Chris Sarantopoulos's Blog, page 19

Third short story titled “The Darkening” now published

Just a quick reminder to let you know that my third short story The Darkening is now published by Voluted Tales. The story appears in their special issue called “Darkness Internal” Issue 3. You can find it at http://volutedtales.com/issue/darkness-internal-3/article/the-darkening

It’s a post apocalyptic horror story and it’s considerably shorter than the previous one, barely exceeding 2100 words, so if you choose to pay for the magazine and read it you should be able to finish it in one sitting.

The story deals with John, one of the few survivors from The Darkening, an event that brought each person’s shadow into life and eradicated the majority of the human race. Ever since then, John had to make some tough choices about life and death, particularly that of other people. In near isolation, he struggles hard to maintain some sort of humanity but his self-preservation instinct often kicks in.

I hope you enjoy it. It’s the one that inspired me to write the novel I’m working on and it should be enough to get you into the setting and mood of living in darkness.

 

Filed under: Published work, Uncategorized Tagged: darkness, Darkness Internal, fiction, horror, literary magazine, magazine, published, shadows, shadows coming to life, short story, story, The Darkening, Voluted Tales, writing

Second short story now available

My short story titled When Hades Felt is now available for everyone to read. It’s a story where a wife’s death triggers events in her husband’s life, after a woman dressed in black shows up at his doorstep, claiming to be able to do the impossible (this sentence was actually the pitch/hook I used in my cover letter, by the way). You can find it at http://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/autumn-equinox-2014/when-hades-felt/ but please, have a look at the stories, poems and essays the other authors have contributed or read some of the other stuff the magazine has to offer from past issues. I should also warn you that the story is just over 5000 words long, so it may be time-consuming. I should also point out that I write dark-ish fantasy, perhaps borderline with horror (though I’m not experienced with the Horror genre), so since the editor’s description of the story in their main page is “dark and disturbing”, this story may not be your cup of tea. I just hope that by ‘disturbing’ the editor meant ‘depressing’ rather than ‘annoying’, lol :P

Also, it’s one of the toughest stories I ever tackled and the only one so far that I had to re-write entire sections (namely, the whole last scene). And by rewriting I mean deleting and never looking back at thousands upon thousands of words; if I remember correctly, I rewrote it more than 5 times. Even now that I read the published story, I still frown at a few points. You’ll be the judge of whether the story is good or not. All I know is that even though it’s only been 7  months since I wrote it, my style has changed considerably since then.

This is also sort of a milestone for me, as this is the first story I got paid for and although it’s only a token payment, it’s still the first one. Hopefully, others will follow as well.

Other than that, in a month or two I expect my other short story, the one that inspired me to write the novel I’m currently working on, to be published by Voluted Tales, an Australian literary magazine.

I had to withdraw my fourth story from the magazine I had sent it for review, since they never responded to my follow-up emails. I think the magazine may have stopped operating. So, off to make some more edits to that story and find a new home for it.

If you have any comments about it, please don’t hesitate to post them below in the comment section.

Filed under: Published work, Uncategorized Tagged: edit, Eternal Haunted Summer, literary magazine, published, short story, submission, writing

Progress Report

It’s been a while since I gave you a progress report on my work so far. If I remember correctly, it was on August 31st and it was around 73k words. So here’s how much I’ve written so far: 94500 words. It’s clear now that I will exceed my originally planned word limit. The good news is that the first 10 chapters will have to be condensed into 2 or maybe 3. There are 2 scenes with dream-like memories in them where we learn a few things about the main character but they will be placed between later chapters. A daunting effort, no doubt. “Murder your darlings” is the saying, right? Well, I’ll show them :P The reason for such a huge need to remove so many chapters is that my inciting moment takes place at chapter 10. It was a great blunder I made, as I tried to set the character, his relation to the rest of the world (which amounts to one and only family) and, the most important for the story as I saw it then, to show the fear the survivors of the Darkening experience and how the main character experiences it. I think I over did it… Alas, we can only learn from our mistakes. I just hope that when those  revisions and edits, the result will be a less boring story for the reader (the things we do for you, dead reader, lol) without failing to show the ever-present dangers the survivors have to face.

