The Magic of Short Stories

In my post this past Saturday, I mentioned how I discovered flash fiction, and how writing those little short stories really changed my "writing world".  I found that crafting a complete story in less than 1,000 words was really a challenge, but a good one.  Most of my flash fiction stories ended-up at probably 1,500-1,600 words with the first draft, and cutting them down to below 1,000 words really helped me learn how slice and dice unnecessary words, craft shorter sentences, remove any unneeded exposition, etc.  Basically, writing flash fiction taught me how to self-edit much more effectively than what I was capable of before.  And they're fun to write, too!

I have a collection of my short stories available at Amazon titled, "Scattered Bones".  From today until November 30th, I'm offering the Kindle version for FREE.  Yeah, I know all the flash fiction I have out there is free on the US Amazon site (haven't broken the code with the UK site yet), but you also get three short stories, "Burial Ground", "Reflections" and "Broken" in this collection, which aren't free.  Nice little read for a long Thanksgiving weekend!

So . . . why do I think short stories are magical?  Below is the intro for "Scattered Bones", which I believe explains it pretty well.  If you'd like to grab yourself a copy, just click on the picture.

Introduction

The Magic of Short Stories

I always tinkered with the idea of writing fiction while growing up, but never formally put pen to paper until my late 30's. I still remember the moment I decided to start writing; it was April 2001, and I was on a remote assignment for the Air Force in the middle of Alaska, sitting in my dorm room & counting down the days until I could return home to my wife & kids in California. I'd finished reading an absolutely horrid horror novel (pun intended)—the author and title escape me—and thought to myself, "If this joker can write a book, I certainly can!" So, later that night, armed with a boatload of blissful inexperience and a clunky Acer Pentium 75 desktop, I started the draft that would eventually become my first novel, The Coming. I soon discovered writing a novel was far more difficult than I thought, and later realized finding an agent and/or publisher willing to take on a new writer was even more frustrating than I'd ever imagined. The hundred-or-so rejection letters I received for that first novel (including a very special one date-stamped the day prior to the date I sent the query package) never stopped me, though.  I truly enjoy telling stories, and I haven't quit writing since.

For those who've written a novel, you know it's quite an all-encompassing endeavor.  Some writers—those prolific wordsmiths whom I happen to envy—can pump-out a novel in a matter of months, or even weeks.  Sadly, I tend to write much like Forest Gump runs: not very fast, but steady when the spirit decides to move me (I also like boxes of chocolates, and I'm not a smart man, but that's not important right now).  Novels are a time-sucker, and like most writers not named King, Koontz, Patterson or Saul, time to write comes late at night or early in the morning, before or after the normal hours of the day, where one must take care of the annoying day job/rent/mortgage/car payment/eating thing.  More than anything, that simple fact is why I enjoy writing short stories—when it comes to time-sucking, short stories aren't quite as vampiric as the Great American Novel tends to be.

While perusing the titles at Smashwords.com (where I first published The Coming and my second novel The Mengele Effect as eBooks), I ran across a short, flash fiction horror story.  I read it, enjoyed it, and did a little research.  Flash fiction—stories with word counts anywhere between 300 and 1,000 words—seemed like a perfect way for me to put pen (fingers) to paper (keyboard) and give birth to some of the ideas bouncing around inside my misshapen noggin.  They wanted out.  So, I obliged.

My initial venture into flash fiction, titled "Ripple", is the first story in this collection.  I wrote in on a Saturday afternoon, and published it on Smashwords the next day.  For me, the magic of crafting short stories began a few hours later, when "Ripple" received its first review.  Two little words.  One was "Definitely", the other, "disturbing".  With that, I knew I'd hit the exact mark I was aiming for, and the aforementioned spirit gave me a forceful shove.

Most of the stories in this collection—with the exception of "Reflections", "Burial Ground" and "Broken"—are flash fiction pieces, each roughly 1,000 words in length.  If you want a little scare before you head off to work, or before you crawl into bed for the night, a quick dose of flash fiction might just be the ticket.  I'll let you decide.

