Hello monkeys!
I have officially moved my blog over to my website at www.dharmakelleher.com/blog. If you use a blog reader such as Google reader, just add http://www.dharmakelleher.com/feed.
Check it out and don't forget to listen to the podcast version of my short story "Sappho".
See you over there!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
I Really SHOULD Be Writing
Hello, Monkeys!
I haven't done much writing in the past week and today was no exception. Among my many distractions (some of which are positive things) are helping a fellow writer get a better understanding of story structure (and getting to know her better--she is so cool), and redesigning my Web site.
The Web site redesign is major, but when it's done, my site is going to rock your socks off. I am learning a lot about XHTML, CSS, PHP, etc. Much better than the old HTML. Tables are for meals not websites.
Stay tuned!
I haven't done much writing in the past week and today was no exception. Among my many distractions (some of which are positive things) are helping a fellow writer get a better understanding of story structure (and getting to know her better--she is so cool), and redesigning my Web site.
The Web site redesign is major, but when it's done, my site is going to rock your socks off. I am learning a lot about XHTML, CSS, PHP, etc. Much better than the old HTML. Tables are for meals not websites.
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Another Ball in the Air
I just submitted my short story "In Between" to a literary magazine. This makes three stories that are currently out there in the marketplace. That makes me feel good. I already have an idea for my next story. Meanwhile, I need to finish writing Chapter Three of Desert Witch.
I'm also still reading books on story and scene structure, as well as Laurel K. Hamilton's novel Guilty Pleasures. On audio, I'm listening to Sue Grafton's A is for Alibi.
Which brings me to a question for you. What are you doing to improve your writing skills? And what more could you be doing? After all, the bar today for getting published is extremely high. It's not enough to be as good as other published writers. We have to be better.
Here are some suggestions for taking bold steps in the new year:
- join a critique group;
- take a writing class;
- read books and magazines on writing techniques;
- listen to podcasts on writing;
- read blogs from other writers, agents and editors;
- read published novels;
- hire a freelance editor to critique your polished work;
- try writing in a new genre.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Rejected Again and This Time It's Personal!
Sure, I would rather for them to have accepted my story for publication, but I'm taking it in stride. Tomorrow, I submit the story somewhere else. Meanwhile, I'm writing Chapter Three of Desert Witch, where, among other things, I introduce my first trans male character.
Keep writing, monkeys, and don't let the rejection slips discourage you!
Monday, January 04, 2010
Objects in Motion
The basic rules to becoming a successful writer are as follows:
I thought about podcasting the story, but it is important to me to earn some fiction publishing credits. In my opinion, podcasting a story doesn't use up (probably not the correct term) first print rights.However, the editors at magazines may have a different view. So I will hold off podcasting the story for now. Sorry, my fellow monkeys. You'll just have to wait.
Now, I really have to get on the ball and write some more short stories. I really need to keep these objects (stories) in motion. To do that, I need more objects. So I need to finish the short story I'm working on, edit it and submit it somewhere.
Keep writing, monkeys!
- Write.
- Edit.
- Submit.
- Repeat.
I thought about podcasting the story, but it is important to me to earn some fiction publishing credits. In my opinion, podcasting a story doesn't use up (probably not the correct term) first print rights.However, the editors at magazines may have a different view. So I will hold off podcasting the story for now. Sorry, my fellow monkeys. You'll just have to wait.
Now, I really have to get on the ball and write some more short stories. I really need to keep these objects (stories) in motion. To do that, I need more objects. So I need to finish the short story I'm working on, edit it and submit it somewhere.
Keep writing, monkeys!
Sunday, January 03, 2010
First Lines
Here are some great first lines and the reasons why I think they work.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
What makes this work for me is the outrageous claim of all wealthy single man wanting to be married and that this claim is supposedly universally acknowledged. It gives us great insight into the narrator's point-of-view.
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1877; trans. Constance Garnett)
I see some humor and wit in this line, and it suggests to me that this story is about an unhappy and interesting family.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
While I have read that writers should avoid opening their stories talking about the weather, this line forces the reader to ask a question: Why are the clocks striking thirteen? It hooks the reader by setting the story in a strange world, i.e. dystopian Earth.
