Posts Tagged ‘Short Story’

So, I just finished the first draft of a new short story. About a man seeking revenge. It came surprisingly fast – Monday I had barely an Idea, Tuesday I had a beginning and then I wrote most of the story on the train to Tafe yesterday, tapping away on my Treo.

And I must say – I’m pretty proud of this one right now.

So, what’s a guy to do once he’s finished a new short story? Read through it looking for mistakes? Edit it? Start a new story? Be prolific? Take care of personal business? Clean?

NAH

Mess around on the interwebs, ofcourse!

I came across this website I Write Like. A “statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them to those of the famous writers.”

I popped in my very newly completed draft and was told -

I write like
Chuck Palahniuk

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I played around a little, putting in a few pieces. I got Chuck Palahniuk for a few of them and also names like Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Good to know, Good to know.

ETA – An amusing screenshot.

Can you believe that?

Five bags and none of it everyday rubbish. All of that is shit stuff collected over the years and kept “just in case” or because it seemed “kinda cool” at the time. The stuff isn’t even worth putting up on ebay, the listing fees would be much higher than what the stuff is worth.

My name is Jeremy and I am a pack-rat.

My place almost feels empty now. And with the exception of various electronics, furniture, extensive dvd and book collections, clothes, stationary and a few bits and pieces that escaped the trash bags, it is empty.

It’s pretty insane the things that we keep. Why do we do it? Why keep floppy disks when its been six years since you’ve owned a computer with a floppy drive? Why keep old wires and remotes for electronics that blew up years ago? Why keep all those instruction booklets when you never once looked at them? Why keep magazines when you know you’ll never look at it again? Why keep that old rabbit ears antennae with one broken ‘ear’… especially when you have cable…

We’re like squirrels playing with our nuts.

But, now I’ve gotten rid of my nuts. Trash.

And after the big move it’ll be time to start accumulating more.

Also, while going through old notebooks, I found an old short story I wrote one misanthropic day –

Total Hero’s Journey. Am I right?

What goes up must come down. This is basically what my last month has been like, since I last posted anything here. I’ve been meaning to, but never got around to it. But, long story short, good shit happened, bad shit happened. Some other good shit happened. So it goes…

For a while there I was on a writing streak but then, as I often do with this project I’m working on, I stop and ask myself if I’m writing it the right way. Maybe it would work better in third person. No, First person. Maybe more linear storyline. No, go the disordered route. Second guessing my second guesses. So I’ve gone back to the drawing board… or writing board. And am re-planning the whole thing. This time on little cards.

Speaking of writing – The NaNoWriMo starts in less than a month. Will I work on this project? Or another one? Who knows. But whatever the case, I plan on being more prepared this year. I plan on getting some planning done first. Maybe. Also, whatever the case, I plan on totally rocking the 50,000 words this year. You just watch me.

You might’ve noticed that little guy in the corner. That there is a sneak peak. To what? Not telling. But that’s a little snippet of what I’ve been working on the last few days like a zombie with a hard-to-break-open skull in his hands. It’s all looking great and I’m hoping it won’t be too long till I get to show all of you people who care nothing about it. Wink.

Speaking of Zombies… Yesterday this little baby arrived in the mail -

It’s Forrest J Ackerman presents Anthology of the Living Dead. A great book full of awesome zombie-fied short stories. There’s some really good stuff in there so if you haven’t gotten a copy yet, you’re missing out. But never fear, for I is here, you can get a copy from Amazon – Click Here.

There’s something strange about this book though. I opened up to page 163 and found a short story whose title seemed oddly familiar and the Author of which had a very odd name. Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about -

Weird, hey?

It’s almost like it’s my short story in that book…

Oh wait, it is!

Booya!

I actually sat down and read it last night. It’s the first time I’ve looked at the story in over a year and the first time ever I’ve read my work without editing or any such thing, and I have to say I enjoyed it. Is it wrong to laugh out loud (several times) while reading your own short story? It’s not exactly akin to laughing at your own jokes, is it?

Well, in any case I found myself laughing throughout the story. All the things that I worried about not being funny, just being stupid and weak, they worked… for me at least. I hope they do for everyone else to.

Oh… I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. I’m just so proud!!

Wink.

