PPWC13: The 4-Hour Short Story Writer

This workshop was led by DeAnna Knippling.  Although these are my notes, the workshop content is attributed to DeAnna and the participants who offered input and discussion. 

The inspiration for this technique of short story mapping was The Four-Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss.  Ferriss' approach to cooking was to break down the process into all the pieces.  Likewise, DeAnna studied the process of crafting the short story, pulled out all the pieces, set clear definitions, and strung them together into a checklist of sorts.

To write a short story using this technique, here's what you will need to learn:

1. Standard Manuscript Format.  DeAnn recommends William Shunn's online guide.

2.  Genre.  Know the expectations and conventions of your chosen genre.

3.  Character.  For the purposes of a short story, a character is simply a job or role in life and an attitude. 

4.  Setting.  For the purposes of a short story, the setting is simply a place, time, and a suggestion of how this place deviates from reality (if this applies).

5.  Problem.  The protagonist must have a problem; something that they cannot handle using their normal mode of operation.

6. Opening.  Defined as a character in a setting with a problem.

7.  Try/Fail Cycle.  The protagonist tries to accomplish something and fails (this is because they are using their normal mode of operation and have not yet transformed; transformation is necessary for the protagonist to eventually succeed).  When they do succeed, something gets worse.

8.  Climax / Last Big Try.  Strip the protagonist down and take away everything.  Force them to change and go outside of their comfort zone.  There are two possible outcomes: (1) the protagonist definitively succeeds and solves the problem, or (2) the protagonist fails and is unable to solve the problem.

9.  Validation.  Make sure the reader knows that reading the story was worth their time and that the story is over.  This will vary by genre convention.  Use "grace notes" by repeating one of the themes of the story.

When put together, these nine pieces make up the 4-hour short story.  Spend the time necessary to map out your short story and then use DeAnna's recommendation for pacing as shown below:

250-300 words (or 30 min. writing) = Opening
~500 words (or 45 min. writing) = Scene
~500 words (or 45 min. writing) = Scene
~500 words (or 45 min. writing) = Scene
~500 words (or 45 min. writing) = Scene
250-300 words (or 30 min. writing) = Climax & Validation

For a more complex approach to story structure, DeAnna recommends Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.

Pikes Peak Writers Conference PPWC13

Over the weekend I was privileged to attend the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Three full (and I don't use the term "full" lightly) days of writing workshops, networking opportunities, pitches, critiques, luncheons and banquets with authors, editors and agents, and keynotes.  The usual and so much more. 

If I overlook the 17 high school wrestling teams that filled my hotel and the frisky couple in the next room, I am still able to say that it was one of the best conference experiences I've had.  After all, who needs sleep when your brain is ringing with excitement?

This year's big names included Libba Bray, Barry Eisler, David Liss, and Amber Benson.  Editors present were Michael Braff (Del Rey), Christopher Hernandez (HarperCollins Childrens), Pat Van Wie (Bell Bridge Books), and Deb Werksman (Sourcebooks).  Agents included Hannah Bowman (Liza Dawson Associates), Sorche Fairbank (Fairbank Literary Representation), Barry Goldblatt (BG Literary), Shannon Hassan (The Warner Literary Group), Nicole Resciniti (The Seymour Agency), Kate Testerman (kt literary), and Pam van Hylckama Vlieg (Larsen Pomada Literary Agents). 

The PPWC13 faculty included: Jodi Anderson, Terry Banker, Donnell Ann Bell, Kathy Brandt, Becky Clark, Deb Courtney, Jaxine Daniels, Kathryn Eastburn, J.T. Evans, Todd Fahnestock, Matthew Frederick, Laura Hayden, Lynda Hilburn, Lisa Renee Jones, Stephen Graham Jones, Darby Karchut, DeAnna Knippling, Max Maddox, Cinda Madsen, obert Liparulo, Chris Mandeville, Pam McCutcheon, Susan Goldstein, Mitchell, Chris Myers, MB Partlow, Twist Phelan, Laura Resau, Aaron Ritchey, Brian Schwartz, and Todd Wallinger. 

Because PPWC was such a quality conference, I'd like to promote it a bit by giving it some space here on my blog.  Instead of featuring an author this week, I thought I'd share notes from my five favorite conference workshops.  Beginning tomorrow, stop by the blog each morning for a "digital workshop" of sorts. 

