The Writing Workshop

Publishing News Snapshots: Inherited Comic Collection Worth Millions, Nebula Awards Announced, and RL Stine Publishes a New Story via Twitter

Here's some publishing news mini-bites for you!

RL Stine is the beloved children's horror author, most recognized for his Goosebumps series. (I fondly remember reading The Haunted Mask in elementary school and promptly having nightmares when I fell asleep during library free reading.) He has just published a brand new story, line-by-line, through his Twitter account. The story has been collected by io9 and can be read at the link. I think it's great that established authors are getting into new technologies. And good for Stine for having fun with his work. Sometimes authors forget that we do this because we love it.

Speaking of loving it, the 2011 Nebula Award nominees were announced this week. The Nebula Awards are considered one of the top prizes for fantasy and science fiction writing. The awards offer prizes in terms of length: novel, novella, novelette, and short story. (Frankly, the word "novelette" sounds so made-up it's not even funny.) There is also a prize for screenwriting, which pits children's movie Hugo against both Captain America: The First Avenger and a Neil Gaiman-written episode of Doctor Who. Love it!

And finally, we have the story of one Michael Rorrer, whose great aunt promised him his great uncle's comic book collection when she died. Little did Rorrer (or his aunt, I'm assuming) know that the collection was worth nearly 2 million dollars, thanks to some very rare golden age issues. Most important to the collection's value are those first appearances of DC icons Batman (Detective Comics #27) and Superman (Action Comics #1). Interestingly, it is believed that the value of these issues would be much lower if so many golden age comic books weren't destroyed when anti-comic book fever hit America in the 50's, thanks to pumped up Congressional hearings (think of the similar hearings about bad music in the 80's). You can read about them in David Hadju's wonderful The Ten-Cent Plague.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: Guys & Dolls

One of the world's favorite narrative arcs is that of the love triangle. Everyone loves a story of two competing lovers - look at the popularity of The Vampire Diaries, which is basically just Twilight with a lot more death and sex (all the good things) and one hell of a love triangle. Twilight's love triangle is pretty pathetic in comparison, since Edward is perfect in every way (to Bella) and Jacob is kind of an obsessive freak (to Bella). Or, in other words, it's really no surprise at all that Bella ends up with Edward instead of Jacob.

On The Vampire Diaries, there's actually been a question from the very beginning as to whether or not the heroine Elena would pick the good boy vampire Stefan or his brother, bad boy vampire Damon. Why, you ask? Because both characters have that wonderful shade of gray that makes Stefan not quite the good boy he appears to be, and Damon has the hooker with a heart of gold complex, just with fangs and killing instead of sleeping with people for money.

Write a one-page story in which a love triangle is resolved.

Your goal today is manage the depth of The Vampire Diaries' long triangle in a single page. Don't go all Twilight on me, especially if you're using vampires. No sparkles. No fluff. No obvious conclusions.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: New Jobs

Well, the good news is that the debt ceiling debacle is over and the jobs report that came out today says things are actually improving, not getting worse. (The DOW and other stock markets dropped horribly yesterday on fear that the job report would say the opposite and that several European countries are even more broke then we Americans are.)

So, in that vein, let's be hopeful for a change.

Write a one page story about either getting a new job or starting a new job.

How can you condense this experience down into a single moment? Is it the interview that's the worst? Waiting for the phone call for the job offer or rejection? Walking in the first day to meet all your new co-workers? Getting your first assignment that's over your head?

As always, don't allow the shortness of the piece to override your creativity. Get in the whole scope of a novel - just in a fun, bite-sized form!

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: The Break-Up

Some people despise the movie The Break-Up. Frankly, I kind of loved it. I thought it was one of the most honest portrayals of a relationship ending that I had ever seen on the screen, and Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn give some of their best performances - combining that instant rage that riles up in people when you really want to hurt someone you still sort of love.

But the ending, wherein our two leads aren't back together by the time the curtain closes, riled a lot of people. To me, though, it was the smartest move the writers made. It, truly, was daring.

Write a one page story about a break-up.

The easiest way to go about this would be to show a one page fight with someone storming off dramatically at the end. The goal, though, is to be more nuanced. Pick the one moment in the entire break-up where the relationship is actually over - which often comes long before a couple chooses to part - or perhaps even a moment past the actual break-up, wherein the couple's relationship (and everything they had together) is finally gone.

Also avoid the other sure-fire relationship ending signs: the signing of the divorce papers, the stay together for the children speech, and the walking-in on a cheating partner. Try for something original to incite the end. Just remember to do it in one page.

Writing Prompt: Fan Fiction Friday: Cool, Yo

I just realized I haven't had a Flash Fiction Friday in several weeks. The horror of it all!

Write a one-page story (with beginning, middle, end, and at least one main character) that uses the words cool, dubious, and sass at least once.

The point, as usual, is to have fun. It's the weekend, baby!

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Fridays: Apocalypse in 1 Page

So, tomorrow is the Rapture. (Sorry, I just can't resist this thing. I've actually seen the people with the signs here in New York. If this is what you seriously believe, why in the world aren't you making the most of your life before the end?) And we're going to honor that with our Flash Fiction Friday.

Write a story in which you tell the story of Earth's last day in a single page.

The big question here is how you do it. Do you focus on a single person as the world crumbles? Or is the Earth itself the only character, as the universe watches? Or, instead, do you bounce from place to place to watch in horror as the world dies?

Sure, it's a bit morbid, but I'm not suggesting you make fun of this (despite the Armageddon film poster). Writing a serious one page story about the apocalypse will be much more difficult than writing a humorous one, and you know I like a good challenge.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: Prose Poetry

Over at the PFS Book Club, I recently highlighted the differences between flash fiction and prose poetry. In today's Flash Fiction prompt, go more towards the poetry side. In other words, focus completely on the poetic aspects of your piece: the rhythm, the rhyme, and the symbolic images.

Write a prose poem.

Essentially, you're writing a poem in prose form, with some narrative structure. Try to limit yourself to two pages, at most. Prose poems tend to be shorter than their flash fiction counterparts, so even if you only have a paragraph, that's OK.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: Stream of Consciousness

The Modernists developed a new frame of writing called stream of consciousness, because they felt that writing before then was too artificial. They looked upon the heavily structured books of the Victorian era and believed that they did truly represent the way human beings thought. So, instead of writing in complete sentences with correct grammar, they shifted to  stream of consciousness, or in other words, trying to imitate the way people actually think. See some of Virginia Woolf's work for an example.

Write a 2 page story using stream of consciousness.

The problem here isn't so much the stream of consciousness, but the fact this should be a flash fiction piece. Trying to tell a complete story in 2 pages will be exceptionally difficult when trying to mimic the thought patterns of the human brain - with all their starts and stops and interjected ideas. Good luck!