Anyways, get yourself a copy. It’s awesome. I’m off to read the rest of the book soon, it’s all been great so far. Then up next on the To Be Read List is this odd little number –

You might’ve also noticed the picture of yours truly up in the banner. It’s not there because I’m vain or anything, I’m just that pretty. Actually, it was just a bit of practice that turned out much better than expected. And so I’ve taken to putting it up there. A little howdy do.

Anyway that’s it from me, catch ya later.

So… Guess whose been getting some work done lately

Guess whose rewrote an old short story

Guess who has gotten a fair chunk done of his novel in the past fortnight and thus far shows barely any signs of slowing

And guess who has just gotten bored with this whole ‘guess’ theme and is giving it up right now…

That’s right – Me.

Yours truly.

Here’s a little wordcount doovey to display my progress thus far –

10 percent bitches! Suck on that!

but that’s not all, Over the weekend I rewrote one of my short stories – This one. And have plans to keep doing that to the other ones I feel need some work. Which is probably most of them.

I’m quite pleased with myself. It seems I’m getting out of this slump and getting things done. More than that, I’ve been having fun doing it too. That’s something that you forget all too often, isn’t it?, always too busy trying to get everything perfect and it just slips your mind that it’s fun.

There have been other things too. Some secret, some I’m just not remembering right now, and some I just can’t be bothered talking about right now because I want to finish this post and go get a coffee.

Coffee it up with me muthafukkas!!

Hey, what doin?

So, things have been picking up around casa del Boland… At least on this side of the house. Been reading some great books, doing some good (and some bad) writing, and been getting some other things done that I’ve been putting off for far too long.

First up – Been reading some great stuff. I think I mentioned it earlier but got a couple of things off Amazon, I loved Gun, with Occasional Music and followed that up with another brilliant book – The Cardboard Universe. Both Awesome books in very different ways. Put them at the Very Top of your TBR list. You’ll thank me.

I’m currently waiting on some more Jonathan Lethem books (Since I liked gun, with Occasional Music so much I thought I’d check out some more) but in the mean time I picked up a copy of Treasure Island that I bought at the Local book store recently.

I have to say – I am lovin’ the shit out of Treasure Island. I thought it’d be good, but it’s about a billion times better than that. Really, I’m kind of surprised about how much I’m getting into it.

Now that you’ve all updated your To Be Read lists…

I’ve also been getting some writing done. I swear. Check out my Evil Ninja Penguins page…

See?

Yeah. I’ve been getting some Novel work done. Mostly terrible stuff. Unusable slosh. But it is more progress than I’ve made in months.

Also been getting some short short stories done. In fact I just finished Gorlock the Insurance Consultant today.

Hmmm… I think that’s about all I’ve got for you today. I did do some other things but that’s for another time.

Let’s see if i can’t finish this up with a picture.

Holy Balls. I can’t believe I almost forgot the most important news of all…

I GOT A BERTIE BEETLE BAG!

(If you don’t know what this is – shame on you! then click Here)

SCORE!

There was a stack of magazines on the table. Roy flipped through them looking for anything interesting. He fiddled, tapped his shoe, looked up at the receptionist, brushed some lint off his jacket, looked at the receptionist and smiled politely when she looked over at him, then picked up the magazine from the top of the stack.

The reception area had a row of seats directly across from the receptionist’s desk. There were potted plants placed around the room that moved in the breeze of the air conditioning and one of the leaves kept brushing the top of his head. He had just found himself a half-way interesting article when the receptionist appeared over him.

“Mr Gorlock will see you now,” She smiled pleasantly.

Roy dropped the magazine back on the stack, took a deep breath and stood up. He thanked the receptionist as he passed her, noticing she smelled faintly like lilacs. All too quickly the smell faded and he reached the door with a small name plate which read –

Mr Gorlock Gorlock.
Insurance Consultant.

He turned the door handle and opened the door.

Seated in the centre of the large office behind a large desk was a being that dwarfed everything around him. Seated, he towered at least eight feet tall. He had broad shoulders and scaley green skin, large aqua blue eyes that covered half his face and a large fin that protruded from the top of his head which rose and fell with every breath. He stared at Roy, waiting for him to speak.

“Uh,” Roy stammered for a moment. “Mr Gorlock?”

“Please,” He smiled, “Call me Gorlock. Take a seat.”