So, now that I've rambled on for much too long, why do I think short stories are magical, you ask?  If I can take your hand and lead to a different place—if only for a few short minutes—and guide you down that darkened path of the mind where fear and shock await at every turn, then yes, I believe that is surely magical.  If I happen to scare you, shock you, cause you to wonder, or perhaps make you smile a little, the magic, my friend, is there.

Each story in this collection is a small, emaciated bone tossed along the darkened path down which I wish you to travel.  I encourage you to pick them up as you go, touch them, hold them in your hands for a bit, feel the texture.  If I've done my job, you may realize these little scattered bones seem oddly familiar.  As well they should, for down deep—whether you wish to admit it or not—they're part of you.

I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much I as I enjoyed writing them.

After all, I wrote them especially for you.

Chuck Grossart

Bellevue, Nebraska 

November 16th, 2013

So there you have it.  Enjoy the magic, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

For All You Potential 2015 ABNA'ers: The Publishing Journey UPDATE!

(UPDATED, 20 Jan 15)  This post has been receiving quite a few hits from Google searches regarding "2015 ABNA", and as such, I decided to add this.  As announced on the ABNA page's comment board today, Amazon has decided to forgo the 2015 ABNA contest in lieu of their newer Kindle Scout program.  You can read my earlier post from today HERE.

I hope the information below can still be of some use for those of you who decide to go the traditional publishing route--the basic steps I've gone through with The Gemini Effect are, I assume, much the same steps one would go through with any novel picked-up by a publisher.  Best of luck, and keep writing!

- Chuck

***

Wow, has it really been four months since my last post?  A lot has happened since July 21, and it's all been A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  For all of you out there who are considering entering the 2015 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, let me give you two words of advice:  DO IT.  I know there aren't any details on the 2015 contest out there yet (at least I haven't found any), but keep your eyes peeled.  Come January/February 2015, the details should come out (probably here).

First, a little background on my personal history with the ABNAs:  I submitted my first novel, The Coming, in the 2011 ABNA, and it made it to the quarter finals round.  Hoping to improve the next year, I submitted my second novel, The Mengele Effect, which I personally thought was a better book.  Didn't make it past the pitch stage.  Bummer.  In 2013, I submitted it again . . . same results.  Bummer, Part Deux.  Some say a sure sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again when the results aren't that good, so, call me insane, but I decided to submit it again for the 2014 contest (after significantly reworking the pitch).  My hopes weren't that high, especially considering the results from the previous two years, but I figured (insanely), what the heck.  And . . .

BAM!  Made it to the second round. (Third time's a charm, I said.)
BAM-BAM!  Made it to the quarter finals.  (Hey that's cool, I said.)
BAM-BAM-BAM!  Made it to the semi-finals.  (Whoa . . . this is getting more cool, I said.)
BAM-DIDDY-BAM-O-RAMA!  Made it to the finals! (Holy keeee-rap Batman!)

My little self-published novel was named the winner of the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror.  And do you know what?  If I hadn't entered, well . . . you know the rest.

So what's happened since my last post?  This picture sums it up, and we'll go over each part:

On the day I was notified that The Mengele Effect had won (by email; we noticed the missed call from Seattle on the phone a few days later-HAH!), I was introduced to Mr. Jason Kirk, Senior Editor at Amazon Publishing's 47North imprint, which would be publishing The Mengele Effect.  I had no idea what to expect, but immediately got the sense that this was going to be a collaborative process . . . and I was right.  There was no "You must do this," or "You shall change that," not at all.  Every change was discussed in depth, and my opinions & concerns were taken into account throughout the weeks that followed.

