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Tag: Short Stories

My short stories do double duty.

No, scratch that. They do more like triple duty.

So, You Want to Write Short Stories?

They run from drabbles to works that are just this side of novellas. My shorter pieces serve a few purposes.

So first of all, they are the usual continuation and push for creativity. If I want to write every day or at least try to, then that is going to mean writing shorter pieces. So, there’s one reason for their collective existence.

Second of all, I have had a lot more of them published! Sometimes, it’s by a magazine that cannot pay me. Or, sometimes, I get a nominal sum. Hey, don’t knock it. It beats a kick in the teeth any day, am I right?

Or, it can be just for charity. So, no matter what the outcome and the profit (if any) there is, these are a part of my writer resume. A credit is a credit.

And finally, they can serve as almost an elevator pitch of sorts. For someone who is unfamiliar with what I write, I do not want to just plonk a huge novel on their virtual desk. No.

Rather, it makes more sense to lead them along gently, with something that is maybe 2500 words or so, more or less.

Face it, if it was a first date, you would not be getting down on one knee and handing over a ring, now, would you? So, instead, a short story is more like taking someone out for coffee. Short, sweet, and without a lot of commitment.

Self-Review – A Chance Encounter in Time

Review – A Chance Encounter in Time

One of the more notable things about A Chance Encounter in Time is that it represents the first appearance of character Sharon Ensley. I grew to really like Sharon, and would love to create a series for her.

I wrote this short story during second quarter 2021. This was a year when I was writing every single day until November, when I switched over to NaNoWriMo.

Background

While I was not exactly looking for another way to use the Obolonk universe, it almost chose me. So, in a way, this story is a way to find other uses for that universe. After all, it’s far too well-developed to just forget about it.

I also was not necessarily looking to write a story about the West Islip Public Library, but here we are anyway. With my mother’s death in 2023, any writing about WIPL is kind of special. It was her last employer.

Plot

Time traveler Sharon Ensley seems to be stuck in August of 2001 when her temporal disc cracks. But when she meets Tim Parker and he offers to try to solder her disc back together, the two start to work together.

But then Sharon uncovers a major change to the timeline which is clear proof that someone has tampered with the events of 9/11.

Characters

The major human characters are Sharon Ensley and Tim Parker. There are some more minor human characters who are Sharon’s colleagues. The only one with any real screen time is Marlon.

Obolonk characters are They Say This One is Very Efficient (her assistant) and They Say This One Holds Time Close. The latter runs the time travel organization.

Sharon mentions a temporal sensitive like Josie James, but never identifies that person.

Memorable Quotes {Sharon Explains Hawhoa to Tim}

“The disc creates the field after I give it a command. And then away we go. But no matter what, I should tell you about Hawhoa.”

“Ha-what?”

Sharon smiled for a second. “We don’t use pure water anymore, not really. We use Hawhoa. “

“Use?”

“Yeah—to drink, bathe, flush, water the plants, you name it.”

“But don’t we need water to survive?”

“We sure do. But see, there’s a ton of space in atoms. And…”

“Excuse me? Aren’t atoms really tiny?”

“Yep. But there’s empty space in them. Hawhoa takes the two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom in regular water, and it crushes everything together slightly.”

“How slightly are we talking about?”

“Smaller than bacterial flagella. To use the technical term, teeny weeny. “

“Technical, heh. Why is that done in the first place? “

“The very slight increase in density makes it possible to use fewer water molecules to accomplish whatever you want to do, like wash your socks.”

“Wait, so this is a form of recycling?”

“More like cutting waste, but yeah. It makes it possible for more people to live in one space or another.”

“So, the future is crowded?”

“Yep. And Hawhoa is a bit more viscous than regular water. Don’t want you to try to take a shower and think it’s just clear jelly coming out of the showerhead.”

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways

I really love some of the inventions that I came up with to move this story along, including multiphasic glyphs, Hawhoa (pronounced hey-whoa), and the Sapient Timeline Theory. Oh, and Carter Bando’s Rules of Time Travel. There are also a transportation disc (I also call it a temporal disk), a utility disk, and an information disc.

The transportation disc is fitted with a semi-living organism that helps to direct time travel. In a way, it ends up giving more depth to the time travel technology which I showcase in Time Addicts. Since Sharon is from a lot later than Josie (I may change that), it makes sense that the tech would change.

I like Sharon a lot and this is a great story to use as a springboard to maybe an entire series about her. We’ll see.

But the Obolonk universe is a mighty big tent. It would be a shame to waste it.


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Self-Review – A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

Review – A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

In the quest to write the ultimate ‘fish out of water’ story, I wrote A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults.

I wrote this story during second quarter 2024.

Background

I love the idea of someone just kind of being tossed into an odd situation not of their own making. Because that is precisely what happens to both Flora and Thomas.

Plot of A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

When Flora Levy receives her inheritance, it’s just a stack of books. But one of them is Fairy Tales for the Skeptical Adult.

And when she starts to read the book out loud, a sudden crash alerts her to the fact that this has somehow summoned a character from the book.

Can a modern woman and a character from a book fix problems in two very separate worlds?

Characters

The human characters include Flora Levy, Florence Levy (her great-grandmother), Prince Thomas, King Richard, Queen Catherine, and Constance Selene. Animal characters include Auburn, Robert, Brownie, Quicksilver, and Swift.

Much like a lot of other fantasy tales, the animals talk. And to make them a bit like I suppose the Disney version of Cinderella, the animals even help out. Therefore, you see Auburn (a red fox) arranging Flora’s hair for a banquet. Robert the mouse is a scribe and does calligraphy.