Happy writing!

Jonathan Maberry Interview

The Horror Librarian: Can you tell us about your creative process?  How do you go from idea to book?

Jonathan Maberry: I’m a structure guy. My training as a writer was in journalism, and I did magazine feature writing for twenty-five years before turning to (mostly) fiction. That discipline and process stuck, though it’s evolved a bit over the last few years.

I start with a concept and work it around in my head for a while to find a version of it that isn’t a retread of what’s already out there. Any trope, no matter how old or stale, can be given fresh life. 

I go from concept to rough outline. I use old-school bullet-pointed outlines. I don’t, however, set it in stone because it’s unreasonable to think that you have all of your best ideas on the day you write your outline.  

From there I usually write the first chapter of a book and then the last chapter (or epilogue). Writing the first chapter sets the tone and voice for me. Writing the last chapter gives me something to aim at. With short stories I write the first and last pages.  Same effect.

Along the way I read chapters aloud, or my wife does. That helps me find word echoes, stilted dialogue, logic flaws, and other errors. 

My writing schedule is pretty demanding. I write eight to ten hours each day. A little less on weekends. I don’t take days off from writing.

The Horror Librarian: What is your dream project?  And what won't you ever write?

Jonathan Maberry: I have a bunch of dream projects. I’d love to write an episode of DOCTOR WHO. I’m a Who fan going back to Jon Pertwee. I’d also love to write a story set in the world of Middle Earth, but I don’t think the Tolkien estate will ever greenlight that kind of project.

Naturally I’d love to adapt my own works to TV, film or comics. I could write a script for DEAD OF NIGHT in my sleep. And I would love to write a TV series based on my first three novels, the Pine Deep Trilogy (Ghost Road Blues, Dead Man’s Song and Bad Moon Rising).

The Horror Librarian: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?  

Jonathan Maberry: It’s important for aspiring writers to understand that while writing is an art, publishing is a business. Know both. Be good at both.

Also, when faced with multiple good ideas for your next writing project, pick the one that would be the most fun to write. Do that, follow the fun.

Then, once you pick your story, write it all the way to the end before revising.

And…don’t let yourself get caught up in the mythology of being ‘a writer’. Forget writers block, forget waiting for the muse to speak to you. Write something. Write anything. If it comes out clunky, don’t sweat it. All first drafts are that way. You can always –ALWAYS—fix it in the rewrite.

The Horror Librarian: What books would you recommend (either fiction or nonfiction)?

Jonathan Maberry: The one writing book I recommend to everyone is Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. That workbook has a series of exercises that help you get to the heart of your story. I go through it every time I start a new novel.

The Horror Librarian: List five things that are on your writing desk right now.

Jonathan Maberry: I have a lot of oddball things on my desk. Over the desk are shelves of books I’ve written and anthologies containing my stories. I have coffee mugs with my book covers on them. I have a hand-carved statue of Gandalf the Gray based on one of my sketches. I have a Shaun of the Dead statue. And there’s a remote control zombie that walks and moans.

The Horror Librarian: What are you reading this month?

Jonathan Maberry: I’m reading a bunch of stuff for possible cover quotes, and I have a slew of short stories to read for a class I’m teaching. Apart from that I’ve been trolling a lot of classic stuff –revisiting old friends, so to speak. I’m a few stories away from finishing the complete works of Robert Bloch, and the books on top of my to be read pile are Pariah by Graham Masterton, Swan Song by Robert McCammon, Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, Floating Dragon by Peter Straub, and a bunch of small-press horror anthologies.

The Horror Librarian: As a horror author, your books often confront the dark side of human nature (and beyond) to scare the hell out of your readers.  What scares you?

Jonathan Maberry: I’m not afraid of the boogeyman or the monster under my bed, but I have a sensible dread of misused technologies. Bioweapons and drones make me twitch because of all the research I’ve done on them for my novels. Although I’m a bit of a science geek, I’m realistic and cynic enough to know that many of the people who possess or control such things aren’t necessarily mature enough, smart enough, moral enough or sane enough to manage them with maximum safety or in ways that genuinely serve the common good. And our clumsy mishandling of antibiotics has resulted in a new generation of drug-resistant diseases. That’s scarier than anything with fangs or talons.

