Girl, Interrupted.

That’s me, or the writer in me at least. That’s how I feel today anyway when I look at the calendar and realise we’re at the wrong end of April.

At the end of last year I sat down and wrote out my writing goals for this year. They weren’t too unrealistic. 2012 was supposed to be the “year-of-completing-the-first-draft-of-exciting-new-YA-manuscript.” Hey, I have hopes it still will be, but I’m badly off course with my word count. I’m blaming life. It just interrupts. You know what I mean.

What do you do when life gets in the way of your writing time? I say, roll with it! I have heard many schools of thought on this – from getting up at 4am to get your word count down; shutting yourself away from family and friends to meet your target, irrespective of social commitments; or checking in to a hotel for the weekend from some undistracted serious writing time.

If any of these methods work for you, that’s fantastic. I admire your commitment and tenacity to get the job done (and secretly wish I had a little more of it in me). This year though, in spite of my pathetic looking goal checklist, I am going to skip the self flagellation and just keep moving forward, interruptions and all. After all, it’s the interruptions life throws at us that shape us as better writers.

On reflection though, this year has still had its fair share of valuable writerly activity, even if it hasn’t added to the word count:

- I have two short story submissions out in the marketplace at the moment (let the waiting game continue).

- In February I attended a workshop with the uber talented Kelly Link at the Queensland Writer’s Centre on “Exploring the Supernatural”

- My writers group, Prana Writers, is going strong in their fourth year. We’re due to meet up again this Saturday.

- This year, I also became a foundation member of the GC Speckies, a Gold Coast based group for writers and fans of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. The Group was the brainchild of spec fic author and all round top chick, Vacen Taylor. If you live in the Gold Coast and have been looking for a group of like minded people to share good coffee and good conversation with, drop me a line. We meet on the third Sunday of every month.

It’s all these little things that keep motivation on track and help keep your mindset positive when you’re despairing over your lack of productivity.

So if, like me, you’re a Writer Interrupted, my advice to you is to keep up your networking, keep up your craft development, and keep rubbing shoulders with the writing community – it’s all fuel for your muse, interruptions and all.

In the meantime, happy writing, happy reading, and of course, happy days.

Rebecca Fraser

It’s Not The Size of the Tale, It’s The Magic That’s In It.

In October I will be presenting a workshop to my fellow writers on the craft of short story writing. While I was thinking about what I could include in my presentation, it really got me thinking about why I have a penchant for short stories. What is it about a short tale that grips my imagination and transports me to another place so easily?

There is no doubt that I live in world of speculation, where the dark, fantastical, chilling and horrifying are elements I choose to rub shoulders with most comfortably. (The whys and wherefores of this little idiosyncrasy is fodder for a different blog post altogether, so I won’t bore you with that now.) But how did my love affair with a tightly-written ten-pager or a sneaky little story with a sting in the tail start in the first place?

Let me take you back. All the way back to 1984, when I was a little bookworm of nine. I have always read voraciously. Anything really. If I couldn’t find a book, I would turn to travel brochures, street maps, the nutritional guide on product packaging. If there were words, I wanted to know what they said.

One day my Dad bought home a box of books for me. I think he had maybe picked them up from an auction house as a complete lot, or perhaps they had ‘fallen off the back of a truck’. I can’t remember now, either is viable. I will check with him. Anyway, Dad plonked the box of books in front of me and watched as I dug through them. There was all the usual Enid Blyton’s, Judy Blume’s, James Mansfield’s, etc that I loved.

There was one hardcover book, however, that dad plucked from the box before I could examine it. “Better save this one for a couple of years,” he said, studying the cover. I watched, intrigued, as he placed the mysterious book out of reach on the top of the bookshelf.

Needless to say, the very second I could retrieve the book without drawing my parent’s attention, I did so. The book was ‘Deadly Nightshade – Strange Tales of the Dark,’ edited by Peter Haining. The cover depicted a corpse flanked by fire, with the image of a demonic looking child standing guard over both.

