Sale "As Luck Would Have It" to Every Day Fiction

It is particularly fitting this flash piece is posted up on Every Day Fiction here on Friday the 13th. Thanks to the delightful editors who not only took the story but creatively scheduled when it would run. Bravo!

How a cheeseburger became a craving

This is a follow-up (finally) to the sale of my story "Cravings" and how it came into being originally as a tale about killer cheeseburgers. Read more about that here.

So I'll confess that I initially screwed up regarding the cheeseburger theme, in a way that affects a lot of writers. The problem with my original approach to the story (which I called "Cheeseburger in Paradise") wasn't with the premise. By and of itself, the essence of the tale was fine. The problem I introduced was regarding the focus. Here I made a blunder in the first version of the story by casting the cheeseburger as the star. The core. The central cog around which everything else revolved. Heck, if Jimmy Buffet could get away with it, I could too. Right?

Except... no.

Delightful as a scrumptious, gooey cheeseburger might be, sci-fi readers aren't keen to have them as the protagonist of a story unless: a) the reader has a bad case of the munchies, or b) the burger develops sentience somewhere along the way. I couldn't count on the former and the latter, while intriguing, wasn't the tale I had written. Alas.

Unfortunately, I then compounded my little problem with the story's focus. I didn't realize what I'd done with "Cheeseburger in Paradise." I got so caught up in my homage to the humble fast food staple, I totally missed the fact that the story had little appeal. Nada. Zip. Except perhaps to stockholders of certain burger-based franchises.

After I'd accumulated a handful of "Pass" replies by various editors, I decided it was time for a different approach. At this point, a writer has three choices regarding an unsold story.

Choice 1 - they can press on and keep submitting. Perhaps it's a matter of finding the right editor/publisher for the right fit. Perhaps the writer will luck out and collect feedback along the way thus enabling a bit of fine tuning to ultimately make the story irresistible.

Choice 2 - they can trunk the story. This means putting it into limbo, possibly forever. This option might not imply permadeath for the story as it could be resuscitated and circulated again in the future. Or perhaps parts of the story could find new life in the context of another tale.

Choice 3 - they can rewrite the story. Change the plot. Change the pacing. Change the characters. The setting. The conflict. All options are fair game to recast the story into a form that has more appeal.

Regarding "Cheeseburger in Paradise," something told me to elect Choice 3. I'm not sure exactly what that 'something' was. I suspect I managed to take a hard look at the story from the perspective of a virgin reader, which is not an easy thing given we, as writers, are obsessively close to our stories. Close as in parental love for sired children. These stories are our babies. They don't have flaws. Just minor setbacks to be overcome. Teeny tiny aberrations. Nothing serious.

Except... no.

Stories aren't future Olympians or Nobel Prize winners or Supreme Court Justices. They are (for some of us) commercial products to be sold and shared. As such, they cannot bear any flaws. Hence writers are constantly questing for perfection of their precious little darlings, which raises the specter of a host of new challenges -- a topic for future blog posts.

Fortunately for me, I was finally able to listen to my inner reader. I came to recognize that the story wasn't about a mythical cheeseburger. The compelling story really was about the people who were caught up somehow in that mysticism. "Cheeseburger in Paradise" thus morphed into "Cravings." The rest is history.

That's it really. I would say that writers employing a rewrite choice for an existing, unsold story are actually in quite a position of power. The heavy lifting has been done, after all. If you force yourself to be an unbiased reader judging your (currently suboptimal) story for what it most lacks, you might learn that you need recast only one of the prime elements of story to get a more appealing result. Or not, in some cases. Either way, you be the judge. You hold the ultimate power of the pen.

"Cravings" now posted on Every Day Fiction

Get your "Cravings" today on Every Day Fiction. Won't cost you a thing.

I'll have more about the genesis of this story in an upcoming blog post.

Jimmy Buffet causes "Cravings"

Now there's a blog title subject to muuuch interpretation.

I promised a short expose on how a certain Jimmy Buffet song led to me writing and selling "Cravings" to Every Day Fiction. Well here you go.

First thing you should know is the original title for my story was... (insert drum roll)... "Cheeseburger in Paradise." Which happens to be the title of yet another popular Jimmy Buffet song. And I don't think you have to be a full-fledged Parrothead to have heard and potentially enjoyed that hunger-inducing ditty. For those of you who only know Jimmy via his "Margaritaville", you might be surprised to learn how many more of his songs you're actually acquainted with. But I digress.

