Short Story Writing Hints

Hello November,

Well, I've been away since September 30. A lot has changed since then, the most important being the fact that we are on the sunset days in the writing of Counting Down The Days short story collection. Only two more stories and the book will be available for your reading pleasure. It is my stated objective to have it out before year end, all going well.

That aside, this is also a comeback post in view of the month-long blogging hiatus. For this reason, I'll keep it short and sweet. My way of doing so is obviously to share some nice stuff I have recently come across, that will be of great benefit to all that love creative writing and some great reading as well.

Following are two reads available on Issuu [my favorite online reading hangout]. They both have some writing tips, one for short stories and the other for inspirational or biographical writing. Enjoy :)

In addition, writing becomes dull if it's not accompanied by some awesome reading. So here's something to read in The Simian Transcript. Hope you find it worth your while.

Cheers good people.
:)

Short Story 7 - The Vigilante

This is the seventh short story in my Counting Down the Days book, currently a work in progress. We have so far taken a sneak peek into other short stories in this collection viz: The Right to Remain Silent, Networking or not working, The Dilemma, Power to the People, Counting Down the Days and Nothing.

The Vigilante

Julie has lost a husband she totally loved, thanks to the neglect, self interest and sloppiness of his friends. Njoroge, Wambua and Salim have deliberately opted to misinform her husband about the presence of law enforcement officials during a heist, and simply watch him unknowingly walk into a fatal trap.

With Kimunya now dead, she takes it upon herself to punish the remaining members of a terror gang she willfully belonged to and dutifully worked to protect. Her plan is to deal with them one by one, and successfully eliminates some of them, until something goes terribly wrong and exposes the enemy within.

How will she carry out her plan? Can she stop avenging Kimunya's death in view of the inherent risks?

My Current Reads

I have recently discovered eFiction Magazine on Issuu - my favorite online hangout where I get to read great stuff in an attractive, engaging and innovative presentation.
eFiction Magazine has been around for quite a while [how did I miss all this?], since April 2010. The August 2011 edition is the 17th issue!
Below are the very first and the current editions of eFiction Magazine. I'd urge you all to head to Issuu and subscribe to this online magazine that showcases the latest fiction across the web, for free. It is truly priceless for any writer worth his/her salt.

eFiction Magazine - then

eFiction Magazine - now

Do have a great day good people!
Cheers :)

Insights into Character Creation & Development

As I write stories for my upcoming Counting Down the Days book, I find myself in a continuous search for what makes a good story. This post is a follow-up post to this one on believable characters in any fictional work.

For characters to be believable, the author needs to know each and every one of them in a very personal way. How they behave, their looks, their thoughts and pretty much everything else about them.

One of the most effective ways of achieving this is through the use of a character questionnaire. It is by asking questions about your characters that you gain full understanding of everything about them.
There are two notable character questionnaires that any writer can use. Others exist, and the following can be tweaked to better address your kind of writing.
You may also want to have a look at this 30-question character questionnaire.

Quetionnaire 1
This one is from Gotham's Writers' Writing Fiction Workshop.

Down the character questionnaire here [.doc 24.5KB]

Questionnaire 2
This questionnaire is available thanks to French author Marcel Proust. It is worth noting that these questions are frequently used during interviews.

Download the character questionnaire here [.doc 26KB]

In other news, reading a lot, much more than you write is necessary for any writer. In this regard, I have come across the following Writes for All compilation that was published in May 2011. It features wonderful short stories from talented emerging writers.

Until the next insights in our Creative Writing insights series, do have a great reading and writing.
Cheers :)

Top 10 Fiction Writing Tips

It is no secret that I prefer to read stuff online. Or in digital formats [eBooks, eMagazines, eNewspapers et al] while offline.

Fiction Writing
Following are top 10 fiction writing tips generously shared by Rowdy Rhodes.

