Obviously, I haven’t put in as much time and effort the past several months as DSS–to say nothing of my passion for stories–deserves. The reason is simple: last year (Fall 2009) I started back to college, and in classic form I’ve made it a point to inundate myself with coursework. Last semester (Spring 2010) was especially foolish, yet enrichening: I handled 17 units and 3 major English classes (2 of them literature.) The bright side of that experience was, I have lots of new ideas for stories. The down side was, I had no time to write any.

That’s all changed now that the semester is over, however, and I’ve had time to think a bit more, so I’ll be adding some new stories very soon. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by to check out what’s here already, and I hope you’ll come back again! You can occasionally find me posting briefly over at my personal blog, Stirring Wind, where I often will post the results of essays and other nonfiction work I’ve written, or at Poetic Hell, where I’ve begun posting both new and old poetry.

I hope to see you around!

I’ve entered one of my slightly longer Damn Short Stories into a contest at BookRix, a site for aspiring writers who are looking for some exposure. If you have a sec, head on over and check it out!

So, in my college pursuits, one of my classes is Introduction to Screenwriting. As an exercise in this class, I was assigned the task of writing a short scene in which two people at a cafe have some kind of expositional dialog. At the same time, while preparing for Diversity Day, which was sponsored by the student government (I’m a member,) I learned that there was a need for some skits to be written highlighting the issue of racism. There were already a couple of skits written by other folks, of course, but there were two complaints discussed in one of our planning meetings: First, that the existing skits were a bit…provocative in their language, and second, that both entailed white students attacking minority students, which is, of course, not how things always roll.

Well, it occurred to me that perhaps i could combine these projects, and moreover, that I might be able to assemble something that would be a complete short story wherein not only is the perpetrator of the racist act not a caucasian student, but the racism involved isn’t even meant in a harsh or hurtful way; it’s simply a matter of culture and traditional values clashing with the modern world. The following story, written more or less in Screenplay format (I’ve made some modifications to make it easier to read in this medium) using CeltX, was probably a little too subdued to justify being performed live on a campus (indeed, it wasn’t,) but is nevertheless, I think, an interesting short story.

A Question of Culture

ACT I

SCENE 1

A WHITE MAN and an ASIAN WOMAN walk together,
laughing and chatting casually. They appear very
comfortable together and seem to be enjoying each
other’s company a great deal. They are coworkers
at a Computer Services consulting company.

MAN

Boy was that guy funny in the meeting today. What in the world made him think that server would work online without a network card?

WOMAN

I don’t know, sometimes people at this company are so silly! The look on his face when you explained it to him was so funny, though, you almost made me laugh out loud!

MAN

Was I rude, do you think?

WOMAN

No, not at all, I thought you were very polite. You’re always polite…and sweet!

MAN

Well, you make it easy to be sweet. You’re so smart and funny all the time!

The two sit down at a table, still smiling and
happy. A waiter approaches.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a very, very, short story I wrote as an exercise in writing a scene specifically intended to capture a mood. That scene was assigned in my Screenwriting class last week and I actually wrote it in about 15 minutes the hour before it was due in class. To my surprise, the teacher was very impressed with it, and said he really liked it because “It’s a complete story. Excellent work!” Suffice to say, I was shocked, and read it again. Sure enough…it is a complete story. Somehow. I’ll let you be the judge of whether it’s actually any good at capturing a mood or not!

                The faint buzz of TV static permeated the small, tobacco-stinking room, punctuated only by the slow swing of a wall clock’s rusty pendulum.  Two small children huddled under a blanket in one corner of the room, snuggled up for warmth, yet shivering as if their small bodies couldn’t generate quite enough heat. A paper Christmas tree, carefully colored by the hands of children, hung from the wall by a single piece of duct tape, and under its illustrated branches rested two candy bars, each with a half-flattened bow on top. The dim hum of a microwave oven, its timer counting down from 2:17, draped the room in an electric glow, its sole source of hope. An empty carton rested atop the microwave, the promise of shaped and formed turkey with mashed potatoes reflecting light at the dismal shape of a woman; her face carried far too many worry lines for her years, and her chest heaved in half-controlled sobs as silent tears dripped down her face.

                Outside, a man with a dirty Santa hat and ragged shoes knelt against the railing, his frame racked with unreleased sobs. His cheeks were dry, but his eyes glistened like pools on the verge of overflowing. Slowly he rocked, forward and back, his stomach growling and his fists clenched as he listened to the faint hum of the microwave through the slightly open door. He counted the seconds, each one a breath from his solid frame, and as he rocked forward for the last time, the faint ding of the microwave signalled his time was finally over.

In my new life as College Student Extraordinaire (CSE for short), one of my courses is Intro to Screenwriting. I’ve been interested in taking such a course for many years, so I was very happy to get into the class without a problem. I was disappointed in the class until recently, for various reasons, but I’m now very pleased and suddenly quite motivated. Consequently, I’ve been perusing various sites and forums online looking for advice on how to write well for the screen. Suffice to say, I’ve found a lot of good advice, but none I’ve taken to heart so readily as this nugget of platinum from one of my favorite screenwriters, Joss Whedon (gold is too cheap and commonplace for Mr. Whedon’s level of talent, imho).

The article was orginally presented in 4Talent magazine but was reprinted with permission at the source linked above. Since I don’t have such permission, I’ll just post the summary here and let you visit the source article yourself for the meat. While his advice is somewhat specific to screenwriting, I believe his advice can, by and large, apply equally well to all forms of fiction writing. So, from the top, here we are:

Joss Whedon’s 10 Tips for Writers

1. Finish it!
2. Structure
3. Have something to say!
4. Everybody has a reason to live
5. Cut what you love
6. Listen
7. Track the audience mood
8. Write like a movie
9. Don’t listen
10. Don’t sell out!

Yeah, that’s a list alright. Head to the link for the meat!