I was mesmerized by the cover and squirreled the book away to bed with me that night to read it. Was it too old for me? Probably. Was Dad right in his well meaning decision to keep it safe from small eyes and psyche until I was older? Definitely. Was I scared? You bet. Did I like what I read? Hell, yes, I was hooked!

Deadly Nightshade is an anthology of seventeen horror stories with elements of supernatural and fantasy. As I write this, I have the book in front of me. It left such an impression I have kept it after all these years. Here was the sort of company I was in, that little nine year old girl, reading the forbidden book in bed by lamplight: Ray Bradbury, M R James, Robert Bloch, Saki, Joan Aiken … need I go on?

Now, I promised this blog wasn’t going to be about horror writing, and it won’t be. It just so happens that stumbling across this book gave birth to a twin passion – the horror genre and a passion for short fiction.

There is something intensely satisfying about the mechanics of a well written short story. Every word must be well chosen and well placed. After all, when you are dealing with stories, say of 1,000 – 8,000 words, every word counts. The margin for error is very little. Character must still be as strong as plot, and therein lays the art form. I sometimes have put down a story in complete awe at how the author has moved me so largely with so very few words.

Sometimes it’s character (think Doyle, think H G Wells), sometimes it’s atmosphere (M R James), sometimes it’s dialogue (Wodehouse), sometimes it’s the pure genius when all these elements come together at once (think Stephen King – have you ever read any of King’s non-horror stories? The man is a goddamn miracle worker).

I fear this blog is going on a ramble, so I will cut short here and leave you with a list of short stories that I highly recommend. Many of them are drawn from the speculative fiction pool, and for that I make no apologies. Whether you are into chick lit, crime fiction of the works of Shakespeare, everyone appreciates a ripping yarn!

Beck’s List of Must Reads (in no particular order)

1. The Streets of Ashkelon by Harry Harrison (one of the most intelligent and thought provoking stories dealing with the topic of religion I have read in a long time. Science Fiction).

2. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (many of you would have studied this is school, I imagine. This classic highlights what is meant by taking the reader’s breath away with a severe sting in the tail.)

3. The Last Rung of the Ladder, My Pretty Pony  and Mrs Todd’s Shortcut. All three by Stephen King (just beautiful writing).

4. Gabriel Ernest by Saki (the first werewolf story I ever read … and never forgot).

5. The Truth About Pyecraft by H G Wells (delightful tale from 1903, in true “Men’s Club” fashion. The late 1800’s – early 1900’s are my favourite era for writing.)

6. Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad by M R James (if you want to know how to handle horror with class and understatement, take a leaf out of the Master’s book. M R James’s style will sadly never be replicated in our modern age. You will never be able to look at your bed sheets again without seeing them caper off down a dark, windswept beach after reading this! Brrr! NB: We have become so desensitized as readers and watchers of horror, that we have lost touch with what is beautiful about the genre. While the stories from the turn of the last century may seem mild by today’s standards, look at the composition, the imagery and the atmospherics. Stylish!)

7. Mr Lupescu by Anthony Boucher (This story unsettled me so much when I was younger, that I pulled it out pretty much every year for the next ten years to see if I understood what happened better.)

8. The Tell Tale Heart / The Pit and the Pendulum both by Edgar Allan Poe (do yourselves a favour – get your hands on Mr Poe’s complete works and get lost in them. He was a dark soul indeed, although he also wrote with elements of great romance and tragedy. There is a fine poem called ‘Helen’ which has never left me.)

9. The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (one of Sherlock Holmes and Watsons best known mysteries. What is the “speckled band” that everyone keeps screaming about before death? Delightful)

10. The Tortoise Shell Cat by Greye La Spina (an excellent example of how to use extracts from letters to weave a fine story. The ingenuity is the parts that are left out, rather than what is included in the letters)

These are just ten, or so, stories that have jumped into my head right off the bat. You will note that many of them are from a different era. I have included them for the purpose of this blog as examples of fine writing, entertainment factor notwithstanding.

In a future blog, I am going to showcase Australian writing and authors. We have an absolute plethora of talent from coast to coast across many decades, and I am looking forward to sharing the best of what we have to offer with you all.

