Last Saturday I wrote a post about dreams over at Adventures in Writing. I was wondering whether dreams are ever a valuable source of inspiration or ideas for writers of fiction. This post was prompted by a dream I’d had the day before, which I thought (and still think) might be the seed of a short story.

Well, I haven’t written this story. Not yet.

But I was using the character in a free-writing exercise last night, to see if I could generate a story with more “sense” to it than the typical dream-story. The answer is, Yes.

I’ll be outlining it today, and starting to actually write it tonight or tomorrow. It’s a fantasy, by the way, and the protagonist is not particularly likable. Risky, I know.

I’ll let you know what I think of the final result, hopefully by the weekend.

Anyone else ever rework a dream into fiction? What was the result?

My short story “All That Glitters” is now appearing in Reflection’s Edge, which is an excellent online magazine publishing a variety of genres. The story just published is a fantasy, and it happens to be one of my favorites. I hope you’ll stop by and read it.

Well, January is over and I do want to report on my progress.

First for some really GOOD news!!  I had a short story accepted at Reflection’s Edge and it will be published in the February issue. Actually, I think, any day now!

Now for the mixed news. For the new novel, I am still following the snowflake method, and I am now making spreadsheets with all the projected scenes. Yes, by the way, I did learn how to use Excel. Anyway, this won’t take much longer, and once I have completed this, I will be ready to start the draft.

Now for the bad news. The two short stories are not finished. Partly, this is becuase I was without my laptop for 16 days. It crashed, and while waiting for the manufacturer to send me the recovery disks, I had to borrow my daughter’s computer. So I had no time for blogging and very little time for writing. For this reason, I am granting myself an extension.

I will post another update soon. In the meantime, feel free to shake your head and roll your eyes.

I’ve noticed that in my short fiction, I usually write from the POV of a male character. In fact, of the stories which I’ve sold, 12 of them have had male POV characters, 3 of them female  POV characters,  and 1 had a POV which shifted between a male and female character. That’s pretty overwhelming, but really, I’m just choosing what seems best for each individual story. Any other authors out there who tend to select (overwhelmingly) POV characters of the opposite gender?

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And on a sad and glum note, a story of mine (one of my favorites!) earned its fourth rejection tonight. Here are the comments received with each rejection so far. I’m paraphrasing:

Fantasy Magazine said: No on this, but do send another.

Strange Horizons passed on it, without comment.

Abyss & Apex said: No. Good story, but begins slowly. Try fixing that.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies said: Good beginning, but the story didn’t live up to its promise.

Hah! Try reconciling those last two! Actually, I do like this story as is, and in the midst of other projects I don’t feel like going back and reworking the same stories over and over.  Also, I do feel pretty confident that it will be published somewhere, eventually. So I’m sending it off again tomorrow, and going back to the other things that interest me right now.

I came across this blog, which is maintained collectively by a group of science fiction and fantasy novelists. The blog features a wide range of topics, and I thought it would be of interest to others who visit here and who write in this genre.

Here’s the link: http://www.sfnovelists.com

I haven’t posted in a several days, mainly because I’ve been busy writing the draft, and I haven’t really had any news to report, other than the fact that everything is on track, and it looks like I’ll finish within my projected time-frame. (I took today off from my writing because we visited an amusement park, but tomorrow I’ll get back to work on it.)

Here is the basic premise (hope it doesn’t give too much away): the world is plagued by an old and decaying grid of killer satellites, weapons in some ancient war, which are still randomly and occasionally killing people. The technology which produced these satellites is lost. Now one group of people is seeking a way to control the satellites and use them again.

There is no magic in this story.

From the beginning, I thought of my story as science fiction. Now, I’m thinking it’s actually science fantasy, because the world is made-up, and the science (though integral to the story) is also made-up. I don’t where where the line is between science fiction and science fantasy.

..but I finished the short story on Thursday, the one I was trying to get done for last Monday. It’s a fantasy, with a first-person female narrator, and I have to say, it surprised me along the way with its developments, and I like the way it turned out. 

The delay was due partly to the excuses I kept making to procrastinate, and partly to the fact that I was underestimating the final word-count of story. I thought it might have 4000-4500 words, but it actually took 6000 to tell the story right. In fact, there were 6100-and-something at the end, and I went through the story and eliminated over 100 words - mainly because the market I had in mind has an upper limit of 6000 words, but truthfully, the story did benefit from being trimmed a little.

Oh, and this one was carefully proof-read. And submitted to a fairly good market, so the odds against it being accepted are long.

Last week’s short story – science-fiction; 4000 words, finished and submitted, even though it had some typos and should have been more carefully proofread; will be fixed before the second submission

This week’s short story – fantasy; 1500 words written so far; first person narration, which is unusual for me; goal to complete this story - Monday

Novel – working on an outline to bring book back into shape; in word-count, no measurable progress to report