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Category: Writing

If you’re not into any kind of writing, then this is highly likely to not be the blog for you.

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How and Why Does Writing Speak to Us?

The written word is something that we have in common with the ancient Egyptians, with people on the other side of the planet, and with celebrities who we will never meet.

Fiction writing, in particular, bridges gaps in the world, and through time. Have you ever read something written by an author who is long dead?

Whether it’s Jane Eyre or The Art of War, we can hear the author’s voice as we read (and yes, I am well aware that The Art of War isn’t fiction. I’m kind of tired, okay?).

But I digress.

Independent Writers Do It All

When we do it well, and we do it right, the indie author wears many hats. Researcher. Editor. Planner. Marketer. Cover artist (or at least hirer of the cover artist). Bookkeeper. Advertiser. Tax Preparer.

Indy writing is a small business. So, like it or not, you’ve got to know these things, or be able to hire someone who does.

Past, Present, and Future Authoring

One of the best things about authoring is the concept of eternity. Now, I don’t honestly expect anything I write to end up being studied in college or becoming movie fodder. But it is still  there, and it can be there forever if you can (and are willing to) preserve it.

This is why I encourage publishing, by the way, even if you never make a dime.

Eternity.

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Self-Review – The Dust Between Our Stars

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 9, 2024

Review – The Dust Between Our Stars

I wrote The Dust Between Our Stars, in part, to kind of get out of having to come up with a whole new plot for NaNoWriMo in 2022. But there is a lot more to this story than that.

I also found, after I was done with the Time Addicts trilogy, that I really liked the Hawthorne family. But I had no real way to write about them again. And then I realized—the original history would be the way to go.

This story neatly fills in an enormous gap in the Obolonk universe. That is, what the heck happened when the Obolonks first came to Earth? And more importantly, how did we avert what could have been a real disaster?

Because it should be pretty obvious—a lot of people, particularly Americans, would shoot first and ask questions later if they ever met a space alien.

Background

First contact stories are nothing new. Hell, there’s even a Star Trek film with that name.  And, they’re not news to my writing, either.

A lot of The Enigman Cave centers around the protocols for a first contact. Complicating matters in that book is the fact that the technological differences are so great between us and the Enigmans. But at least we’re in the driver’s seat.

But with Dust…, I wanted us to be on a more equal footing than with the Enigmans. Yet it’s not perfect. They do have faster than light travel, after all. In the first trilogy in that universe, I also establish that also they have fast terraforming methods which we just plain do not have.

But for the purposes of this plot, I only needed the FTL travel bit. The Obolonks need it to get to us, naturally. And by only really focusing on that as being a major piece of technology way ahead of ours, I was able to add more relatability to the alien beings coming for a visit.

Plot

Divorced mother Drusilla Hawthorne takes her children on an Earth Day hiking trip to the Grand Canyon.

But their comfortable life is upended—as is everyone else’s—when Kent Crossier, a guy with a decent-sized but not professional telescope, spots something orbiting Jupiter, just above the Great Red Spot. Something big.

Complicating matters is the fact that Drusilla is high up in the United States military. She has got to report this, whatever it is. And that means someone will at least be considering the use of military might.

Characters

The characters are Trinity Hawthorne; her brother Neo; their mother, Drusilla (a general in the US Armed Forces); Tim Mayfield, Coralynne Anderson, Trinity’s extended family, Kent Crossier, and reporter Belinda McKey-Ross.

Of course, Neo and Trinity are named after characters in The Matrix. But where does Belinda’s name come from?

Very sharp-eyed readers (as in, blink, and you’ll miss it) may spot the first half of her surname as matching that of Craig Firenze‘s boss, Chet McKey, in Mettle. It’s probably the tiniest Easter Egg I’ve ever added to a story.

But there’s a second Easter Egg pointing much more directly to Mettle. It’s the satellite radio station, KOLD. The real KOLD is in Cold Bay, Alaska, but in my universes, it’s in Houston. This also means it points to The Duck in the Seat Cushion.

And there’s even a third, because a RickRoll also shows up in The Obolonk Murders.

