Category: General Ramblings

Tag! You’re It! The 777 Challenge Edition

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General Ramblings3 Comments

Hooray for friends prompting me to write blog posts occasionally. Tam MacNeil was kind enough to tag me for the 777 Challenge.

The rules are simple: Post 7 sentences of your work, start on page 7, count 7 lines down. But because I’m a rule breaker and/or don’t want this sample to end mid-thought, I’m going to post a few additional sentences. This is a short story I’m working on with the placeholder title: A Non-Hero’s Guide to The Road of Monsters.

I climb the nearest tree, which is not an easy feat one handed, let me tell you. But what I lack in abs I make up in triceps and quads of steel. Within five minutes I’m sitting in the tree’s crown looking down at the most amazing monster I’ve ever seen.

Forget its enormous size and its many, many talons on its many, many feet (that’s what heroes notice first, anyway), it’s neither a newt or hawk or even a snake.

It’s all of them.

From my perch, the monster looks like a starfish, with each arm containing the torso, forepaws, and head of a different creature. (You’ve guess it, a lion, a snake, a newt, a hawk and a hyena.) I can see now why the heroes were so confused. From the ground, depending on the angle the monster stood at, it either would appear to be one of these animals or a combination of a few of them.

Most heroes would be shaking from nerves or adrenaline or whatever right about now. But me, I’m wearing a smile that stretched ear to ear. I have yet to meet a monster that I couldn’t reason with and this one was going to make a fantastic blog post.

And now I just need to figure out how the silly story ends. In the meantime, I’m tagging (challenging?) Karl Dandenell, John D. Murphy and Laurel Amberdine next.

Writer’s Blog Tour: Four Questions

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General Ramblings5 Comments

And here we are! I was tagged to answer some questions about my work and process by the wonderful Casey Blair. If you haven’t already, you should check out her thoughtful post.

What Am I Working On?

I usually have several stories in progress at any given time, all in different stages of creation. The one I’m currently fighting working on is about a young woman stuck in a time machine that can only travel backwards in time. Originally, it was only supposed to be 750 words, but that length didn’t do the story justice. So, it’s growing. I can’t say much more about it yet because it’s still in that OHMYGODWHATAMIDOINGJUSTKEEPGOINGFIXITLATER stage. But I think it’s going to have a happy(ish) ending.

How Does My Work Differ From Others in the Genre?

My stories are by no means reinventing the speculative fiction genre as we know it. That takes too much effort. (I jest, but Blair MacGregor makes a good point about novelty here.)

But I love taking different slants on tropes and I like experimenting with voices and point-of-views. I also try to keep characters unburdened with physical descriptions; I won’t tell you the color of their eyes or skin and I definitely won’t tell you how tall they are. Lately I’ve been experimenting with keeping their gender ambiguous too. The way I see it, this way the reader can make the characters their own. And it gets me around the obstacle of having to describe appearances – something which I’ve never enjoyed writing. For me, I hear my character’s voices, see their world from their eyes and know what their hands and mouths are doing. But their faces, for some reason, never stay with me.

Why Do I Write What I Do?

Snarky answer: Because I can.

Less snarky answer: Because each story is an experiment and an attempt at pushing my abilities in some way. Each one is written for a particular reader in mind – whether it’s a friend or my younger self. (Not that I ever tell anyone which one is which – always keep your readers guessing.)

My stories tend to be pretty dark and/or sad because I have a hard time caring about a character unless their situation is dire and the odds are stacked against them. Mostly, I like to write about protagonists who are fighting for something they’ve lost – or are going to lose. It buys them sympathy, even if they don’t deserve it.

How Does My Writing Process Work?

Very slowly. Stories of substance usually take a month to write. Or six.

My stories usually start with a seed – an image or phrase. The first draft is always the hardest for me. My demon is the endless, daunting white page that needs to be filled. Which is why I start most of my stories scribbling fragments in an old composition notebook. Not a fancy journal – a mass produced, squat, cardboard bound, wide ruled notebook. Basically, my notebooks are not allowed to be prettier than my words at this stage. At this point, there is a lot of jibberish and many crossed out lines. There are character profiles in the margins and notes to myself. Line edits are done on the fly while sentences are constantly being reworked as I transcribe them into Word. Which is why my grammar is always off.

Revisions, though, are a little easier. After the first draft, I have something to work with, there are words on the page and it’s no longer so daunting. Every story goes through a beta reader, sometimes many beta readers. Every story is revised. Some stories only need two revisions before I’m happy with them and some need five.

One of my instructors at VP told us that you never learn how to write a novel, you only learn how to write this novel. And to a certain extent, I think that’s true of short stories as well. Every time I sit down to write a new story, I have to learn how it wants to be told.

***

Phew. I did it. Now it’s my friends’ Bernie Mojzes, Sarah Pinsker, and Jessi Cole Jackson turn. Check them out!

And if you’re interested in even more blogs on the tour, I’ve already mentioned Blair and Casey, but Nicole Lisa, Tam McNeil, and Fran Wilde have wonderful posts up too!

ETA: My VP classmates and friends Debra Jess and Arun Jiwa are also participating. Check them out!

Updated and News – February 2014

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General RamblingsLeave a comment

So it’s been a while since I posted last. In the last few months I’ve been traveling and visiting friends and of course, writing like mad. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for that last bit soon.

So, briefly two update:

1. My story “I’m Still Here” is coming out in Buzzy Mag tomorrow! It’s crazy to think that I started writing this story two years ago. I remember thinking that there was no way I could pull this story off. Glad I was wrong.

