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Drakeathon! Livewriting Flash Fiction – TONIGHT!

Feb19

The Drakeathon is in a few short hours and I’m getting excited!

I’ve figured out this googledocs thing, so donors will get to actually watch me write *chews nails!*

But if you’re not going to be around tonight, and don’t want to miss out, I don’t want you to miss out either! Feel free to leave a prompt here, let me know if you donated/signal boosted, and I’ll work on them through the evening.

Details here and here.

And here’s the fun donation bar/Paypal button:

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/7582.html. You can comment here or there.

Surname Map neatness @inventrix @clarekrmiller

Feb16

Via YsabetWordsmith, via janetmiles

A …cool resource showing surname maps. So, if you’re a writer and you want to name an ordinary character from one of these places, you can pick a surname from the relevant place and it will fit. This is a very discreet and effective trick with local color.

In writing faeApoc, I try to match gods to the relevant ethnic grouping, with varied luck.

Three 50-Word Fics on Marriage #microfiction #weblit

Feb14

“Honey, I’m home.”

She shucked coat, mittens, and boots in the entryway and chased him down for a hug, snow still melting in her hair. She nuzzled her frozen nose against his armpit with a happy sound: “You’re warm,” she explained, muffled by his shirt.

“Gee, thanks,” he smiled, unperturbed.

~

She pushed back against him urgently, hungrily, as he rested his hand on the base of her spine, and shoved her face into the pillow to better muffle her pleasured screams.

After sixteen years, the sex was still hella hot, but the neighbors were not so hot on the noise.

~

She didn’t realize she was slipping until she was halfway in the October-cold creek and scrabbling with no purchase, didn’t realize that she hadn’t caught herself until she was almost out again, hauled up by the handle on her backpack by her quick and vigilant spouse.

“My hero,” she shivered.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/6204.html. You can comment here or there.

A Rather Silly Pantoum for 3ww

Feb10

Three Word Wednesday is a once-weekly 3-word writing prompt.

This week’s three words were dare, essence, practical.

That it’s a poem is partly inspired by [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith‘s recent fishbowl, and partly by a discussion of poetic forms with Inventrix, and the poem she got out of that.

It’s a bit silly,but I like it.

“She’s nice, I guess,” Lenora sighed;
“My son and her, they get on well.
“She’s pretty, charming, dignified,
“But if there’s any sense in her, I can’t tell.”

“Jackson and her are getting on well,”
Lenora felt she could confide,
“But there’s no sense in the silly Nell.
“If it weren’t for me, they’d both have died.”

Lenora felt she could confide
In the women at the market dell
If it weren’t for her, they’d nigh on have died –
Her tales had served all of them well.

The women at the market dell
Listened, nodded, to Lenora’s sighs
They knew her tales; they’d served them well
But the essence-seller had the prize

They’d listened to all Lenora’s sighs
When the dark-haired woman began to sell
Her wares; she dared to price the prize
Quite dear; she knew its worth full well.

The dark-haired woman pitched her sale
“She’s pretty, charming, dab this in her eyes,
“Just four gold, to make her practical.”
“She’s worth the gold,” Lenora sighed.

Drakeathon 2/19-2/20/11

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/6125.html. You can comment here or there.

Drakeathon! Livewriting Flash Fiction – the details!

Feb7

What’s Livewriting? 1889ca’s webpage describes it as “the act of writing a book or story within a set timeframe, with live updates for an audience that also participates by suggesting directions the story might go.”

What’s Flash/Microfiction? Flash fiction is generally defined as short-short stories, under 3000, 1500, or 1000 words. Microfiction is generally short, complete stories under 500 words.

What’s the Drakeathon? The Drakeathon will be two 4-hour sessions in which I ask you, the audience, to prompt me to write short fiction. I’ll ask for audience participation as I write, and post the stories as I complete them.

But, since this is an ‘thon, I’m trying to earn a little money, too (in this case, for Drake, the above-pictured kitty, who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes). At least the first three prompters each hour will have 50-word microfics written off their prompts, but those who sponsor the ‘thon will get more bang: each $5 sponsorship will get 300 words, up to a 3000-word story (anything over 1000 words will be completed in the weeks immediately following the ‘thon).

Note: I’m still ironing out details. But!

As sponsorship goals are met, those who have donated will get bigger perks:

If I reach $20, I get a pizza
If I reach $75, everyone who donates will get a printed-and-snailmailed or pdf-and-e-mailed prettified version of the story from their prompt
If I reach $150, there will be an e-book of the stories from this anthology; sponsors will get a free copy
If I reach $225, the e-book will include a never-before-seen short story of 1500-3000 words written for this anthology
If I reach $300, there will be a print book, and donors will receive a discount on said book.
If I reach $375, the e- and print book will have professional art for the covers & a second new short story.

TL:DR Summary: Throw prompts at me, get microfics.
Throw money and prompts at me, get longer fics.
If enough money is thrown at me, there will be shinies

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/5357.html. You can comment here or there.

Blogging: a thought on writing the darkness ( #weblit #amwriting )

Feb6

I was just re-reading Time Travelers Strictly Cash by Spider Robinson, and there’s a note at the end of God Is An Iron (also part of his novel MindKiller):

    …while the character of Karen Scholz is not drawn from life and is whollly imaginary, the business involving her father is not fiction… Animals like her father are not made up by writers for shock value; they exist.

Every times I think I’m going a little overboard with the darkness in a story, the world surprises me with how dark it gets. Every time I think “no, someone would never do that to someone else,” the internet shows me pictures of someone who did it to themselves.

The world is awfully dark sometimes. I wish I did a better job of shining light on the roaches out there.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/5020.html. You can comment here or there.

Cool: a Sunday meme

Feb6

Stolen from [personal profile] recessional

Name a character I’ve written about, and I will tell you three things that I think are essential to keep in mind when writing that character.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/4855.html. You can comment here or there.

Resources for Online Fiction readers and writers #weblit #webfiction

Feb5

Recently I have been made aware of just how many barely-connected circles there are of fiction on the internet. I can’t connect the circles, but I can offer up a clearinghouse for resources, so that is what I’m doing.

If I’ve missed something, please tell me about it.

For readers and writers:
http://muses-success.info/ – rated & reviewed listings of online fiction
http://www.epiguide.com/forums/ – a community devoted to original online entertainment
http://community.livejournal.com/crowdfunding/ – a livejournal community for all things crowdfunded
http://crowdfunding.dreamwidth.org/ – Crowdfunding community on Dreamwidth, thanks [personal profile] clare_dragonfly
http://webfictionguide.com/ – rated & reviewed listings of online fiction
see also
http://novelsonline.info/ – Web Fiction Guide listings by rating
http://topwebfiction.com/ – Web Fiction Guide listings by reader votes

For writers:
http://weblit.us/ – WebLit, for marketing, promotion and cross-promotion for web literature

For readers:
http://www.ergofiction.com/ – ErgoFiction, a magazine for readers and fans of webfiction.

On Twitter:
Hashtags for finding online fiction include:
#weblit
#webfiction
#webfic
#tuesdayserial
#amwriting (for writers)
#fantasy (or #scifi, or #spec/#specfic and so on)

Most importantly: forums, blogs, twitter chats – other people. I have connected to more stories, and gotten more readers, simply chatting with other people online.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/4376.html. You can comment here or there.