Memorable Quotes {Trini is driving to the Grand Canyon while Neo sings along to EVERY song and commercial jingle on the radio} from The Dust Between Our Stars

Arizona truck drivers were impatient with her speed, but Trini was mindful that Mom would ground her if she sped too much. Then the truckers started pantomiming to her to take off her top. Yeah, like I’m gonna flash you, ya losers. She flipped the bird to more truckers than she could count.

Neo’s constant caterwauling was getting on her nerves. And it made sense that truckers would be pressing for her to either speed up or drop her top. Past the exit for Route 93 south, there was nothing but tumbleweeds. It was boring.

Neo was giving his entire heart and soul to belting out, “Never gonna…” when she changed stations.

“It’s K-O-L-D, the cold gold! Coming to you from Houston and all points north, south, east, and west, via satellite radio! Up next, it’s Patsy Cline, with Crazy…”

“Damn, Trini, I was just about to go in for the big finish. Now I’ll have to go all weepy and pretend I’m an alto.”

“I’ll make ya an alto if you don’t shut your cake hole, Neo. You are giving me a massive headache.”

Rating for The Dust Between Our Stars

The story has a K+ rating. While nothing truly awful happens, there are the very real dangers of what could happen if we were to meet aliens on our turf, where we would essentially be the primitives.

Takeaways for The Dust Between Our Stars

This one was a great deal of fun to write. Neo in particular was like taking dictation.

And I would like to think that someone with the authority of Drusilla, the audacity of Neo, the persistence of Trinity, the faith of Coralynne, and even the Alpha male nonsense of Tim would realize that the people of Earth would not be served by anything but a peaceful gesture.

And as for what the dust between our stars really is, well, you’ll just have to read the story to find out.

Want More of the Obolonk Universe?

If the story of the Obolonks resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how our society turns tripartite, with humans, robots, and Obolonks.

Character Reviews: The Obolonk Murders

Humans
† Peri Martin
• Greg Shapiro
† Rachel Gifford

Robots
† Tommy 2000
• Selkhet 3000

Obolonks
† TSTITO

Character Reviews: Time Addicts

The Good Guys
• Josie James
† Carmen D’Angelo, MD
• Dalton Farouk
† Tad Lewis
• Cyndi Mendez
† Bobby Brodie
• Keisha Darnell
† Vera Travers

The Bad Guys
• Peter Ray
† Dae Ou Xiang
• Elston Young
† Corwin Zachary

The Obolonk Universe

Prequels

• The Dust Between Our Stars
† Eros vs Thanatos

Self-Reviews: Obolonk Trilogy

• The Obolonk Murders
† Self-Review: The Polymer Beat
• The Badge of Humanity

Self-Reviews: Time Addicts Trilogy

† No One is Safe
• Nothing is Permanent
† Everything is up for Grabs

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Pulling Together a Plot and Outlining a Novel Using a Starburst Method

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 7, 2024

Starburst Method for Writing a Novel

Starburst Method? What is it?

I’ve found it helps to consider some scenes. Not to write them. You may even want to role play them. And consider, e. g. when, say, a main character named Jennifer reveals she’s a zombie (or whatever your story is about), then there has to be some time before where the other characters think she’s a normal person. Hence that scene doesn’t come at the very beginning.

And I am suggesting a middle or even ending scene like this and not the start because I think it puts less pressure on me (your mileage may vary).

Dependencies

Hence the idea is to consider dependencies. I also will use a kind of (it’s not the official ‘snowflake method‘) starburst method where I will take a legal pad and write a major character’s name (or what the character is if I don’t have a name yet, e. g. the cab driver) and circle it. Just write it in the middle of the sheet.

Then draw spokes coming from the circle, as many as you like, and write more character names in circles, on the other ends of the spokes. Then, along the spokes themselves, write the connections. Not every character needs to connect to all of the others.

Connections

So in the example, Jennifer the zombie might connect to a cab driver because he picks her up after a concert. Some of those connections might turn into scenes, some of them might become back story. Or they might be scuttled. There’s no need to write absolutely everything.

