Back of the Envelope

You probably noticed that I've been putting up the past carnivals. I'll continue putting up one a day until I run out of archived Carnivals--which should be sometime in April. Meanwhile, I'll start soliciting for the next carnival, and get the Storyblogging Carnivals rolling again.

I still haven't finished getting the site up-to-date, so you'll see some changes as I do that.

Labels: blogging, Storyblogging Details

NOTE: This is a re-posting of an old post, so it's possible that links will be broken.

Welcome to the fifth Storyblogging Carnival! Once again we gather stories from around the blogosphere for your reading enjoyment. The previous Storyblogging Carnival was hosted at Doc Rampage. Meanwhile, if you want to see links all of them, try this page. Today, I broke a rule and included two entries of my own. I try not to include more than one entry per person, but I'm lenient when there are less than ten entries overall. In any case, here we have a total of seven stories, with, I think, a higher average word count than usual.

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...And Two Socks
by Queenie of Rolling My Eyes
A 429 word brief story rated G.

Socks. Lots of socks.

[Like most of Queenie's stories, this is funny, short, and sweet.-DSC]

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A Meating of Mines, scene ii (Beginning of the story)
by Doc Rampage of Doc Rampage
The next 1,414 words of a 2,737 word story in progress, rated PG.

Rolf and Zantar meet Loan the Ranger and discuss debate points.

[Doc's sense of humor is always fun. His original idea was to turn these screenplays into a computer animated show based on a computer game engine. Any enterprising soul interested in giving it a try? -DSC]

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Welcome to the Pack
by Andrew Ian Dodge of Dodgeblogium
A 3,136 word short story rated PG-13.

Parks in London are not just for the priveledged and the drunks...some of them hide interesting secrets. Have you ever wondered why many have high shrubbery so you can't see in?

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Cast Out
by Robin Jones of Beyond Salvage
A 5,652 short story rated R.

A cuckold comes to terms with life after betrayal.

[The psychologist in this story is one of those characters you love to hate. I like the protagonist, though.-DSC]

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The Child (Parts 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) (Beginning of the story)
by Sheya Joie of Tales by Sheya.
The next 6,032 words of a 6,413 word story in progress, rated PG.

She could not remember her past - how she came to be in this house under the Mountain of Spices, where she was resting and growing and healing. The Master, she was told, had brought her here. But who was he? And when would he return for her?

And why did the one taking care of her shine with an unearthly light?

[We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to navigate this story, and we eventually figured I'd just post links to each part of the submission, 2 through 9. I recommend you just go to part 2 and navigate through using the links at the bottom of each part. If you missed Part 1 (which was in the last carnival), you can find it here.-DSC]

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I'll be hosting the next carnival, followed by Sheya Joie, and then Andrew Ian Dodge, assuming the scheduling works out. If you want to join the Storyblogging Carnival, send me an e-mail at dscrank-at-alum.mit.edu, or use the web comment feature.

Labels: Storyblogging Carnival

NOTE: This is an old post, so it's possible that the links will be broken.

Doc Rampage has the fourth Storyblogging Carnival up right now, with ten stories from around the blogosphere. Check it out.

Labels: Storyblogging Carnival

NOTE: Once again, I'm putting up a Storyblogging Carnival that originally went up a long time ago. Some links may be out of date.

The third Storyblogging Carnival is up at Beyond Salvage. Eight stories from around the blogosphere, including a story from myself and our first audio submission. The next carnival will be at Doc Rampage.

Update (9/12/2005): As Robin Jones's blog is no longer with us, I've retrieved a copy of the Storyblogging Carnival III from the Wayback Archive. Here it is:

Welcome to Storyblogging Carnival III. Thanks to all of you who participated. I encourage you to submit again to Storyblogging Carnival IV, which will be hosted by Dave Gudeman at Doc Rampage on October 25th. I enjoyed hosting this time out. Thanks to Donald Crankshaw for the opportunity. Unlike Donald, I’ve refrained from commenting on any of the stories. I’m not at all acquainted with the language of literary criticism and would certainly make a fool of myself if I tried to fake it. Suffice it to say that I’ve read all the stories and found them each entertaining in their own way. So here are the eight offerings for Storyblogging Carnival III. You’ll find links to the previous carnivals towards the end of this post.

