Unchained Storytelling

We believe that the art of the raconteur - the telling of unscripted, personal, porch-style stories - is one of the great arts, and that nights of storytelling are vital to any vibrant and healthy community. 

                                     ~ Program for Unchained Deep South Tour, 2013

Last Saturday the Unchained storytellers made a stop in Huntsville on their Deep South Tour. I found out at the last minute, but was still able to snag a seat to the show.

The Unchained bus in Huntsville, AL

The performance was at our local arts mecca, a place called Lowe Mill. It's an old factory that has been reclaimed as an arts collective. There's a printing press, artist studios, a puppet company, and a cigar box guitar maker. They hold workshops for burlesque, hooping, shoe making, and painting. And in a small trailer out front is the only all-vegetarian restaurant in town. In short, if you visit Huntsville on a Saturday then one of your best bets for meeting cool people is to go to Lowe Mill and wander through their artist's market.

When I found out that Unchained was going to happen in Huntsville, I was excited. I'd read about the tour on Neil Gaiman's blog, where he traveled with them for a short time. One of my favorite things in the world is to hear stories told aloud. Hearing stories changes the way I experience them. I feel closer to the action, the characters, the core of what is being said.

Scene on the side of the bus

The evening started off with a song, "Flawless Executioner," by Christopher Paul Stelling. And it was amazing. You could feel the crowd open up, get ready to experience the exceptional.

Peter Aguero told the first story, ending on a cliffhanger to welcome the audience to a night of storytelling. Micaela Blei told a story about third graders playing war, Tim Manley took us to his childhood illness with energy, and Annie Duke revealed behind the scenes scheming. 

The group also made sure that local stories were told, and asked for volunteers to enter their names for the chance to tell their story. Three people were called to the stage and given one minute each. 

It was a night of masterful storytelling. No cellphones went off, no one held up their cameras to take photographs during the show. It was stressed at the beginning - we were all going to sit together and tell stories for a few hours, and everything else could wait. 

It was an amazing experience. 

New Stamp: Bookplate Edition

It has been harder and harder to find lovely bookplates lately. My local independent bookstores don't carry bookplates, and Barnes & Noble has two bland designs that look like the adhesive would peel away after a year. 

Years ago I had bookplates with dragons, a cat and a girl curled up together in front of a fire, a tree whose roots grew into a book. 

I got a gift card for Christmas, and I decided to use part of it to buy a personalized bookplate stamp. After searching through Etsy, I landed on Asspocket Productions. There were so many designs I liked, girls sitting beneath trees reading, gorgeous flowers draping over elegant fonts. I had three designs I was trying to choose from, but I kept looking. And that's when I found the perfect stamp. 

New stamp!!

The stamp arrived in the mail a week or so ago, but I've been in a crazy job transition period. I unwrapped the stamp and put it in my desk drawer to keep it safe from my cats, who have a penchant for gnawing on pretty much anything that will fit between their jaws. It wasn't until tonight that I was finally able to pull it out and start conditioning the stamp. 

A new stamp like this isn't ready to go - you have to rub the surface with an eraser first to get off any debris left over from the stamp cutting process. Then you have to get used to the stamp - how much pressure to place, how to press down to make the lines clean on the paper. 

Learning the feel of my new stamp.
I started in the bottom right corner and ended with the top left stamp. 

The seller's guidelines suggest stamping the bookplate onto archival paper, trimming the paper, and then pasting the slip into the book. Truthfully, I hadn't thought out how I would go about stamping books. Stamping is a tricky process, and even after getting used to a stamp each imprint does not necessarily turn out as well as you would hope. And then there's the thickness of ink, the transparency of paper. In short, many details that could make a stamp as a bookplate a bad experience if you stamp directly into the inside flap or dust pages.

So tomorrow I'm going to the craft store for my archival paper. And I think it will add a layer of pleasure to the stamping of my books to go through these extra steps. Less stressful, since I know in advance that the only stamps that will make it into the books will be those that turn out well. More time consuming? Yes.

My new bookplate stamp. Hooray!

But oh so wonderfully worth it.

Goals for 2013: Looking Back and Moving Forward

I recently looked at the goals that I set for myself for 2012, and I'm really pleased at how many of them I've met.

Here were my goals for 2012 and my assessment of whether I met them: 

• Finish my MFA thesis - Check! My MFA thesis is completed, turned in, defended, I graduated!, and I now have the bound copy on my bookshelf. 
• Submit these stories until they are published or I run out of suitable markets - Check! While I haven't found a home for all of my thesis stories yet, they're all on a healthy regimen of submission and revision. This is going to be an ongoing project, but I'm actively pursuing it so I'm calling it a goal met. 