In fact, the animals are considerably more trustworthy than a lot of the humans turn out to be. #spoileralert

Memorable Quotes

Flora cautiously crept toward the source of the crash. It was the next room—the Victorian house had a lot of small rooms—a place where she grew plants, both flowers and some vegetables.

She turned the corner in the small hallway and came face to face with the source of the crash. It was a man of perhaps forty, wearing breeches, stockings, brogans, and a brocaded cloak over a cambric shirt.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments, open-mouthed. The intruder was… different.

You make no sense. Finally, she found her voice and, absurdly, brandished the thermos. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?”

“I, I,” he began, in an upper class British accent, “I’m the man of your dreams.”

Say what? “Buddy, you have no idea what is in my dreams.”

“I, I still am. It is I, your, your dream.”

“I’m not interested in some reject from a Renfest. And how the hell did you get into my house in the first place?”

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways for A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

I am not so thrilled with how I ended this one. It just kind of runs out of gas. But apart from that, I believe it works pretty well. Flora starts out a little like Sandra Bullock at the start of The Net. That is, she’s essentially alone.

I do like that this is one of the things that changes about her. But it’s not necessarily what a reader would expect.


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Self-Review – A Show for the Galaxy

Review – A Show for the Galaxy

A Show for the Galaxy takes place now or in the near future. When aliens challenge us, we expect a fight with soldiers, bombs, and guns.

But that’s not what the aliens have in mind at all.

I wrote this story during second quarter 2021. This was a year when I was writing every day, even when it wasn’t November.

Background

The Earth has two choices. Either participate in an interstellar arts competition, or lose an opportunity to join a huge intergalactic alliance. While it would not necessarily mean the end of the world, self-destruction would be inevitable without interstellar friendship.

Essentially, the fate of the world is going to be decided just like American Idol.

Plot

When the story opens, Charlotte (the narrator) describes the stakes and the production. A number of actors and behind the scenes people are chosen to represent the Earth in stagecraft.

There are other arts to represent the Earth, like sculpture and weaving. But the story is only concerned with treading the boards.

When the troupe is cut off from the grid, the cast falls into despair. They have no scripts! But then Charlotte pulls out her secret weapon—a small volume of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which she always carries around for luck.

Charlotte has gravitas. She was already a retiree when the alien challengers chose her. And so, she ends up in a director-type role. But it’s also because she has the script.

Characters

The characters start with narrator Charlotte, who is playing Portia. The man playing Brutus is Chase Marquis, who was born Chuck McKay. Charlotte refers to him as ‘an afternoon snack of a man’. He’s young enough to be her son.

And, of course, there are the other people in the production and those who work behind the scenes. Plus, there are people who represent other arts on our planet. But Charlotte never names them.

There’s also President Menosky, although we only see him at the very end.

Memorable Quotes

All the others are far younger than I am. And—horrors!—we were cut off from the grid.

With no way to access scripts, my fellow thespians started to panic. That is, until I pulled out my secret weapon.

See, it was a gift from when I first started out. My acting teacher gave it to me. Now I realize she was probably hitting on me. But no mind. I kept it because I’ve always loved this play. And now, it’s the only game in town.

I’ve got a paper book. It’s Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. And thank God we can create an entire production around this little, humble book.

I was in several productions, and I’ve always played Portia, so of course I am playing her again. My Brutus is an afternoon snack of a man—Chase Marquis. Or, as he was born, Chuck McKay.

I’ve taken on a kind of director role; and thank God they all listen to me. We’ll put on the best and greatest production of Julius Caesar in the history of whatever.

Or we’ll die trying.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways for A Show for the Galaxy

I originally start to write Charlotte as almost a cougar. But then I decided she would drop anything frivolous and just concentrate on helping the troupe save the planet.

This story isn’t even 1500 words long, yet I feel it accomplishes its objective handily. I really should query this one!


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Your Elevator Pitch

Let’s Deconstruct Your Elevator Pitch

We have all heard of what an elevator pitch is. It seems like it is the kind of stuff for overly eager new sales associates looking to make an impression on the big boss between floors.

But there is more to it than that.

Someone has just turned to you and said, “You’re a writer. What’s your book about?”

Don’t just stand there! You’ve got to be ready.

Your Verbal Elevator Pitch

Try something like this on for size.

Imagine if animals started talking, and they told you what to do in a topsy-turvy world.

My book is about Alice; she’s a young girl, a little bored on a sunny afternoon, when she spots a white rabbit. The odd thing about this rabbit is, he’s wearing clothes and talking. She follows him down a rabbit hole, but then she can’t get out.

That’s less than seventy words, and the person asking has the basic plot, the name of the heroine, and a reason to want to know more.

Your Pitch in Writing

Yes, you need one of these, too. But but a written elevator pitch a little different.

Even if readers know you for writing sweeping, epic sagas, you should still write some short stories. They can be in your universe, or not, although it might help with both marketing and your own personal creativity if they can fit somewhere within your universe.

They do not even necessarily have to be sent out for publication, but they could be good for anthologies. Don’t knock that; this is exactly how a lot of people get their starts. In fact, if you are having trouble breaking in, or want to impress a publisher, try submitting to anthologies. You can get a published credit and impress the publisher of the anthology. There’s a win-win right there.

Point them there, if someone wants to read a sampling of your work. Don’t make them commit to a 100,000 word novel.

On Balance

Finally, have fun with it. Is your main character funny? What about quoting one of her best zingers, assuming you don’t need to explain the joke? Now there’s an idea for a pitch.

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Snowflake Novel Outlining Method Revisited

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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Self-Review – Complications

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 AM

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 Dish

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.

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. The narrator is never named and is only barely described 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!


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Self-Review – The Boy in the Band

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 Time

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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