Hint Fiction, short and sweet
A few weeks ago, Mike Stackpole sent along a link to a new anthology that was being put together by Robert Swartwood for Hint Fiction. He challenged the writers in our group to see how many of us could make our way into the book. And who am I to turn down a challenge?
Hint Fiction is a story that is 25 words or less that “hints” at a far greater story than what is written in words. This forces the reader to become a part of the story by “filling in the blanks.” It’s not as easy as it seems at first, but it is very fun to write!
I’m sending in three submissions for the anthology, and I recommend to anyone who is interested, to do the same. I recommend reading last year’s winners and the background information offered on the page before you write, however, to make sure you understand the concepts involved.
www.robertswartwood.com - Hint Fiction
Another new book!
BODY LANGUAGE
I’m pleased to announce that I have another new book coming out! BODY LANGUAGE: The Ultimate Guide to Sensual Dancing is just what the title says it is…everything you need to know about dancing in Second Life.
Designed for those who want to dance professionally, while remaining informative and fun for the casual dancer, BODY LANGUAGE covers everything from avatar design and clothing selection to picking the sexiest dances Second Life has to offer. A good portion of the book focuses on improving your emotes, the life-blood of any great dancer.
Elite dancers can easily earn $L20,000 a week (that’s about $75USD, which is a lot in a micro-economy like Second Life)! Readers of this book will have everything they need to become one of the elite.
The book releases on Friday, November 28th, at a special event hosted at Tropical Bliss, one of Second Life’s premier nightclubs. Two other release events will follow, one at Third Life Books and the other at Oktober Moon.
UPDATE: Due to some scheduling conflicts with the DJ and the long weekend in the US, the official release has been pushed back to Saturday, December 6th.
BODY LANGUAGE: The Ultimate Guide to Sensual Dancing is available with two covers. A Limited Edition which will be available for 2 months or 100 copies sold, whichever comes first and a Standard Edition which can be found at my store at The F&SF Writer’s Store.
How to THiNC…
How to ThiNC
Yesterday, my new book, How to THiNC, A Guide to Creating & Publishing a THiNC Book, was released in Second Life. The big release was tied into the companion seminar to the book, which…hopefully…helped other writers with their own goal of self-publishing in Second Life.
This is a new foray for me…electronic publishing…but, if yesterday’s comments and sales turn out to be more than simple platitudes, then it will be a lasting one.
How to THiNC grew out of a need, both for myself and my workshop members, to learn the process of publishing in the virtual world. THiNC is one of the few companies in Second Life to offer publishing tools, and really the only one who offers a first-life analogue (meaning their book looks and feels like a first-life book).
In teaching myself how to use the THiNC publishing system, I experimented with image sizes and resolutions, fonts and image-types, and word processors and graphics editors. I certainly wasn’t an expert before I began this process, but I’d like to think I became one along the way. That said, I’m sure that there is more I have to learn, and maybe even some things I got wrong, but the information in the book stands as a comprehensive overview of the whole process.
While I’m pleased at the reception the book has received, I’m very pleased with the turn-out at the seminar. While we didn’t quite “crash-the-sim,” we certainly filled it. The crowd wasn’t just members of my own workshop, either…the seminar drew in quite a few members of Third Life and FarPoint Media too. I think there were even a few people there who were drawn in by word-of-mouth, and not any association to my group at all!
Over 75% of the people attending the seminar purchased my book. To each of them, I say “Thank you.” I hope that you find it useful in helping you to make your own books.
How to THiNC wasn’t supposed to be my first book to be published in Second Life. That spot was meant to be reserved for Body Language. Before I could publish Body Language, though, I had to learn the publishing process. How to ThiNC grew out of that… Now that it’s done though, my focus returns to my now-second book. Hopefully you’ll see it in about four weeks from now!
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Oh, and the seminar has received its first review as well! Pamqui Vita wrote about the seminar and the book on his Spanish-language blog, Profesionales de la Información en Second Life.
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For those of you using Second Life who would like to find my workshop and my book, just follow the slurl to the F&SF Writer’s Workshop Storefront. It will be on display from October 15th onwards…
I’ve been quoted…
I’m a big fan of quotations. I even subscribe to a widget that sends me a couple of random ones each day. Usually they’re funny, or interesting, or thought-provoking. Sometimes they’re just plain dumb, or archaic — meaning that they’ve lost their meaning or context over time — but usually I find somthing of value within their brief insight.
A few weeks ago, I spoke at a writer’s convention about writer’s workshops. In my preamble, I offered a few insights into why workshops were necessary, or at least beneficial. Apparently, I said something therein that grabbed the interested of one of the listeners, because they took one of my passages and quoted me on their writer’s resource website.
When she informed me that she had posted the quotation, my mind flooded with thoughts: wow!; cool!; wait…; “my” quote?; what quote?; what did I say that was worth quoting? Well, I visited the site and found out exactly which passage had intrigued her.
Interesting enough, it was one that I didn’t think much of myself. Not because it’s not interesting, or even potentially quote-worthy, but because I didn’t think it was terribly original. In fact, at that precise moment, I feared that its originality might even be questionable.
Certainly, I knew it wasn’t plagiarized; I remembered writing it myself. I even remembered editing it twice to improve its flow and cadence. I even remembered changing where in the seminar it took place and tweaking it to fit its new home. But my mind nagged at me, that it couldn’t be worthy of a quote because someone, somewhere must have said something similar before me, or they must have written somthing along those lines where I had read it. I felt horrible, because if it wasn’t mine entirely, then I’d have to ask for it to be taken down and apologise.
Well, I Googled, I searched the quotation books, and I scanned every newsletter and book I could think of that may have offered the idea before me. And I couldn’t find a thing that even resembled the quote.
Woot!
Maybe it was the shock of having something I said posted out there as an insightful truism. Maybe it was my own self-doubt that I said anything profound or interesting enough to be quoted. Or maybe I just haven’t found that original reference and I’ll have to stand up and acknowledge that fact down the road.
Since I know I wrote it, edited it, and chose its context within the seminar. Since I can’t find any source that could have influenced the passage, even though I looked long and hard for it. Since I have no reason to believe that anyone but myself is responsible for its existence, I’ll humbly accept the honour and say thank you, Sherry, for finding something I said either interesting or insightful enough to share with others.
I still think that it’s a rather basic and obvious statement, but I do feel a certain pride in its simplicity and cadence. If others find something to like in it, then that makes me even happier.
I wonder what it says about my mind, though. When, along with being proud and flattered from the start, I also second-guessed myself and my words.
For those who are interested in what I said that warrants a spotlight, the exact line was:
“The written word only fulfills its destiny when it is read.”
You can find the website where it resides here, at the Scriptorium. I’m not sure how long it will remain there, but I’m touched, honoured, and a little scared that it appeared there at all…