Now we have Jennifer at a concert. Maybe she’s performing. And so we can work backwards a little, to determine a bit about her life or even when she became a zombie (maybe it was during music school).

Plot Advancement with the Starburst Method

We also go forward with the plot. Where does the cab driver take her? Maybe he takes her home. Or maybe he takes her to wherever she reveals she’s a zombie. Or maybe he kidnaps her. She might even make him her victim.

Consider where you want her story to begin. With her schooling? When she became a zombie? Right before she gets into that cab?

Consider where you want her story to end. With her revelation? Or with people accepting her new condition? With them killing her? Or with her striking back?

Hence you also ask questions (and you can have your friends ask you questions if you like, such as how she got zombified or whatever).

It’s not perfect; you still need transitions, but it works.

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Snowflake Novel Outlining Method Revisited

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 2, 2024

A Look at the Snowflake Novel Outlining Method, Revisited

Snowflake is but one method for outlining a novel. It’s not the only kind, and your methodology is probably best for you. But this is what I do. And it does not truly matter which genre I am writing in!

See, I do a variation on snowflake. Do this on paper. I’ve never been able to do it on a screen and I think paper gives some semi-permanent feelings. But if you can do it on a screen, then have at it. As always, you do you.

The First Snowflake Falls: Getting Started

1) Start with a concept. Let’s say the concept is that the world has run out of pumpkin spice.

2) Name a main-ish character (this can always be changed). So let’s go with a sapient chipmunk.

3) Write the main character’s name in the center of a page and circle it.

4) Write the concept down as well, maybe at the top of the page and circle it.

The Next Snowflake Will Fall: Making Connections

5) Draw 3 lines between them, but fewer if it’s a short story, more if it’s meant to be a series.

6) Along those lines, write possible connections. But don’t worry about them sounding stupid. Your sapient chipmunk might be hoarding it (and thereby is the villain). Another option is they might be searching for it as some sort of chipmunk holy quest. Or they might stumble upon it by accident.

It could be that they might have to pay it as ransom to the mean squirrel which kidnapped their baby chipmunks, whatever.

7) So now you’ve got more characters and more scene concepts.

Look, Another Snowflake: Supporting Characters

8) It’s time to grab a new page of paper. Same name in the center, circled. Now surround it with the names or at least descriptions of the other characters you came up with. In this case, the mean squirrel, whoever sent the chipmunk on the quest, whoever hid the pumpkin spice treasure our heroine stumbles over, the kidnapper, etc.

9) Draw connecting lines to the main character and, as before, write along those lines what the connections are. And do this even if you already have them written elsewhere. Otherwise, you’re going back and forth between pages, which is a pain.

Flurries: Supporting Scenes

10) Third sheet of paper: do the same with the concept and possible scenes. So these are scenes like the dramatic kidnapping, receiving the ransom note, a news story about the spice theft, the stumbling, etc.

More Flurries: Create Order (for the Scenes)

11) Fourth sheet of paper: take your scenes and put them in as coherent an order as you can and number them accordingly. Plus this can be changed. You’re just getting a rough idea here. So #1 kidnapper makes plans. And #2 spice is stolen; #3 meet the chipmunks, etc. Maybe you need to go back earlier to when the kidnapper first thought of the idea of kidnapping – that’s scene #0.

Hence maybe you want the news story between #2 and #3 – then rename it #2a and move on.

Snow Showers: Moving Onto Your Computer

12) Transcribe the scenes into a word processing document. I use Word; some people like Scrivener or Google docs, etc. In addition, continue to reorder the scenes and see where the filler and the exposition go.

13) Transcribe the character types and any names you’ve got. First of all, you’ve got to get across that the chipmunk heroine is sapient. So does she have an amazing backstory? Sketch it out, but do not feel married to it. Because it may or may not end up in the book.

Sometimes a backstory doesn’t need to be explicitly stated, but if you know your chipmunk was an escapee from a science lab, that might inform how you write her.

Just because you researched or thought of something, does not mean it absolutely must end up on the page.

I cannot stress that enough.

The Blizzard: Assign Tasks

14) Time to figure out who does what. Hence maybe the crow delivers the ransom note, or the wolf acts as the squirrel’s henchman and does the actual dirty work of kidnapping.