• Learn more about writing novels 
• Begin writing a novel - Check! I particpated in NaNoWriMo this year, and while I didn't complete a novel I did begin one. Actually, I started several. 
• Workshop the first 5,000 words of a novel and the novel outline at DeepSouthCon - Check! Had a great workshop, got my butt kicked into gear, and met many lovely people. 

• Attend at least one big convention (AWP & World Fantasy Convention are my top choices) - Check! I attended AWP and it was excellent. 

• Continue to workshop stories with my Clarion West classmates - Check! 

• Read more & seek out new authors - Check! I've been reading many more novels this year, especially YA, to get myself back into the groove of how a novel feels. I've started following YA review blogs, so that I have a better sense of which books will speak to me before I seek them out. 

• Be more involved with my local geek community: writing, sci-fi, gaming - Check! I joined my local chapter of StarFleet and have attended events with my group, attended Con*Stellation, and participated in the Science Fiction Writers and Cake Appreciation Society reading this year at Con*Stellation.  

Shadow taking a rest after going for a walk

So what are my goals for 2013? 

• Complete the first draft of one novel. 
• Attend a residential novel writing workshop.
• Keep my current stories in the submission/ revision queue until they sell or I run out of suitable markets. 
• Write 3 new stories and submit them. 
• Experiment with storytelling in different genres (like visual narratives and non-fiction)

My main goal for 2013 is to complete a novel. I still want to write a few new short stories and keep my finished stories out on submission, but I think that writing a novel is the next big step I need to take as a writer. Even if this one is a learning novel, it will help me get to the next novel, and the next. 

2013 is my year of the novel, and I'm going to tailor my goals to that end as I go along. What are your goals for the new year? 

Publication: "Traffic Jam" in SpringGun

My flash fiction piece, "Traffic Jam" appears in the latest issue of SpringGun.

This was one of those wonderful stories to write, where you hear a voice in your head and the story comes out already able to walk forward. Originally it was several hundred words longer, and paring it down to fit within flash magazine guidelines (under 1000 words) made the story much stronger.

Open publication - Free publishing - More digital poetry

Clarion West Class of 2011: Publications and Sales, 2012

This has been a wonderful year for my Clarion West class. Here's a highlight of some of the big moments for my classmates, with a list of publications following.

Book Publication!

Corinne Duyvis sold her first book! Here's the announcement: "Corinne Duyvis’s debut OTHERBOUND, where a seventeen-year-old boy finds that every time he closes his eyes, he is drawn into the body of a mute servant girl from another world — a world that is growing increasingly more dangerous, and where many things are not as they seem, to Maggie Lehrman at Amulet, by Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency (World English)."

Writers of the Future Amazingness!

2011 Westies also did stellar work in the Writers of the Future Contest. Nick Tramdack, Mark Pantoja, and Alisa Alering were all finalists, with Alisa Alering going on to win the 4th Quarter! She'll be at the Writers of the Future workshop in LA with Nina Kiriki Hoffman this year, and is eligible for the grand prize. I'll be watching the stream of the awards ceremony and cheering her on.

Editorial Prowess!

David Rees-Thomas co-founded Waylines: Speculative Fiction and Film. He and co-founder Darryl Knickrehm ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the magazine, and the first issue will be out in January 2013.

Anthology Power!

One of the instructors at Clarion West is almost always an editor. Our wonderful editor in residence was L. Timmel Duchamp of Aqueduct Press. During her week of teaching, she gave us all a call for submission to a new anthology she was editing and encouraged us to submit. The concept is really interesting, one that I think my fellow English composition teachers would like: it is a collection of the untold stories behind famous characters, presented in a Wikipedia-like format. All in all, stories by seven of the Clarion West class of 2011 will appear in this anthology: Missing Links and Secret Histories: A Selection of Wikipedia Entries Lost, Suppressed, or Misplaced in Time. Cheers to Jeremy, Anne, Jenni (me!), Alisa, John, Cassie and Nick!

Here's a list of publications and other writing credits that have been sold or published in 2012. Check out these great stories! 

Alisa Alering

• "Keith Crust's Lucky Numbers." Flash Fiction Online. Forthcoming 2013. 

