Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 28
August 8, 2015
There’s Nothing Short About This Short Story
Sometimes when you’re writing stories can get away from you; other times you just follow along and let it take you wherever it’s going . . . aaaaaaand sometimes its both. About six weeks ago I started a story I’ve had fluttering around in my head for a while. I’d tried to write the short story last year, but wasn’t happy with where it was starting off. It just wasn’t coming out right, so I scrapped it and waited to see if the story would come to me again in some other form I’d be happier with. And it did.
I made time when I could to write what I could of the story and it kept telling its tale as stories do. I wasn’t sure where it would go at first and then it got its shape and I had a vague idea where it was headed and was able to pick this hazy thing in the not too far distance that was the ending. I figured it would end up being about 5000 words, a decent, pretty standard length for a short story.
And then the thing started happening that writers will tell you about that you can’t really teach or even explain when writing. The characters not only start to feel real, they start to act like real people and do things, make decisions, carry out actions you had no clear idea they were able or going to do. In your mind you had a vague concept of where a certain conversation might be headed, and then one of the characters says something totally surprising that actually shocks you as the writer, because you had not clue not only that they wouldn’t say it, but that they couldn’t say it. You didn’t think it was in them, but once it’s out there on the page you realize it’s totally part of their character and it’s just made your story a whole lot better. The same can happen in any sort of action scene where you have the vague idea of the moves and steps the scene will take and then something totally strange happens that just surprises you, so you follow it along and are shocked by it as you realize why it happened and how your story just got a lot better and became more realistic.
So there I was working on the story in the time I could make available, and it was doing its surprising twists and turns making it cooler and more interesting by the page, and I just watched it tear on past that 5K mark and keep on going without slowing. I figured, well maybe it’ll end up being kind of a longish story, plus I could always edit it down a bit if need be, no problems there. And then it going on and on and on, passing 8K and carrying merrily on it’s way to 10,000 words.
Now, there are two ways you can write a story. You can force it, making it go where you want it to, jamming out the dialog you want your characters to use, and carve out the exact ending you want and demand. But you’ll end up with something that will feel artificial, stunted and a complete lie to you the writer. Or you can have a nebulous idea of what you want to write and then let the words and characters do what they want to do and be happy to tag along for the ride and see where it takes you. Sometimes it doesn’t pan out, sometimes it becomes something truly unique and amazing that you never could’ve “forced” into being.
So there the story was zooming pass 10K and I could still see the hazy ending it was aiming towards and we were finally starting to circulate it and then one night I was able to get it all out and put the last sentence on the story ending it at 12,780 words.
Yeah, a little lengthy for a “short” story. I expect when I come back to edit it I’ll be able to get it down under 12K and the good news is TOR.com accepts fiction up to that length.
So you never really know where a story is going to take you and the important thing is not to hold back and try to control your imagination, but just let it take you to new and exciting places.
August 6, 2015
“Finders Keepers” by Stephen King (Scribner, 2015)
It may just be coincidence that both Stephen King and J. K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith feature writers getting horribly murdered in the sequels to their successive thriller series, in Finders Keepers and The Silkworm respectively. But then they are both extremely popular authors who are now writing outside of their usual genre and having a great time doing it.
In the second novel featuring the now private detective Bill Hodges, most of the book focuses on the story of renowned author John Rothstein, who is brutally killed by Morris Bellamy for money and a significant number of notebooks featuring unpublished works the world has never seen. Because the items are too hot to sell, Bellamy buries them and soon gets caught for rape, beginning a very long life sentence.
Years later Pete Saubers finds a buried trunk with some special notebooks. There is also a large amount of money. The question is should Pete turn in what he has found to the authorities, or perhaps use the money to help his family who are in deep financial troubles and at risk of divorce?
King is clearly having a lot of fun writing in this genre, as Finders Keepers is a well-developed and well-crafted mystery that builds on a strong and interesting foundation. This is one of those Stephen King books where you really enjoy the two hundreds pages of setup. Then the last third of the book is thrilling action, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, wondering how it’s all going to work out.
Originally written on July 7, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Finders Keepers from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
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August 4, 2015
Book News: McBeth and Other Shakespearean Fast Food, 10 Books You Fake it With, Judy Blume Marriage Savior & More!
Baseball Game of Thrones
The minor league Yankees team will be doing it Game of Thrones style in the near future.
Why You Should Read Lesbian Fiction
Whether you’re male or female, there’s a lot that can be learned.
If Shakespeare Plays Were Fast Food Chains
Some you might be able to guess, others you won’t be able to take a stab at.
August 1, 2015
“The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2015)
When you think of the Wright Brothers you think of the guys who flew the first plane and were the key pioneers in the development of flight. You may also get an image in your mind of that particular biplane depicted on the cover of David McCullough’s new book, The Wright Brothers.
It was on a winter’s day in North Carolina that the two brothers, Orville and Wilbur, successfully completed the first manned flight and created history. But what were the events that led up to this historic moment? David McCullough is a skilled historian when it comes to covering renowned people, and in this relatively short 336-page book — for McCullough — he does an excellent job of covering the Wrights’ story from birth to death.
He begins with the family moving to Dayton and how the brothers, in addition to spending most of their time together, were workaholics who worked Monday to Saturday, and then after church on Sunday, spent their time working around the house. When they were together, no problem could go unsolved with them putting their minds together. One of their early businesses was a bicycle company, with the growing popularity of this mode of transportation, which became extremely successful and profitable with the sale of bikes, as well as repairing.
