Category Archives: Benjamin T. Smith

Writing in Public: Day 02, Month 01

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Started my writing at 12:00 PM today.  Normally I like to get writing started at 10:00, get a solid two or three hours in before lunch, and then hit it again until dinner.  The “hit it again until dinner” also didn’t happen.  With the bad weather rolling in, it’s been a busy day of running more errands and gathering firewood.  No excuse for someone trying to make a career of writing.  Writing time is something I need to guard jealously and insure that only writing is done during those specified blocks.  That is something I will implement first thing tomorrow.  10:00 – 12:00, then 1:00 – 5:00, or something to that effect.

With that said, there was some productivity.  The rough draft of “Alien Concept” is finished, clocking in at approximately 1,050 words.  The rough draft of the Kazka “Journeys” theme story is also finished.  It’s another flash fiction piece, and it will need quite a bit of work to get it up to where I’m satisfied with it.  On the planning and outlining front, I’ve figured out a starting point and protagonist for the “Songs of Fate” story that I’ll begin actually writing on Friday.  That is for the Crossed Genres‘ music themed issue.

  • Nonfiction: 211
  • Planning and outlining: 481
  • Fiction: 1,218
  • Salable words: 000

Total Fiction for Month: 3,168

Total Salable for Month: 000

Writing in Public: Day 01, Month 01

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Well, today turned out to have less time devoted to writing than I had originally planned.  I started writing at around 10:00 AM, and at Noon I was slammed with a seemingly endless supply of errands that had to be run.  The good news is it has freed my day up for tomorrow.  Once I sit down at 10:00 AM tomorrow I should be clear to write well into the afternoon.

The other good news is the two hours I was writing fiction turned out to be fairly productive.  I finished the rough draft of “Fallout Ariel” and came up with a plot for another flash fiction piece with the working title of “Alien Concept.”  I’m hoping to get a rough draft of that out tomorrow.

Here is the breakdown for writing today.  Note that both the “Fiction” and “Planning and outlining” categories will likely be edited tomorrow, as I tend to write just before bed.

  • Nonfiction: 840
  • Planning and outlining: 353
  • Fiction: 1,950
  • Salable words: 0

Total Fiction for Month: 1,950

Total Salable for Month: 0

Update: Wrote another 300 or so words, the opening page of the “Alien Concept” rough draft.  It’s been added to the numbers above, bringing total fiction for the day up to approximately 1,950.  Note that these are estimates, as my rough drafts tend to be written by hand.  Once I get into the typed revisions and final drafts, the numbers will become more exact.

 

Brevity in Flash Fiction

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One of my favorite sources for great flash fiction is the aptly named ezine Flash Fiction Online.  Another is the Daily Science Fiction, although they do not solely publish flash fiction.  They prefer shorter fiction for first time buys, so I have always tried to gear my submissions to Daily Science Fiction with that in mind.  In fact, of the numerous tales I have sent to them (16 as of this writing), it was the 11th one that made it to the second – and final – round of selection.  It was also my shortest, at just 273 words.  It has yet to be published, but hopefully a home will be found soon.

I find myself writing more and more flash fiction as the months go by, and my main hang-up is keeping my tendency for verbosity down.  If brevity is the soul of wit then I’m lacking in the wits department!  As frustrating as it can be, it’s a great exercise for a writer to try and be as concise as possible.  The words do add up, whether one is writing a story that’s only a sentence long or an entire novel or series of novels.  There comes a point when you need to rein them in.

Take “Fallout Ariel”, the flash fiction piece I finished the rough draft of today.  It’s a lengthy 1,650 words.  To be considered a flash piece by most markets it will need to be at least 1,000 words.  That’s a lot of shaving, but that’s to be expected from me.  I will probably re-read the rough draft and then rewrite the story entirely.  I have some ideas of how I want to change up the plot to make it a better tale.  After that, the story will need to be tightened.

By tomorrow night I’ll have a tangible example to show of the process I go through from rough draft to revised draft to final draft (Or as many revisions as are needed before arriving at the final draft).  Each story requires different things of me, which is what keeps things interesting.

Suzanne Vincent, the editor of Flash Fiction online, has a great article on managing story length.  It’s been a tremendous help to me, and if you’re into writing fiction (flash or otherwise) you owe it to your self to give it a read.  Not only is it good advice, but it comes from an editor!  You know, one of the people who determines the life or death of your story once you release it into the wild lands known only as “Submitted.”  It never hurts to see how they think and to know what they look for.

Writing in Public Challenge

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Dean Wesley Smith has taken on an interesting challenge that I will soon take up myself.  He is publicly displaying the amount of writing he does in a given day, with month-to-month totals given for fiction writing and non-fiction writing.

For me this challenge will be to hold myself accountable.  2013 was a productive (If not profitable) year for my writing, and my plan is for 2014 to be at least ten times more productive and, hopefully, profitable.  There are ambitious goals that must be met.

Expect my first post tonight!  I’ll probably break it up into three categories for word count: nonfiction, planning and outlining, fiction writing, and salable words:

  • Nonfiction: Posts here or anything else written that pertains to the business of writing, such as correspondence, query letters, submission letters, etc.
  • Planning and outlining: anything from simple, jotted-down notes to full-blown outlines.
  • Fiction writing: from rough draft to finished product.
  • Salable words: the finished product.