Until then, happy writing, happy reading and happy days

Rebecca Fraser

Eggs, Aliens and Steampunk . . . Helen Stubbs is in the Spotlight

I’m so excited to have the ridiculously talented Helen Stubbs as a very special guest on my blog this week.

Helen is a Gold Coast-based writer and a real name to watch in Speculative Fiction. I’ve had the privilege of reading much of her work and I am continually amazed at her unique and individual style. She has a rare ability to make the most unfamiliar scenarios and surroundings believable; grounded by strong characters, topical themes and exotic imagery.

Look out for her stories: you will find where to read them in her Bio below.

Recently I put Helen in the hot seat with ten questions about her work. So without further ado, I introduce Helen Stubbs, the only other girl I know that thought she may have been carrying an alien too:

Congratulations, Helen. You’ve recently had another short story accepted. Tell us a bit about ‘Winds of Change’.

When we had that big cyclone up north (Queensland, 2011), I was inspired by the idea that a baby born in a storm might have a relationship to the weather. At the same time, I felt a longing for a hero who could save us from all the natural disasters happening everywhere, because you just can’t reason with nature. My story The Stormchilds explores these ideas. ‘Winds of Change,’ is a great title. Remember that song? I could wave a lighter to that one!

I’ve noticed that birthing processes, lifecycles and maternal instincts are recurrent themes in your work. What is it that fascinates you about these subjects?

It’s fertile ground. (Pun intended.) I’ve always found lifecycles, and the cycles of nature, amazing. As a kid I loved to see eggs hatching, cats having slimy squirmy kittens and the things animals do for their young, like wasps putting anaesthetised  spiders in their larvae’s nests.

When I was pregnant, while being slightly bothered that I was carrying an Alien, I also found it the most creative and spiritual time of my life. I’m not usually spiritual at all. I couldn’t find any literature that dealt with the major changes I experienced. So I explore those themes in my writing.

Birth is not something you come across a lot in fiction, perhaps because people find it frightening, traumatic or distasteful. I also reject the typical birth scene in movies — you know, the screaming woman in stirrups. But I find that birth is a rich material for writing, with so many inherent conflicts and emotions.

I think birth is a unique female experience through which characters can show amazing strength. If it helps other women move toward birth with a more positive outlook, that would be awesome, too. I’m not sure if I’ll always write about it, but it has featured prominently in the last few years.

You also incorporate strong female characters into much of your writing. Is there an underlying statement that is being made, or is it simply that you find they resonate better with your plots and themes?

I love plots that make characters rise to the occasion! But my women do tend to be strong. In fact I have to be careful I don’t make my heroines unrealistically tough. I believe girls can do anything, and I love to see them do everything, but it’s more my world view rather than a statement. I think strong characters inspire emotion, and emotion is my goal.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received as a writer?

Enjoy the writing process, the journey and the friends you make on the way.

You seem to be equally comfortable writing short stories, novellas or novel-length manuscripts. Which do you find the most challenging?

Novels are certainly the hardest. Keeping momentum for that length and then rewriting and polishing it all up is tricky, for me.

Which writers do you admire, enjoy the most, or derive inspiration from?

My Prana Writer friends, and Australian writers like Kate Grenville and Marion Halligan, and also sci-fi heroes Sheri Tepper, Isaac Asimov and Authur C Clarke.

Helen, you are a prolific writer. What is your advice to writers on getting those words down?

Take the time (and I mean rip it out of your otherwise allocated hours) and get those words down. In those pesky hours of the day when you can’t be writing, daydream about what you will write when you can, so that when you get to sit down you can just go for it!

Are you working on any special projects at the moment?

Yes! I’m editing my steampunk novella called The Cupcake Girl of Winding Street, and writing the sequel, Sisters of the Sands. They’re set locally, but the world is very different. Natural hot springs and gravity drive the civilisation.

I’m giving a friend a hand with his vampire screenplay. Also, I recently submitted my novel Black Earth to Angry Robot, on their request. I also submitted a short story to the anthology Machine Of Death.

