Over lunch, I go walking, there’s no secret there. And I’m always in awe by the fact that during my walk I always take the opportunity to stride along (and on)  the tracks of a abandoned, now  disused, World-War-Two railway line that is embedded in asphalt.  It’s a spur that led off from the mainline and down to an old, now disused, munitions factory.  The railway carriages would stop at the point I walk on top of the line and fill up with explosives.  Those explosives would  go into tank rounds, or for bombs on planes, and grenades and the like for the war in Europe, and the Middle East and the Pacific.  If you didn’t know the history of the place, you’d probably trip over the line and think nothing of it.  But I’m a writer, I research and look for angles about interesting stories to tell.  At least I try to.

But I’m writing a story – no surprises there – and after reviewing it, came up with a few unanswered questions about why my character did what he did. So I have a problem.  I’m (or I was) sort of stuck on motive, and to the reason that my character acted the way he did.

I’ve got no idea why he did those things when I wrote the story. The words came out unhindered and I grabbed them as they flew past. I ended up with a story, asked no questions and was happy.  Problem is I have NO idea about my character’s motives, or what he should do to resolve some of those dangling unanswered threads.

So I did what the experts tell you to.

I asked the character why he did those things and what would he do to resolve those elements.  It sounds kind of odd saying it out loud now, but you know, of all things I pulled out my notepad and pen during my walk at lunch and wrote four pages of notes as I heard the character talking to me. And no I don’t hear voices, although I have written a story about that too…

I’ve just looked through my notes and my questions have been answered, so I can say that the advice was good – at least for me, and I’m keeping my psychologist employed full time talking to him about my character talking to me…

Obviously I jest about the psychologist, but go talk to your character and see what they say!

Footnote: And yes I really do walk along the railway line each day and ponder about the historical significance of those railway tracks. Some of the building are still there too, solid brick walls with earth banks, and a flimsy roof so that if an explosion occurs the occupants head upwards and don’t disturb the the person in the building next door creating explosives.

I was thrilled to find that the Issue 40, the March 2012 Issue of Aoife’s Kiss is out with my short story Pictures From Another Time .

stories

• Phoebe North: Ageveline
• Chris Morey: Purple Star
• Michelle D. Sonnier: The Witch’s Cat
• Manashvini Krishna: Dreameater
• Robert J. Mendenhall: Under The Influence
• David Kernot: Pictures From Another Time
• M. L. John: The Holes In Her Shoes
• Leslianne Wilder: I Fall To Pieces
• Cory Kellgren: Kicking
• Nora Fleischer: Not Fade Away
• Elizabeth Baxter: The Widder Woman
• Robert Drake: Widget
• Josh Sampson: An Old Friend
• William Ledbetter: Armageddon Under Glass
• Maria Alberto: Paradigm
• Andrew Kozma: Teller Of Tales

poems

• Holly Day: The Sweet Spot Of The Universe
• Sarah M. Lewis: Strings
• Rone Wisten: Soul Speak
• David C. Kopaska-Merkel: Fish And Humans
• Marcie Lynn Tentchoff: Spirit Week
• Michael S. Morris: Silence On The Face Of Her Friends

It’s not often that I get to read a comment by anyone about my writing, but Jason Fischer pointed this out out today about our stories… Review from Scary Minds Feb12:

“Bringing in the Sci-Fi elements Dead Man Walking by David Kernot goes in an entirely unexpected resurrection tangent, all about the science don’t you know, and throws one hell of a decision at the feet of the protagonist, Jonah. Kernot has a very visual style, which is pretty much space opera influenced in my unworthy opinion, so I was rocking on beyond the stars with this one.”

http://www.scaryminds.com/reviews/2012/magazine19.php

I was thrilled to read it, and pleased that Baden Kirgan picked it up.