15) Keep refining and go back to the paper if you need to.

Note: a lot of people who don’t like outlines feel they have to show every single little thing planned out. But this does not have to be true. Because all you really need is a general idea for a scene, like someone kidnaps the chipmunk babies kidnapped, pumpkin spice shortage reported in the news, etc. Just know what your scenes’ purposes are.

Post-Storm Clean-Up: Do You Really Need That Scene or Character?

A scene should have one of two purposes (it can have both):

1) Develop characters (particularly the main character) or

2) Advance the plot.

So any scenes which do neither should get scuttled or altered.

Lather, rinse, repeat. This is my version of the snowflake method. But it’s not the only way to write a snowflake novel.

And once again, for the cheap seats – you do you. Everyone else is taken.

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Writing Progress Report – First Quarter 2024

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 28, 2024

Progress Report – First Quarter 2024

How was first quarter 2024 for writing? So, I spent first quarter 2024 writing short stories. So, there was that…

First Quarter 2024 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. These were all drafted on paper and so I spent some time writing and editing them.

This included …And the Walls Came Tumbling Down Again.

Then on Wattpad I posted nowhere, as I have quit the ambassador program there. It was just plain too much for me to handle. I could not do anything else, and I don’t honestly foresee that getting better any time soon.

Milestones

Also, I have written over 3.5 million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now, my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

• Dinosaurs – 42 reads, 11 comments
† How to NaNoWriMo – 26,183 reads, 340 comments (pulled from Wattpad due to their severed association with NaNo)
• My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 992 reads, 133 comments
† Revved Up – 59,486 reads, 531 comments
• Side By Side – 21 reads, 2 comments
† Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 16,862 reads, 592 comments. This is under my actual name, Janet Gershen-Siegel.
• The Canadian Caper – 510 reads, 37 comments
† The Dish – 251 reads, 24 comments
• There is a Road – 189 reads, 28 comments

Published Works as of First Quarter 2024

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works! So, here’s everything that has found a home so far.

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

A True Believer in Skepticism, published in Mythic Magazine.

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Darkness into Light, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It’s the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.

Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – as the timelines smack together and continue to diverge, it gets harder to tell the “real” timeline from all the newer fake ones. And what if some of the changes are for the better?

Prep Work

So currently, my intention, for 2025’s NaNoWriMo, is to write the third trilogy in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So a lot of this year has been spent on that. I have no name for this one yet.

For 2022 – 2023 NaNoWriMo, I have decided to create a prequel for each of the 5 main universes: Real Hub of the Universe, Obolonks, Time Addicts (while the Obolonks and Time Addicts are in the same universe, I just plain want to write two separate prequels!), Untrustworthy, The Enigman Cave, and Mettle.

In 2022, I wrote the prequels for Time Addicts and The Real Hub of the Universe. For 2023, it was the Untrustworthy prequel and Obolonk prequels. And for 2024, it is the Enigman Cave and Mettle prequels.

So, I anticipate a lot of fun and perhaps a little confusion. But it’s all good!

First Quarter 2024 Queries and Submissions

The older ones have moved. You can find them on my Publishing Stats page.

It’s been quiet. But that has been by design. Right now, I just plain don’t feel like putting myself out there these days. There, I said it.

In Progress

As of first Quarter 2024, the following are still technically in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

† I Used to Be Happy – Gemini Magazine
• Justice – Adbusters
† Mettle – RAB
• Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – A Thousand One Stories
† Who Do We Blame for This? – Sonder Review

First Quarter 2024 – Productivity Killers

So it’s looking for work, what else? I am working part-time and also searching for full-time work. It’s a pain, and definitely cramps my writing style. Unfortunately, first Quarter 2024 will not be the end of that….

If my works resonate with you, check out my other articles about my progress:

Querying and Publishing Stats
Previous Progress Report Post
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Do You Have Enough Spoons? Do I?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 21, 2024

How Many Are Enough Spoons, Anyway?

Relatively recently, I wrote about not having enough spoons to query my work, get it to beta readers, and so on. But what the heck does that all mean?

