Nominated for a Pushcart Prize!

One of my short stories, "Nogoodfornothin'," published in the Spring 2012 issue of the Conium Review, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize!

My reaction:

The Difference Between Fantasy Lit and Science Fiction Lit

One of my all-time fave writers is Ursala K Le Guin; I guess you could say she's somewhat of a hero of mine. In a great interview with Bill Moyer on PBS (video below), she talks about what she feels is the main difference between the genres of fantasy and the genres of science fiction. 

According to Le Guin,

"Science Fiction doesn't contradict science, but it goes on and invents just as freely as fantasy does."

"Fantasy makes up its own rules; it's a much older genre; its roots are deeper." The happenings in a story of fantasy don't necessarily have to align with our current understandings of physics--laws of the world.

Isn't this such a wonderful way to look at these two genres? So often time they are lumped together as Science Fiction & Fantasy--with that misleading ampersand that, in my mind, seems to suggest some extremely close correlation. 

Sure, they are similar genres, but each has its unique perspective and ways in which it critiques a universe.

Rain, Rain, Is Here to Stay!

The Pacific Northwest rains are finally here to stay, and some days I feel like scuba gear is required to successfully traverse the wet streets. Lots of people hate the rain, but I have to admit there's nothing I enjoy more than a nice, large, juicy rain cloud.

The soggy clothes. The chilly weather. The big warm jackets. The mandatory cups of hot chocolate (or, as I've recently discovered, mochas from Starbucks). The heaters. The blankets. The lack of sunshine/lack of sunburns. I love it all.

Rain: Is there really a better excuse to stay in the house and write, write, write or read, read, read?

Sparkly, Shiny, Fresh-Smelling New Ideas!

The fantastic thing about writing stories--about stumbling into new worlds--is that you never know when they might pop up. You could be sitting in a classroom listening to your professor ramble on and on, you could be at work pounding away on that computer, or you could even be pleading to the Celeb Gods that they fix crazypants Lindsay Lohan.

But whenever that sparkly, shiny new idea creeps up on you, it's basically mandatory that you show the world how happy you are.

That happiness will ensue for many days, many weeks, perhaps even many months, until suddenly . . . your shiny new world begins to present problems and conflicts and struggles. And then you get sad, because conflict sort of stresses you out:

And you know what you want your characters to say, you know what you want them to achieve and where you want them to go on their journey, but sometimes you just can't reach the carrot:

But then, as you explore this world more and love this world more and meet new faces within this world and hear all the stories this world has to share, then that joy comes back again:

And then you have to edit the sucker . . . . and we all know how that feels:

Keeping it Real in YA Lit

I'm so lucky that I'm a Pacific Northwesterner and had the opportunity to check out Wordstock 2012! Authors, young writers, local publishers, readers, and word-lovers of all types showed up at the Oregon Convention Center this past weekend for an incredible literary celebration. 

I attended several YA panels and discussions, which quickly turned out to be the highlight of the convention. I find it so interesting to hear how other YA writers approach their work, especially when having to deal with subject matter that is tough, honest, and, for lack of a better term, real. 

Young Adults read this category to find themselves within the stories--to get to know a character that may or may not be dealing with similar issues. On the opposite side of the spectrum, adults read in this category to recapture the magic and experience of their earlier years, and for this reason I agree with author Steve Brezenoff, who said something to the extent of . . . . 

YA should be viewed as a perspective, not necessarily a genre and/or demographic. 

This discussion was called The "Adult" in "Young Adult" and featured authors Joelle Anthony, Steve Brezenoff, Kristen-Paige Madonia, and moderator Erica Lorraine Scheidt. The looming question that drifted throughout the room was what exactly is "adult" subject matter? How do we treat these issues that many adults and institutions have deemed "dangerous" or "too adult" for teenagers to explore?

While many had varying opinions, a couple of the authors raised the idea that it seems ridiculous to even classify the things people take issues with in YA fiction (such as sex, drugs, language, sexuality/identity, etc.) as being "adult" at all . . . because "adult" issues are quite different from "teen" issues, and both demographics perceive issues and interact with issues in very different ways. 

Many teens use literature to explore these sensitive issues and, as suggested by David Levithan at the end of the Keeping it Real discussion, "It's not dangerous to write about tough issues; it's dangerous not to write about them." The danger exists in holding back and not writing about something solely out of fear that the issue explored will garner negative criticism; it's important to remember that young readers need to read about issues that affect them and are pertinent to their lives. 