Before we dive in, though, let's jump back a bit for a little perspective.  I finished The Coming back in 2003, and received over 100 rejections from various publishers & agents over the next few years.  For The Mengele Effect, which I finished in 2005 or 2006 (I honestly don't remember), I received less than 20 or so  rejections before I decided to take a break from writing for a couple of years.  I'd send out an e-query every six months or so whenever the spirit moved me, but always had the same results:  Sorry, not what we're looking for, good luck, yada yada yada.  Bummer.  My dream of being a writer, which I began pursuing in 2001, wasn't working out so well.  Once I retired from the USAF in late 2008, I decided to pick it up again.  One of the guys I worked with at STRATCOM told me of a local writers group his wife belonged to (Kim Stokely, author of Woman of Flames and Winter Trees), and I decided to give it a try.  I attended the Nebraska Writers Workshop when I could, and always enjoyed listening to all the various genres represented, as well as the different skill levels.  It was there that I first learned about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and I submitted The Coming.  One of the NWW members had self-published one of their works on something called Smashwords, and I decided to try it out (it was either James M M Baldwin or Lisa Kovanda, I can't recall whom).  On 1 Jan 2012, I self-published The Coming, followed a week or so later by The Mengele Effect.  When someone actually bought one of my books, I almost fell out of my comfy recliner.  Coolest feeling in the world, it was.  Sales were miniscule, and later dropped-off to almost nothing, but it was still kinda neat.  Later, I ran across something called flash fiction - and my writing world took on a whole new dimension.  But that's a story for another post . . .

So, why did I just dump all that yak on you?  Well, I have to pinch myself just about every day to make sure this whole publishing journey is, in fact, real.  There was a time when I'd given up on being a published author, and now, it's happening.  Sure, I didn't get published the traditional way--finding an agent, or a publisher, though querying, attending conferences, etc.--but here I am, one happy short fat bald man with a novel ready for release early next year.  If it can happen to me, guess what . . . it can happen to you, too.  Let me stress this again; if you're thinking about entering the 2015 ABNAs, don't let your fear of rejection or self-doubts about whether or not your book is good enough keep you from taking the chance.  JUST DO IT.

Okay, let's dive into the details.  After I learned The Mengele Effect had won its ABNA category on July 2, here's what happened:

July 10, 2014
 I received an Amazon Publishing Questionnaire from Jason Kirk; in it, I had to provide the following details:
- Personal details about the short fat bald guy who wrote the book (that'd be me).
- A headshot photo (thanks to Ashley Crawford Photography, I had one).
- A listing of all previously published works.
- A brief personal bio.
- A 1-sentence pitch for the book.
- Who I thought my target audience was.
- A plot synopsis (yep, a synopsis . . . if you don't have one for your book, write one.  Yes, they suck, but you'll probably need it at some point).
- Descriptions of all my main characters.
- A list of plot points that could be considered spoilers.
- Cover design ideas.
- Editing questions; what I thought the editor should look for (potential problems) and identify any stylistic choices I wished to retain.

After this, the 47North team provided a revised "book blurb" that I had the opportunity to cut on, and approve.

July 21, 2014:  Developmental Edit Begins
Being a publishing rookie, I had no idea what a developmental edit was.  I explained it somewhat in a previous post, but think of it as a broad-brush look at the story as a whole, and identifying major adjustments to help take the book where it needs to go.  For me, it involved some character changes, a major sub-plot re-work, and re-ordering/combining chapters.  Jason Kirk provided the feedback he'd received from his team, and we--yes, we--went to work.  Again, this was an entirely collaborative process, made much easier due to the fact that every adjustment Jason suggested was something I'd thought of myself at one point or another (but never got around to fixing).  I felt as if Jason had found the little steel lock box in my head labeled "All The Things I Hope Aren't Noticed With This Story" and broke into it.  I should also point out that my personal writing style had changed somewhat since I first wrote the book, so this gave me the opportunity to go through it line-by-line and change things.  The first pass through the manuscript took about three weeks or so, and after going back and making additional changes/adjustments, we moved on to the next phase in September.

During this time frame, I reached out to J. Lincoln Finn, winner of the 2013 (and first) ABNA for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror with her amazing novel, Poe. I asked if it had been all she'd expected, and she answered with a resounding YES.  If you haven't read Poe, please do.  When I say it's amazing, I'm not kidding.  I believe she had a different editor than I, and also had a much quicker production timeline to work with based on the dates of the 2013 contest, but her feedback filled me with confidence about the whole process.  One thing the 2013 finalists got to do that the 2014 finalists didn't, was to travel to Seattle for a Grand Prize Award ceremony (yes, even as a Denver Broncos fan, I would've enjoyed going to Seattle).  I was a little disappointed they didn't do it for 2014, but who knows, maybe 2015 will be a different story.