The concept of spoons, and having enough of them, is a shorthand way of referring to mental energy. That is, does a person (you, perhaps) have the emotional strength do perform certain tasks, or any tasks at all?

And while I am not considered to be a disabled person, so I don’t want to misappropriate this term, I think the term applies well to the query trenches.

Trenches. Now, there’s an excellent word for it.

What Does Not Having Enough Spoons Mean in the Context of Querying?

The biggest problem and the biggest triumph of querying are the same thing. It’s that you put yourself out there. And, as a result, this means you will be judged. More often than not, we indie writers are found wanting. But why?

Blame it on Volume

Does everyone have a book in them? Maybe. Does everyone have a good book in them? Heh, probably not. But what does “good” mean in this context? Often, it means less that you have a page turner, and more that you have a book which can be marketed well and will hit popular taste at just the right time.

A book about the life and times of a blacksmith would, right now, have an uphill climb when it comes to querying. Many readers would not find that person to be relatable. But they can be made so. It’s not impossible. But change that blacksmith to a mommy blogger and you’ve just crossed the first hurdle.

Now, you may not cross any other hurdles. If the book’s not relatable for other reasons, then you’re probably out of luck.

Blame it on Changing Tastes

We’ve all got the attention spans of gnats these days. As a result, what was in two years ago is out now. Hell, what was in two weeks ago may very well be out. Yes, already.

Case in point. Consider stock photos. The images of people masking up were all over the internet in 2020 and 2021. You saw them in blogs, brochures, and online advertising.

Now? They just look dated. This doesn’t mean the pandemic is over (it’s not). It doesn’t mean there are no good reasons to mask up anymore. Of course there are. But what it does mean is to ditch the masking in stock images unless you’re writing about something like medical care, nursing homes, or sick kids.

When Ambition Meets Fatigue, Busyness, and Anxiety, it Crushes Your Spoons

I had wanted to start to put out a newsletter, and I had wanted to start it today. Yes, on the vernal equinox. It feels like a momentous day!

But alas, I did not have enough spoons. Because the ramp-up is somewhat steep. There’s a lot riding on it, because it’s a marketing tool.

But as I think more and more about this, I feel I was putting the cart before the horse. After all, a marketing tool isn’t really necessary if, right now, I have very little to really market.

It would be better for me to get my act in gear on beta readers, an ARC team, a street team (maybe). Understanding how to format for self-publishing, or at least who to hire to do so, would also be good. Maybe I just need to let querying go completely, and strike out more or less on my own.

I don’t know.

But one thing may very well be true.

I may have had enough spoons all along. I was just spending them on the wrong stuff.

Thanks for listening.

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Self-Review – Complications

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 14, 2024

It’s Time to Review Complications

So Complications is one of those stories where it takes me a moment to remember – oh, yeah, it’s that one. And that never bodes well for readers.

Background

So this was originally a het fan fiction story. But with a few changes, it could go in another direction. And both of the characters were wholly original. But in the published version, it’s two different characters anyway.

Essentially, the only thing I used was the scenario and some of the dialogue.

So it shows. This was, unfortunately, not exactly a big effort on my part. If I was to do it again, I would have worked harder on this. But when I needed to hand it in, I was pressed for time.

The Plot of Complications

The truth is, this story has very nearly no plot. Basically, it is a vignette with little plot, only sketches of characters, and no crisis or conflicts at all. Hell, it is barely even a scene.

Characters

The characters are the narrator, Suzanne, and her lesbian lover, Tellina. Tellina is not a human.

Memorable Quotes from Complications

“And you’ve never done this with a human before?”

“I’ve never done this with anyone before, Suzanne.” They kissed.

“And,” Suzanne asked, “When does it all, er, end?”

“I’m uncertain. I don’t know how much precedence there is for such things. What do you generally do after, uh, afterwards?”

“Get a snack, watch the viewer, go to sleep, hell, I’ve left on occasion.”

“Most of those are out of the question right now. Could you sleep, perhaps?”

Rating

The story has a K+ rating. While the action occurs “off screen”, there are certainly some allusions to it.

