So I read a great piece of flash fiction a few months back, in a world where children stepping on cracks really does break their mothers' backs and so the big struggle for women is whether or not to bear children, knowing that they may well end up crippled by it eventually. Does anyone remember this piece and remember the title or author?
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
One interesting way to spread your social media presence is to use video clips via YouTube. YouTube allows you to post and share videos, which most blogging platforms allow you to embed in your posts. Like any social media effort, this takes time. You should consider whether or not the benefits outweigh the amount of your valuable time (which should be used for writing primarily!) creating videos and using them for blogging via YouTube requires.
Benefits of blogging on YouTube for writers:
Creates a channel to pull in potential readers: When you create an account on YouTube, you are creating a channel for your videos. Other YouTube users can subscribe to your channel. When they mention your videos on their social networks (and surely the clever content you create will make them want to pass it along!), viewers drawn to your channel learn enough about you that (hopefully) they’ll want more, clicking through to your website or seeking out your work to buy.
Allows you to rehearse readings: Most of us don’t do much public performing, and we all know practice makes perfect. Recording yourself reading a piece, which is one of the simplest ways to create content (you could put the audio over still images if you’re shy of showing your face) and listening to the playback is a great way to learn your strengths and weaknesses and find things you should work on for public readings.
Maximizes those read-aloud revision passes: Reading pieces aloud is a vital part of my revision process, and one I urge on those capable of following suit. And if you’re going to be reading aloud anyway, why not get the most for your effort and record it as well?
Here’s a sample video that I did that promoted both Armageddon MUD and a story of mine:
That video is an early (and somewhat mortifying) effort, but it was also pretty easy to do. It was recorded using my computer’s webcam. Nowadays I’d add better editing and titling, at a minimum, but at the time it was cool, particularly since we were the only MUD I know of doing anything like that. Next week, I’ll talk about the basic mechanics of recording for video podcasts via YouTube and the tools you’ll need.
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This is from a military fantasy story currently in progress. It’s set in the same world as Tabat, although it does not take place in that city, and is referenced in two other works (“Love’s Footsteps” and The Beasts of Tabat.) I hope you enjoy it:
You cannot smell the roses in the hours before dawn. It is only when sunlight touches the vast blossoms, each as large as a human head, that crowd the tallest branches of the Hedge, that the petals loosen. The perfume seeps out into the air then, first as a hint of sweetness, then stronger.
By midmorning, the smell is so intoxicating that approaching enemies lay down their arms and sit, staring into the air, nostrils flared, breathing, smelling. It grows heavier and heavier throughout all the day, and only begins to ebb when the sun completely slips below the ocean horizon to the west. The Hedge borders the Rose Kingdom on three sides, and on the west is that blue line.
This is what has protected the Rose Kingdom for three handfuls of centuries, years and years of peace and protection engendered by a great ancient enchantment whose details are still argued.
But pieces of that enchantment still linger and are renewed each year when a child is given up to the Hedge to become a Knight of the Rose.
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When Jordan’s mother gave him up to the Gardeners, he was four years old. He knew this because much of it been made of his fourth birthday. He was given cake and a folded paper boat of his very own. And most preciously a caress from his mother, which was a rare thing indeed.
He had two younger brothers, Coulin and Fedyrmor, but they were only babies. Coulin barely knew enough to talk and Fedyrmor more only cried. Anyway they were watched over by their nursemaids most of the time.
He knew that he was to be taken to the Gardeners. No one had made much secret of it, speaking freely before him though rarely to him. He found himself looking forward to it. Anything might be better then An existence spent lingering in hallways and edges of rooms, ignored and unnoticed. The Gardeners wanted him. That was important. They wanted him, not either of the other two. He was promised to the hedge, it was meant for him. He had a destiny, where most people had to bob around in the streams of their lives not knowing where they would land. At least that was how Jen the housekeeper’s son, with whom Jordan socialized with whenever (although sadly rare) the occasion presented itself, described it all.
“You will have a role,” he said, as Jordan trailed after him helping him spread bird netting over the pillline bushes and their ripening fruit, scarlet hearted berries whose flesh was a watery pink.
“A role?” Jordan tugged the netting around the branches, trying to pull it as Jen did, so it slid over the thorns rather than snagging on them. His efforts were less successful.
Jen secured the netting to the main trunk with a strip of white cotton with edges tipped in blue to show that this harvest was destined for household use rather than commercial purpose.
“An important role, I mean. I’ll be a housekeeper like my mother. but you’ll be a Rose Knight. You’ll defend the kingdom. You’ll keep everyone safe from harm.”
“I suppose.” Jordan considered. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it, the idea that he would be important.
That he would matter.
That people would look at him and see him.
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2 Responses
Hi Cat,
Could it possibly be Christines piece from class? The one where the kids had to fill out the cracks?
😉 Judith
That assignment was inspired by reading the first piece, which I am really, really wishing I’d bookmarked now.