Ray Daley's Blog, page 48

Another submission!

Right. That’s another submission out for me, closes in 5 days.

I don’t normally write fantasy but that story is so different I just think it works.

And the last publication was a genre I don’t normally do too!

I’ve typed a couple of things up today already too, so it’s looking like it’s going to be a productive day.

Must not let internet get the better of me.

Been keeping busy

Typed up a couple of things I handwrote last yr.

Finished one off completely.

Quite pleased with the end considering I left it half finished, with no clues as to where it was going.

An update

Two submissions that I sent stories out to have closed this week.

I didn’t get picked for either one.

Next sub closes Aug 1st.

And one I REALLY want to get into opens on the same day.

So I’ll be submitting to there. And they close on Aug 15th, so I’ve got to be quick.

But my story is already SMF formatted and good to go on the 1st.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 29.

Just finished this weeks story, 611 words.

I originally had the idea on July 7th then discounted it, thinking I wouldn’t get anything from it at all. But like certain ideas, the concept just wouldn’t go away.

There was one part where I wasn’t sure what the machine was going to do so I took a poll in my house and we voted for it to remain stuck.

That got me out of a hole.

At least I’m done for this week and still on track to complete the resolution.

Happy to have written something

I went through my “partials”, a pile of papers on the computer which range from whole story outlines to a few lines today. I found something from the end of last year where I had a rough idea what the ending was so I typed that up and finished it off today.

Not a great ending, I was struggling where to end it or how.

It’s been put in the “to be an ebook in 2015″ folder but that fate could change in the meantime.

Hopefully it’ll be editing in the future and the end will be improved.

Or I’ll read it and realise it’s better than I think it is.

801 words, a bit of a weird little story.

The Caged Mind (A flash fiction story)

The Caged Mind

19/4/14

By Ray Daley

“You shouldn’t keep him locked up like that. Like some bloody animal!” Ian said.

“What do you suggest, open up the cage, give him free run of the whole zoo? Then wait until he pulls someone’s arms off? Like some bloody animal? Because that’s what he’ll do. He’s a bloody gorilla, for fucks sake!” Maxwell hated to argue when Ian was like this but it was getting to be too often now.

“Send him back to the wild then!” Ian said.

“He wouldn’t last five minutes in the wild. They’d eat him for breakfast, maybe saving a little for lunch. He was born in this zoo. He grew up in this zoo. He sees the keepers so much he probably thinks he’s human too! He watches that bloody television often enough.”

But that was before Ian finally went too far, putting his plan into action.

***

The soldiers guns rang out a second time. Ian’s hand fell, pushing the cage door fully open.

Taya sat at the back of the cage, unsure what all the noise was about.

The soldiers raised their guns again.

“No! Let him do whatever he wants! At least Ian won’t have died for nothing then. We’ll see what the bloody gorilla really wants.” Maxwell shouted.

Taya knuckled over to the open gate and looked through. He saw Ian’s body, lying next to it. He pushed it a little, confused at why his friend was so still. Taya looked at the gate once more. He had seen the keepers come in and out of it many times before.

He knew exactly what to do next.

Taya reached up and pulled the gate closed, using his massive index finger to slide the bolt shut. Then he turned and rushed back to the safety of the hide.

“See! I told him. Taya has everything he wants here.”

As soon as Taya entered the hide, the security gate locked shut. Inside the hide Taya was already being given a banana.

From the safety of the enclosure Maxwell shouted “Someone clean up that fucking mess outside. It’s scaring my gorilla!”

In the hide Taya sat, happily enjoying his banana and his favourite TV show.

THE END.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 28.

Just finished this weeks Bradbury Challenge story, 1245 words.

Done in slightly less than an hour.

I hand wrote the start, super early this morning so I wouldn’t forget it.

I struggled to finish it, so the end is pretty crappy.

Hopefully I’ll work on it later in the week.

I should be able to improve it after a few days away from it.

At least I’m done, I was struggling to write anything with my headache.

The History Of My Head

The History Of My Head.

It’s always been attached to my shoulders, apart from the times when it was stuck in the clouds or face down in the dirt.

Sometimes it’s been empty.

Sometimes it’s been full, of ideas or madness.

(When in doubt which, ask EJ or Jason).

It’s never been replaced. All original parts since new.

1 not very careful owner. Once hit by a brick. (True story!)

And this is the history of my head. It’ll stay with me until I’m dead.

Then I might sell it. Or donate it to science. Because science.

Typing up. Meh!

I hate typing up but when you’ve got a finished story you have to do it.

An escape story I wrote late Tuesday, 846 words that I fixed as I typed it up.

Happy to have got it off paper.

Apparently I’ve completed 83 stories since January 1st 2014.

Already WAY past the 52 mark but it’s about managing 1 a week, every week until the end of the year.

And we’re only just over halfway through the year.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 27.

I started yesterday and wrote a little but I wrote most of the work today, finishing this weeks Bradbury Challenge story.

2537 words in total. About 2 hours work.

It underwent changes on paper due to on-going development as I didn’t really have a clue on the where’s the whys, the hows or the who’s. I asked myself a whole bunch of questions.

Initially I started out with a title and a couple of lines.

I had no idea who that person was.

Why they were there saying those things?

Where there even was?

How they’d got to the point?

I had to answer all those things.

Where and why were answered but changed due to too many possible plot holes.

When I decided why it gave me a second character and a reason to be there.

It all fell into place then.

It’s not a great story or ending, but it’s finished and that’s the main thing.

I’m ready for next week now.