Upshot

So while it was great for Queer Sci Fi to publish it, Complications really did not deserve to be published anywhere. Because it is just not that good a story. I have written far, far better, both before and since. So be it. They can’t all be gems.

Complications could have been better. Ah, well.

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Self-Review – Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AMShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 7, 2024

Review – Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM

So Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM was the kind of strange story which I often love to write but equally often can’t find an audience. Yet this one did.

So thank you to Unfading Daydream for publishing it!

Background

So my main idea with Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM was to create a First Contact story that would be totally and utterly off the wall. Because, so far as I am concerned, there is just no way in hell that aliens are ever going to behave like us. They won’t think like us. I mean, we don’t think like pigeons—and they’re actually from here. Aliens have got to be different from us.

Whatever we think is logical, they might find wacky. Hence, wacky aliens.

Plot

Insomnia has our narrator in its nasty grip. So instead of trying to sleep, she gets up, in an effort to make the most of it. Until one day, she learns how – and why – she can’t sleep. And it’s got nothing to do with caffeine intake, exercise, or worry.

Characters

The characters are the unnamed narrator and the ‘people’ she meets. Some are human. Others? Not so much.

Memorable Quotes from Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM

For the past year, I have woken up, without fail, at 2:58 AM and then not gotten back to sleep. It isn’t even that I’m so troubled or busy. I stopped using caffeine and all of that. I even – horrors – gave up chocolate. But it’s no use. I am destined to get up at that ungodly hour, even if I just got to bed not fifteen minutes previously.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM: Upshot

The notion of aliens doing something strange and, perhaps, the antithesis of what we would expect, was irresistible. Where we would see an enemy as wanting to decimate the numbers of its rivals, these aliens do the opposite.

Or maybe they just want to eat us. The truth is, I never really worked out exactly why they were there in the first place.

Oops.

Nothing good ever happens at 3 AM in reality. But what if that was the time when the aliens come out to play?

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Self-Review – The DishAdventures in Career Changing | Janet Gershen-Siegel | The Dish

Self-Review – The Dish

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 29, 2024

A Review of My Short Story – The Dish

The Dish came from a dirty plate in our kitchen sink. Therefore, it proves you can get writing inspiration from just about anywhere. Seriously.

Background

Also, without a doubt, it serves as an utterly passive-aggressive study of human nature. Essentially, you first. No, you. I insist. I’m not gonna until you do it first. Etc. You get the idea.

Plot

The main concept behind this plot serves to almost warn couples but also provide a bit of a primer on how to really be passive-aggressive. I never name the narrator, and I only barely describe her as being female. But there is nothing else.

Hence she remains a cypher, as does the cause of whatever the argument was initially all about. Also, the husband remains a cypher.

A plate is an odd place for inspiration, but the truth is that a plate had been sitting in our sink and I was getting annoyed by that. However, I didn’t make any moves to take care of this tiny mess. Neither did my husband.

We are only talking about a few days here. The plot, of course, takes some liberties with the time, as this is fiction and not reportage.

Characters

The only character is the unnamed narrator although she does refer to her husband, who I didn’t name, either.

Memorable Quotes

I am, despite my flaws, what they used to refer to in the old days as a ‘good woman’. And I am! But then there’s that dish again.

Story Postings

This story is only available as The Dish on Wattpad.

Rating for The Dish

The story is Rated K.

The Dish: Upshot

As I noted previously, inspiration can come from nearly anywhere. And while this little story could perhaps stand some improvement, people tend to like it wherever I have posted it. For I did use it as a sample of my non-scholastic writing for a course when I was getting my Master’s.

By the way, yes, that’s really one of our dishes. And I think I was the one to rinse it off and put it into the dishwasher.

Can a dirty dish inspire writing? Why yes, it can! Kinda wacky, eh?

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Self-Review – The Boy in the BandShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – The Boy in the Band

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 22, 2024

Review – The Boy in the Band

The Boy in the Band came about because I wanted to write something special for an LGBTQ+ anthology.

So the first person I thought of, immediately, was Richard Holmstrom.

