Archives

The Norm

Oct13

My Giraffe Call is Open here! Stop in and leave a prompt!

This is to rix_scaedu‘s prompt.

“Norm?”

All of a sudden, I was back in fourth grade, with Miss Cardigan the substitute looking at me over her glasses. “Norman?”

“No, ma’am.” I used the same smile on the secretary that I’d used on Miss Cardigan. “My mother named me Norm.”

“That’s an old name for someone so young.”

“So I’ve been told. I’m not sure Norman would have been any better.” I added the joke-that-wasn’t-a-joke. “She was a statistician.”

“A… oh!” The secretary got it. Miss Cardigan had gotten hung up on the “was” and missed the joke. “Well, are you?”

“Five foot ten, ma’am, brown hair, brown eyes. I work in an office and I commute twenty-five minutes to work. I got to church once in a while and I jog, but not as much as I should.” It was rote by now. Every five years I changed it up, just enough to keep with the times. The bones of the story were true enough – it was just the things I didn’t tell that made it a lie.

“Does that make you the norm?”

She was sharper than most. “Well, ma’am.” I gave her that disarming smile I had so much practice at. “She could have named me Mean.”

It would have been more accurate, in so many ways.

Norm and Mode

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/406293.html. You can comment here or there.

October Giraffe Call: The Norm

Oct13

The call for prompts is now OPEN!

I am now taking prompts on the themes of the Norm: finding it, subverting it, ignoring it, or whatever you want to do to it.

Leave one or many prompts, and I will write (over the next month) at least one microfic (150-500 words) to each prompter (prompts may be combined)

Prompts can be related to one of my extant settings (See my landing page-landing page) or they can be for something completely different.

Prompting is free! But Donations are always welcome.

For each $5 you donate, I will write an additional 500 words to the prompt(s) of your choice.


Donations are going to go directly towards the price of a new laptop – mine is on its last legs, and it’s my only writing machine.

If I get two new prompters or one new donator, I will write a setting piece (setting chosen by poll) explaining something about the prompts.

At $30 in donations, I will order happy-fun socks/armwarmers from Sock Dreams! Winter is coming!

At $40 in donations, everyone who donated will get an additional microfic written to their prompts. I will choose 1 non-donater at random to receive an additional microfic as well.

At $50, anyone who donated $7.50 or more will have a copy of “Alder by Post” mailed to them if they wish.

For every $50 donated, I will do a one-hour livewrite on Etherpad or googledocs during the next month.

At $80, I will write two extra 500-word continuations – chosen by prompters picked by random number generator.

At $120, everyone who donated will get an additional (3rd) microfic written to their prompts. I will choose 2 more non-donaters at random to receive an additional microfic as well.

If we get to $120, I will take suggestions for further incentives!

For more information on Giraffe Calls, see the landing page.


Donate below

I also take payment by Dwolla

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/406208.html. You can comment here or there.

Fishing, Giraffing, and Prompting

Oct2
  • [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith‘s Poetry Fishbowl is open! The theme is horror: Demons.
  • [personal profile] rix_scaedu‘s Call for Prompts is still open here! No theme; leave a prompt, get a microfic.
  • Next Saturday the 13th of October, I shall open an Electric-Giraffe Call! The theme will be “The Norm”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/405330.html. You can comment here or there.

Thursday, with #WebLitWednesday

Sep27

My friend @Shutsumon, of Firebird Fiction, is trying to revive #WebLitWednesday.

(Yes, I’m a day late.)

WebLitWednesday is a time to tell the world all about the awesome web-based fiction you have been reading. Not on Twitter? Tell me here, or tell the world in your LJ or DW.

I’m going to try to review someone else’s fiction every Wednesday going forward as well; is there anything you’d like me to review?

Recommendations:
@Lynthornealder: Shadow Unit – http://shadowunit.org/ – This engrossing sci-fi #weblit is a crime show for your computer screen, only better. #weblitwednesday

@Shutsumon: Check out my #weblitwednesday review of Akumu Love Panic! by Illise Montoya http://webfictionguide.com/listings/akumu-love-panic/review-by-shutsumon/

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/403631.html. You can comment here or there.

A reference to me and Addergoole, in re. something I’ve been considering

Sep18

Thanks to Mei-Lin Miranda for pointing out my mention here, which came from this article.

With Kindle Serials, Amazon hopes to reinvent a format that already exists. Jeff Bezos dragged out the obligatory Dickens reference at the LA press conference, but serial fiction had a presence online before Amazon (and a presence offline after Dickens: Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” and Candace Bushnell’s “Sex and the City,” for instance). The website Tuesday Serial compiles links to many online serials and offers advice about writing them. Authors like Claudia Christian and Lyn Thorne-Alder have written online serials for years. And longform journalism site and e-singles publisher Byliner launched Byliner Serials last month.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/402568.html. You can comment here or there.