 Adjectives - Kill Your Darlings! Last week I went to my daughter's school (she's studying first year secondary) where I met her English teacher, Miss X. As a writer, I found myself biting my tongue as Miss X explained to me that students get extra credit for overwhelming their prose with adjectives and adverbs, and strewing their story dialogue with speech tags. It's taken me years to get the balance right - i.e. as few adjectives and adverbs as possible in a text and as many incidents of 'said' as possible in the dialogue without it becoming monotonous. So here's my daughter being told to pepper her work with numerous, weak adjectival occurences and to have characters expostulating, spluttering and gasping their words instead of merely saying them. Well, when all's said and done (not 'spluttered and done' you may notice), perhaps Miss X has a point. Young people need to learn descriptive prose and a variety of ways of uttering words just to increase their vocabulary and get the mechanics of writing right. If they decide to take their writing to the next level, then that's when they can start killing their darlings. Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment: http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness Happy writing! Add Comment The Yeti Hunters 01/17/2012
 Yeti Trouble in the Himalayas Just got news that my story The Yeti Hunters has been selected to appear in Coscom Entertainment's Big Foot Tales anthology. The acceptance came with an edited version of my story - and what a terrific job A.P. Fuchs, Coscom's head honcho, did! He included the occasional explanation of an edit, i.e. a POV (point of view) change, to boot. Rather than being miffed at having my work 'corrected', I take such edits as an instructional opportunity, and have certainly learned a thing or two from APF's red pen. Needless to say, I can't wait to see The Yet Hunters in print. Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment: http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness Happy writing! Five-Minute Limerick! 01/10/2012
 Pear-Shaped I was wondering yesterday what to put on this week's blog. Then I saw the prompt for one of the weekly flash fiction competitions I occasionally enter - the word was HOURGLASS. Within five minutes I had written a limerick based on the prompt. Where the inspiration came from, I don't know. Where the ideas came from, I don't know. Suffice to say, an original glimmer of possible rhymes for lines 1, 2 and 5 of the limerick (care, hair, stare, bare, pear, pair and fair) morphed into the poem below - I hope you enjoy it: When Mary was youthful and fair, at her hourglass shape men would stare. But as middle age bloomed, her figure was doomed, and now she resembles a pear. Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment: http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness Happy writing! Rejection - How Should Writers Deal with it? 01/02/2012
 Grumpy-Faced Writer Writers are generally a thin-skinned bunch; which doesn't bode well if (no, sorry, when) your work gets rejected by an editor or a competition judge. My first novel manuscript, produced on a manual typewriter and containing hand-written corrections (yes, honestly!) went to a number of publishers in Zimbabwe - where I wrote the book and where it is set - before I left the country. With no feedback, I submitted the manuscript for Rumours of Ophir to UK publishers - all to no avail. Concluding I was not destined to be a writer, I forgot all about Rumours until College Press of Zimbabwe - an imprint of Macmillan - came metaphorically knocking on my door. Suffice to say that since then Rumours has been published in German translation, the English version is currently on the 'O' level set book list in Zimbabwe, and the book gained me entry to the Crime Writers' Association. Of course not everything I write proves so successful, but persistence in submitting is paramount. My DI WIlliamson short story Blood and Sweat, set in Zimbabwe, seemed to be set for archiving until I sent it to You magazine of South Africa. In the subject line of the email I sent to the editor, I played up the fact that the action was set in southern Africa, and Bob's your uncle, it was accepted. Persistence was equally important with the much rejected story The Matchmaker, which was short-listed for The National newspaper's annual short story competition (under the title A Day for Decisiveness) and saw publication throughout the United Arab Emirates in The National's 'M' magazine - see below. http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness On the same note, my story Harvest Season was rejected by a number of publications (probably because it was too morbid for the womag coterie) until it won the Global Short Story Competition one month. This just goes to prove that if a story isn't suitable for a particular publication's guidelines, there's no reason why you shouldn't submit it to a competition and see what a judge thinks. http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf Last month, at our Abu Dhabi Writers' Group meeting, I gave feedback on two members' short stories and recommended possible markets for the pieces. The authors are new writers, so it remains to be seen if they have acted on my suggestions. I hope they did, but that initial fear of rejection can