2011 was a great year for me.  I had some encouraging writing success, and I discovered new friends and in some cases, continued support for my writing from old friends, and I thought that it was timely to quickly say thank you to: The folk over at The Writers Of The Future Forum, including  Joanie Labaqui and KD Wentworth, where I continue to submit stories, to David Conyers and Jason Fischer, my compatriots in Midnight Echo 6, who are also local Adelaideians and quite supportive, to the Online Writers Workshop folk, including, Larry, Heather, Heidi, Ray and Zed, to Baden Kirgan from Black House Comics, Ion from AntipodeanSF,  and a special thank you to to Patty Jansen who told me how it is, whether I liked it or not – sometimes it is important to just hear it. Thank you all.  If I’ve forgotten anyone, sorry… blame the heat…

They often say that I live in the driest state of the driest continent in the world – today I figured that was true.

So, at 3PM today the mercury hit 106.34 degrees F, or 41.3 C, which made it the hottest New Years Day in 122 years.  Great news is that tomorrow is going to be even  hotter at 42 (107.6F), and the day after it’s only a mild 41C.  To cool down we went walking in the heat, and listened to the kookaburras try to chase away a white heron from their feeding spot with no success. We came home hot and tired from a late night and the warmish weather, and I cooked outside on my new barbeque, while my ever-chaotic mind clambered over a myriad of writing ideas.  Then I went back inside and wished my computer was in the front of the house, somewhere near the air conditioner, while I constructed my new 6000 word story submission that has a rapidly approaching deadline.

Bad news is that even though I’ve had my bike’s service done, it’s too hot to ride my motorcycle. The great news is that I’m on leave for a while longer and have time to both find that riding opportunity, and have more time to write and work on my MPhil. I think I’ve mastered the window function in Lion for my Mac, and I’ve studied up on Scrivener’s Cork Board outlining functions, so the 6000 word story is making advances quite well all of a sudden. I’ve also created a web page for the Extreme Planets Anthology and done my reading for the anthology and my ASIM slush, but I owe a couple of OWW crits.

Happy New Year to any one who read this

My wonderful Olivia used her iPhone to write the year while I photographed her last night – and it didn’t turn out too bad! Click on it to see the larger detail, including her writing frantically in the dark

So my recent good news was to be advised of the ToC for my Timid Pirates Publishing submission.

Post-apocalypse community: ToC

by Caroline Dombrowski • October 16, 2011 • From the Editor •

So, I had the pleasure of having a read of patty Jansen’s story last night.  It’s a big read and good value when you compare it tot the price/size.  It’s chunky enough for you to settle into it nicely.

And what did I think:

Seven thousand artificial soldiers, all obsessed with one woman.  Obviously this could have been simply a tale of great sexual encounters. Our heroine: perfect. Male testosterone maxed out …

This could also been just another average space opera, too, but it goes much further than these things, it reaches deeper into the human psyche and asked the question of what makes us human.

Patty Jansen explores this question, at the same time provides a wonderful science backdrop of deep space, gene manipulation, and of course: love.

I certainly enjoyed the story, and would encourage people to read what is a highly entertaining, and complex story, rich with world-building.  It’s available in e-pub formats … just Google it!  Enjoy.  I did!

I’m writing this post because I hit a record amount of submissions (for me) and that number is TWELVE, which might not seem like a lot, but I work full time and I am studying at uni.  I’ve dared to dabble with five PRO submissions, and two of them are Writers Of The Future (WOTF)  submissions – I’ve even submitted for this quarter on the second day because of the belief that IF I was to go pro and be ineligible, I could have that one last shot with WOTF.  Is that vain?  Probably.  Having said that the other seven subs are with pro-markets, and a couple have made their way past the slush readers to a point where an editor will take a look, or perhaps they are just sitting being considered for publication…  This is all good news for me, and comes on the back of some pro advice to send some more work in (its almost good enough – but not quite).  I have 2 horror pieces in play, two fantasy stories, and eight science fiction.

On the down side, I may have my subs all wrong: I may find that I’m knitting pink seven-toed socks, and all the markets I’ve sent to are after six-finger gray mittens.  You can never tell.  But I’ll keep all three toes crossed, and I’ll let you know if (a) I can up this count to 13 or more, or (b) that I’ve been successful.

