Sydney Avey's Blog, page 24
June 4, 2013
The Sheep Walker Announcement
HopeSprings Books has announced a December 3, 2013 publication date for The Sheep Walker. Thank you to everyone who has walked this path with me. If you’d like to sign up to be notified when the book is available, it’s easy. Go to my Amazon author page.
#TheSheepWalker by @sydneyavey has an Amazon page. Sign up to be notified when the book is available tinyurl.com/kmvqce3
— HopeSprings Books (@HopeSpringsBook) June 3, 2013
The post The Sheep Walker Announcement appeared first on Sydney Avey.
June 2, 2013
365 Short Stories (Details)–Week Twenty-two
Vivid details do more to stir emotions than snappy dialogue or clever exposition. This week I’m tracing the emotions I feel when I read a story to their source, a vivid detail.
Week Twenty-two
“How Beautiful with Shoes”, by Wilbur Daniel Steele, 50 Great Short Stories, Edited by Milton Crane
She set the pail down on the ground beside her bare, barn-soiled feet.
…”if there was emotion in her it was the purely sensuous one of feeling the clods of the furrows breaking softly between her toes.”
The so...
May 27, 2013
365 Short Stories (Surprise)–Week Twenty-One
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Unintended consequences are one way to add an element of surprise to a story. This week I’m reading a great lineup of celebrated novelists who capture magic in the short story form.
Week Twenty-One
“Silence”, by Alice Munro, The Best American Short Stories 2005, edited by Michael Chabon
Suspense builds in this story about a severed mother-daughter relationship. We are left to wonder what prompted a young woman to drop out of her mother’s life completely, even as...
Dump Day
The value we attach to an experience often comes from the first person who shared the experience with us.
Scene 1
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Papa and me
–Who wants to go to the dump with me?
– I do! I do!
Scene 2
© Bernardo Martino | Dreamstime
Hubs and me, later in life
– Those rocking chairs are always in my way. Toss them in the truck and we’ll take them to the transfer station.
– They are in perfect condition. Our grandkids just got too big for them, but someone will want them. I can’t toss pe...
May 22, 2013
Purpose
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Like fiber artists, writers are people who like to pull disparate material together; solitary strands, swatches, and twists take on new meaning when woven, pieced, or braided together for a purpose. In fiber art, that purpose might be to clothe, decorate, or inspire. In story, writers work with words and images to endless purpose—to entertain, inform, shock, arouse…it’s a long list.
The material for my writing comes from strands of conversation, swat...
May 17, 2013
365 Short Stories (free)–Week Twenty
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To wander the web in search of what you might find for free is to be constantly amazed. This week I found “10 wonderful short stories to read for free” on Flavorwire and “The 7 Greatest Stories in the history of Esquire Magazine…in full”, and that’s just for starters.
Week Twenty
“The School”, by Donald Barthelme, from Sixty Stories, reprinted by Flavorwire
As part of an NPR series on Exploring Death in America, The author explores what children learn abo...
May 12, 2013
365 Short Stories (Points of View)–Week Nineteen
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Storytelling is often stronger when told from multiple points of view.This week I’m reading contemporary fiction.What defines contemporary? If I had to guess, I would say sharp dissatisfaction—a stew of cynicism salted with poignancy.
Week Nineteen
“Home”, by Jayne Anne Phillips, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff
A mother and daughter stand on either side of the daughter’s molestation by her father. Each woman n...
May 5, 2013
365 Short Stories (setting)–Week Eighteen
A vista approaching Ebbetts Pass invites the passerby to abide awhile.
Revisiting my favorite collections this week, I marvel at how authors invite readers into their stories by establishing the setting.
Week Eighteen
“My Father’s Tears”, My Father’s Tears, by John Updike
I learned in a writing class that the masters have an ability to cause us to perceive vivid reality in tiny details. When Updike writes about “the little rainbow low on the bathroom wall, our pet imp of refraction,” I feel mysel...
May 3, 2013
Why I Chose Indie (noise abatement)
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It’s a zoo out there; the noise in the publishing industry sounds like the cacophony of birds and beasts in a wildlife park; lot’s of trumpeting. The paths to publication appear to vary widely. I see three options: Hold out for the big house (the large publishing conglomerates); find a small, independent publisher who loves your work; or, take the bull by the horns and publish your work yourself.
This week I signed a book publishing contract with a small publ...
April 29, 2013
365 Short Stories (Quirky)–Week Seventeen
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Quirky stories employ peculiar literary devices that can delight or annoy. Really quirky stories do both. They move the reader from “Wha’…?” to “Oh. Oh!” Some of this week’s selections are quirky.
Week Seventeen
“The Messenger Who Did Not Become a Hero”, by Douglas Watson, One Story Issue Number 177
The rhythm of a fairly tale told in a voice that is at once respectful and mocking compelled me to read the author interview to see if I was missing somet...