They need to know that their journeys aren't the only ones. So let's keep it real. Always. Aaragorn demands it.

Image created with memegenerator

Music for Writers: Action Scenes!

Sometimes it just takes some good music to get pumped up for a scene--especially an action scene! Action scenes are difficult to write, so I am constantly looking for inspiration. When I'm writing, I tend to classify action scenes in one of two ways.

1. Fights/Tussles/Epic Battles. Punches thrown, heroes/heroines knocked down, enemies overcome, maybe some blood. The ones that contain the physical, physical, physical!

2. The Intense. There might not be any fighting in the scene necessarily, but there might be an incredible sense/feeling of needing--needing to get somewhere, needing to succeed, needing to overcome an obstacle. Maybe a character is running down the street, in a thunderstorm, where the only enemies on the course are his own inner demons. Sometimes the greatest antagonists in a novel are those found within the character--those enemies they battle throughout the entire story and, sometimes, feel as if they'll never be able to thwart.

Regardless of what type of action scene you're writing, your characters need something to lift them up after they've fallen and, most of all, inspire them to be victorious. Every once in a while, we all need something that makes us want to run out and take on the world, right?

The following is my playlist that helps me find inspiration for some good ol' action and intensity! What songs get you pumped up for action?

Character Therapy

I just realized that my characters do the following things a lot:

1. "Grab a shoulder" (I think this is in an effort to console the other individual; however, now that I think about it . . . it might just be a bit creepy. How often does someone grab your shoulder *and squeeze it* when trying to comfort you? Stop it, characters, stop getting so cheeky. I'm not a romance writer--I wouldn't know what to do with you once you got past the shoulder groping stage!)

2. "Sigh" (Quite possibly the lamest character action ever. #BasketCase #GetOverIt)

3. "Roll their eyes" (Stop giving me and your peers attitude, you mean-angsty-McNasty!)

4. "Tense up" (Chillax, dudes!)

5. "Crack a grin" and, on the opposite side of the spectrum, "Crack a frown" (There's a whole bunch of "cracking" going on--y'all's faces are goin' to be in some pieces soon . . . then what are we going to do?)

Basically, I'm going to start requiring all of my potential protagonists/antagonists/super-random-agonists to enroll in Character Therapy before they even consider hopping into my head. I work for a celebrity gossip/entertainment news site and deal with Hollywood's crazy drama all day. So, my lovely and sweet and manic characters, give me a break, would ya? I understand that some of you simply must roll your eyes every so often, but please don't do it every third paragraph. It STRESSES me out.

What are some of the things your characters do too often?

Why Fantasy Is Important--Part I

I primarily write YA urban fantasy and literature with elements of magical realism, and I appreciate characters who journey through life weirder and stranger than most. I like the quirky. I like the magical. I like the bizarre. I guess you can blame it on the fact that I am a ginger.

But why do I like those things? Even more specifically, why do I like reading and writing about those elements in literature? Why do I write about magic and other fantastical things that most would agree could never happen or exist in our world? Why do I write period?

WHY DO YOU WRITE?

I can't remember who said it or when I heard it, but not long ago I heard someone ask, "What's the point of fantasy? It's not real." It may have been a random dude taking his first steps into the fantasy section of the bookstore. It may have been the person at the bus stop who only reads the daily paper. It may have been my father, who only reads Grisham, true crime, and the occasional cozy mystery. It may have been my mother, who enjoys romance novels. It may have been the residents at the physics camp I worked at this summer--the students who analyzed, calculated, and measured every move Tom Cruise made in the new Mission Impossible movie, so that they could simply prove the impossible nature of his fantastic feats. I quote: "That's so ridiculous! He so would've died there. That's impossible" Well, no duh. Just take a look at the title.

What's the point of fantasy? is such an important question, one I feel all writers in this genre should attempt to answer--not only in an effort to better understand the genre as a whole but to better understand their writing, their process, and what they hope to achieve with their fantastical narratives.

If someone's giving characters magic or powers or placing them in mystical new realms simply for the sake of placing them there, if that magic doesn't work to further characterize that individual and help them grow or reach conclusions about their own story, then why not make them "normal," why not strip them of those powers that confuse them or hurt them or make them miserable?

