Tag: science fiction

Tired of Writing

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I alerted you almost a month ago to a writing contest at Weird Little Worlds Press. It wasn’t easy, but I wrote a mostly-coherent sci-fi story of just under 5,000 words involving lizard people and pencil sharpeners. But then came the editing … and the rewrites … and the formatting into their accepted style … and finally the self-doubt. It’s not like the humorous stories I write. It’s easy to tell if a story is funny or not, and I’m pretty self-aware of whether my stories are chuckle-inducing gut-busters (typically not). But writing sci-fi is a new experience for me. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I am learning.

The submission deadline was May 31. The day before I had finished another micro-fiction story that I submitted to www.curatedmicrofiction. And why not? They have published and paid me for every story I’ve submitted. Here’s my most recent one that they liked that I wrote to their sci-fi prompt. Maybe I was practicing for the Weird Little Worlds contest with sci-fi micro-fiction.

So, by the time I finished the submission for Weird Little Worlds Press, I was just tired of writing, editing, etc. Today has been a dreary, rainy day – perfect for writing! And there is a website I had my eye on with a submission due today. But I just can’t. I have cranial writer’s cramp. My brain hurts.

What I can do is plan for the future. There’s a new window open for submissions at www.curatedmicrofiction.com. I have my eye on the Literary/Creative prompt but with a humorous twist. First submission is free! Come join me. And I may be able to use my sci-fi submission to Weird Little Worlds Press for this contest from the Scientologists. Finally, I have a story in my head about a carnival sideshow wild woman that will definitely have to be written before I forget it. For a memory of the most famous of carnival sideshow women, Lydia, click here.

The Science of Writing

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been recently using writing contests to finish short stories. I’ve always got a dozen or so half-finished stories rattling around in my laptop. And yes, that is my hard drive, and I am happy to be writing.

Choosing a half-written story to enter into a contest is a great way to get some closure. I finished two short stories recently to enter into this contest I told you about. They were micro-fiction stories I wrote for an event at a local Chicagland public library. I was invited to write to some paintings as artistic prompts for the event. I wrote two micro-fiction stories and one poem. I liked the two mini-stories enough that I expanded them from micro-fiction to fuller stories, but I left both under 1000 words to fit the contest rules. And really, how much more can I write about talking peaches in one of the stories? I could only enter once, so I chose the talking peach story to enter. Duh! There’s still time for you to submit a story. Under 1000 words. Just sayin’.

Anyway, both stories are now in good shape to include in my next collection of short stories. But my first self-published collection of short stories remains unfinished in my mind. It has been only available in digital form and has never been printed. Well, I am determined that the second edition will be available in print. A writing acquaintance advised me that a print version is vital to the success of a book. So, I am re-editing all 16 stories prior to formatting for a printed second edition, including a fantasy story set in a dystopian future.

In parallel, I stumbled across this contest.

Yes, it is that L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Do I still want my fantasy story included in that collection? Yes, please. Take a look at over 2000 reasons.

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Plot Twist!

~ Jim Flanigan

I had excitedly blogged about a short story writing contest that I was entering. It sounded fun. They gave us the first line, last line, and a plot twist to incorporate into the story. I settled on a science fiction story idea that I had, although I had never written in that genre before. That was my first big mistake. My second was that it turns out that it wasn’t a contest. I went to submit my story only to find it was not a contest but a “challenge.” That second mistake probably negated my first mistake, because in a real life plot twist, my story sucked.

First, my apologies to anyone who took my advice and spent the time to write a story in order to win the contest that didn’t exist and a Pulitzer Prize. Can I get a show of hands as to how many of you that was?

Thank God there’s always one as dumb as me.

Anyway, my wife, my editor/cousin/godmother, and I all hated it. It’s a story that just lies there like a dead fish waiting to be fileted. What’s the logical thing to do with such story? I guess share it with you as a cautionary tale of how not to write a short story. So, here it is in all its mediocrity.

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Me Write Science Fiction?

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 3 Comments

I blogged about a writing contest where they give you a first line, last line, and plot twist to use to write a story. Well, here they are …

First Line – The attack was over in seconds.

Last Line – Far too many people put their faith in me.

Editor’s Note: That last line is so perfect for this dummy.

Anyway, I was okay with those lines and constructing a story inside of them. But then, the Plot Twist was revealed.

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