be difficult for someone new to the game of writing to overcome. On a similar note, the best short story writer I've ever come across - a shy and retiring lady in England - has a morbid fear of submitting her work to an editor and thereby facing the possibility of being rejected. I've encouraged her, I've given her lists of markets, but alas, her archive of unpublished short stories must be burgeoning. My only advice to writers is to study possible markets, send your work out to editors and competitions, and if your work comes back again, send it out as soon as possible after a further edit. Below is a link to my book Robin Hood and Friar Tuck - Zombie Killers: A Canterbury Tale by Paul A. Freeman. This novella was commissioned by Coscom Entertainment after I submitted a short narrative poem (Payback Time) to one of their anthologies - which makes me wonder what would have happened if I was too bashful to have submitted that short narrative poem in the first place. http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 Happy writing!  Vice and Virtue After several years working on short stories (with somewhat patchy success), in the New Year I'll be getting down to some other projects. First up of course is my 'Lost' Canterbury Tales project as part of my PhD in Creative Writing with Napier University (Edinburgh). I've been re-editing some of my earlier tales and quite frankly find it hard to credit I wrote them. I just hope I can revitalise whatever mojo I had when I wrote them as I begin on a new batch of Canterbury Tales. That said, I've already managed to knock off a couple of 40-line 'abridged' Tales which should work well as the basis for fully fledged narrative poems. The other project I need to look at (possibly over the summer, if my wife and kids are away) is my Maddox Trilogy of crime novels set in Saudi Arabia. Only the first in the trilogy, Vice and Virtue, reached the bookshelves - and that was in German translation, published by Pulp Master) as Laster und Tugend. I'll be re-editing the three books in the trilogy and hopefully publishing them as e-books. http://www.pulpmaster.de/z/25.shtml Anyhow, that's it for the year. I'm sure I'll write the odd short story in 2012, but my focus has to change if I'm to keep my work fresh and original. Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment: http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness Happy writing!  Phew! After winning the first three rounds of the Slingink Scribbling Slam (Slingink's short story competition), I featured pretty low down the scoring in the final three rounds. Fortunately my lead proved enough to hold off the chasing pack, though. My last story, Lost and Found, came in at sixth place to secure the title of Slingink Scribbling Slam winner (fiction), 2011. Lost and Found is a story founded in fact and based on my best friend's visit to a London gym in the 1980s. When he returned to the locker room after a workout, he discovered that all his clothes had been stolen, so the staff at the gym generously offered him the choice of clothing from the lost property room. Dressed in colourfully mismatched clothes, looking more like a tramp than a medical expert, he took the underground train home, garnering very odd stares from fellow commuters. Taking this true story, I worked up a Detective Inspector (DI) Williamson mystery based on the scenario and got myself 84 points - enough to win the competition. Anyhow, the scribbling slam's over for another year, the stories are out with publishers and editors, so it's time to get down to my 'Lost' Canterbury Tales to make them more of a cohesive whole. Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment: http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness Happy writing! Short Story Writing Markets and Advice 12/12/2011
 Short Story Writing Last month the Abu Dhabi Writers' Group asked me to give a talk on short story writing. Below is the handout which accompanied my talk, featuring both markets and advice. Short Story Writing Markets and Competitions: Ask yourself why you’re writing short stories. Is it for your own satisfaction? Is it for publication and / or exposure? Is it for money? When I write a short story, I usually have a paying market in mind, which means concessions need to be made on word count, subject matter and submission guidelines. * If you write romance, humour, ghost stories or light crime stories, the ‘womag’ markets could be a happy hunting ground. http://womagwriter.blogspot.com/ (Guidelines to various ‘womag’ publications are on the right hand side of the site linked above – just scroll down a little) * One market with a token payment, but with a fairly active and at times argumentative forum is Everyday Fiction. The comments and observations made on the daily diet of featured fiction (up to 1000 words) can be entertaining, useful and at times petty – but usually instructive in one way or another. http://www.everydayfiction.com/ * There are a number of competitions out there, almost all of which have an entry fee. The one I enter most regularly is the Global Short Story Competition (GSSC), which *ahem* I’ve won on two occasions. http://www.globalshortstories.net/index.html Stories I write for the GSSC are usually passed on to other markets if I the story isn’t the winner or runner up - as soon as