The Horror Librarian: Thanks, Jonathan!

Jonathan Maberry Bio

This week's special guest is Jonathan Maberry!

Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and freelancer for Marvel Comics. His novels include EXTINCTION MACHINE, FIRE & ASH, PATIENT ZERO and many others. His award-winning teen novel, ROT & RUIN, is now in development for film. He is the editor of V-WARS, an award-winning vampire anthology. Since 1978 he’s sold more than 1200 magazine feature articles, 3000 columns, plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, and poetry. He is the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, and co-founder of The Liars Club. Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife, Sara Jo. 

Fun Facts:

• Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, MWA and HWA. He is a frequent guest at genre cons and writers conferences.
• Jonathan is a founding member of The Liars Club, a group of networking publishing professionals that includes bestsellers Sara Shepard, Solomon Jones, L. A. Banks, Merry Jones, Gregory Frost, Jon McGoran, Ed Pettit, Dennis Tafoya, Keith Strunk, Don Lafferty, Kelly Simmons, and Marie Lamba.
• On the last Sunday of every month Jonathan hosts the Writers Coffeehouse, a free three-hour networking session for writers of all genres and levels of skill. The event is held at Barnes and Noble, on Park Ave in Willow Grove PA, Pennsylvania.
• In 2004 Jonathan was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame largely because of his extensive writings in that field. 

 
Visit him online at his website or follow him on Goodreads and Twitter.

Also, don't forget to visit the Reading List to view full descriptions of his work and check back Wednesday for the interview!

Robert Devereaux Interview

Can you tell us about your creative process? How do you go from idea to finished story?

Some writers begin with a character or a few characters. I tend to find an exciting story idea or various plot twists it will be great fun to improvise with. These usually have a vibrant tonal center, an engaging emotional core, or some quirky fantastical bit of wonderment.  Whatever that thing is I then infuse into the characters in various ways.  As one with an acting background, I have ways of molding the characters' desires into what the plot demands they desire. The human psyche is so intricate a mechanism, it's a challenge but always doable to sculpt a complex of motivations that will organically flesh out any chosen plot. 

As a result, I am far more a planner than a seat-of-the-pantser in Larry Brooks' terminology (see www.storyfix.com). I create a scaffolding with a design that fascinates me, then let my free urges erect my version of that building. Is the edifice complex? Perhaps, but oddly enough, I have never had the urge to kill my father and fuck my mother.

After draft one is done, I give the manuscript a good long cooling off period--of one day! Then I read it through, marking up problem areas.  And it's off to the revision races, honing intently and relentlessly until the manuscript thrills, sparkles, and shines.

What is your dream project? And what won't you ever write?

My dream project? There is no specificity around that phrase for me. In the ideal, whatever book I'm working on is my dream project in this sense:  I am completely alive, centered, focused, fired up with passion and delight, every phrase perfect and sizzling, the sweep of prose simultaneously captivating and totally integral to the telling of the story. When it's published, word-of-mouth spreads like the most terrifying wildfire ever set. Unlike every book that came before, this one resonates so deeply with so many people that the public consciousness perceptibly if only slightly changes for the betterment of humankind.  The buildup of enthusiasm is so swift and solid, that a movie option is quickly sold for vast sums of money and the movie--faithful to the book, masterfully screenplayed, masterfully directed, masterfully acted--gains great praise in its own right. A musical, an opera, a ballet are made from this material as well, so beautifully crafted that they spark a cultural renaissance. People are no longer lulled by TV dreck, but will settle for only the finest of storytelling efforts that honor and encourage hitherto unrealized potential for human play, for grand and sweeping drama, for subtle, audience-trusting material in all storytelling modes. Other writers, dancing to the beat of their own drummer, enter enthusiastically the dialogue sparked by my work. All of this spills over into all modes of human connection. No longer the bovine moo, the bleat of sheep, the dull, dead march of lemmings to cliff edge. Rather, a firm gentle awakening to group efforts that do not exclude or exile, that moves away from political poison toward elixirs that rejuvenate, balms that heal, salves that offer true salvation. This then is my dream project.