I have some numbers from January that I should post up that are pretty interesting.  With the six stories completed in January, the amount of total words written when compared with the amount of finished product was a ratio of roughly 3-to-1.  So, the next time I write out a 5,000 word story I should plan for 15,000 words to be written.

How does it work for you, as a writer?  Can you bang it all out in one go and send it off for acceptance, or do you need to get something – anything – written and then revise and rewrite?

Goals for the Week Ending 02-16-14

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Starting today, every Monday there will be a post of my goals for the current week. This will include writing goals as well as reading goals. Reading is as important to a writer as writing, for both are learning experiences that help us to grow in our craft.

Or, so I like to think. Anyway, on to the goals!

Writing Goals (Any titles listed are working titles):

  • Write “Fallout Ariel”, a flash fiction story of a technical diver meeting a mermaid at the outset of nuclear war. (1,000 words or less)
  • Write a flash fiction piece for the Kazka 713 “Journeys” flash fiction contest. (1,000 words or less)
  • Write “Songs of Fate”, a fantasy short story for Crossed Genres‘ “music” theme. (4,000 words or less)
  • Write “What Use, This Strength?”, a short story for Penumbra‘s “superhero” theme. (3,500 words or less)
  • Write “Interstellar Explorers”, a science fiction short story about human prospectors discovering – and dealing with – a pre-spaceflight alien race that is very warlike and will be a threat if they do reach the stars. (6,000 words or less)
  • Write outline for the second draft of “Into the Wastes”, a fantasy novel about a company of crusaders sent into their kingdom’s northern hinterlands to deal with one threat, only to discover multiple threats.

Reading Goals:

  • Read each of the five stories that Daily Science Fiction puts out this week.  It’s free to subscribe, so I highly recommend it.  They put out many wonderful stories of varying sizes, shapes, and stripes.
  • Re-read my notes for “The Wastes” and lay the groundwork for a second draft.
  • Re-read portions of Elizabeth Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series, mostly for how she incorporates music into her writing.  This will be important for my own musically-themed stories.  Plus, it’s a good series!

Submission Sunday – Week Ending 02-09-14

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Well, this past week hasn’t been very productive in terms of new writing. I’ve been working on some concepts, but no rough drafts have been written at all. This was a combination of work interference, snow interference, automobile interference, and general laziness. I have a bad habit of tacking one big thing and then being done for the day.

Anyway, today I spent a lot of time getting a bunch of stories resubmitted. Here we go:

Summary: 0 New, 9 Resubmissions

Resubmissions:

“False Light” resubmitted to Daily Science Fiction.

“Flickering Freedom” resubmitted to Flash Fiction Online.

“Sand” resubmitted to The Dark Magazine.

“Familial Obligation” resubmitted to Apex.

“A Necessary Sacrifice” resubmitted to Asimov’s.

“Water Cursed, Earth Atoned” resubmitted to Lightspeed.

“Subroutine” resubmitted to LORE.

“Beneficent” resubmitted to the Intergalactic Medicine Show.

“An Unquiet Peace” resubmitted to BuzzyMag.

Submission Sunday – Week Ending 02/02/14

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Starting today and continuing each Sunday I will post a list of submissions completed for the previous week.  This will serve as a form of accountability for me, as when weeks go by where I submit nothing (Either new or resubmissions) I can now be publicly shamed over it!  Even with writing happening, if nothing is getting submitted it can’t be considered a productive week.  From a short story standpoint, anyway.

So, without further ado, here are my submissions for the week:

Summary: 4 New, 0 Resubmissions

New Submissions:

January 29th, “Starting from Zeroth” submitted to Penumbra Magazine.

January 31st, “Supply Chain Management” submitted to Crossed Genres.

January 31st, “False Light” submitted to On the Premises.

February 1st, “Paper Planet” submitted to Unlikely Story.

“Lost in the Mail” Deemed Acceptable

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The fantasy short story “Lost in the Mail” has been deemed acceptable for printing in the Third Flatiron Publishing March 2014 issue.  The theme is anything involving “Astronomical Odds” and “Lost in the Mail” fit the bill, apparently.

It’s a short story about a summoner who is at risk of losing his license to practice and his new workshop due to some mail of his becoming lost in transit.  For anyone who’s ever had issues with the post office or any bureaucracy, this is for you!  It is based on a true story, minus the involvement of magic.

“Second Thanksgiving” Rewrite Request

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A few months ago I sent a flash fiction piece called “Second Thanksgiving” to Anassa Publications for their “Existence on Mars” anthology (Photo below taken from their site, done by MK).  It was basically a retelling of the First Thanksgiving where the Pilgrims and the American Indians met and found a way to coexist, at least for a time, but the native Martians are not what you expect…

Anyway, I just heard back today that they want the story to be rewritten, but that they will otherwise accept it.  This is an interesting challenge, as I’ve never been asked to rewrite something before.  Minor edits, yes, but major scene changes?  I’ve got to get to work on this, but it could be fun!

Photo by MK (solely for inspiration)

“The Littlest of Sparrows” is Deemed… Honorable?

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IFWA

My science fiction short story “The Littlest of Sparrows” won itself a place in the 2013 “In Places Between” Contest hosted by the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association (IFWA).  There were more than a hundred submissions and, in the end, a total of eight winners.  The story ranked as one of the five Honorable Mentions, which is a great accomplishment for the tale.

Thank you very much, IFWA!