Archive for the ‘Bad Blogging’ Category

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!

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!

Thanks for dropping in! I’m pleased as punch (don’t ask how pleased Punch is, though, I’m afraid to ask because I don’t want to get…biffed) to present the brand new face of Damn Short Stories. If you’ve been checking up on DSS throughout the year you’ll know that I haven’t put in nearly the time that I was earlier on, but that’s all going to change now. Some big changes have happened in my life, and so I’m very happy to say that I’ve got a lot more motivation and idea generating energy right now.

Among these changes are that I’ve finally decided to go back to school and pursue my degree and dream of working professionally as a writer. I’m thinking that I’ll probably aim at screenwriting, since it’s an area I’m very interested in (gosh, what an idea!) I’m especially interested in doing serialized television work in the vein of guys like Joss Whedon, Brian Fuller, and of course the always good JJ Abrams.

But before I go getting ahead of myself, I’d just like to make a commitment: From this week onward, I expect to deliver at least one new short story every week. This will probably be posted on a Saturday, but hey, who knows? Something fresh and exciting just might pop up earlier, who knows?

On those other days, if you really must check in on what I’m up to (and hey, I’m doing a little bit of “other” writing, too) please feel free to visit my Personal Education blog over at Stirring Wind!

I apologize for the long absence, but I’ve been away working on a variety of other projects. Luckily I think I’ve sorted a way to spend more time here as well, so this site should start seeing some additional attention pretty soon. What I have to present to you today though isn’t really a “Damn Short” story, but it is a short story, so don’t feel too sad. I’ll explain what it’s all about very soon, I promise.