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Silence in the Snow
by Andrew of Philosophical Poetry
a 350 word brief story rated G

When deep emotion and isolation converge, a man is changed in an instant.

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Walk With Me
by sheya joie yonathi of tales by sheya
A 500 word brief story rated G

“A walk with her big brother…”

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Don’t hurt me I’m small!
by Gunner Miller of Monster Blog
542 words of a never ending story rated G

Everyone believes in monsters as a child. This is the story of my life after I had to believe again as an adult. That’s when I found, adopted, and raised one for myself. This story never ends, it just keeps going, as long as there is chocolate.

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Denise, Denise
by Gary Cruse of The Owner’s Manual
A 900 word brief story rated G

A zany blend of La Femme Nikita and Deliverance

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Birdseed
by Peter C. of Engrossing Tales
a 958 word brief story rated PG

The old man, wrapped snugly in an oversized trenchcoat, leaned forward across the stone chess table in the park. His breath came in sporadic bursts of white mist, which drifted slowly to nothingness in the chill atmosphere of this brisk winter day. He wore a knit black cap and heavy leather gloves, and his nose was two shades darker red than normal. He sported a ragged white beard peppered with shards of grey, dripping condensation beading on the hairs in glistening, half-frozen pearls.

Overhead, a coo and flutter. The pigeons had arrived, right on time.

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Sniper
by Dave Gudeman of Doc Rampage
A 1995 word short story rated R

Some of the nicest people you know were just born that way. They are just naturally full of kindness and empathy and friendliness. Some of the other nicest people you know weren’t born that way at all.

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Holy Spirit Warehouse
by Robin Jones of Beyond Salvage
A 6418 word short story rated PG-13

This story is about lost faith and what one man does to recapture it.

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This submission is in audio (mp3)

Why I do …
by Marty Dodge of Dodgeblogium
A short story rated PG that runs just over 7 minutes

Another Sage of Wales tale

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Here are the links for carnivals one and two. Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget the next carnival at Doc’s in just two weeks!

Labels: Storyblogging Carnival

Welcome to the second Storyblogging Carnival. Here bloggers show that not only can they take down Dan Rather in a day, they can write better fiction too! Today we've collected twelve stories from various bloggers, some of whom you're probably familiar with and some you're probably not, but all worth checking out.

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Fide
by Curtis Schweitzer of a_sdf
A 310 word brief story rated PG.

An abstract, stream of consciousness statement of faith.

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Affirmations
by KJB of One Fish Up, One Fish Down
A 375 word brief story rated G.

A self-involved parent picks her child up from Safe Key.

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The Mother Meets the Rabbi
by Yetzirah of Yetzirah
A 665 word brief story rated G

How my Rabbi survived unscathed during my mother's official visit. And how she figured out why Judaism has survived so long. All in one golden afternoon.

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Not noir. Not ever. Never!
by Gary Cruse of The Good Intentions Paving Company
A 900 word brief story rated PG.

A noir mystery of 1920s love, rejection, and steamy nonchalance.

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Revenge of the Women of Kleenex
by Michelle Catalano of A Small Victory
A 1,202 short story, rated PG-13.

Single Superheroine seeks Super Guy.

[This is a fun one, from a genre that doesn't get the respect it deserves. -DSC]

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Haze
by cbeck of Feeding The Habit (A weekend blog)
A 1,273 short story in two parts, rated R.

"Now most normal aborigines would be out dancing, drinking, and not inhaling various clouds of smoke on a Friday night. But instead we sat holding hands in a small semi-circle with someone who should have been a beauty at our focus."

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The Never Ending Story Blog
by KJB et al. of The Never Ending Story Blog
The first 1,390 words of an ongoing story of indeterminate length, rated PG (so far).

This is a collaborative story effort, allowing contributions from anyone. You can make it about whatever you want, although your collaborators may decide not to play along.

