory: "The Siege of Peter Marak" (Part 2)

For a long time, I've toyed with the idea of a character who isolates himself into his house as a defense against some sort of threat.  This character would then be approached by someone in dire need, thus presenting him with a choice: Protecting himself and thus sacrificing a bit of his humanity, or trying to help the person in need and then exposing himself to whatever it was that he feared so much in the first place.  After trying to make that idea work in other contexts, I finally found a home for it in "The Siege of Peter Marak."  The dilemma of whether to face his fear or save himself is the driving force of this story.

 In developing the characters of Langstrom and Harper, who represent the more tangible threat in the story, I thought that it was important to show them as not being much different from Peter at heart, save for an unfortunate choice on their part ("There but for the grace of God go I", as it were).  I also worked in an homage to one of my all-time favorite television shows from my childhood, The Incredible Hulk.  Kenneth Johnson, the show's producer, revealed in an interview that he wanted the Hulk's color changed from green to red because it was "the color of rage" and "a more human color."  The mental image of Lou Ferrigno painted red instead of green stuck with me, and that is basically how I chose to describe Angela's pursuers.  By the way, Langstrom's name is an homage to the character of Dr. Kirk Langstrom from Batman, better known as Man-Bat.

Speaking of names...Peter Marak is an homage to former Atlanta Braves pitcher Paul Marak.  In 1990, the last year of last-place baseball in Atlanta, Marak actually pitched reasonably well in seven games for the Braves.  However, when the team skyrocketed to the World Series in 1991, Marak was nowhere to be found.  He had (seemingly) dropped off the face of the earth...which I think in some roundabout way parallels the way Peter Marak withdrew after Holly's death.

I hope you've found this backstory to one of my favorite stories entertaining and informative.  Until next time, Philippians 4:13.--SMS
 
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Backstory: "The Siege of the Peter Marak" (Part 1)

Like "The Alabama Hammer," this is a story that has become one of my pesonal favorites.  Like "Darkest Before Dawn," this is also a story that will need more than one blog entry to thoroughly unpack.  So, without further ado, let's delve into "The Siege of Peter Marak."

I've always been the kind of person who says, "If I'm well enough to drive myself to the doctor, I'm not sick enough to need a doctor."  Whereas I don't have a problem with my wife or kids going if they're sick, I usually will try to treat myself with over-the-counter medicine or even home remedies when I get sick.  Most of the time, that strategy works out well enough and saves money on co-pays.  However, in late February/early March 2010, I got something that I couldn't shake.  What I thought was just a routine cold steadily got worse and worse, until finally Cindy insisted that I burn a sick day and go to the doctor.

 The diagnosis was a bolt from the blue: Pneumonia.  So instead of toughing it out, I wound up on four days' of bed rest (fortunately this was on a Friday, so I only had to use one additional sick day) with about $130 worth of prescription medicine--$130 worth after my health insurance had paid their part, mind you.  It was the sickest I've ever been, and the most galling part of all was knowing that it wouldn't have gotten that bad (or cost so much money in prescriptions!) if I'd gone to the doctor a week earlier like Cindy tried to get me to do.  Life lesson: listen to your spouse.

Perhaps the worst thing about it was that, for two or three weeks afterward, I found myself scared of getting sick again.  The worry passed of course, but for a little while there I could relate to mysophobes, people who are deathly afraid of germs and contamination.  It was from this experience that "The Siege of Peter Marak" was born.

The interesting thing is that our modern society is potentially an ideal one for mysophobes.  Thanks to such modern innovations as the internet, telecommuting, direct deposit, online bill pay, etc., it is theoretically possible to earn a living and keep up with all of their financial obligations without ever leaving home or being around other people.  One can simply hole themselves up at home, like an army under siege, and as long as the technology holds up, they can get by.

From there, the decision to have Peter as a man whose wife had died from pneumonia was an easy one.  His late wife Holly had my stubbornness about sick days and the doctor, but her situation didn't end as happily as mine.  In response to her death, Peter decided to use the miracles of modern technology to withdraw as much as possible from the world and the germs they carry.

Now you have the beginnings of the backstory, how this idea came to me in the first place.  Part 2 will pick up with the story itself and how it developed.  Until then, Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Backstory: "Traveled So Far"

Years ago, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a short story entitled "The Star."  It was award-winning and critically acclaimed, and it was even adapted for the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone.  With all due respect to the late Mr. Clarke, however, it's not one of my favorites.  Without recapping/spoiling it here, suffice it to say that its approach to the Christmas story is cynical to say the least.


I hope everyone has a blessed New Year.  Philippians 4:13.--SMS

Zero Hour available for download on Smashwords

Zero Hour: Stories of Spiritual Suspense is now available in e-book format on Smashwords.  No matter what kind of e-reader you have, you can download your copy for $3.99 at the link below:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/117798

Thanks for checking it out!  Also, I'd like to thank my editor/publisher Lyndon Perry for all of his hard work on this project.  Philippians 4:13.--SMS