Will post the link when it goes live. (And it’s live)

2. The 2014 Campbell Anthology is now out and available for download for free here. It’s a collection of stories by new writers who have published professionally in the last two years. So basically, it means FREE STORIES. And lots of them. There are 111 different authors in it. And one of them happens to be me, which is kind of completely awesome.

And that’s it I think? Maybe. Hopefully. Probably not.

News and Updates

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General Ramblings4 Comments

Last month I resigned from my position as Editorial Assistance at Every Day Fiction. I had been reading for EDF for over two years and learned so much about storytelling and the industry while I was there. But I wanted to spend more time writing and move on to other things.

It seems though, I wasn’t off the hook that quickly. Another opportunity presented itself mere days after I handed in my notice (more or less). Flash Fiction Chronicles (EDF’s sister site) was looking for an interviewer that would talk to the author of the top story at EDF each month.

I don’t have much experience interviewing, but I guess I didn’t have much experience when I started writing either. So, naturally, I accepted.

If you would like to see my very first interview, it can be found here. My first victim (not really – I hope) is Dustin Adams, author of the story The Gift. This was lots of fun and I hope you enjoy it too.

Viable Paradise: The Aftermath (With a present for you, dear reader)

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General Ramblings5 Comments

Viable Paradise = A fantastic experience. Really I could stop there, but I’m assuming you’re here for the details. So quickly, because I still have a hard time describing it in words, here’s what VP was like.

Imagine yourself sitting in a room with 40 some people. 23 are new and nervous like you, the others are old hands who are thrilled to have the opportunity to teach you. And they will. They’ll fill your head with so much information, you’ll walk away wondering how you ever could have been so ignorant. You’ll exchange recommendations for books, movies, podcasts, and booze and you’re “MUST TRY” list will grow to legendary lengths.

At VP, I was a Thing, I saw a sunset and a sunrise, drank my share of scurvy cure, survived the horror that was Thursday and I got some of the best advice about writing and life.

I highly recommend VP to anyone interested in speculative fiction. You’ll not only learn more than you think you can in one week, but you’ll make dozens of new friends that you know will be there as for you as you continue to write and grow.

Too vague? Yes, I know. The most incoherent post I’ve ever written? Probably. But I’ll make it up to you with a present. Jim MacDonald and Debra Doyle generously gave me the promo code for a free copy of their story Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita on Smashwords. And now I’m sharing it with you (with their blessing, of course).

The link can be found here
The code is: QF86G

The code is good until November 9th, 2012.

And now I must get some writing done and deal with the plot tomatoes in my story. Want to know what plot tomatoes are? You’re just going to have to ask the instructors yourself at the next Viable Paradise.

A Book Lover’s Tale

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General RamblingsLeave a comment

I am a book creeper. I love looking over strangers’ shoulders to see what they’re reading; whether they borrowed it from the library or it’s worth buying in hardcover, whether the author is a household name or someone that is still mostly unknown. E-readers are the bane of my existence.

Public transportation is the best place for this, particularly trains and subways. I’m usually reading too, so the way I see it, it’s fair game.

But a few weeks ago I was on the train to Baltimore and the unimaginable happened – I had no book to read. I tried to keep myself entertained during the ride: I fidgeted with my phone, scanned the emergency procedure pamphlet tucked in the seat in front of me, studied the scenery. It worked for about twenty minutes.

I was also trying to figure out which book the guy next to me was reading. I knew it was one of the Millennium Series novels, but I couldn’t figure out which one without being completely obvious. So, I broke the rules of book creeping (desperate times called for desperate measures) and I asked him.

Turns out, he was one of those bookworms who didn’t mind being interrupted from his book.

Honestly, I can’t remember what his name was, but let’s call him Matt. Matt was on a mission to read the book before he saw the movie. He’d realized that Hollywood rarely did justice to the original story. Which was why he was reading The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.

As we talked I realized that Matt was a late bloomer, in the bookworm sense at least. He admitted that he never really liked books until recently and he talked about the novels he read with a new found excitement. He was probably one of those guys in high school who scanned Sparknotes and asked kids like me was the major themes of the book were.

“It’s kinda a shame that I didn’t read more sooner,” he said, “books are really great.”

It was actually a really nice conversation. I think I recommended I, Robot and I am Legend as well as The Girl Who Played with Fire. But it made me wonder what makes reading a passion for people. Why do some people gravitate instantly to it as soon as they have a basic understanding of letters while others discover it later? And why do some people never find it at all?

I think it’s partially attributed to attention span. But mostly I think it’s based on the reader’s ability to believe in someone that doesn’t exist and to be able to empathize with that imaginary person. Books become a passion when you’re not just reading words on a page, but taking them in and believing them without reservation.

Right before the train got to the station and we gathering up our things, Matt leaned over and said: “You know the Harry Potter movies? They suck compared to the novels.”

And so J. K. Rowling welcomes another fan to her legions.

Viable Paradise XVI

On By A. T. GreenblattIn General Ramblings1 Comment

So I don’t normally let people know which magazines I currently have stories submitted to or what programs I’ve applied for.  I’m more of the suffer-in-silence type.  But when I get answers back, well that’s something different.  This spring I applied to a workshop in Martha’s Vineyard called Viable ParadiseAnd to my great surprise, I got in. This year the teachers are Elizabeth Bear, Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, Steven Gould, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Steven Brust and Sherwood Smith. Wicked right?

This is my first workshop ever and I’m not quite sure what to expect and even though I’ve gotten my acceptance several weeks ago, the excitement hasn’t gotten old yet!