I forget the particular circumstances but there was a day some time ago when I had a long string of quiet and reflective moments on tap, which quite often prove to be fertile ground for new story ideas to take root. At least they do for me. Instead, though, like any good ear worm, this particular Buffet song came to mind and promptly took up residence in my forebrain. Normally, such an event would herald the utter demise of any quiet, reflective moments remaining. Vicious ear worms can be a real bitch.

Not this time.

Some twisted, macabre part of my brain went to work on Jimmy's little number. "Yeah, yeah," it said. "Anybody but a staunch vegetarian could delight in a decent cheeseburger consumed in some lush tropical setting. But what if that wasn't allowed? In fact, what if the darn things were illegal? Even better, what if...instead of killing off your body slowly year-by-year... one cheeseburger could make you drop dead right on the spot? And yet, faced with almost certain death, what if there were social misfits who would eagerly and wantonly make that sacrifice just for one fleeting moment of experiencing this contraband food?"

See what I mean? Twisted to the extreme.

Thus, a new flash piece was born.

Things didn't go well to start with. In fact, I made a classic writer blunder with the story. I rushed it out the door to prospective editors. Prematurely. More on that, including how it morphed from "Cheeseburger in Paradise" to "Cravings," in another blog post.

Look for "Cravings" to go live on the Every Day Fiction site the morning of July 27.

If you'll excuse me, it's time for some Buffet, a burger, and a Margarita.

Sale! "Cravings" to Every Day Fiction

With some much appreciated help from the editorial staff at Every Day Fiction, I've sold them another flash piece called "Cravings." It's a tale about a future Earth when eating has become nothing more than a prescription diet of nutrient gels. A medical implant monitors and rigidly enforces the prescription for each individual. But some kids have access to ancient, illegal documents that glorify the foods people used to enjoy and they can't resist experimenting with those contraband delicacies. Even though it kills them in the process.

I'll post more in the days ahead to share a bit of the background and journey that "Cravings" took. As a small teaser, let me just say that a certain Jimmy Buffet song was involved. Not "Margaritaville" either. Stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, "Cravings" is scheduled to publish on Every Day Fiction on July 27.

The Adam & Eve angle in my story "Scents" takes a twist

One more brief insider scoop for you regarding "Scents," my world-gone-stinky flash piece.

I've always had a soft spot for Adam and Eve threads in science fiction tales. I also enjoy dystopian stories. Quite often one outcome for those is a literal or figurative do-over, particularly at the conclusion. In other words, center the plot on thwarting the bad, oppressive society/regime/environment somehow and then give the heros a chance to start anew, the notion being this time all will be better. It's a fitting reward for a titanic struggle.

Except in my own stories. 

Being the dark fiction slinger that I am, I don't expect I'll ever spin a tale where my victors go on to found a whole new utopia unmolested. Oh sure, they might desire to. They might think they will. Perhaps it will even start out that way. But I seriously doubt I'll be able to resist introducing some destabilizing factor to undermine their reward. 

Let's face it. A true Garden of Eden is lush, sanguine and idyllic. In other words, conflict free. Add a serpent and now you have the makings of a real story. That's my job as a writer: inject conflict and tension, shake vigorously, see what falls out. 

When I conceptualized "Scents," I knew it would have an Adam and Eve theme woven into it (albeit somewhat reversed). I also knew my Eve would be fiercely devoted to her mate and never inclined to abandon her love even though Eden or, in this case the world outside their domed prison, beckoned and was hers for the taking. That's not to say she didn't want that life of total freedom under the stars. She just didn't want it alone. My Eve's bond was that strong. 

At the point where I was prepared to actually introduce Eve's mate into "Scents," I paused. This was where the typical trope would have me supply an Adam and, I admit, would be a typical storyline for me to write. 

That's when I asked myself why? Why did it have to be an Adam and an Eve? Why not an Eve and Eve? Or an Adam and Adam for that matter. After all, "Scents" was a story about love and utter devotion. Period. Biological reproduction never entered the equation. 

That was my liberating moment. The result was my first Eve and Eve story. Darkened, of course. 

"Scents" is available to read on Every Day Fiction.

The inside scoop on my story "Scents"

What if, in the span of a decade or two, Earth changed to become intolerable to humans? Yeah, I know: tired, old, sci-fi trope, right? But I don't mean excessive heat, water, cold, radiation or some kind of zombie apocalypse.

What if Earth just suddenly stank?