In a nutshell:

1. Poor writing is not bad
2. Why do your characters exsist?
3. Writers bleed into their stories
4. Cliches and stereotypes
5. Character descriptions and traits
6. Work on your dialogue
7. Read, read, read
8. Be thick skinned
9. First drafts
10. Have fun writing.

Hope you ;like the document above and the tips therein.
:)

Short Story 5 - Counting Down the Days

Counting Down the Days is both the title short story and the fifth in my upcoming collection Counting Down the Days.
We have so far highlighted The Right to Remain Silent, Networking or not working, The Dilemma and Power to the People.

Counting Down the Days

In this story, Edwin has been injured in what has been erroneously referred to as an accident. Interestingly, he had just watched Nokia's 4th Screen TV ad on YouTube minutes before this "accident". He was anticipating change, but is now forced to inevitably wait for that change for a very definite number of days.



With every passing day, Edwin gets to see a better version of the bigger picture that awaits him. He is able to better plan, and carefully review his choices.
In losing the ability to do something he really wants, he gains the latitude to ultimately attain what he actually needs.

My Current Reads

I am totally immersed in Chris Anderson's Free: The Future of a Radical Price. The book simply explains what has happened in our lives all along, where businesses make big money by offering free products and/or services.

Nothing is surprising or new in doing that, especially when you think about free-to-air radio and TV from commercial broadcasters.

Interestingly, Malcolm Gladwell [who authored The Tipping Point] doesn't agree with Chris Anderson. FYI, Chris also wrote The Long Tail. Malcolm had a lot to say about Free in The New Yorker.

As a strong advocate of online publishing and on-screen reading, I have recently started to read, and shall be actively sharing/embedding magazines in my reading list.
Most, if not all will be hosted at Issuu, which is my favorite hangout when it comes to reading online. Following is the June 2011 edition of CIO East Africa Magazine.

Please note that upon launch, Connect eMagazine will also be available for online reading and free download at Issuu.

Have a great week good people. Let's continue reading and writing together.Cheers!

:)

Interactive eBooks - The Future of Publishing

NOTE: This post has been cross posted from the Connect eMagazine blog.

Following yesterday's post on Pete R Njenga's Books, a friend later called me and sought some clarifications about Online Publishing.
This post seeks to shed more light about Online publishing in interactive formats, specifically Rich PDF. It'll also be cross-posted on Pete R Njenga's Books.

Online Publishing
This essentially means making it possible for the public to access information on the world wide web. The information in this case may be text, images, videos, eBooks in various formats and other publications.
In our case, online publication will mean publishing eBooks and eMagazines online, contrary to traditional print publishing.

As earlier indicated, online publishing is fast gaining ground, thanks to easier and wider access to the internet, faster network connections and the availability of a motley of e-readers, computers and other mobile devices.

Interactive eMagazines and eBooks
Interactive magazines are basically those through which the reader can do more than merely read. This may

At the 2011 TED Conference in Long Beach California, Mike Matas, formerly of Apple but now with Push Pop Press presented the first full-length interactive digital eBook.
The book he demonstrated, Al Gore's Our Choice contains video, graphics and interactive data visualizations. Watch Mike Mata's TED Talk below:



Rich PDF
The concept of interactive publications is however not new. Back in 2006, I was introduced to an amazing albeit weighty Graphic Exchange magazine, published in Canada by Brill Communications Inc. When I downloaded and viewed the 2004 and 2005 editions from the Graphic Exchange archive, I was simply blown away by the level of interaction that a Rich PDF can have.

The full versions of the Graphic Exchange magazines contain video, music, and other interactive elements.

So how are the Rich PDFs created?
Well, all it takes it the usual Adobe Creative Suiet Software [Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign]. Once the magazine layout is complete in InDesign, additional buttons and button areas for interactive elements are added.
For further Rich PDF features, the magazine is enhanced and spruced up in Adobe Acrobat Professional.
The Graphic Exchange site has a good number of tutorials explaining in detail, how to create Rich PDF.