What won't I ever write? Stories which have no purpose but to shock, stories which arouse or encourage inhumane acts in readers, stories that revel in showing abuse, stories that bore every reader who has the misfortune to pick them up, stories that make me weep for having wasted so much time, so many breaths, so many precious seconds of life dishonoring the human spirit, stories that tell me in no uncertain terms that it's time to blow my brains out and end this fucker once and for all. I shall endeavor to avoid writing such stories, and I pray that others will likewise so endeavor.

What do you find most challenging about the writing life? The most rewarding?

To balance the wild hairpin turns of the imagination with a striving for perfect narrative form. That's the greatest challenge, followed closely by sensing when this-much-and-no-more is just enough. Like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, or Verdi, one must consistently be at the top of one's game. Intensely engage with the material while it is in the kiln of creation, then entirely release it when it finds its birth in the public eye. Also challenging: Remaining free of the temptation to write to audience expectation, based on one's previous works and having been pigeonholed by those who know them. 

Most rewarding? The utter freedom of the blank page, knowing all of the astonishing literature that has preceded your efforts, and into dialogue with which you are invited to join. The rare moments when you meet a grateful reader face-to-face and find that your minds and hearts have connected in ways that touch his or her passions. Attending writers' conventions and meeting fascinating people of all stripes.  The continual astonishment of the next project, how one grows from work to work.

List five things that are on your writing desk right now.

I have no writing desk. I use a lap desk and sit on a couch in what was my late wife's professional office and is now my little slice of heaven to dream and play in. So my "writing desk" is this place of wonder. Five things on that writing desk are sunshine; deep love for my cherished, lost, beloved wife Victoria; two of her watercolors; three painting/pastels we bought in Taos; and an artistically fashioned clock whose hands I have stopped because I much prefer silence over ticking.

What are you reading this month?

Books about food and animal slaughter: Eating Animals and The Omnivore's Dilemma. Joan Halifax's Living with Dying. Books about weight loss via unconventional means: Why We Get Fat and The Four-Hour Body. I'll soon order the audio edition of A Clockwork Orange. Tea leaves, runes, and the entrails of dead animals. Reading with my eyes the darling faces of new dates, and braille-reading other parts of their bodies as they ask me to. Reading day by day my internal weather. Reading rising levels of excitation emanating from hot seat participants at TurnON Boulder meetups.  As a stroker, reading my strokee's rising and falling waves of orgasm as we share the fifteen-minute connection known as orgasmic meditation.

What are you working on right now?

I've resumed work on my third and possibly final Santa Claus novel, slated to appear from Deadite Press next Christmas. Its working title is Santa Claus Saves the World but I'm flirting with Santa Claus Kicks God's Mangy Ass All Over Heaven or something else absolutely appropriately blasphemous and irreverent, the old guy so deeply deserves disrespect for having fucked up the human psyche. Also working on a novel entitled Throat Puppy, but it's far too new to say more about it at this point.

Thanks, Robert!

Robert Devereaux Bio

This week's special guest is Robert Devereaux!

Robert Devereaux made his professional debut in Pulphouse magazine in the late 1980's, attended the 1990 Clarion West Writers Workshop, and soon placed stories in such major venues as Crank!, Weird Tales, and Dennis Etchison's anthology MetaHorror.

Two of his stories made the final ballot for the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards. Robert has a well-deserved reputation as an author who pushes every envelope, though he would claim, with a stage actor's assurance, that as long as one's writing illuminates characters in all their kinks, quirks, kindnesses, and extremes, the imagination must be free to explore nasty places as well as nice, or what's the point?

His first novel Deadweight interweaves a King-like plot, penile implants, and splatterpunk extremes of sex and violence, managing all the while to be a sensitive, spot-on portrayal of an abused woman struggling to relinquish her role as victim.

Walking Wounded, his next novel, explores the dilemma of a good woman able to heal with her hands, but also to harm even unto death, whose discovery that her husband is cheating on her moves her, against her every humane impulse, to activate his Huntington's Disease and take him down.

