Silenced: A Diva Anthology

When the hairs on the back of your neck stand up…

When you feel like someone is watching you…

When you’re afraid to turn around…

It’s already too late.

Our latest Diva anthology is live. If you're interested, here's where you can find it:

Silenced: A Diva Anthology

Diva Short Story Anthologies

I've mentioned the group of fiction writers that I'm associated with here before. In case you missed the post, here it is: Short Story Anthology: Crime Gone Wrong. Anyway, we're called DIVA, and we're four gals from different parts of the world who come together to write short story anthologies. 

As a foursome, we decide on the title of the story collection. Once the title's determined, we go off on our own and write our individual stories based on the title/theme. It's interesting to see how the other Diva gals interpret the title. In any given anthology you might get a dark story and a silly story side-by-side, both with the same theme. 

So far, we've published:

Crime Gone Wrong

 

Killer Heat

Summer Love 

We're always looking for theme/title suggestions so let me know if you think of anything interesting that you'd like a bunch of twisted ladies to write about. :-)

And it just so happens that we have another book coming out very soon. Watch this space for details.

Happy reading and writing,

Descriptive Writing

A good friend and talented writer called me last night to offer feedback on my recently published short story, The Buckner Brothers. In summary, she said she liked the story and its unpredictability. She said the pace was good, as was the rhythm. She particularly appreciated the physical descriptions of the main characters and the way in which their psychoses evolved.
  

Then she lowered the boom; she said she had a hard time visualizing where the action was taking place. The writing lacked a vivid setting. She wanted more ambience, more environment. 

So what did I do? Like any self-respecting writer, I drank wine through a straw went back and reread the story she was referring to. Then I studied my WIP. Yep. She’s dead nuts right.

As I looked at my writing through this new lense, it was clear - I do spill more ink on people than I do on places. Interesting. I went looking for advice from my guru, Stephen King. In his book about writing, aptly titled On Writing, King differentiates between two kinds of descriptive writing: the physical description of characters and the description of “locale and texture” (his words).

I’m feeling halfway okay until I read further. King says descriptions of “locale and texture” are more important to good writing than are descriptions of people and characters. 

Wouldn't you know it.

Digging for details, I landed on this nugget:

Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Over-description buries him or her in details and images. The trick is to find a happy medium.  

Easy for you to do, Mr. King. But what about fledgling indi authors?

Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing. 

Alrighty then, back to the doing. I just hope I don't over-describe the little girl's bedroom in the story I'm writing now. If I do, I trust that my excellent and talented friends will shove me in the right direction. Thanks, Cyndi.
 

Short Story Anthology: Crime Gone Wrong

As many of you know, I participated in the National Novel Writing (NaNo) challenge in November. Even though my novel is pure garbage (but I plan, eventually, to do the proper rewrites and see if I can salvage any of it), it whet my appetite to write more fiction. And to get serious about it.

So what does any self-respecting fiction-writing wannabee do in that situation? She goes and finds herself a group of seasoned fiction writers to hitch her shiny new wagon to. I found a good one.

Enter DIVA, our little group of four fiction writers from different parts of the world who came together to write short story anthologies; three established hot-shots and me. Yep, they let me in the group and you better bet I'm soaking it all in. I've written fiction since childhood but I've mostly kept it to myself. These gals are showing me the ropes and helping me polish my craft. 

This is how we do it: as a group we decide on the title of the story collection. Then we go off and write our individual stories based on the title/theme. It's interesting to see how my fellow writers interpret the title and write their stories based on the chosen theme.

Soooo, we just published our first anthology, Crime Gone Wrong. My story is dark. In fact, they're all a bit twisted, in a good way. If you like stories where vengeance doesn't always go as planned, vampires and witches don't see eye to eye, and where peeping in windows might scare you to death, check it out:

Buy our book on Amazon

If you read the stories, please let me know what you think. Honestly. I want to get better and the only way I can do that is through real and constructive feedback.

We are in the midst of writing our second book, a young adult anthology about Summer Love. After that, we're doing flash fiction stories with a Killer Heat theme. It's all very exciting, so stay tuned... 

By the way, DIVA stands for Diverse, Independent, Verruckt Authors. 
According to our German member, verruckt means crazy. :-)
 

New Year's Eve: To Resolve or Not to Resolve

Do you make resolutions? I'm not too big on the concept, mainly because I try to avoid waiting for a certain time/day/year to start or stop something. If I want to make changes, I try to do it when it's necessary. This is learned behavior for me because for years I waited until Monday to start eating healthier foods/exercising more regularly/cussing less/writing more (or better)/using slashes less/whatever self improvement project I was on at the time. If I 'blew it' on Tuesday or at 8:00pm on Monday, I would have to wait until the following Monday to get back on the program. No good. At least, not for me.

So, no major resolutions for me this year. I'd like to wear perfume more often but I never remember to. I would always like to write more or to write better or both. In fact, yeah, I will make a real resolution. I resolve to write more fiction in 2013. That's pretty big. I'd also like to learn how to edit photos and/or design book covers. That may happen.

As I write this, I see that I seriously need an intervention for my slash addiction - that's three in one post. Sorry...

Anyway, to keep from rambling more and wasting your time, I'll close with this. One resolution I make every year is to:

I'm pretty good at keeping that resolution.

In closing, I'd like to share the most plagiarized poem I've ever written.

New Year's Resolution in an Acrostic Poem 

The happiest of Happy New Years, my friends. May 2013 bless you richly and fill your hearts with joy.

Am I Really a Writer?

Can you call yourself a writer if you’re not writing? I know writers who claim they must write every day, it’s like oxygen to them. I am not that person. I can go for long periods of time without writing anything. Even if I need to write for financial reasons - if it’s not happening it’s just not happening.

I am in this very slump right now. I’m distracted. Other things seem more pressing. I don’t feel like writing. I wouldn’t call it writers block because I have plenty of ideas.


If I could make myself sit down and put my fingers on the keyboard I’m sure the words would come.

Words don’t fail me. If anything, I fail them.

I wrote a silly poem about writer’s block last year, primarily to get over the hump. Here it is: Overcoming Writer's Block - a Poem. But even then, I questioned the difference between writer’s block and lack of motivation. Are they the same thing? Are they different?

To me, they are different.

I’m supposed to be writing about balance and I am. Are you following? If you’re reading between the lines you’ll gather that I have none. You are correct. I’m either in a writing frenzy or a writing drought. (Maybe writing slack-off would be a more precise description but I’m scared of the word slack-off).

My hope is that this forced post makes me climb back in the saddle. My pocketbook hopes so too.

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s prompt is balance. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Smile, Modine: Flash Fiction

Modine hobbled up 4 steep steps to get on the bus. She could feel the impatience of other the passengers. Their shifting and grumbling confirmed it, she was taking too long. She tried to hustle but her blasted right knee was not cooperating. It locked up at the bus stop and hurt like hell. After much effort she reached the platform and counted out her change. Dropping the coins into the slot, she grabbed an overhead rail as the bus whined and wheezed its way onto the busy road. It sounded as feeble as Modine felt.     

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This post was written for The Writers' Post group on Facebook, and this week’s prompt is to write a flash fiction story with exactly 100 words, including the title.  If you want to connect with other bloggers and join the fun, go to The Writers' Post Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.