Heat has dropped considerably here in Greece and I can once again use the PC for a few hours. Slowly, but steadily I’m getting back to reaching my old word limit of 2000 words per day. I started by getting into the habit of writing 1500 words daily but the past couple of days I was able to write 2000 words in matter of 3 hours, so that’s good news. If everything goes as planned, I will have completed the first draft by November, at which point I will put it away and not think about it for at least 1 month, if not 2. Then I’ll roll my sleeves and get it edited, hopefully with a beta-reader (that’s another problem I will have to tackle – to find beta readers).

Finally, as you may have seen already, I made some changes to the blog’s layout today. New theme, deleted a page (removed the one about the ideas) and corrected the goodreads widget. Comment below if you can’t find something or if I forgot to add a widget from the old theme or just to tell me if you like the new layout.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: daily word limit, edit, inciting moment, main character, murder your darlings, novel, revisions, word quota, writing

What is YOUR dream?

Today I’d like to get as many of you involved into a little exercise. Well, not really an exercise but it may help you get in touch with the feeling that sustained the need you have to write (or had, if you feel you are stuck).

I would like you to write in the comments below what was or is that one dream you have (or had) that you wanted to experience through your writing that would make you feel complete, both as a person and as a writer. I’ll start with mine.

I’d like, in years from now, to sit on a bus or train or a restaurant or any other place, one that I’ve never been before – preferably in another country than my own – and accidentally overhear some people sitting next to me – complete strangers to me, mind you – having the following conversation:

“Have you read [title of book] from Sarantopoulos?”

“Yeah, it was OK.”

Just that. Nothing more. Just two people I have never seen before, who don’t know what I look like but who have read my stories and have deemed them OK for their tastes and their wallets. Not “great” or “amazing” or anything else pompous; just OK. No contracts with absurdly lots of 0’s, no TV contracts or excessive fame, no nothing. Just… OK. What I want, is my stories read by as many people as possible. I don’t care how they get their hands on them, as long as they do.

Now, if I ever get to experience that, then I will know for a fact, beyond any doubt, that I have done well in choosing to write and that I have succeeded in doing so. I’m certain I’ll be sitting next to them giggling, while reading a book or munching down something from the local cuisine, feeling like I’m at the top of the world. Chances are I won’t even introduce myself and let them build their own imaginary picture of me.

I often wonder how achievable this is for someone like me?

Please comment below what you want to get out of your writing. Don’t be shy to whatever it may be. I’m a dreamer so I get to dream stuff like that. You may be a more down-to-earth kind of person so you may have a dream to achieve fame or lucrative contracts that will allow you to carry on writing. Just share your dreams with the rest of us here.

Filed under: Getting to know each other, Uncategorized Tagged: dreams, writer, writing, writing dreams

Characters

When I first started writing I thought very little about the importance of characters in a story. All I cared about was the story, the plot and what happened next. If a story failed to keep me interested it was always because the plot was weak or because I saw some of the things that happened in the story as far fetched and unrealistic. I still have this way of thinking when it comes to movies.

I learned that this is not the way when it comes to books. Luckily, I got out of that mode once I started learning more things about what it takes for a reader to be drawn in a book in a way that they can’t put it down. It was none other than the importance we, as readers, put in those who take our hands and lead us into their make-believe worlds: the characters.

Recently, I came across an article from Carly Watters, a literary agent that gave some solid advice on what aspects of a character agents are looking for when it comes to opening the gilded doors of the publishing industry, for us aspiring writers.

Whether you aim for traditional publishing or are interested in self publishing your novel, I think you will find her advice very helpful. I know for a fact I will bookmark her article and use it as a guide when it’s revision time.