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By Touch
by Wichi Dude of Wichi Dude
A 1,903 word short story rated PG-13.

A man uses an unusual talent to help his family. And passes that talent along.

[Nice. -DSC]

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Portraits
by Trudy W. Schuett of WOLves
A 2,078 short story rated PG.

Sometimes it's easier to hang together than to hang separately.

[This one's really sweet. -DSC]

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Transcendence
by Dave Gudeman of Doc Rampage
A 2,607 word short story rated PG-13.

This story is either farce or tragedy, depending on your beiefs. If you believe that humans are no more than automatons, then this is an amusing farce about how the survival reflex responds in a situation that evolution didn't prepare it for. If you believe that humans are living souls, then this story is a tragedy about the evil that can result from pride and self-centeredness alone. No malevolence is required.

[I liked this one. It's based on an idea I've also been considering using for a short story, if only Doc hadn't beat me to it. -DSC]

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Shadowed
by Marty Dodge of Dodgeblogium
A 2,975 word short story rated PG.

An exhausted man turns up at the Sage of Wales' front door begging to let in. Is he all that he says he is and who exactly is after him?

[This story is an interesting mix of horror and modern fantasy. I liked it. -DSC]

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Writer's Block
by Jeremiah Lewis of Fringe
A 4,413 word short story rated R.

A struggling writer (of course) longs for female companionship, for which he invents a creative solution.

[This was an intriguing story, deliberately vague and ambiguous.-DSC]

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Labels: Storyblogging Carnival

NOTE: Due to my old blog going off-line, the Storyblogging Carnival archives were lost. I'm re-posting the old carnivals on this blog. Since these are very old posts, it's possible that some links will be broken.

Storyblogging Carnival I

Welcome to the first Storyblogging Carnival. Here we've collected links to eight stories for your reading pleasure.

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of storyblogging, it consists of storytelling in blog format. It may be as simple as posting short stories on your blog, or as intricate as blogging as a fictional persona. (I am excluding deliberate deception from this definition--you can argue that deception is a legitimate storytelling technique, but examples won't be included in this Carnival.) While storytelling is not necessarily fictional, the fiction/non-fiction divide makes a useful criteria to separate out the storyblogging from the usual blog commentary. However, as you'll see, I haven't kept strictly to this criteria.

When I first started to put this together, I had no idea how much work it would be to assemble a carnival from scratch. After several weeks of discussions with other bloggers, and a little bit of begging on my part, we've put together the first Carnival. I hope you enjoy it. If you're interested in participating in a future Carnival, check the details at the end. The stories are listed in order of length, from shortest to longest, with a word count included. They also include a rating for appropriateness, using the movie ratings as a baseline. Although I didn't ask for it, several authors self-rated their work (which I took as a suggestion rather than an absolute) and I've rated the remainder. For the most part, the descriptions were written by the authors themselves, with my comments indicated in italics. Without further ado, here are this Carnival's entries...

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The Village Itself
by Queenie of Rolling My Eyes
A 784 word brief story rated PG.

The laconic observation of the search for an impossibly large cat named Tilly.

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the adventures of Doc (Crocodile Hunter) Rampage
by Dave Gudeman of Doc Rampage
A 1,332 word brief story rated G.

What beasts lie in ambush among the linoleum? What horrors await the unwary trekker going to the fridge for a coke?Who will protect us from the ssssssserpent of eeeeeeevil?

These and other pertinent questions of the modern age are addressed in a delightful and thought-provoking manuscript by the famous civil explorer, Doc Rampage.

[While technically a true story, this fictionalized telling of it really is delightful. Doc Rampage, incidentally, is the first person to suggest a Carnival along these lines, although neither of us were using the term "storyblogging" yet. -DSC]

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Chloe Tuttle of Bogwillow
by Yetzirah of Yetzirah
A 1,343 word brief story rated G.

Sometimes people pass up their opportunity for that 15 minutes of fame, and go quietly about their remarkable existence. Chloe Tuttle was just such a person.