What are you currently reading?

William Goldman’s abridged version of The Princess Bride. It’s great.

What is one thing that people may be surprised to know about you?

I have trouble spelling receipt, which is really embarrassing.

ABOUT HELEN:  Gold Coast-based writer HELEN STUBBS loves the beautiful weird, especially fiction about the future and alternate realities.
Her unpublished novel Black Earth was a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Award. Helen’s short stories appear in Dead Red Heart, Winds of Change, Midnight Echo 6 and the Aussiecon Four Souvenir Booklet.
Her interests include chatting to strangers, fretting about the environment and marveling over art and innovation.
She’s a member of Prana Writers, Vision Writers, QWC and The Splinter Group.
Contact Helen at twitter.com/#!/superleni and helenstubbs.wordpress.com.

I hope you enjoyed spending time with Helen. I do.

Happy writing, happy reading and, of course, happy days

Rebecca Fraser

 

Write a book in a day? Yes, we can!

In line with one of our objectives to give back to the community, my writers group, Prana Writers, have entered a team for the ‘Write a book in a day” challenge.

http://writeabookinaday.com/index.html

In a nutshell, it’s a writing marathon to produce a children’s book in 12 hours. Our team will plan, write, illustrate, print and bind a 2000-8000 word book.

At 8am on 14 August, our team will be emailed a random setting, two human characters, a non-human character, an issue and five random words. Our story must be written around these and be delivered or emailed by 8pm the same day.

The aim is to raise funds for Childrens’ Hospitals in each Australian State. We will be supporting the Queensland Royal Childrens’ Hospital.

A copy of each finished book is donated to the hospital library, and the aim is to raise funds for our hospital.

If anyone would like to sponsor this worthy cause, you may do so by credit card – and it’s tax deductible!

Just visit http://writeabookinaday.com/welcome/donationhospital.html and  select our hospital and our group (Prana Writers).

We are currently the only group registered in Queensland, so please support this worthy cause.

Many thanks for your support, I’ll be sure to let you know how we go.

In the meantime, happy writing, happy reading and, of course, happy days

Rebecca Fraser

The “Write” Group For Me

I’m seeing someone. Well, more like ten people actually. I have been for a while now. It’s been three years. We get together every couple of months. My husband knows … and he fully approves.

Were you thinking indecent thoughts? Shame on you! It’s just my Writers’ Group. And I think it’s time you knew all about them.

The Prana Writers has a bit of a history for a rather young group. Back in 2009, the Gold Coast City Council selected sixteen emerging writers to participate in a workshop series mentored by award-winning Fantasy author, Louise Cusack, based on assessment of demonstrated literary merit.

We had an amazing year. We learned so much about our writing and ourselves. Our craft strengthened and so did our ability to block our inner critics. We laughed a lot, sometimes we cried, and along the way came to realise that we were more than writers getting together every few months. We liked each other too.

In 2010 year we were accepted for a Regional Arts Development Fund to continue Louise’s mentorship for a series of editing workshops. We had a few less in the group by then, but the dynamic was unchanged.

The Prana Writers have come into our own this year as a solid group of eleven. We still meet every few months, and I am so honoured to be part of this special group of talented people. Perhaps the planets were aligned in just the right way when we all got together three years ago, but it is rare to find a group of people with such different personalities and interests that get along so well.

We are a mixed bunch indeed, with a genre-blend of speculative, crime, romance, drama, literary, children’s fantasy, and young adult fiction.

If you are going it alone in the writing world and feel like you need to be surrounded by like minded people, I would strongly recommend tracking down a Writers’ Group that is right for you in your area.