If the story isn't enhanced by the magic (I use magic as an umbrella term for unordinary elements), then it really doesn't need to be there, right? The magic in fantasy exists to teach, to misuse, to learn from, to change, to transform, to lead, to destroy, to rebuild--to be something that is so alive the readers can taste it, hear it, see it, be amazed by it.

Fantasy is such a powerful genre because it has the power to pull us out of our daily world. With fantasy, the possibilities are LITERALLY limitless. While I was surrounded by so many mathematical and science-oriented minds this summer, it really got me thinking about fantasy and how some individuals are more apt to explore it and be fascinated by it.

Suspend your disbelief for a moment, I wanted to say to those children who calculated the velocity of Tom Cruise as his car crashed and crunched into the concrete. Turn off your calculative brain and experience the impossible. Let your mind wander; let your body go to a place where calculations don't matter. Try and let yourself be awed by the extraordinary.

I don't think I've fully answered this question yet, but I look forward to exploring it more and more as I continue my journey as a reader and writer. If you're out there and you're a writer of fantasy (or any other genre), why is it that you write? I'd love to make new blogging friends. Don't be afraid to comment.

I write fantasy because I like seeing what the world looks like upside down. And I like standing on my head.

Image by Nick

My Short Story "Stolen, Jarred, and Tossed" in Black Fox Literary Magazine

A few months ago one of my short stories entitled "Stolen, Jarred, and Tossed" was published in Black Fox Literary Magazine. The magazine (which you can get online or in print) publishes each month and works to feature all types of writing -- everything from flash to short stories to poetry. The mag is run by some really wonderful ladies, and I encourage you to check it out. 

Here's an excerpt from my story:

On October 31st, Lily Florence stole the name of the boy who’d refused to kiss her on the lips. She stored it in a jam jar; she screwed the lid shut tight. It was such a fancy name--one she thought might sparkle and glow, perhaps even sing--but as she stared into the glass jar, the blandness of the thing inside left her eyeballs uninterested and her curious mind desiring. Lily Florence was simply unimpressed with the entire situation. Where is the boy? Why isn’t he coming for his name? She observed it, that shapeless thing pretending to be better than air, for a moment longer. And quicker than a bee decides to sting, Lily shoved the jar into her pink Cinderella lunch box, smoothed the wrinkles out of her skirt, and stormed home. The birds took great care not to fly too close to her path. Squirrels stopped munching on their acorns. Even the ants ceased their work, in fear that they might, somehow, interfere.

If you want to read the full story plus check out all the other stories, you can use the ISSUU below.

Also, don't forget to check out the latest issue of Black Fox Literary Magazine! 

We Have Dreams; Dreams Have Us

It's so hard to wait. Waiting for things is no fun whatsoever--especially for a writer who, more than anything else, wants to see his words out in the world (and, even before that, loved by an agent and, sometime after that, loved by an editor).

I'm querying one of my projects right now and, at times, it can be discouraging. Am I good enough? Will they like the story well enough to take a chance with me? All these questions rumble through a writer's head . . . .

However, I'm reminded of something a professor at my university recently said to me:

"We all have dreams but dreams also have us."

As long as we have our dreams, there to guide us, lift us, push us, always there to make sure we see the possibilities and the magic in the world, then they will one day--one can only hope--embrace us just as we have embraced them.

Image: "The Dream" by Franz Marc

My Short Story Mentioned In An Article By SMALL PRESS REVIEWS!

One of my short stories, "Nogoodfornothing," which was published in the first issue of The Conium Review, was mentioned in a review done by Small Press Reviews!

CLICK HERE to read the full article, written by Marc Schuster. If you're out there somewhere, Marc, thanks for reviewing The Conium Review!

"Admittedly, some of the works are  odd, albeit in an endearing way. In one piece of flash fiction, for example, a young man dreams of eating glass despite the protestations of his girlfriend. In another, a sterile woman stirs up a baby in a pot of leftovers. In both cases, a distinct sense of loneliness permeates the narratives. Yes, we’re bearing witness to the bizarre, but it’s not just bizarre for the sake of bizarre. It’s a brand of bizarre that offers insight into the human condition."

Remember, everyone: Appreciate the bizarre and always look for the magic in life.