Just in case the above links don’t work this is the address:

http://carlywatters.com/2014/09/01/the-secret-to-writing-good-characters/

Filed under: Advice Tagged: advice, agents, characters, literary agent, novel, Plot, publishing, story, writing, writing advice

When writing becomes forced

73500 words. That’s how many words I’ve written so far and yet everything I’ve written the past week reflects 100% what Stephen King had written in his book On writing when he described what writing sometimes may look like: shoveling shit from a sitting position… I haven’t read many of his books nor am I yet a big fan but the man described my last week in the best way possible.

It’s not that I don’t know what to write (I have my outline from the Snowflake method), it’s just that a) what I write sounds to me like a five year old child has written it (and if I can’t satisfy myself, how can I expect to satisfy compete strangers?!) and most importantly b) somehow the story I outlined now seems to have huge holes that make me arch my brow as I read the outline. And, to make things worse, now that I’m 70k+ words into the story, I can’t help but feel that my inciting moment has taken too long to appear. Yay… *sarcasm*

I feel bogged down and that I’ve somehow lost something along the way; perhaps the spark, perhaps my focus of the inner thoughts of the character perhaps… I don’t know!

Over the past week I’ve been reading less fiction and more articles from agents. Nearly every one of them simply states the obvious: it’s really really hard to make it in the publishing world. What are the chances that a non-native English speaker can traditionally publish a book, when others have failed? Maybe that’s the reason I feel lost and everything I write seems, well, like shoveling shit from a sitting position.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: novel, novel writing, outline, writing

Published for the third time

It’s a fact: Eternal Haunted Summer has honoured me by accepting my short story titled When Hades Felt to feature in their autumn issue. I expect it to be made public around September 21st or about that time. The magazine’s editor accepted the revisions I made to the story and I got to learn some stuff on how magazine editors pick stories and how they review them.

It’s been a few months since I’ve been trying to get it published and now I’m more convinced than ever that Eternal Haunted Summer is the right place for that story. As you can understand, I’m very excited about it. Especially when the editor’s email of acceptance ended by asking me to submit more of my work to them. Is there really anything better for an aspiring writer / storyteller to spell “job well done” other than reading an acceptance letter / email and a request for more work?

So, now I’m left with just one more short story that is still unpublished, going from editor to editor and that will be the hardest story to place to a market. The reason is that I’m not really sure what kind of story it is, so I don’t know which magazines to pursue. There are dark elements (most of my work has those), there is a fantasy / horror element but there’s also a drama element. I wish I knew how to classify it. Currently, I’m waiting for an answer by a British magazine that is somewhat delayed. I should probably send a follow up email around Tuesday and hope for the best.

I will post links for the stories once they are published and update the ‘publications’ page accordingly then.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: editing, editors, magazines literary magazine's, novel, published, revisions, short story, storyteller, storytelling, writing

Updates

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I was expecting some revisions and corrections from another magazine’s editor. It was about a story that had troubled me a lot when I wrote it, but this magazine seems to be the right place for it.

The editor made several corrections, suggestions and changes. Looking at some of those in retrospect, I’m surprised at how many things I missed and how many more the people at scribophile, that had a go at it, failed to spot. It made me not only wonder at how lenient that magazine’s editor was with my story (every page had at least 2 points marked in red – and I stress the “at least” part) but also how important an editor’s job really is. In one of my rare moments of optimism (I’m not the most optimistic person in the world), I couldn’t help but think that the editor saw something in that story that was worth her time and effort, despite the many mistakes she spotted. I think it takes a very knowledgeable person to be able to do that, even when a story lacks a certain something.

I can tell you one thing for sure: the more I write and the more I submit stuff in magazines, the more respect I give to the editors for the work they do and I tip my hat to them.

So, I resubmitted the story with the corrections and the new paragraphs that (hopefully) answered the many questions the editor had. I’m waiting once again to see if the things I added are to her liking and if she will still be willing to publish it.

The progression of the novel has slowed down a bit but so far I’m almost at 60k words (it was 48k words two weeks ago). I had to work on that short story and I had some family from Italy coming over for a short visit. On top of that, I have no access to the computer since a small short circuit has caused a problem. Hopefully, the problem will have either damaged the ups battery (I hope not) or it will have fried the resistance in the multiple outlet extension cord. Preliminary tests show the latter to be the case but I will know for sure tomorrow.