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Insomnia
by Jeremiah Lewis of Fringe
A 2,285 word short story rated R.

A writer who can't sleep wanders through dark cityscapes of mind and memory, and encounters a familiar stranger.

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Colossus
by Curtis Schweitzer of a_sdf
A 2,497 word short story rated PG.

"Colossus" is my expression of the power of the true American ideals--freedom, democracy, and equality. It expresses both the danger that the American ideal poses to dictatorship, oppression, and collectivism, as well as its place as the guiding conscience of the American soul. The story's abstract, future setting poses a world that has been stripped of liberty and justice--a world where the government's only recourse against the human need for freedom is to deny its existence.

They are soon to find out, however, the impossibility of such a task.

[I really liked this story; somehow it manages to be both depressing and hopeful. In part, stumbling upon Curtis's story is what inspired me to start the Carnival, an idea which had already been percolating at the suggestion of Doc Rampage. I had never heard what I'd already been doing called "storyblogging" until I read this. -DSC]

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Allergies
by Neil Uchitel of Digitus, Finger, & Co.
A 2802 word short story rated G.

I've never had allergies before this year. I grew up on a farm until I was 6 or 7, so I've never been allergic to horses, chickens, dogs, cats, whatever. I knew kids in school who had allergies, and I used to think to myself, man, it sucks to be you. Then, all of the sudden, this year I'm allergic to all kinds of stuff.

[This is another story that is technically non-fiction. That said, it's well-told and funny. Once again, it proves that storyblogging is more about how you tell the story than whether it's fiction or non-fiction. -DSC]

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Poor White Boys
by Robin Jones of beyond salvage
A 5,756 word short story rated PG-13.

A down-on-his-luck drifter has a chance meeting with another social misfit. A friendship is forged and they try and make a life for themselves, and their make-shift family, in a world none of them fit into.

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If you wish to join my mailing list for the Carnival, let me know through the webform, or e-mail me at dscrank-at-alum.mit.edu. Additionally, if you'd like to host a future carnival, please let me know.

Labels: Storyblogging Carnival

NOTE: This is a really old post, so some of the details have changed, but it does explain the general idea of hosting a Storyblogging Carnival.

Robin Jones is now soliciting entries for the next Storyblogging Carnival. I probably should have given him my advice on how to do this earlier, but I'll go ahead and do it now.

First off, I suggest posting the announcement with the complete rules about a week before the Carnival takes place, although Robin advertised a bit earlier. At the same time, you need to send out the announcement to the e-mail list. If I had the resources, I'd have a listserv list, but right now my list is just a bunch of e-mail addresses. That reminds me, I really need to send the list to Robin. I very much suggest that the host send out the e-mail, otherwise whoever sends it out will get a bunch of the entries.

The rules are still under development at the moment. Hey, we've only done this twice so far. Right now we're asking for a lot of information. In addition to the usual for Carnivals: blog title, blog url, story title, story url, and description, we also want a word count, a suggested rating, and author name or pseudonym (this is a new one, since I was uncertain what name to use for some of the entries I got last time). We use all of this in the Carnival entries, so none of it's extraneous, but it is a lot.

Once all the entries are collected, the host has to read all the entries. Yes, all of them. This allows the host to adjust the ratings as needed. (I've decreased the rating for a couple of stories when I thought the author was too hard on the contents, and I may have increased it once or twice.) It also allows him to comment on the stories if he so desires. Because the host needs to read all the stories, and because there's no length limit, I suggest a cut-off early enough to give him time for it. I make it on Friday night so I have the whole weekend, but I'm pretty lenient if people get an entry in late. That's also the reason why I take a maximum of twenty entries on a first come, first serve basis. If I had to read fifty entries, I'd never be able to do it. So far, we haven't received even twenty entries, but we've just begun, and we're growing. If we start regularly exceeding twenty, we may have to come up with a different solution. This is, of course, up to the host, and if he thinks he can handle fifty entries, he should go for it, but my rule is twenty, first come, first serve.

Then on the scheduled Monday the host puts up the Carnival. I think the format of the previous storyblogging carnivals works well.

