Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Flash Fiction

Flash fiction has all the elements of a short story, only it's boom-boom-boom and you're done.

Character
Problem 1 (small)
Problem 2 (large)
Coping!
Resolution/resonate
Genre elements

It's easy if you list some starting points, like:
  • Place
  • Event
  • NPC (non playing character)
  • A Rule of your world
  • A random object


A practice run in class yielded some great results:
  • Place: On a rooftop at the Bank of Mars (BoM) in the city of Chipotle.
  • Event: Earth is about to die/be blown up.
  • NPC: Homeless guy flipping a coin
  • Rule: A bug that stays in your nose that enables you to breathe (like a babelfish)
  • Object: a bed, a crack in the roof
The story shouldn't take more than five or ten minutes. That's what makes it a flash.

Post your results in the comments! I've posted mine!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Online Resources

We were showed a bunch of websites to aid in our search for a good publisher (right now, I'm painfully aware that saying "we" and "our" is sounding pretty... Queenly. I assure you, I'm talking about me and my class, and not me and the people who live inside my head-bones).

Just for now, I'm linking what was shared in class. At the end, I'll post a few links from my own bookmarks, and as always, I encourage you guys to comment and add your own suggestions, too!

Duotrope's Digest. To find a bajillion publications to submit to, just fill in the drop-down menus and hit the not-so-shiny search button to spring up hundreds (or less, depending on how much info you decided to put in) of publication options right there at your fingertips. Shows you what they look for, what they pay, if they pay... all that happy stuff.


Some highly popular magazine and onine publications:

Weird Tales
Fantasy Magazine
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
Prick of the Spindle
Locus



Some books to buy (you find a story that's just your style? Check the back of the book to see where it was published):

Booklife
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror
Year's Best Science Fiction
Year's Best Fantasy




Some authors' blogs and sites to check out (if you like someone's stuff, check out their blog, follow 'em, and even comment. Good comments will get your name out there, and if you have your own blog, link your profile!):

Right. That's it for class notes. On with some of my own links (I'm at work, so right now it's just off the top of my brain-thing)...

Don't judge me:
(sorry I don't have a lot of author sites I follow. I mostly follow art blogs. I also don't have a list of publications that I regularly collect that are pen-centric that haven't already been mentioned above)

Now I demand that you all comment and add more! MORE!