Hi, all,
Following the final decision from Grey Matter Press about my story “The Next One,” a new call for submissions has been released: Monsters.
They’re not looking for your typical monster (zombies, ghosts, vampires, etc.), they’re looking for the worst type of monster… the real type. The type that may live next door, teach your children in school or live in your own home. Think serial killers, rapists, child molesters…
My take on the topic will be domestic abuse and I know just the monster to write about.
I’ve started the story using a writing method I discovered recently… the snowflake method. It begins with a single sentence to summarize your story. Then you expand this sentence into a paragraph to describe your story and finally, you expand each sentence in the paragraph into a full paragraph that will yield a page-long summary approximately. From there, you can identify the scenes you will require and start.
I was surprised by how quickly this yielded a workable story and I was surprised by the place where the story begins. It’s good to be surprised. I may still change the order of the story, so that the last scene is “the present” and the scenes leading up to the final scene are told in a flashback.
We’ll see how it turns out, but I am impressed with this method. I may play some more with it and see if it works for me in other stories.
As for “The Next One”… I have printed it out and I am giving it another once-over before submitting it to Queers Destroying Science Fiction.
If you’re looking for some reading suggestions, I have some:
Crystal Lake Publishing is having a sale on Amazon. Check out their titles. I enjoyed Tales from the Lake Vol. 1 (my favourite was “Alternative Muses” by J. Daniel Stone).
I am currently reading an advance copy of Richard Salter’s “A Patchwork House.” It kept me up reading ’til 3:00 last night and on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend it. Look for it on Dec 9.
Lastly, I have recently read “No Light in August” by R. L. Robinson. It’s a collection of stories about “the many ways” that lead to the world of Carcosa and the King in Yellow. Also an excellent read.
Cheers,
H. J. Chacón