• "Madeline Usher Usher." Missing Links and Secret Histories: A Selection of Wikipedia Entries Lost, Suppressed, or Misplaced in Time. Ed. L. Timmel Duchamp. Aqueduct Press. Forthcoming. 

• First Prize, 2nd Quarter, Writers of the Future. 2012. 
• Finalist, 2nd Quarter. Writers of the Future. 2012.

• "Delicious." Every Day Fiction. 14 May 2012. 

Corinne Duyvis

• Otherbound. YA novel to be published by Amulet Press in 2014. 
• Represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency
• Goodreads page
• Blog posts: "That Time I Sold a Book" and "The Timeline of That Book Deal Thing"
• Interview at Query Tracker

S.L. Gilbow

• "Alarms." Lightspeed Magazine. March 2012. 
• Author Spotlight 

Eliza Hirsch

• "A Map of the Heart." (Con)viction anthology. Forthcoming February 2013. 

• "A Dancer for Aonou." Kaleidotrope. Summer 2012. 

Cassie Krahe

• "Walking Home." Daily Science Fiction. Forthcoming. 
• Clarion West Submission Story

Jenni Moody

• "Traffic Jam." SpringGun. Issue 7. Forthcoming. 

• "Peter Rabbit." Missing Links and Secret Histories: A Selection of Wikipedia Entries Lost, Suppressed, or Misplaced in Time. Ed. L. Timmel Duchamp. Aqueduct Press. Forthcoming.

Jack Nicholls

• "Running Wild." Aurealis, Issue 54, September 2012.  
• Clarion West Week 3 Story

• "The Statues of Melbourne." Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Issue 56, 2012.
• Clarion West Submission Story

• "The Tale of the Aggrieved Astrologer." Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Issue #101. August 9th, 2012.
• Clarion West Week 6 story

Mark Pantoja

• "The End." Tales of World War Z: Fan Fiction and Stories of the Zombie Apocalypse. 4 July 2012. 
• Clarion West Week 2 Story

• "A Darker Cycle." Nihilist SF. Issue 1. 26 November 2012. 
• Blog post about the process of revising this story
• Clarion West Week 6 Story

• "Houses." Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast. 8 September 2012. 
• Clarion West Week 4 Story

• "Buck." Writers of the Future Finalist, 2nd Quarter. 2012. 
• Clarion West Week 5 Story

David Rees-Thomas

• Co-founder and Fiction Editor, Waylines: Speculative Fiction and Film
• Kickstarter project
• "Waylines Magazine: An Inside Look." Blog feature by Alisa Alering. 

Maria Romasco-Moore

• "The Great Loneliness." Unstuck. Issue 2. December 2012.
• Clarion West Submission Story

Jeremy Sim

• "Fleep." Waylines Magazine. Forthcoming. 
• Clarion West Week 5 Story

Anne Toole

• "The Red Bandit." The Digital Wall. 2012
• Reprint of "Night in the Library." Originally published in Crossed Genres. Issue # 3. February 2009.

Nick Tramdack

• "Ligne Claire." Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Issue 57. 2012.
• Clarion West Week 1 Story

• "Triple Bind." New Myths. Issue 20. September 2012.

• "Legend of the Secret Masterpiece." Shanghai Steam: A Steampunk Wuxia Anthology. 2012.
• Clarion West Week 6 story

• "The Comeback." Phantasmacore. 27 April 2012. 

• Finalist, 4th Quarter, Writers of the Future, 2011. 
• Clarion West Week 2 Story

• "Cold Embrace." Ray Gun Revival. Issue 14, Vol.2. 2012. 
• Clarion West Week 4 Story

Alberto Yanez

• "Driving for Peanuts." Toasted Cake. Episode 23. 3 Jun 2012. 
• Text version available here on Alberto's website. 

• "Recognizing Gabe: un cuento de hadas." Strange Horizons. 16 Jan 2012. 
• Audio version at PodCastle, Episode 235. Read by Brian Lieberman. 23 Nov. 2012. 
• Clarion West Week 5 Story

Congrats to all of my Clarion West classmates on a great year of writing! 

The Next Big Thing

Last Wednesday I was tagged for "The Next Big Thing" by Eliza Hirsch. Here are my answers:

1) What is the working title of your next book?

I don't have a working title at the moment, other than "the story that takes place at a convention"

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

In the wake of DragonCon, there's always tons of photographs and videos about that year's experience. This year I particularly loved this video:



It struck me that a convention would be the perfect setting for a quest narrative. They're a microcosm of all these different worlds and fandoms. Also, it's a great place to try on different costumes/ personas.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

YA

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

My story features geek cultural icons, so it would be amazing if they made cameo appearances as themselves. I would be insanely happy if my book were made into a movie and George Takei played himself. 