What will you get out of it? Well, here’s what Prana Writers gives me:

• Motivation – when I have been using one of my many procrastination tools, I have my fellow writers to give me a good kick up the backside.
• Confidence – sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself when your inner critic is making you doubt your plot, characters, themes. Sometimes you need to hear from people whose opinions you trust that you “write good”.
• Critiquing – Imagine having ten talented writers critique your work for free. Pretty handy, huh?
• Inspiration – the creative energy when we get together is electrifying. Additionally, there is nothing to keep you striving for your own goals when you hear about everybody’s successes and milestones.
• Ongoing Professional Development – We are our very own talent pool. Each of us gives workshops on our areas of expertise. For example, so far this year we have had presentations on screen writing, building an online presence, and novel structure. Coming up we have e-book publishing, making our own book trailer, and in October I, with fellow Prana Writer, Helen Stubbs, will be running a short story workshop.
• Guest Speakers – We have had Rowena Cory Daniells, Sheryl Gwyther, Sarah Armstrong. At our next meeting we have Katherine Howell. Pretty cool, huh?!
• Support – This is priceless. We are all so genuinely supportive of each other and have a desire to see each other succeed and reach our individual goals. Life happens. Shit happens, too. When one of us is going through bad times, we all know the devastating effect this can have on ones writing and headspace.
• Friendship – We laugh a lot. We eat muffins. We catch up randomly. Sometimes we go to the pub. ‘Nuff said

I firmly believe the support, critique, feedback, energy and strength I get from my friends, even if it’s only a few times a year, contributes greatly to keeping my dream alive and my goals on track.

So, without sounding too sappy – this one goes out to you, Prana Writers. You’re the “Write Group” for me.

Happy writing, happy reading and happy days

Rebecca Fraser

Werewolves: They’re just so much cooler

The following  poem first appeared in New Myths Anniversary Issue #5 back in 2008.

I have trotted it out for a bit of airplay because, let’s face it, werewolves are so much cooler than vampires and while they have had a brief resurgence over the last few years more people need to spread the lupine love.

Many think that rhyming couplets are so 1900’s, but I have always been a fan, and I always will be. The sing-song rhythm appeals to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like modern poetry … I like any poetry that speaks to and from the heart, but, what can I say, I’m an old fashioned kind of gal.

Cycle

By Rebecca Fraser

In dreary bar in London’s west
Business man seeks work day rest
He loosens tie and takes a seat
Overlooking cobbled street
Glancing up through cityscape
Full moon maintains an eerie shape
Young girl enters, tight and tanned
The suit removes his wedding band
Engages her with flattery
Buys her drink, then two, then three
Invites her back to hotel room
Two figures stir the backstreet gloom
Cheerless boudoir, grimy, damp
Yet moonlight shines, no need for lamp
Groping crudely, parts her thighs
The girl smiles back through lupine eyes
Love not made, instead lust sated
Man rises, ego validated
A stench of matted fur in air
He whirls to find the girl not there
Instead a crouching, snarling hound
That crosses room in canine bound
And rips the throat tie once adorned
To flee into the night, reborn.

Flashback four hundred years or more
When warships land on foreign shore
Between the light of setting sun
And darkness, where the moon’s rays shone
Young soldier strays in twilit wander
His limbs to stretch, his soul to ponder
Ocean rhythm, saline breeze
Urge soldier on, until he sees
In distance filled with nighttime gloom
A lonely figure on shoreline loom
Shapely female silhouette
Gypsy skirt and hair of jet
Footsteps over crunching sand
Two strangers meet, she takes his hand
Pounding heart and light of head
He lays her where the waves still tread
Mouth on mouth and flesh on flesh
Yet overhead the clouds unmesh
Revealed against a starlit track
Full moon resplendent, white on black
Gentle fingers that once caressed
Now talons ripping heart from breast
Young soldier’s blood seeps into sand
His battle lost…not by man’s hand.

Now picture please, an ancient earth
Centuries ‘fore the Carpenter’s birth
Terrain much different, yet sky the same
Stars and moon in unchanged frame
Primordial tribes, a hunting man
Who worked the land to feed his clan
Went forth to stalk the nightly prey
The jungle danced its strange ballet
And through the dappled light he spied
A creature moving, gimlet-eyed
Not buffalo, or sloth, or deer
He closed the distance, raising spear
Silent footsteps, art of track
Bracing mind for swift attack
Moonlit clearing, void of game
The hunter looks for trail of same
Seeking signs on bended knees
A grizzled fiend streaks through the trees
Disembowels with swipe of claw
Extinguished life through unseen maw
So remember in this modern age
When lunar myths are deemed unsage
The cycle holds no man immune…
Where will you be next full moon?

