Are you writing for fun? Because I have got to tell you—I sure as hell am!
Taking An Objective Look at My Writing for Fun
Writing for fun (and other purposes) has become an integral part of my life. I am a published science fiction author. So, you can find me on Amazon. And I am also a fervent #30Day50k participant. And as a part of changing careers, I also write. Don’t be surprised if you see a lot about writing on this blog, and don’t say I never warned you.
So let me tell you a little bit about that.
I won the first annual Riverdale Avenue Books NaNoWriMo contest (2013). So it ended up as my first time being published. Since then, I have written for a number of charity anthologies. Also, I have won NaNoWriMo every year since.
I have been writing fiction of one form or another for about fifty-five years. My great love is science fiction. However, I love writing comedy, romance, and mystery. Also, these elements often show up in my writing. This is especially the case because you can tuck nearly anything into science fiction.
My Published Works
So at this particular point in time, my published writing for fun money (and maybe a smidgen of recognition?) consists of:
Untrustworthy, published by Riverdale Avenue Books. Please check out the paperback version. Or there’s a version for Kindle.
72 Hours of Insanity, anthology published by the Writers’ Workout. Available in Kindle version only.
Discovery, LGBTQ stories anthology to benefit Queer Sci-Fi. Published by Mischief Corner Books. Check out the paperback version. Or if you prefer, here’s the link for Kindle.
Stardust, Always, anthology in memory of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, to benefit cancer research. Published by Writers’ Colony Press. Be sure to check out the paperback version. Plus there’s a version for Kindle.
The Longest Night Watch 1, anthology in memory of Sir Terry Pratchett. Benefits Alzheimer’s research. Published by Writers’ Colony Press. You can’t go wrong with the paperback version, or go for the version for Kindle.
The Longest Night Watch 2, anthology in memory of Sir Terry Pratchett and Gene Wilder. It also benefits Alzheimer’s research. Also published by Writers’ Colony Press. The paperback version might no longer be available. But you may be able to still get the version for Kindle.
In addition to Amazon, you can also find me on GoodReads, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble.com, and the Riverdale Avenue Books website.
NaNoWriMo 30Day50k
In addition, I have made it to 50,000 written words in November every single year since 2013.
2014 – Obolonk Trilogy (the November 50k story was the second in the trilogy):
† The Obolonk Murders
• The Polymer Beat
† also The Badge of Humanity
2015 – The Enigman Cave (queried but will likely be edited some more).
2016 – The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy (right now in beta):
• The Real Hub of the Universe
† The Real Heart of the Universe (50k in November 2018)
• and The Real Hope of the Universe
2017 – Mettle (right now in beta).
2018 – The Real Hope of the Universe (to be edited).
2019 – Time Addicts Trilogy:
† No One is Safe (2019 NaNo Winner) (to be edited)
• Nothing is Permanent (50k in November 2020)
† Everything is up for Grabs (50k in November 2021)
2020 – Time Addicts 2: Nothing is Permanent (to be edited). 2021 – Time Addicts 3: Everything is up for Grabs (to be edited).
2022 – various prequels, for Time Addicts and Real Hub of the Universe (to be edited).
2023 – prequels for The Obolonk Murders and Untrustworthy (both to be edited).
2024 – prequel for The Enigman Cave
2025 – prequel for Mettle
Writing for Fun — Works in Progress
I am of the opinion that Ray Bradbury was right. He said that you should write a lot. It should be every day, if that is at all possible. Because, according to him, you can’t write a bad short story 365 days in a row. While I admire his dedication, I just do not have the time these days.
Hence it can sometimes be a bit more of a chore for me to do non-work writing, as I write so much for work these days. I have any number of small pieces of paper with ideas scratched on them.
That is another one of Bradbury’s ideas, to park the weirder ideas and stuff them into a jar labeled ‘Writing Ideas’. And I have done so. I really do have such a jar on my work desk.
As of this writing, the following are works in progress.
Prequels to:
• Time Addicts (drafted, called The Dust Between Our Stars)
† The Real Hub of the Universe (drafted, called The East Side of the Universe)
• The Obolonk Murders (drafted, called Eros vs. Thanatos)
† Untrustworthy (drafted, called Unreliable)
• The Enigman Cave (drafted in November 2024, called Bet On Marnie)
† Mettle (for November 2025)
Third Obolonk Trilogy (this one is currently in very early planning stages).
Short Story Writing for Fun
Short stories are a lot more hit or miss. Currently, there are two which I have queried and I would like to find a home. Somewhere.
You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It – what happens when the fancy coffee machine becomes sapient? This one was being picked up by Mythic Magazine but, alas, Mythic is now no more, so it needs a home.
Gentrification – pull away the layers of wallpaper, and you can uncover any family’s shameful secrets. But in this post-Roe world we live in, will this one ever find a home?
In addition to these, I have maybe another forty or so which could use some polishing and triaging. I will not be querying all of them. A few of them are probably the decent makings of books. And others would likely do well as freebie giveaways. I’ll see.
There are some which are in various online zines, like Canaries and Killing Us Softly.
Ideas and Creation
Where does it all come from? Apart from Schenectady, of course. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve got three general ways to come up with an idea:
• What if? Think up any scenario, anything! And try to figure out what happens if it’s altered in some fundamental manner. For example, what if the moon was 1/3 smaller than it really is?
† Reversal. The reader (and the writer, truth be told) expects one thing. Give them its opposite. Such as, making the grass pink.
• Unexpected combo platter. Take two (or more) ideas, and smash them together, like they were atoms in the Hadron Supercollider. A good example of this is a fan fiction (hey, don’t knock it!) series I wrote based on two words: smart kangaroos.
If these all fail, by the way, I know it’s probably time to take a break.
And one of the ways I do break from this is to watch people. If the scenario isn’t coming easily, then maybe a character or two will?
This is one way to kind of make an end-run around some forms of writer’s block. Get the people down cold. Then figure out a place to put them, and what to do with them.
Takeaways
My favorite part about creating a story is, I feel, the part where the characters start to come alive. It is a lot like solving a double acrostic puzzle. With this type of a puzzle, eventually the scattered letters here and there start to coalesce into words, and then into the solution.
And with writing, eventually the scattershot ideas start to form into a coherent story line. Some of this happens during the initial ideas phase. More of it happens when I am in the process of drafting the outline.
Yet more of it happens when I write the first draft. And then the last of it comes together during editing and beta reading.
It turns into something which you can reasonably refer to as a story. And it contains a population of characters with more than one dimension. They feel, look, and sound like real people.
It is an amazing feeling when the characters are so alive in your head that’s it like you are taking dictation from them.
Tell me your stories, oh characters! I’m only here to translate them to paper or pixels.
Finally, I greatly appreciate your support and kindness. So buckle up, ’cause it’s still a wild ride—and that shows no signs of letting up. Ever. Writing for fun is where it’s at.