He waved a monstrous hand toward one of the seats at the front of his desk. Roy moved forward slowly and sat down. He suddenly felt like he was sitting in the front row of a cinema with the actors, larger than life, towering over him.

Gorlock straightened his tie and smiled at Roy again. His small conical teeth showed for a moment. “Shall we get started?” He said. “Are you ready?”

“No…” Roy smiled.

Gorlock laughed. “No I suppose not. Don’t worry lad, we all get the nerves in job interviews.”

Roy nodded, feeling relieved for a moment. It was broken all too quickly when he felt a small droplet of sweat rolling down his forehead. He watched Gorlock’s face wondering if he’d seen it, wondering if he should wipe it off before he noticed. Wondering if he should just leave it, not draw attention to it. Finally, as casually as he could manage, Roy ran his hand across his brow and wiped the moisture onto his pant leg

“I’ve looked over your resume,” Gorlack said. He flipped through the pages in front of him. “Everything looks in order there, you exceeded at school. Gates University… Is that the one on Earth or the place out on Io? ”

“Io.” Roy said quietly.

“Hmmm… I see.” Gorlock nodded and took a breath, the fin on his head rising along with his chest. He was silent for a few minutes, looking through the pages.

Roy forced an uncomfortable smile. He was sweating bullets now. Feeling it pooling around his ankles, filling the office. He had to stop sweating or he’d drown in it. He looked around for an escape, he was right by the window. Were they high enough that the fall would kill him? Maybe there was a pool out there. Or a very fortunately placed trampoline.

Gorlock continued, breaking his train of thought, “You worked over at Mahon’s Insurance…” he paused, “For how many years?”

“Five.”

“Why did you leave?” Gorlock asked.

“We decided to make a move back to Earth.” Roy said. “My wife has her family here, and we wanted to be closer to them.”

“Ahh,” Gorlock said. “Very good. Family is very important.”

Roy nodded. He didn’t know what to add. He had prepared for this interview for days but now his mind was blank, he just wished it would be over and he can go back to looking for work.

“So, Why do you want to work for us here at Gorlock Insurance?” He asked.

Roy took a moment. “Well, sir. Gorlock Insurance is the best and I want to work with the best. Even if I have to work my way up from the bottom all over again.”

Gorlock smiled, showing his conical teeth. “So, you want a job in the mail room?”

Roy paused. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he couldn’t say that now. Would he have to work his way up from the mail room all over again…

Suddenly Gorlock let out a burly laugh, rattling the glass sitting on his desk almost as much as it rattled Roy.

“Relax lad, I’m just playing with you.” Gorlock said. “Really, this interview is just formality. You come with high recommendations and I just wanted to meet you in person. We’ll be letting you know our decision in a couple of days.”

“Thank you sir.” Roy smiled. Relieved that the ordeal was at an end.

He stood slowly and turned to the door. Before exiting he turned back, “Thank you Mr. Gorlock.” he said.

“Please, call me Gorlock.”

Hey, how ya doin?

I’m doing Awe… wait for it… some.

I am doing awesome because of a recent purchase which arrived just yesterday. It’s a little Toshiba Mini Notebook, an Nb205… Just to get technical on ya.

Aint she pretty? I shall call her Abigail.

She arrived in the mail just yesterday afternoon, a mere half an hour before I had to go out and due to a late (and long) bus ride I only arrived back home with an hour before I had to leave for work.

I had to wait so long to play with my new toy.

But Abigail has been worth the wait. I’ve just finished installing and setting up all the programs that I know and love and now I’m getting a chance to just click and play and type.

She has some pretty decent hardware, almost on par with my larger notebook I bought just two years ago but the biggest selling point for me was the nine hour battery. On high power saving mode, the battery is supposed to last nine hours! Now that is awe… wait for it… some.

Now, I’m off to do some writing… either that or some procrastinating.

either way – I need a coffee.

Until next time, This is Captain Awesome signing off.

Just a quick update because I feel like it.

Been having a relaxing time today, sitting out back and reading my new book that Amazon delivered just the other day. It’s Gun, with Occasional Music. I’m only a few chapters in so far and I’d already highly recommend it to anyone.