I am an invisible man. —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
Like the previous quote, this line prompts questions: Why is this man invisible? And is he really invisible or merely socially invisible (i.e. ignored like a homeless person).
The Miss Lonelyhearts of the New York Post-Dispatch (Are you in trouble?—Do-you-need-advice?—Write-to-Miss-Lonelyhearts-and-she-will-help-you) sat at his desk and stared at a piece of white cardboard. —Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts (1933)
Here the author uses irony and humor to hook the reader. Miss Lonelyhearts is a man! Particularly in 1933, this would be intriguing to find out why a man is posing as a female advice columnist. Did the Great Depression leave him no other options? Inquiring minds want to know!
Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. —Ha Jin, Waiting (1999)
Again, this leads the reader to a question that the novel must answer: Why does Lin Kong return to Goose Village every summer to divorce his wife? Does he keep falling in love with her? Does the judge (or other decision maker) refuse to allow the divorce?
Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. "Stop!" cried the groaning old man at last, "Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree." —Gertrude Stein, The Making of Americans (1925)
Not only does this opening prompt a question (Why is the angry man dragging his father?), it also suggests conflict. Readers like conflict.
They shoot the white girl first. —Toni Morrison, Paradise (1998)
Here we not only have conflict; we have violence. And the reader is asking who is doing the shooting, whom are they shooting (in addition to the white girl), and why the white girl first? Makes me want to read the book right now.
There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. —C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
There is some endearing humor in this line and the reader is left to wonder who is this Eustace and why does deserve such a name.
It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992)
Did the narrator's grandmother literally explode and why?
I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. —Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)
The contradiction in this opening draws the reader in. I have read this book. It is good, but I want to criticize something out about this opening. The opening line suggests the story revolves around an intersex person, when in fact much of the story focuses on this character's grandparents and parents. Only the tail end of the novel deals with the character's intersex status. I felt that it was both a broken promise to the reader and an opportunity missed. That said, again let me emphasize it was still an interesting family epic.
A first line should get the reader asking questions. Irony, contradiction, humor, and conflict help to create and shape these questions. Sensory details help draw the reader in. In my opening line to Desert Witch ("The air buzzed with flies, attracted by the smell of blood and death."), I am attempting to intrigue the reader with the suggestion of violence ("blood and death"). The reader wonders who or what died. The sensory details of the buzzing and the smell of blood further draw the reader into the scene. I'm not saying it's a perfect first line, but I feel good about it.
I also want to say a first line is important, but just as import is the first scene. An intriguing first line with a boring first scene is useless (like someone waking up to an ordinary day or an info dump about the weather or location). It's also important to remember that first lines, first scenes and even first chapters make promises to the reader about the theme, style and arc of the story.
As I mentioned, I felt that the first line to Eugenides' Middlesex made a promise that the story didn't fulfill. I think Eugenides would have done better starting off saying something intriguing about his grandparents (like the fact that they were brother and sister), since the book begins with their forced exodus from their homeland.
A first line is like someone's profile with a dating service and the first scene is like the first date. In order to get a date, you need to have an interesting profile. But that profile better match who you really are. If you show up to a first date and you don't look like your picture or aren't what you claimed to be on your profile, don't expect a second date.
Likewise, a story needs an intriguing first line. But an intriguing first line followed by a pedestrian opening scene meets with equal disappointment and disaster. In other words, the reader stops reading.
Work hard on honing that first line so that it immediately hooks your reader. But work even harder to make sure that the first scene keeps their interest and that the story itself delivers on the promises that your first line makes.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
What makes this work for me is the outrageous claim of all wealthy single man wanting to be married and that this claim is supposedly universally acknowledged. It gives us great insight into the narrator's point-of-view.
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1877; trans. Constance Garnett)
I see some humor and wit in this line, and it suggests to me that this story is about an unhappy and interesting family.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
While I have read that writers should avoid opening their stories talking about the weather, this line forces the reader to ask a question: Why are the clocks striking thirteen? It hooks the reader by setting the story in a strange world, i.e. dystopian Earth.