Robert went on to shock the bluenoses with Santa Steps Out, in which Saint Nick's gradual recall of his former existence as Pan leads to an affair with the Tooth Fairy, while a voyeuristic Easter Bunny attempts to twitch and wiggle his way into Mrs. Claus's good graces. Santa Steps Out, which won much praise for its mythological underpinnings and the breathtaking sweep of its transgressions, also had the honor of being banned in that cultural backwater of intolerance and censoriousness known as Cincinnati.

Robert's other novels are Caliban, A Flight of Storks and Angels, and Santa Claus Conquers the Homophobes. His third Santa Claus novel is in the works. The best of his short fiction can be found in the Deadite Press collection Baby's First Book of Seriously Fucked-Up Shit.

Robert lives in sunny northern Colorado, making up stuff that tickles his fancy and, he hopes, the fancies of his readers.

Visit Robert at his website and follow him on Goodreads and Twitter. 

Be sure to check back Wednesday for Robert's interview!

HWA YA Blog is Fun City

At last!  The Horror Writers Association has launched a new YA Horror Blog, MC'd by none other than Jonathan Maberry, author of the bestselling YA Rot & Ruin series (and a whole lot of other good stuff).

Horror has been a major player in young adult lit for years with classics like Wait Til Helen Comes (Mary Downing Hahn), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Alvin Schwartz), Christopher Pike, and authors such as Lois Duncan, Caroline B. Cooney, R. L. Stine, Bruce Coville, William Golding...the list goes on and on. 

Anyway, I say, about damn time!  I am so thrilled with this project and am looking forward to the author interviews, booklists, and other juicy tidbits Maberry has to offer on this blog. 

Be sure to check out the first interview with Barry Lyga, author of I Hunt Killers.

Sarah Langan Interview

Please tell us about your creative process.  How do you go from idea to book?

I think it depends on the book and on the idea. Typically, I have something I want to say—my world view. From there I chew on story and plot, and make my way like a mole burrowing tunnels underground. Sometimes the tunnels collapse, sometimes they hold true.

For The Missing, I was compelled by the idea of American consumption, and the way it has corrupted the nuclear family. The upper middle class has become so obsessed with the newest cookie of status that it has begun to devour itself. They’re dumber than the working class, who at least seem to understand that this is about survival, ladies and gents, not Google Glass. I should admit here, that I identified with “This is 40.” …Which I suppose implies a little bit of self-loathing with my ultra-violence.

In Audrey’s Door, I wanted to talk about modern single women, in this strange world that lavishes vitriol against them. New York is hard enough, man.  

What's your favorite part about writing horror?

The readers. They’re fun and loyal and I like talking to them. I don’t get that from other genres.

 List five things that are on your writing desk right now.

I wish this were not true—three glasses of water, two coffee mugs, some spoons (it’s possible they’re stuck to the wood), ARC GIS CDs for my mater’s thesis in toxicology, and William Gibson’s IDORU.

Do you adhere to any writing superstitions?

I like to listen to the same music track thousands of times while working on a specific novel. I also play with Scotch Tape while working, which is admittedly weird. But I can’t smoke because it turns out cigarettes don’t really have vitamin C in them.

What are you working on right now?

A new novel called THE CLINIC.

What are you reading right now?

Gibson’s IDORU, and LeGuin’s new collection from Small Beer Press: THE UNREAL AND THE REAL.

Thanks, Sarah!

Sarah Langan Bio

This week's special guest is Sarah Langan!

Sarah grew up on Long Island and went to college in Waterville, Maine, where she published her first story, "Sick People". She got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Her influences include Russell Banks, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, Kelly Link, Somerset Maugham, Lorrie Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Peter Straub, Eudora Welty, the films of Ingmar Bergman and Will Ferrell, all media relating to Rodney Dangerfield, the movie The Jerk, and the band The Eels.

Sarah is a three-time Bram Stoker award winner.  Her short story "The Lost" won the Bram Stoker Award in 2008 and her novels, The Missing and Audrey's Door won in 2007 and 2009.


In addition to writing novels, she is also pursuing her Master's in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology at New York University.

From her website:

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do you get your ideas?
From the cadavers in my basement.
Really?
Yes. Really.

To learn more about Sarah and her work, please visit her website, or follow her on Twitter.  Also, be sure to check back on Wednesday for her interview and visit the Horror Librarian's Reading List for full descriptions of her books.