September 14, 2014: Copyedit Begins
In this phase, Jason provided me a copy of the manuscript that had undergone a line-by-line review (more like a character-by-character review) by a professional copyeditor.  As a self-published author, I've learned that one can look at a work hundreds of times, and fail to see some of the most glaring errors--your eyes will pass over them without noticing (I no there's a few mistaches in this pohst which I haven't noticed, ether).  He found them.  A lot of them.  Apart from being just a spelling/grammar/punctuation review, he also had some suggestions to make the story better.  Again, it was a collaborative process throughout.  This phase lasted a little over a month with a few more passes through the manuscript.

September 16, 2014: Title Change
What?  You want to change my title?  How can that be!  Well, once I understood the reasons why 47North wanted to change the title (mainly due to marketing concerns), and I put my faith in the publishing professionals who know what they're doing, we set out on yet another collaborative process to come up with a new title.  Jason had ideas, his team had ideas, and I had ideas, and together we decided on The Gemini Effect.  I love the title since it captures the story just as well, if not better, than the original, and it enabled the creation of one kick-arse cover design.

September 24, 2014: Cover Designs
Jason provided three different draft designs for The Gemini Effect, and I was blown away.  The main effort was to produce a cover that captured the story, was marketable, and met presentation format guidelines (small or large, color or black and white).  I really wish I could share the earlier designs, but due to copyright concerns, I can't (believe me, they were way, way cool).  Based on feedback from Jason, his team, and me (short fat bald guy), the designer presented a few other designs, and eventually we settled on the one you see on The Gemini Effect's Amazon product page, and I have to say I absolutely love it.  The full cover will look like this (finalized on November 11, 2014):

October 21, 2014: Audio Book Questions
On this date, I learned Phil Gigante would be narrating the audio book version of The Gemini Effect.  Once I Googled him, I was more than pleased.  His resume includes a number of big-name authors, some of whom are my favorites (like Dean Koontz).  He wanted to make sure he was pronouncing some of the character's names correctly, and how to say my goofy last name (GRAH-cert, not gross-art). ;)  I can't wait to hear it.

October 24, 2014: Proofread
Jason provided a pdf copy of the manuscript that had been through a proofread--a final check on the book's production-level formatting & wording.  What made this so cool was I was finally able to see exactly what the book was going to look like.  Those of you who have formatted books for Create Space know what I'm talking about . . . seeing your words as a real book is a neat experience, and seeing them as a professionally-done book is even MORE neat.  Within this copy, there were numerous notes, some for my review, and others for the book designer.  I was amazed by the level of detailed attention paid to every word; for example, some notes to the designer concerned moving one word in a sentence up a line, to improve how the lines looked on the page.  Incredible.  My review took only a few days . . . and with the approval of the proofread copy, and of the full cover on November 11, we were D-O-N-E.

So what's next?  On my end, nothing.  For me, it now becomes a waiting game for that April 1, 2015 release date.  The marketing folks at Amazon Publishing and 47North have some amazing plans for this book's release (which I obviously can't disclose), and I'm incredibly excited for that date to roll around.  All the previous versions of the original The Mengele Effect have been taken down from Smashwords (and their partner platforms, like Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc.) and Amazon (my decision, not Amazon's, in case you're wondering).  The book that rolls out on April 1, 2015 (no foolin') is a much, much better book than the original, and I can't wait to see how it's received.

Finally, let's go back to the original purpose for writing this post: the 2015 ABNAs.  I wanted to show those of you who are considering entering the contest that winning--even for a short fat bald guy who spends most of his off-time in a comfy recliner with a homebrew in his hand and a laptop on his lap--is a possibility.  I can't speak for the four other 2014 ABNA finalists, but for me, this has been an incredible journey.  Like J. Lincoln Finn told me, if you were to ask me if it's all I expected it would be (up to this point), I'd answer with an enthusiastic YES.

Best of luck to those who enter this year's ABNAs.  It could be a dream come true for you, too.  If you want to contact me directly, you can reach me through Twitter, on Facebook. or through my website.  I'd love to hear from you.

DISCLAIMER:  In case you're wondering, neither Amazon Publishing nor 47North asked me to write this post.  I read a few things from previous winners who spoke about their experiences, but the whole publishing process was always a mystery to me--that's why I wrote this post.  Scout's Honor. ;)