I am an invisible man. —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
Like the previous quote, this line prompts questions: Why is this man invisible? And is he really invisible or merely socially invisible (i.e. ignored like a homeless person).
The Miss Lonelyhearts of the New York Post-Dispatch (Are you in trouble?—Do-you-need-advice?—Write-to-Miss-Lonelyhearts-and-she-will-help-you) sat at his desk and stared at a piece of white cardboard. —Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts (1933)
Here the author uses irony and humor to hook the reader. Miss Lonelyhearts is a man! Particularly in 1933, this would be intriguing to find out why a man is posing as a female advice columnist. Did the Great Depression leave him no other options? Inquiring minds want to know!
Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. —Ha Jin, Waiting (1999)
Again, this leads the reader to a question that the novel must answer: Why does Lin Kong return to Goose Village every summer to divorce his wife? Does he keep falling in love with her? Does the judge (or other decision maker) refuse to allow the divorce?
Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. "Stop!" cried the groaning old man at last, "Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree." —Gertrude Stein, The Making of Americans (1925)
Not only does this opening prompt a question (Why is the angry man dragging his father?), it also suggests conflict. Readers like conflict.
They shoot the white girl first. —Toni Morrison, Paradise (1998)
Here we not only have conflict; we have violence. And the reader is asking who is doing the shooting, whom are they shooting (in addition to the white girl), and why the white girl first? Makes me want to read the book right now.
There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. —C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
There is some endearing humor in this line and the reader is left to wonder who is this Eustace and why does deserve such a name.
It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992)
Did the narrator's grandmother literally explode and why?
I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. —Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)
The contradiction in this opening draws the reader in. I have read this book. It is good, but I want to criticize something out about this opening. The opening line suggests the story revolves around an intersex person, when in fact much of the story focuses on this character's grandparents and parents. Only the tail end of the novel deals with the character's intersex status. I felt that it was both a broken promise to the reader and an opportunity missed. That said, again let me emphasize it was still an interesting family epic.
A first line should get the reader asking questions. Irony, contradiction, humor, and conflict help to create and shape these questions. Sensory details help draw the reader in. In my opening line to Desert Witch ("The air buzzed with flies, attracted by the smell of blood and death."), I am attempting to intrigue the reader with the suggestion of violence ("blood and death"). The reader wonders who or what died. The sensory details of the buzzing and the smell of blood further draw the reader into the scene. I'm not saying it's a perfect first line, but I feel good about it.
I also want to say a first line is important, but just as import is the first scene. An intriguing first line with a boring first scene is useless (like someone waking up to an ordinary day or an info dump about the weather or location). It's also important to remember that first lines, first scenes and even first chapters make promises to the reader about the theme, style and arc of the story.
As I mentioned, I felt that the first line to Eugenides' Middlesex made a promise that the story didn't fulfill. I think Eugenides would have done better starting off saying something intriguing about his grandparents (like the fact that they were brother and sister), since the book begins with their forced exodus from their homeland.
A first line is like someone's profile with a dating service and the first scene is like the first date. In order to get a date, you need to have an interesting profile. But that profile better match who you really are. If you show up to a first date and you don't look like your picture or aren't what you claimed to be on your profile, don't expect a second date.
Likewise, a story needs an intriguing first line. But an intriguing first line followed by a pedestrian opening scene meets with equal disappointment and disaster. In other words, the reader stops reading.
Work hard on honing that first line so that it immediately hooks your reader. But work even harder to make sure that the first scene keeps their interest and that the story itself delivers on the promises that your first line makes.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Dead Fred Is ... Dead!
I had sufficient reason to make Dead Fred a little deader yesterday when I learned my story "Sappho" didn't even rank as a finalist in Glimmer Train's "Family Matters" contest. Argh!
Not that I'm dwelling on it. Just par for the course of being an emerging writer. On Monday, I'm submitting it somewhere else. I also need to finish the new short story I'm working on, edit it and get it submitted somewhere.
I'm having a lot of fun working on my novel-in-progress Desert Witch. I'm feeling good about Chapter One and am writing Chapter Two. It's hard work and sometimes feels like I'm not making progress, but at the end of the day, I feel like I've accomplished something.
Have a successful new year, everyone! Keep writing.
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