Background

So at the time I wrote the story, I had no idea what had happened to Rich. As it turned out, a mutual friend did some sleuthing. And so, I learned the truth. It was what I had been afraid of; he was dead.

Rich was the first gay man who ever came out to me. And I consider that to be one hell of an honor.

The Plot for The Boy in the Band

So the story is more or less accurate. Hence it wrote itself. And I was merely there to take mental dictation. And the title, of course, comes from the film.

In 1981 or 1982, my friend Rich asked me to the movies. And I had a crush on him and thought – this is great! He chose the films: Cabaret and The Boys in the Band. So I had no idea what I was in for. My innocent nineteen or twenty year old soul thought we were going to see a pair of musicals.

I swear to God this is true.

Characters

The characters are the narrator, Rich, and Paul. He was Rich’s boyfriend at the time. But unfortunately, I have no idea if they stayed together. Since I do not know Paul’s last name, I can’t even look him up.

Memorable Quotes

I gamely watched with Richard. Maybe he meant for it to be artsy? I had no idea, but then the Cowboy character showed up – a male prostitute. And so Richard asked, “What do you think of him?”

I replied, “He reminds me a bit of Rocky from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“Which do you think is cuter?”

“Rocky.”

“So we will agree to disagree.”

And then I knew.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot for The Boy in the Band

So this one was highly emotional for me. And then when I learned, later, that I had been right, it all hit me rather hard. See, because of when we knew each other, it was the dawn of the age of AIDS. And I knew he was, let’s just say, a bit loose. Since no one really had any idea what was in store, and AIDS was a 100% painful death sentence at the time, being ‘loose’ was being foolish.

Yet it apparently did not kill him. At least, I can tell myself this. I think I’m right. I hope I’m right. But there is only so much the internet can tell me.

He did not even live long enough to see 9/11, President Obama, or even the Red Sox win the World Series (:)). So he is frozen in time, at age 39. And before I knew this much, he was frozen at age 21. Forever young.

The Boy in the Band — this one’s for you, Richard.

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Self-Review – Three Minutes Back in TimeShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – Three Minutes Back in Time

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 15, 2024

Time to Review the Short Story, Three Minutes Back in Time

Three Minutes Back in Time is a sequel of sorts to a fanfiction story I wrote called Crackerjack. It is also a bit of a sequel for a second fan fiction story, Concord. But for this particular short story, I took out all of the fan fiction elements, except for the names of the characters. So it is essentially a wholly original piece.

Background for Three Minutes Back in Time

Science fiction often seems to be in the realm of today or the future. As I was also writing Real Hub of the Universe, the idea of setting sci fi in an unexpected time period became irresistible.

Hence the story takes place in the very beginning of the American involvement in the Second World War.

Plot

When Rosemary Parker and James Warren go to a fair outside Washington, DC, they do not expect to find a time machine. And they really don’t expect it to work.

But it can only work for three minutes at a time. So Rosemary decides to go to the one place and date and time she has ever wanted to – just before the death of her beloved brother, Freddie.

Characters

The characters are Rosemary Parker, James Warren, and Freddie Parker. Plus there is a carnival ticket taker, who doesn’t get a lot of “screen time”.

Memorable Quotes from Three Minutes Back in Time

At least the fair wasn’t segregated, like so many other places were. Its grounds were open to all, including James and Rosemary. And once they had determined the fair had little to offer, they had sat down on a bench and talked. He had wanted to discuss W.E.B. Du Bois and the recent allied raid on Rome. But Rosemary had wanted to talk about the upcoming premiere of Stormy Weather with Lena Horne and Fats Waller. He didn’t even want to discuss the recent All-Star game.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot

I think this one stands alone rather well. And I was so happy Three Minutes Back in Time was published by Mythic Magazine.

In particular, I think it evokes something of the mood of the time, not just through music, but also how Rosemary behaves. She’s a woman of color, and she has a decent education, but this is also way before Rosa Parks, who I swear I wasn’t thinking of when I wrote the piece. In fact, it’s even before Jackie Robinson.

As for what originally happened to Freddie, unfortunately, that is all too common these days.

Three minutes is just enough to change the world. Or, at least, a piece of it.

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