Hopefully I may be able to announce my third publication by next week. Once again, cross your fingers for me please.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: editors, novel, revisions, short story, writing

Liebster Award

I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award by Nathan Quiring! Thank you!

Liebster Award is an award that encourages new bloggers (like me) to continue writing. In essence I think it’s similar to the old chain emails (do they still do that?). I’m strongly against chain letters but seeing as how blogging is all about getting to know (or rather follow and read) other people and making yourself heard (or read, I should probably say), I figured I might as well have a go at it. Here’s what I was told I have to do:

1. I must answer 11 questions given to me by the person who nominated me

2. I must pick 11 nominees with under 200 followers to answer my questions.

4. I cannot nominate the person who nominated me.

5. I must let the person I’ve nominated know they’ve been nominated.

Questions that Nathan asked:

1. If you HAD to be a character from Firefly, who would you be and why? (and if you’re answer is ‘Firefly? What the heck is Firefly?’ then that says even more about your character flaws *insert maniacal laughter here*)

I’d probably be Wash (I think that’s the name). Can’t remember his real name but he was the Firefly’s pilot. I liked the witty jokes. *SPOILER ALERT* True, they killed the character in the movie but still the character was awesome. Plus, I like the way the actor plays and I’ve come to respect his work when I get to see him.

2. What is your favorite gif OF ALL TIME!!!(no descriptions, you have to find it and insert it so we can enjoy the funnies too!)

That always makes me lol.

3. Coke or Pepsi?

Neither. I prefer a local Cola product which in my opinion is better. However, if I had to choose between the two of them I’d probably say Pepsi… not happy about it, though :P

4. If you could change ANY well-known fantasy/syfy story, be it the name of a character or the entire ending, what would you change and why?

Ok, this will sound like sacrilege and to a certain extent it feels wrong for me to say it BUT I would have loved if the Lord of the Rings didn’t have the part of Tom Bombadil. My eyes just wanted to yank themselves out of my head and run away. I know, it’s sacrilege to even dare comment against Tolkien but… :/

5. Where do you call home, where did you come from, which do you like better, and why?

Greek to the bone but I have spent 5 years in Scotland (studies and work). Still, it’s said that home is where your heart is. I’m still in Greece even after what’s happening in the country. That should be enough to let you understand where home is for me. Mind you, it wasn’t always like that. I have grown considerably over the last 20 years.

6. Now for an easy one! String Theory or Loop Quantum Gravity?

I’ll go with Sheldon with this one. He and I have some things in common (shocking, I know).

7. If you could do one thing for the rest of your life and be guaranteed success, what would it be?

A few years back I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I’d probably say something about businesses and investments or even my childhood dream of astrophysics. I blame my buddy who told me “why shouldn’t you try writing? They [other published writers] aren’t better than you, you know…” Perhaps the word “blame” is not the right word for this one. “Thank” is more like it. I’ve never felt better in my life than in the last year and a half.

8. What is your favorite month? Why?

All the winter ones. “Why” is redundant. It’s cold, that’s why. I love cold weather!

9. Natural hair color? Current hair color?

Black hair. I’m currently the proud owner of a pink bald pate, so after I finished with my military service I said to myself “I’ll not let my hair loss defeat me. I’ll beat it first.” My blog photo should be enough of an indicator that I won. Before I was drafted in the army though, I had long hair halfway down my back. There are photographs of me from back then but you better be willing to sell your soul to get a glimpse of them. They are few and rare (I’m not a big fan of photographs).

10. What class did you ABYSMALLY fail in school? Explain!

I remember failing miserably the exams for the Greek University but at the same time I think my family and I had already decided I should go abroad. I could be wrong. Regarding exams that I actually had a lot to lose from failing, I failed two classes, as far back as I remember (sometimes my memory is as bad as that of an amoeba). The first one was during my senior year in Geology, thanks to a very annoying Professor (who made sure half the class failed his exam and those who were going for distinction ended up on borderline failure). I wasn’t allowed to resit the exam at that level, so that sucked big times. The second was during my Masters degree for a Marketing class. I clearly remember that it was a first for me to have to resit an exam in August. Not my best moments in life, though most certainly not my worst either.