Happy writing, happy reading and happy days

Rebecca Fraser

 

Research – Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. You just don’t know it yet!

As writers of fiction we have all come to a time when what we want to say in our stories won’t be as polished or believable without applying a little research.

You know what, I’m talking about – your heroine has escaped from the evil clutches of her captor and flees across The Hindu Kush; or your protagonist has upped his external struggle when he is struck down by a debilitating outbreak of Shingles.

All well and good, but if you’ve never traversed the ranges yourself or been unlucky enough to endure a bout of shingles; how are you going to believably throw your character into the setting; create a sense of place through dialogue, culture and landscape; use imagery and prose that resonates with authenticity; or just give your readers the gift of losing themselves in your story?

Simply put, unless you apply a certain amount of research, you are going to fail on at least some, if not all, of the above. Your readers are very smart. Don’t insult them with improvisation.

The good news is that research doesn’t have to be the laborious chore of poring over voluminous tomes in your library, or endlessly googling keywords and scouring Wikipedia for little known facts about the lesser spotted dogfish. Chances are someone you know, knows a little – or a lot – themselves.

If I’m working on a story that incorporates something that is outside my realm of expertise, I draw on my social, professional, family and online networks first. You’d be amazed at what people know, where they have traveled; worked at, owned, eaten, or experienced.

For example, I have been playing with a story that contains a strong element of surfing. Furthermore a good part of the story is set in remote Sumatra. Now, I have never even waxed a surfboard, let alone been to Sumatra … but I figured someone I knew would, or would know someone who had.

So, I put it out to my Facebook network. Bingo! Not just a surfer, but someone who was able to give me the most gorgeous detail about various remote Sumatran villages, beaches and surfing conditions. My friend was good enough to oblige me with some top notch answers to the questions I needed answering to give my story credibility. In return, I offered to name a character after him. (By the way, Brett, if you’re reading this, you have been cast as the lead . . . but you are about to undergo some very surreal circumstances! As promised though, you are all class

People that know stuff are everywhere. Your work colleagues; your extended family (especially the old timers); the dude at the petrol station; your neighbour with the gammy leg. Mother’s groups are a particular goldmine. Before us gals became mothers, we were doing something else. My playgroup boasts a pharmacist, an entrepreneur, an IT freak, a casino worker. Heck, we even have a geotechnical engineer!

In our cyber world of social media and online networking, there are countless thousands of “experts” you can hit up. And you know what? Most people love to help, especially if it’s something they know a lot about, and are passionate about. It’s flattering.

So, don’t be put off setting your next story in Patagonia. Someone somewhere will be able to supply you with a wealth of information. What’s more, they will be able to give you “first hand” accounts of their experiences, which can make such a difference from reading generic text in an encyclopedia.

Just remember to stick to a basic code of conduct and decency when you are hitting up your targets: -

• Don’t take the piss with people’s time. Everyone is busy, and answering fifty questions in detail about the atmosphere on Mars may not be at the very top of their priority list (just because it may be on yours)

• Do ask their permission first, before you email questions or ambush them with your pen and notebook in hand.

• Make sure that your target has the right credentials. For example, someone’s opinion on what the spice markets of Marrakesh might look like because they watched a documentary last week will be very different from one who has actually been there.

• Use online forums with grace and respect. For example, don’t just drop yourself into a topical forum, rape the brains of the boffins and leave without a goodbye or thank you.

• Do mention that you are writing a story or a book. You will be amazed how responsive people are when they learn this.

• If you are approaching a professional or expert in their field, use the same professional courtesy that you would in any normal job. Ask people for their time, respect their limitations, and thank people for their time.

And by the way, if you are one who likes to research the old fashioned way, more power to you. I still adore having my nose stuck in a fact finder at the library as well … I just have less time these days.

Happy writing, happy reading and, of course, happy days

Rebecca Fraser