As for my main characters, I would want them to be played by very new, unknown actors. I feel like more well-known actors sometimes evoke expectations in the audience based on their previous roles.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A young girl goes on a quest to experience and document moments of geek triumph at DragonCon in an attempt to reconnect with her alcoholic father.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I will be seeking agent representation. 

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

It's a current work in progress, but my goal is to have the first draft done by the summer. 

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

In Freaked by J.T. Dutton, the main character goes on a journey to a Grateful Dead concert. I kept expecting for the story to jump ahead, for long periods of time to pass. Mid-way through the book, I realized that the journey was the story. Dutton's novel made me reconsider the role of time in a YA novel, and I'm trying to work with a similar short time frame for this book.

I'm also playing with voice. I remember reading Minister Faust's The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad and thinking "I bet this was so much fun to write." I love the narrative voice style in Minister's novel. Sometimes I have the cloud of Serious Writer hanging over my head and I want to write only the novel that will devastate you and change your life. So I keep reminding myself of authors like Minister Faust who write with purpose but have fun along the way.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Talking with my Star Trek club friends about DragonCon reminded me of the excitement I felt at going to my first convention. Like a lot of people I know, I wish I had been more comfortable with my fandom earlier. I missed out on years of having fun with people who like the same stories I do, all because I was trying really hard to fit into someone else's mold of who I should be. 

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

I'm writing a novel about a geek girl for other young geek girls to see a kindred spirit in action. My goal is to make a book that is fun, but also has a steady undertow of emotional conflict. I can promise you Star Trek references  that go beyond the well-known episodes, a Browncoat code of honor, and superheroic feats.

That's it for me. What's your work in progress about? I'm tagging Ashley Cowger, so check on her blog next week to find out about her novel! 

Ready, Set, {Pause}, Workshop!

In workshops where there are a large number of participants, the critique from each member most likely has a time limit. At Clarion West, we had seventeen people plus an instructor critique each story. To make sure everyone was able to speak about the story, each person was allowed a maximum of 3 minutes for feedback.

As an incentive to keep within that time frame, we were each given four or so tickets at the beginning of the week. If you felt strongly about a story and wanted to keep going after the polite tap on the table (or awkward gong of a half-full aluminum water bottle), then you could rip up one of your tickets and keep going. But on Friday there were drawings for wonderful prizes, and your tickets were your chance to win.

Three minutes can feel like a long time if you're doing a presentation in front of a class. But if you're speaking about a story and trying to articulate what did and didn't work for you as a reader, then three minutes is never enough time.

Our first full-story critiques happened in week two. The first day of workshop I tried to cram in as much information as I could during my 3 minutes. I had a list of bullet points and I rattled them off, not really going into detail on any one point. I also wanted to appear competent to my classmates and instructor, and I think this often happens to writers during the first critique session at any workshop.

The critique room at Clarion West 2011

Then it was my turn. My story was ripped apart. Not unkindly. Not without caring words for what was working in the story. And in many ways the critique I received during that first round of stories propelled me to try my hardest during each submission cycle at the workshop.

But after the crit session had ended that day I didn't go to lunch with my classmates. I felt bombarded with feedback. I escaped to my room and stayed there for an hour in the quiet. During that time I thought about what was important to me as a writer. Which feedback had been most useful.

It wasn't the laundry list of things to fix. It was the moments when a classmate took the time to explore an area or two of my story, to really dig in deep. Or when they responded to an idea brought up earlier in the critique session. During these types of critiques my classmates usually spoke more slowly. Without the pre-listed bullet points, the critiques were more conversational. They reached me in a way that a list of Dittos couldn't.

These types of critiques worked for me because I felt connected to my classmates. Oddly, I was able to separate my work from my self more easily when I felt like my classmate addressed me directly. Maybe because the sense of them wanting to help me succeed came through more clearly. Or maybe the whole experience just felt less overwhelming.

So I decided to do something different with my responses. I still only had a few minutes for each critique, but each time I sacrificed a few of those precious moments to make a connection with the person whose story I was critiquing.

"Hey Mark."
"Hey Alisa."
"Hey Jei."

I think some people may have thought it was silly, but after a while it caught on and other people started doing it, too. And in the end my critiques were the better for this moment of pause, of connection.