Been working on some stuff for Evil Ninja Penguins. I missed the monday time though. I got a bit stuck on the climax of what I was writing. That one may have to wait till friday, or even next week. In the mean time I’ve finished a small and… uhh… Odd… piece called The Button.

A short piece that was inspired by this sign –

Because it took all my will power to not pull it.

And buttons are even worse.

Well it’s been quite a February hasn’t it?

I returned from holidays at the end of last month to find my hours at work cut down to barely nothing. I’ve started “looking for a new job” – I put that in quotes because I haven’t technically started yet but I’m sure I will soon. Things are much more expensive when you have no money.

I’ve put my time to good use… At least some of it… Okay, a few hours of it.

I’ve finished a new short story. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. I got real good at super-mega-procrastination over the last couple of months and it feels good to get back into the swing of things. The hardest part was trying to avoid all my old bad habits, most of which seemed to have reappeared. I need to make sure I keep up the practice from now on…

Anyway the story is called Oneirophasia – and you can read it here.

It’s a strange little story. A little different than any of my others.

It’s actually based on a dream I had a few weeks ago. One of the more coherent and vivid dreams I’ve ever had and when I woke up I wrote down everything that happened. Unlike most of my dreams, like the one where the nurse was cutting all her limbs off as a gift for me, or the one where a ninja kept poisoning my cordial… this dream had more of a story-like structure. So I thought I’d give it a shot as a new life as a short story.

It’s actually very close to they way I dreamed it. But the prose is all mine.

Hmmm…

What…else…have…I…been… doing in February?

Oh!! I went to the… no, no, that was on Tv…

Oh!! I’ve been quitting smoking. It’s been going pretty well too. I’ve cut down to about half of what I was smoking a few weeks ago. Yesterday I had the least smokes in a day that I’ve ever had… (Except for this one time in Tasmania where we were bogged in a camping ground in the middle of nowhere for a day and a half but it wasn’t on purpose so it doesn’t count.) I’ve been using this little programmy doogie on my treo which after a few days of recording your smoking habits slowly makes you cut down by making you wait longer and longer between smoke. It’s been hard butt it’s going good.

Funnily enough though, one of the worst obstacles in quitting smoking is quit smoking ads. Every time I see one I feel like a cigarette.

What…else…

Oh!! And I killed a homeless ma… no, no, that’s a secret… shh… no one said anything.

So, It seems I have a lot to do this coming month. Including looking for a new job. I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s time for a grown-up type job… But you never know, I may put off being a grown-up for a few more years yet…

Until next month…

If you check the little drop down menu under Works, or check the page itself, you’ll notice there is a few more titles there.

Not one, or two but Three new titles.

at the top of the list is Counting Sheep. It’s a short story about fifteen hundred words long. You may remember me talking about it a few posts ago. It’s the one based on a short story that an opening scene from a novel I planned is also based on… kinda sorta.

It’s pretty much done now, A little different than I had originally planned but it turned out pretty sweet anyway.

The next on is Where Wolf? . This is my favourite piece I’ve written so far. It was one of those pieces that just flow so easily and readily that it seems to write itself. And it turned out awesome.

It began a year or so ago as an Idea for a novel. But I never got started on it and finally it moved from my idle folder down to my archived ideas folder. It was almost completely forgotten about until I did some spring cleaning on my computer files a few months back and I realised it would work well as a short story.

And I was right.

And if you want to argue about it, I’ll poke you in the eye.

The final addition is Out of Reach.

This one began as a scene that ironically isn’t in the story. The scene was from another story I wrote a while back that I didn’t think to much of. (Though I may still use it for something).

There was a great scene that I particularly wanted to use, so I decided to combine it with an opening scene from another idea that I never got going on.

I worked on it for several months, slowly tapping out the words. But it’s finally finished enough that I can throw up my arms and cry DONE!!. It’s not the greatest it could be but I’m just sick of writing it now. I almost didn’t post it but I thought Three new stories sounds better than Two.

And if you don’t like it, I have one thing to say about that – “Read ‘Where Wolf?’ instead, it’s real cool!”

Okay, I’m bashing it a little too much. It’s not as bad as all that. I swear.

Well that’s all for now, I might post more later because I’m suddenly at a loss as to what to work on now. I have a couple of ideas but I don’t know if I’m ready to begin the novel yet…