I'm talking a whole lot of stink here, the kind that introduces your stomach to your larynx. Repeatedly.

This is the premise of my flash piece, "Scents," which premiers on November 19 at Every Day Fiction. I thought I'd take a moment and reflect on where the germ of the story came from.

I have two words for you: paper mill.

If you ever lived in the vicinity of a paper mill, you'll know what I mean when I say the aroma one of those facilities can put forth is quite breathtaking. And I do mean that in the literal sense.

When I was a little boy, well before we had Facebook and console games, for entertainment we had something called bicycles. At the time I had a close friend and we rode a lot. Our butts were permanently molded into the shape of a bike saddle because of the hours we spent riding. This was in a Midwest town in the US heartland. For mindless trivial fun, bike riding was about as good as it got.

Except when the wind blew from a certain direction.

Why? Because the paper mill was that direction parked on the outskirts of town. On days when the wind blew into town from the paper mill, the smell was so nauseating that skunks actually complained to the mayor.

Fast forward to a recent morning when I was on a power walk not long after sun rise. The air was warm and clear. I had a good pace going. All was well with the world.

And then I entered a stench zone. It was revoltingly bad. Gave me the dry heaves (breakfast hadn't occurred yet, thankfully). I think it persisted for like a hundred yards or so but it felt more like a hundred miles. When I finally emerged and gulped fresh air, the memory came roaring back of those miserable days downwind of the paper mill.

Odors can be one of the most powerful exciters of deep memories. In my case, it worked like a charm. I was a young boy back on a bike again, desperately trying to get home after the wind had shifted on a warm summer day. Then, barely making it alive, I barricaded myself there, trying not to let the foul fumes suffocate me.

That's about the point where my muse said, "Hey, what if the whole world stunk like that? Cool story, eh?"

Half a second later, the muse came up with, "Wow, what if the world stunk and one person didn't have a sense of smell? What would that be like?"

You can read one possibility on Every Day Fiction starting November 19.

Sale! "Scents" to Every Day Fiction

Though it's a dark piece, "Scents" probably qualifies as one of my palest dark works. It's a 1,000 word spec-fic flash tale of love and devotion set in Earth's near-future, a time when it stinks so horribly people can no longer go outside.

I received some delightfully warm and encouraging comments about the story from the Every Day Fiction editorial team. More to come when it publishes on their website.

Published! Flash piece from writing prompt

I talked about writing a story based on an image. Well, it's been published. You can read the 500-word story online here. Let me know if you think the story is a good reflection of the prompt image (look left - big thanks to MartinaK for the photo inspiration!).

If you're a writer, I certainly recommend trying this out for yourself.


Officially this makes me:

Jumpstarting a story via a writing prompt

If you've never tried writing a story based on a prompt, it can be quite liberating. This weekend I took a shot at it and really enjoyed that particular variant of the creative process.

For my attempt, I chose a picture out of a set, pondered the reason for the scene it represented, and let the words flow. In a total of 3 separate sessions behind the keyboard, spanning just a few hours, I put together a 500 word flash piece that I felt the image represented. It sang. Very cool.

Probably this had to be one of the easiest times I've ever experienced crafting a 'full' story. I'm qualifying the word 'full' here because the goal was to keep it flash length yet still tell a complete tale. We're not talking a novella or novelette, though I suppose the technique would be as applicable for those lengths of stories as well.

Do you want to know the real interesting part of all this? I'll tell you.

I had hundreds of images to choose from for a prompt. I expected to browse through them and have one or two stick out because, when I first scanned them, bits of their stories immediately came to mind.

That's not what happened though.

I ended up browsing all the photos multiple times. My attention kept returning to one or two, for reasons I really couldn't determine. They just seemed interesting at the time. Not outright yes-es. More like maybes--maybe sos.

I then narrowed down the field and selected the one that I most wanted to write about. But I didn't chose strictly because of the image. I chose because of the kind of story I felt must be behind the image. In other words, instead of "wow, nice picture," it was more "wow, I wonder what's really going on here?" Once I got to that point, well... it pretty much told itself. The story opened up in my head, sorted out and rooted squarely back to the image it belonged with. Almost seemed like cheating, it emerged so readily.

Unfortunately, I can't share it here because I did submit it for consideration. Perhaps I'll post it as an example if the editors reject it. We'll see.

In the meantime, if you ever get the opportunity to do so, try writing from a prompt sometime. See if you find it refreshing like I did.