Breaking the Ending

As November is over, so is no-shave November. I am keeping up the growth until the beard party we're having--then who knows. I will be sure to post a "final" product though, so you may all laugh at my scantily clad chin.

In reference to the title, I finally did it. I broke the ending to my novel, Jumping Off Bridges. And it is a very good thing.

I've always heard that good writers "kill their darlings." I have done this. Without mercy. At least in other places. However, I've hung and clung to the ending worse than a sleeping bat clings to its roost. Funny thing is, I never looked at the ending as a darling. It's not that I was incredibly smitten with what I had written, but it was the ending I had envisioned when I first put my fingers to the keyboard.

I've mentioned before that this novel started with the intent of being a short story, a short story that I only had an ending for. Like most organic things, the story became a novella and the novella became a novel--yet I still had my ending in mind. I wrote the whole thing to write that last scene. While it was never my favorite part of the novel--I think that comes somewheres in the middle--it was what I had always intended and, thus, tried to make everything fit around. As any writer knows--novice or expert--forcing your story to do what you want and not what it wants causes catastrophic problems. This is what I've been doing for the last few revisions, this stuffing into my preconceived mold, and it is no wonder that I keep feeling like something just isn't right. It doesn't feel right because it isn't right. This is not the ending the story demands, but the one I've imposed, and it doesn't make sense.

So I've let it go. I've realized my intentions were foolish--especially when my novel told me time and time again what should happen at the end. I ignored my own words. I ignored the whispers of my prose--a very, very dangerous thing to do. But they finally erupted last night, punching through my half-sleep musings and screaming for me to quit booping around and do what they'd been telling me all along.

What's better? It won't take long to fix this either. Not only will it make my novel a zillion times better--and finally complete--it involves the rewriting of three scenes. Three. That's it.

It just goes to show that the smallest of tweaks can fix the biggest of problems, and reiterates the sound advice that a writer should listen to her story. It does not care what you, the writer, wants. Stories live their own lives; it is our duty to simply record them. We are their Tivo. And like all recording devices, the work comes out the highest quality it can be when we take the time to listen.

If you have any thoughts on this from your own writing, or advice you've heard, I'd love to keep this conversation going. I hope to gear this blog more and more towards my writing process and breakthroughs and blocks I have. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

Terry Pratchett

I know I've mentioned him before and even probably wrote a mini-review for his recent book Nation--amazing, by the by--but I just wanted to take another minute to give him a good plug.

The more I've thought about him, and realized that I've read about a dozen of his books--probably my most read author then, or one of--he's been quite a formative author for this young writer. I remember reading Soul Music and really connecting with it. In fact, it affected me so much that I've been afraid to read it ever since, as I though it would suck. But the more I've read by him, the more and more I've been impressed with his writing.

Granted, we literary types aren't supposed to like genre fiction. We're supposed to turn up our noses and act like it's done nothing for the world--except maybe cheapen it. Yet how are we supposed to write of authors primarily known for their genre fiction: Ray Bradbury, George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, and even Terry Pratchett here. Sure, these folks entertain and write within their genre, but they still have something to say. Pratchett's Nation is one of the best coming of age stories and an examination about faith/beliefs/traditions I've read in a long time. And Bradbury, well, I'm going to rant about him later.

I think these authors walk a fine line between fluff and "deep-thinking" pieces that literary novels are supposed to be.

What I really want to say about this whole thing is that we need to get that stick out of our butts that tells us only to read "literary" works. You'll miss out on some very high-quality fiction. And there are many worse places to start than Pratchett. Give him a go.

Music and Micro-Zombies

Do you have a band that you KNOW is not good, that is simply music constructed for the masses, yet you can't stop listening to it?

Chevelle is that band for me. Every bit of me screams at their untalented-ness, their generic riffs and sub-par drum beats, yet I can't stop listening to them--including their new album. Stupid, "Roswell's Secrets" gets stuck in my head. I guess that's what I get for listening to it in the first place, but there is just something about this band--manufactured as it is--that just makes me want to rock out. *sigh*

As for the Micro-Zombies, I had a story picked up the other day. It's a teeny little piece, but one I'm rather happy with. Check it out here, if for no other reason than it is getting close to Halloween and it's time for zombies and things.

Lit Journal Submission Opportunities

Today is a day that needs to be completed while working on other things. Many, many other things. So this is simply a plug.

Poets, Short Storiests, Essayists, Comicists, Artists, Bring the Ink needs you. A lit mag is only as cool as its submissions. So please, send something cool. Cool is good. It will make people read your work--and our mag. Check it out, and read some of our current material.

Gibberish tomorrow. More busy-ness, too.

Open for Submissions: Bring the Ink

Hey, everyone:

As I mentioned last Friday, some buddies of mine and myself are putting together an online lit mag, Bring the Ink, for the world to devour. Of course, the only way to truly have a good lit mag is to have truly good submissions. While we toil away on all the nitty-gritty details and site building, we want to be reading the best you have to offer. Here are our tentative guidelines (any and all of this info is subject to change.)