As their obsession with flight grew and developed, they would spend summers in Kittyhawk, working on their planes, subsidized by the profits from their bicycle business, which they would run during the rest of the year. Their sister, Katharine, soon joined the team and became an inseparable member until the later years of their lives, traveling with them around the world and helping with the administrative side of the business.
McCullough does a fantastic job of pulling from multiple primary sources to shape the story of this unique family, with diary entries, letters, articles and numerous photos. He doesn’t just tell the story of flight, but shows the full lives of the Wrights; how they interacted with each other and lived their daily lives. McCullough makes the Wrights feel like real people, making their achievements all the more incredible. The key point the author makes repeatedly is that the Wright brothers were the ultimate American entrepreneurs, with no training or experience, but simply taught themselves, using a process of trial and error, until they made a contraption that could lift off from the ground and fly through the air for an extended amount of time, making the crucial foundation for flight that has led to the magnificent jet engines crossing the skies today.
Originally written on July 10, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of The Wright Brothers from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
July 30, 2015
Forces of Geek Summer Reading Lists
The Forces of Geek Summer Reading lists are up and here’s mine which I’m already halfway through!
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker (Read)
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (Read)
The Familiar Volume 1: One Rainy Day by Mark Z. Danielewski
Tin Men by Christopher Golden (Currently Reading)
Finders Keepers by Stephen King (Read)
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson (Reading Next)
Wright Brothers by David McCullough (Read)
Read the rest of the summer reading lists here!
July 28, 2015
Book Report: Getting Buzzed in The Library, Harper Lee: Scandal and Sales, Embracing Three Star Reviews & More!
Library Bars
Apparently there are 16 libraries in London that feature bars, and vice versa.
Lego Libraries & Bookstores
We all loved Lego as kids, and here are some impressive libraries and bookstores made out of Lego.
Fear the Reading
Here’s a survey of the top ten scariest books people have read; Stephen King makes most of the list.
July 23, 2015
“Legion: Skin Deep” by Brandon Sanderson (Subterranean Press, 2015)
As bestselling author Brandon Sanderson takes a break from writing his epic fantasy novels, he turns to his ongoing novellas. Readers first learned of Stephen Leeds in Legion, a man who has the unique ability to create hallucinatory manifestations that only he can see who aid him in life and answer the questions he has. When he is done with them, they do not disappear but remain to aid him in his freelance work in solving mysteries and the occasional police case.
In Legion: Skin Deep Leeds is hired by Innovative Information Incorporated to recover a stolen corpse whose very DNA contains new technology and information that will change the world; whether for better or worse depends on how quickly he finds that body. In return he will be made far richer than he already is and will no longer have to worry financially.
The second installment into Legion brings a great story and more insight into this enigmatic character, as well as laying some important groundwork for where Sanderson wants to go next with his character, and revealing there is plenty more story to tell.
Originally written on November 14, 2014 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Legion: Skin Deep from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
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July 21, 2015
Book News: Bookstore Customer Profiling, Powells is Eternal, Best Video Games For Readers & More!
One cool thing to come out of Comic-Con was a bidding war for Patrick Rothfuss’s epic The Name of the Wind.
Best Video Games for Readers
If you’re really into both reading and videos games, here are some entertaining games you might want to check it when you put that book down.
Being a Reader
Here are 20 things annoying people say to readers and those who love books.
July 16, 2015
Guest Post with M. E. Parker: “Secondhand Steam”
At odds with my environmentalist leanings, I admit that I have a soft spot for road trips and driving cars, preferably a five-speed junker from another era, a car with stories to tell. My favorite of these was a Volkswagen camper van I purchased in 1990 from its ninth owner that had already clocked over three hundred thousand miles and chewed up two engines, all under one coat of paint. By the time I got the van, the factory sunflower yellow had baked into Melba Toast umber, and the “Volkswagen smell” (anyone who has ever owned an old Beetle will know this right away) had ripened into a new odor, a mashup of a Rif Valley hashish lab masking a whiff of pine needles and vodka. The van also came with a spectrum of stains on the carpet, rips in the seat, and, of course, a collage of stickers so thick on the back windows that I was positive people followed me just to finish reading them. They were a patchwork life story of the van in countless languages: stickers from camping sites, cities, beaches, almost everywhere it had been in twenty-plus years. I had some memorable times camping in orange groves, creek beds and beaches, cruising through Madrid, Lisbon, and St. Tropez, but I have always been drawn to the stories of the van before I got it, the ones I don’t know, yet the van produced them in my mind.
Books are the same for me, where the story takes me once my eyes trail off the edge of the page. What world has the composition and the color conjured in my imagination? What stories spin out from its orbit. How the town down the road that is never mentioned celebrates the onset of spring, or what sort of treasures I could find in the basement of the house next door to where the main character lives.
Jonesbridge was written under a layer of existing dust, within the relics of memories from childhood and dreams. I invite you to remove the cushions from that twenty-year-old sofa in the basement. See the crumbs and detritus, three generations of ink pens and fast food toys, wrappers, the unidentifiable snack remains, dried and petrified, some still moist, and coins of all denominations. Throw the cushions aside and curl up in the debris with a copy of Jonesbridge.
July 14, 2015
Book News: King’s Thrills, A Scout Sampling, Bookstores Eh & More!
Go Set a Watchman
The sequel to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman, now has the first chapter available for free. The book drops July 14th.
Decorated Lockers
In one particular high school some cool teachers decorated the students’ lockers as book covers, and the battle for the Twilight locker begins!
A Richer Reading Life
Here are some tiny tasks that seem simple that will make you reading life all the more richer and fruitful.