The description of the story--the blurb--comes straight from the author's mouth, in order to avoid editorializing and spoilers on the part of the host. (If the author has a spoiler in his blurb, that's foreshadowing.) Occasionally I want to use a different blurb from what the author proposed, if the author's is too long or too vague, and sometimes the author asks me for help, and in this case I try to discuss it with the author until we come to an agreement.

I don't double check the word count unless it seems off to me. Trust me, once you've read five or six stories of various length, you can usually tell where a story falls, and I don't think it's necessary to be exactly right on the word count... five words here and there won't make a huge difference, although it can place one story ahead of the other in the Carnival, as the entries are listed in order of length. It's not terribly important, but I also put stories in categories. Stories 999 words or less are brief stories, 1,000-24,999 words is a short story, 25,000-59,999 words is a novella (only one of these so far--mine), and 60,000 words or more is a novel. These are somewhat arbitrary, and in the first carnival I defined anything less than 2,000 words as a brief story. The basic definition of a brief story is that it is not much longer than a typical blog post (a non-Steven den Beste blog post, that is). This post, by the way, is 1,034 words long [before the update was added]. I list the stories in order of length. I do both of these because this is the Internet, and on the Internet, people have short attention spans, and I want them to know what they're getting into when they start to read a story.

Both excerpts and stories in progress are exceptions to the rules. In some ways they are similar--they are both incomplete stories. For excerpts, however, the complete story is available somewhere--preferably online, but not necessarily, while stories in progress are not yet finished. Their word count is whatever is available in the blog, although with an excerpt the full length is included (again, so the reader knows what he's getting into should he decide he wants to know how the story goes). Since a story in progress has an unknown length, and sometimes the author doesn't even know what category it will be in when finished, I don't even give an estimate of the final length.

Any comments the host gives on a story are his own. I wasn't particularly impressed by my own commentary in the previous Carnivals. I do not comment on every story, or even most of them, and you shouldn't take the lack of a comment positively or negatively. I never comment on my own stories, for example. I also do not pan stories in my comments, although I won't rule out additional warnings for mature content (beyond the rating system). Sometimes I don't comment simply because I'm worried doing so will give too much away. If I feel I can comment without spoiling, and something in the story particularly struck me, then I may say how it did. I don't know how other hosts will comment on the entries, but I look forward to seeing it, since it's one area where I could use improvement.

So that's all there is to it. Any questions?

Update: Since the carnival began, there have been a couple of changes, but not many. These days the deadline for accepting submissions is Saturday night, rather than Friday, but that's still up to the host. And in addition to the two e-mails mentioned above, the host sends out a reminder e-mail a day or two before the deadline just to make sure people don't forget. I also ask that the hosts link to my Carnival category, as that contains links to the last twenty carnivals. Finally, since we've gotten a listing on Conservative Cat's Carnival submission form, we get entries through that webform as well. Those entries go straight to me, and I forward them to the host. Typically these entries don't have the full information we usually ask for, but I usually let that slide, although I may ask the author if something important is missing, and I'll be less willing to overlook it if I've added them to the e-mail list, in which case they should be getting the e-mails telling them what information to send. Being part of Conservative Cat's Carnival submission form also means that we should ping the trackback to make sure the most recent entry's on the carnival link list. I send the necessary information to the host.

Labels: Storyblogging Details

I sold a story yesterday. It'll be a while before it goes into print, so I won't name the story or the magazine that bought it, but I will say that, according to the editor, this is the longest story he's ever bought. A dubious distinction, I know.

The reason I bring this up is because one of the things I needed to do was decide how my name would appear on the story. When I first started publishing, I was using Donald S. Crankshaw. Recently, though, I've been using D. S. Crankshaw. More by coincidence than design the stories under D. S. Crankshaw all appeared in Christian markets. Since this new story will be appearing in a fantasy market, I decided to use Donald S. Crankshaw as my author name, since that's the author name in my other fantasy market story. It's not uncommon for authors to use different names in different markets, so I think I'll be keeping this distinction.

Labels: Writing