11. Have you ever blogged before?

I have a photo-blog on tumblr but I’ve never had one where I write things down and people get to read what I have to say. So this is a first for me.

And the Nominees are:

1. http://jlpattison.wordpress.com/

2. http://procrastinatingwhilewriting.wordpress.com/

3. http://vevacha.wordpress.com/

4. http://stuckinsidethebox.wordpress.com/

5. http://aracelib89.wordpress.com/

6. http://elenalinville.wordpress.com/

7. http://ellenprewitt.wordpress.com/

8. http://anneyerman.wordpress.com/

9. http://cleorosenash.com/

10. http://reveriesofabookworm.wordpress.com/

11. http://charmingdeeking.wordpress.com/

And here are the questions they have to answer:

1. How long have you been writing for?

2. What drove you into writing (blogging, short stories or novels)?

3. Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

4. Is there anything about you that you would like to change? Why (both for yes and no, please)?

5. Write the names of 2 books (fiction or non-fiction) that you felt they left a mark on you. Explain.

6. Write the names of 5 books or movies or TV shows that you liked and would either read or watch again.

7. Do you cook? What’s your favourite dish?

8. What is your favourite quote?

9. What did you want to be when you were a child?

10. Are you a music fan? What kind of music describes you best?

11. Do you like social media or not? Why?

Filed under: Uncategorized

Published yet again??

Hello dear readers!

You may wonder why there are question marks on the title of this post. Here goes.

Shortly after I had finished polishing up the short story titled “The Darkening” (I mentioned it on last week’s post) that will appear on Voluted Tales, I wrote another short story (though longer by far compared to any other short story I had written), borrowing certain elements from my country’s mythology. The story takes place in our current timeline but it features two rather prominent characters from Greek mythology, Hades being one of them, ruler of the Underworld.

This particular story is the only one that I have deleted and re-written more than five times so far and in most cases due to the ending. I never seemed to be satisfied with the way the story ended. After a while, I just gave up (shocking, I know) and decided that I would either get it published as it was or that it would simply never make it and perhaps I could get back to it at a later time when I would self-publish all those short stories that no one wanted. I hoped that as the years would go by, I should be able to spot the mistakes and refine it even further.

Luckily, while searching for a magazine to send some other short stories that haven’t been made public yet, I came across a magazine that in its submission guidelines stated they were interested in stories with ancient gods. You can understand my excitement when I saw it. I thought to myself, if this magazine turned me down as well, then the story was doomed to be for ever rejected, an outcast of sorts. Well, the good news is the editor of the magazine wants to run the story for their autumn issue. The bad news is that it needs polishing up. She offered to send notes and suggestions, provided I was ok with that. Obviously, I replied that I would be more than happy to look over anything she sent. I thought this would be a great chance to see how magazine editors think and point out things that annoy them in a story (the instances where one can learn new things are so many after all!).

The problem is that it’s been almost a week since then and I still haven’t received her notes and suggestions, to the point where I’m getting worried she may had second thoughts about the whole thing. I asked a friend of mine, who is far more experienced in the matter – since he has been published so many times – for any insights on what this delay might mean. So, the plan is to send a follow up email tomorrow and ask about the notes. If she says no to the story, well, no harm done I guess, though I wouldn’t mind having another story published :)

In other news, the novel progresses steadily. Word count indicates that I wrote just over 6700 words this week, which is not great but considering the alternative of not being able to write anything at all (I just shuddered at the thought), it’s ok-ish :/ Grand total so far is 48000 words, so I’m a little under 43% of what the final word count for the 1st draft should be.

Hopefully, next week I will have some good news to share with you, namely another upcoming publication. Cross your fingers for me please :)

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: literary magazine, literary magazines, novel, publication, published, rewrite request, short stories, short story, writing