The thing is, that you have to stay positive (for your stories) after all, it’s not my stories’ fault that I sent it on to the wrong place, where there are already 14 pink socks and mine now makes 15.  Trouble is you never get to find that out.  Trick is to find a site / editor / publication that likes your work, and send on more of your work to that place and see.

So, now to see if I’ve jinxed myself.  And that’s it from me. Oh, is that three rejection emails in my in-tray…

I wanted to tip my hat (so to speak ) to two editors today, who I believe have gone that extra mile and been more than helpful to my writing.

Tehani Wessely left ASIM, the issue before I commenced, and I know the team there have always had nothing but praise for her.  I’ve been there for 3 years, but Tehani was there forever (when it began). For me, I would have enjoyed working with her… but I digress.  Tehani is editing / producing her Fablecroft Apocalypse Anthology (submissions end today), titled: Apocalypse Hope.  Taking  this from Tehani’s Fablecroft page, it sounds great… The world is ending: climate change, natural disaster, war and disease threaten to destroy all we know. Predictions of the future are bleak. But does the apocalypse really mean the end of the world? Is there no hope for a future that follows?

So, I sent something of mine in, which I had high hopes for (doesn’t every writer?), and the story received a polite rejection.  It wasn’t what they were looking for.  But then, Tehani emailed me back 2 days later and suggested that there was another Apocalypse Anthology currently seeking stories, and that my piece might be better suited.  I’ve never met, or spoken to Tehani, but I have to say that I did appreciate the fact that she thought of my story and took the time out of her busy day to send the information on to me

I checked out the conditions of the ‘other’ Apocalypse Anthology, The Benevolent Apocalypse: In the next cycle of expanding humanity, communities thrive in a post-industrial world. This is the reign of the makers, the doers, the community builders, the farmers and those who work with tangible objects, producing and creating. The collapse of money, the stock market and centralized government has led to smaller, more tightly-knit communities where adventures, mysteries and tales of the human abound. The chaos is over, and rebuilding is well underway. What characters and situations have arisen? You tell us.

As it turned out, my piece was too big to meet the criteria, but I sent the editor, Caroline Dombrowski, of Timid Pirate Publishing, an email and explained my story kind of fitted the theme but it was over the 6K word count.  So this is where kind act number two happened, when Caroline said that she would chop my story down to 6K, so it could be considered - no guarantee of an acceptance, and I had no say in what she cut.  Initially I cringed.  No control over what she cut? No!  Didn’t she know that I had invested so much of me into every word?  But then I thought about it.  What could happen?  Worse case I still had my original story.  And it WAS a generous act after all – in fact, more than generous.  But Caroline does this sort of thing for a living, so if you are after an editor who will read and cull useless words and scenes, I can vouch for her.  She did a great job at skinning my baby, and I say that because she was unable to cull the story down past 6.2K – she didn’t go for just word count.  It still had all of the elements that I wanted in the piece.  I couldn’t go wrong.  If the readers didn’t like it, then I had a story that was better because it had been pared down to the bone.  I’d won, even without getting it published.

So how did it go with the Timid Pirate Publishing?  In the end, my story was still far too long.  I didn’t mind, I had a great story that had been culled down to 6.2K from 7.5K.  Well, actually I lie, because Caroline gave me a choice: the readers did like my story, it still was too long, and I would have to find a way to shorten it – she even gave me some clues.  How great was that! So I chopped it down to 4.5K by starting with the most action-based point and wrapped only key elements back into the story, and you know, it REALLY came alive, and I got it accepted into the Timid Pirate Publishing Apocalypse, which I hope I can say is called: Finding Home: Community in Apocalyptic Worlds. I signed my contract.  The story has gone

What this whole process taught me, apart from the generosity of both Tehani and Caroline, is that I took a 7.5K story that I had spent months polishing and becoming part of, and let it go: and through a series of processes it lost 3000 words and is a better story.  I have no doubts that if I had sent this story to Tehani’s Apocalypse Hope anthology, she would have accepted it as worthy.  As it is, I have a story that I am thrilled to be part of the Timid Pirate Publishing list

Never doubt that you can cull your words, and when you’re done – you can still go back and do it all over again.