the results are announced. * Submission guidelines for all genres of short stories, for all sorts of magazines and anthologies, and for payments from ‘for the love of’ / ‘exposure’ to professional rates can be found at ‘Duotrope’s Digest’. http://www.duotrope.com/ * For your information, The National holds an annual short story competition around January and February every year. * There are a number of writers’ forums on the internet. However, many writers are averse to sharing market news in case fellow forum members get published at their expense. General Information: My short story writing is influenced a lot by O. Henry’s work. I tend to write popular fiction with twist-in-the-tale endings. I write crime fiction, horror, ghost stories, humour, and have even been known to write the occasional, light-hearted romance. Popular fiction usually involves writing a lot of dialogue to move the story along. I learnt how to punctuate dialogue properly by studying pages of books from popular modern writers. Short stories of 1,000 to 2,000 words shouldn’t really have more than three main characters in them, and those characters’ names should all start with different initial letters to avoid confusion. Passive sentence construction and overuse of the past perfect tense make the action less immediate and should be used sparingly. Writers are particularly prone to being discouraged by rejection. Personally, when a story gets rejected, I send it out again as soon as possible. My short-listed story for the National newspaper’s short story competition this year went around the block quite a few times before it made its mark. Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment: http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159 Happy writing!  Pink T-shirt Round 5 of the Slingink Scribbling Slam saw my story about pink undies (and a pink football jersey - see picture) come in eighth. I'm still leading the pack though, one point ahead of my closest rival - more about my closest rival once the competition's over! My Round 5 story, In the Pink, was based on a true life incident. Somehow a bright red item of my wife's clothing got in the washing machine with the whites, leaving all my six-year-old son's underwear pink. At first he was horrified, what with all the doll marketing on TV portraying pink as a girlie colour; but eventually he got over it - in spite of me calling him 'Pinkie' once or twice. In the Pink revolves around a teenager's newly purchased red football jersey getting in the wash with the whites (i.e. his and the rest of the family's underwear) and everything coming out of the washing machine pink. From that point on, life's one teenage crisis after another. As usual, the story's been submitted for possible publication. Meantime, we await the final round results of the Slingink Scribbling Slam short story competition. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read my Canterbury Tale, Robin Hood and Friar Tuck, Zombie Killers (aka The Monk's Second Tale) at: http://www.amazon.com/Robin-Hood-Friar-Tuck-Canterbury/dp/1926712234/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323180805&sr=1-1 Chaucer - the PhD 11/28/2011
 Geoffrey Chaucer Just received word that Edinburgh Napier University has accepted me onto its PhD programme. My research project will involve writing a series of 'Lost' Canterbury Tales chronicling Chaucer's pilgrims' return from Canterbury back to London. Amongst other things, I'll also be looking at how a narrative poet / storyteller oganises and puts together his ideas to form cohesive short stories. The biggest challenge will be to examine the creative aspects of The Canterbury Tales rather than viewing them from an academic viewpoint as is usually the case. To say I'm excited is an understatement! Nursery Rhymes: 'Jack and Jill'-style 11/21/2011
 Blender I thought I'd invented a new style of nursery rhyme poetry until someone pointed out the rhyming scheme was the same as Jack and Jill. Drat! Anyhow, it's a style I like (and more importantly my kids like), so I'll stick with it. Nigel Neath lost all his teeth by eating too much candy; he threw his toothbrush in the bin and thought it rather dandy. But now he cannot chew his food or else his gums get tender; so everything he wants to eat his mum puts in the blender. Above is one I wrote a couple of years back on a microbus trip to northern Sudan while everyone else was asleep - er, and yes, the nursery rhyme does involve a blender. This poem has seen the light of day in two paying markets - Kuwait This Month magazine (as a stand alone nursery rhyme) and The Weekly News (as part of an Alice in Wonderland style story exorting the benefits of oral hygiene!). I've recently written a couple more of these two stanza nursery rhymes, one of which is below. I hope you like it: Fanny Firth ate piles of earth till grass sprung from her nose; then flowers sprouted from her ears and mushrooms from her toes. Her back became a veggie patch, in spring her mum would sow her, whilst on her front there grew a lawn which dad cut with his mower. See you soon! | Paul A. FreemanPaul A. Freeman is an English instructor working in Abu Dhabi, in the Middle East. He lives there with his wife and three young children. ArchivesNovember 2011 Categories |
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