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see something from you soon.

What We're About:

Sardonakiss Rexakon is a mutant man-beast with a brain and a good eye for good writing/art. He is the four great travelers of the mind, Wayward Son, Comfortably Numb, Silent Lucidity, and Dr. Rover. Plucked from the corners of the great American continent and slammed together in the Middle of Nowhere, their powers combined to create the very emblem of the word awesome--Sardonakiss Rexakon. If you don't get that, then perhaps you don't belong here. If you don't get that and you want to, then do the following:

Listen to Anthrax: Sound of White Noise.

Read a book, read a book, read a mutha fuckin' book.

Don't forget not to take yourself too seriously.

Submit something.

Guidelines:

We like good writing; we like good genre fiction; we like good literary insights; we like comics; we like animated films; we like stupid films; we like many things. We just don’t like to be bored. Every story has been told before; we know this, but we want to forget that fact in your submission.

Send us whatever surprised you when you wrote it. Send us fantastic nonsense. Send us whatever comes as close to perfection as you can create.

All of us have created something that we have no idea what to do with it, the things that have no home. We want to be that home.

Please note: While we might be more forgiving than some, manuscripts with one too many gross errors will be rejected. So please, run spell check, re-read it (and again), have someone else read it. Nothing throws you out of a piece like a typo.

Prose:

As this is a place that’s all about no limits, it seems lame to put a cap on word counts and limit you—especially when all creations go for as long as they need. Since this is the case, we’ll do it like so:

For all fiction and non-fiction: From one word to 5,000, paste the entire piece into the body of an email; for lengths above and beyond that, please send us a query. (We do encourage shorter pieces, from one to 3,000 words, as reading online can be a bit hard on the eyes.)

For interviews and reviews: Please query us with what you want to review, or what amazing person you want to interview (your own hook-ups here). Please note, DO NOT limit yourself to writers. Filmmakers, musicians, and artists are, well, artists, too. And hey, if you just know someone who has a good story, but you don’t know how to take their words and shape them into an amazing story, then let us know, we’ll send the final word.

Poetry:

All good writing is poetry. You want to call it poetry? Call it poetry, and we'll look at it as such. You want to go all out, write us a sestina, do it. Please, just nothing epic, unless you query first.

Comics:

Again, lengths are never fun to impose on anyone or anything, but we can only do so much and have so much space to offer. At the moment, ten pages are about the limit—unless, again, you query first. (We'd be open to ongoing series, too.) These can be anything from a one-panel gag to a full blown space opera. Whatever you send us, make sure it is complete. We cannot supply artists or writers. (There are plenty of networking resources out there that can help you find one or the other.)

Send us links to your work, and we’ll contact you for 300dpi files for print.

Cover Art:

If we have a theme, try to go with it. If you have something awesome and it doesn’t fit the theme, send us the link. Again, no attachments, just the link, we’ll contact you for a larger file. (Also, as it might be used in print, please make sure it is, at least, 4” x 6”. This can be B/W or Color. Please note, too, that your work may be cropped for spacing/design.)

Payment:

At this time, we can't offer payment. Hopefully this will change. For the moment, though, as we are doing this for free--you, sadly, have to, too.

Things to Keep in Mind:

For all submissions, please email to the following address sardonakissrexakon(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, PLEASE, in the header of your email, put the following: Submission, "Title of Your Piece," and category, e. g. "Submission, 'I Like Pie,' Poetry." Also: If you're submitting to a future issue, please add that to the header, too. "Submission ... Spring 2010."

We accept simultaneous submissions, however, please let us know if we are in competition for your piece. Also, if it is accepted elsewhere, let us know AS SOON AS YOU CAN. (It helps if you include the date, title of your submission, and--of course--your name in this informative email.)

We DO NOT accept previously published material. Don't care if it was on your blog or the zine you put together last month, we don't want it unless it is so shiny and new we can still smell the shrinkwrap.

We publish with one-time first rights, with the option to collect your story in a best of anthology. (At the moment, there is no foreseeable payment, but we'd like to at least give you a contributor copy or two.) Otherwise, once your story is published with us, you are free to do with it what you will, we only ask that if it is reprinted elsewhere that you please give us credit for the piece's original appearance.

Response Times:

As we don't know how many submissions we will be getting, it's hard to give a good guestimate. For now, please give us, at least, eight weeks before bothering us. (And like the simultaneous submissions, it helps if you include the date, title of your piece, and--of course--your name in this informative email.)

Themes:

Fall: Issue 0 “Introducing SR” – Anything you think is cool, and we want to think it’s cool too. Deadline: ASAP.

Winter: Issue 1 “Connections” – Connections can be anything, from person to person, person to animal, audio cord to audio cord, pieces of a broken vase glued together again. Connections are made and broken all the time. Show us some. Deadline: September 11.