Early February Newsletter

February 3, 2025
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classes & workshops
ins and outs of outlines, advanced story workshop, flash fiction workshop, newsletter, patreon

Onward and Forward

Greetings and salutations! We’re a twelfth of the way through the year now, and it’s definitely interesting times we’re living in. Remember to be kind to each other; the world needs it more than ever right now. Here in South Bend, it’s been cold and snowy, so the cats and I spend a lot of time either near the heater or under the electric blanket. I have finished up the most recent rewrite of the fantasy novel and am sending it off to meet its fate today. Wish me luck!

Here’s what you’ll find in this newsletter:

Details of my March/April Advanced Short Story Workshop
Details on my upcoming Flash Fiction Workshop
A reminder – The Ins and Outs of Outlines is next weekend!
How to hire me for editing projects
Patreon events happening this month
Community News

Advanced Short Story Workshop

This multi-session, advanced workshop is intended for students who have already taken a short story workshop or have comparable experience. Class material is determined by student questions and needs. Each session will feature a deep drive on a particular craft aspect, including optional writing and reading assignments, as well as workshopping each other’s stories. Students are expected to write a story and workshop it over the course of the workshop. You must submit a writing sample when applying of 250-500 words.

Applications close February 26 or when the class fills, whichever is sooner.

Meets Saturdays, 12:30-3 PM Eastern time, March 1, 8, 15, 22 and April 6 and 19. (No class May 29 or April 12).

Cost is $499 for Patreon supporters; otherwise $599. Full and partial Plunkett scholarships are available.

Flash Fiction Workshop

In this workshop we will explore and write different forms of flash fiction, including critiquing each other’s work. You will produce multiple pieces of flash over the course of this workshop and can submit up to three for critique. You will also learn strategies for marketing and submitting flash as well as best practices for revision. You do not need to submit a writing sample.

Meets Sundays, 12:30-3 PM Eastern time, March 2, 9, 16 and 23.

Cost is $299 for Patreon supporters; otherwise $399. Full and partial Plunkett scholarships are available.

Applications close February 26 or when the class fills, whichever is sooner.

To register for either class, send an email to cat@kittywumpus.net with the following details:

Whether you would prefer to pay via Paypal, Venmo, or some other means.
If you are applying for a scholarship, please indicate whether you need a full or half one.
For the story workshop, please include a writing sample 250-500 words pasted into the body of the e-mail.

Ins and Outs of Outlines on February 9

An outline is one of a writer’s handiest tools – when it’s used correctly. Will it surprise you to find out that it’s not just useful when starting, but even after you’re finished? In this class, you’ll learn how to use an outline without getting tied down or constricted by it, as well as how it can be used as a valuable tool for revision. Through a mixture of lecture, discussion, and in-class exercises, you’ll learn all the ins and outs of using outlines.

Class happens on Sunday, February 9, 1-3 PM Eastern.

Cost is $59; $49 if you are a Patreon supporter. Scholarships are available. To register, mail me at cat@kittywumpus.net, indicate whether or not you are a Patreon supporter for the discounted price, and how you would like to pay. If you are applying for a scholarship, please indicate whether you need a full or partial (50%) one.

Taking Editing Projects

I edited two novels and a couple of stories for clients in January, but my docket’s pretty clear right now. If you’re curious about my skills, here’s a page of testimonials, including Harry Turtledove saying he’d work with me any time at all.

Find out more about getting your novel or story edited here.

Patreon Events This Month

Events offered to my Patreon community this month include: weekly motivational meetings, a short story discussion group, weekly writing to prompts and co-working, two Writing with Tarot sessions, an author discussion with Premee Mohammed, and Nisi Shawl talking with the Craft Book Discussion group. Check out my Patreon if you’d like to join a writing community focused on writing fantasy, science fiction, and horror that’s full of kindness, creativity, and inspiration.

Community Links

Neve Maslakovic’s January newsletter is out.
Jennifer Brozek has announced Augment Magazine.
Karl Dandenell did a reading.
Margaret Dunlap’s latest newsletter reassures us that she is not on fire.
Craig Shackleton has launched a Patreon, Words and Swords!
Richard Crawford talks about having his short story “Heavens Below Us” in Water Dragon Publishing’s Summer 2024 Dragon Gems Anthology and provides a prompt or two or even three.
Priya Sridhar writes The FBI Is Investigating YouTuber MrBeast; Why Thanos is the Best Addition to Squid Game Season 2; How Celebrity Culture Taints Media; The Ghost and Molly McGee Recap: Episode 9; Kindness Has to Be Taught; The Real World is a Parasite; and The Paradox of Winning Squid Game.
Are you on the Chez Rambo Discord and want your news included? Post it in the #promotethis channel!

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For Writers: Working with Twinned and Twined Storylines

November 1, 2016

diagram showing that two stories should run in parallel — Diagram or doodle? It’s all in the eye of the beholder.

When I sat down to work out the outline for my Moving from Idea to Finished Draft, I came up with almost two dozen possible starting points for writing a story, including scene, title, taking an old plot, a character, dialog, a particular device, and more. As I finished writing it, those categories shifted around a little, sometimes sliding together, other times diverging, but I did think I’d managed to exhaust the possibilities…

…only to be proven wrong, of course. A week or so ago at the Surrey International Writers Conference I was absolutely delighted when an audience member hit me with a new one that I hadn’t considered at all.

When I teach the class, which focuses on how to take an idea and use it to finish a story, I talk a little bit about story structure and writing process, but most of the class relies on asking participants what the idea is that they’re working with. This time, a woman said, “My idea is a twinned story” and explained that she wanted to write two stories in parallel.

You might argue that it’s a particular manifestation of a frame story, which is something covered in the Devices section of the class, but she wanted it to be more than that: her story was about a couple discovering letters in their attic that tell the story of another couple’s marriage. So let’s look at this according to the structure I use in Moving from Idea to Finished Draft, looking at what it is, what it gives you, what considerations you should take into account while writing, possible pitfalls, next steps, and a few exercises designed to increase understanding of the idea.

What It Is:

A twinned story holds two or more plots running in parallel to each other. The connection between them may be strong or more tenuous and faint, but it must exist. The stories should be distinct and are usually separated by location or time. Usually they are given roughly equal amounts of time in the story; one story may be stressed in importance over the other or they may be weighted equally.

However, I want to note that I am distinguishing this from a single storyline that takes place but is shown from multiple POVs; there are too many differences for that to get lumped in here.

What It Gives You:

The mirror structure actually gives you some very useful things. The first is that if you know the theme of one story, you know the theme of the other, because while it does not have to be an exact copy, it must reflect the other.

Similarly, the action of one story will be echoed in the other, and you may want to look for places where you can create echoes with objects, dialogue, actions, or other elements. If you know one story completely, you should be able to sketch out the other, but it is more likely that you will move back and forth between them, fleshing out elements as they appear in one story and need to be echoed in the other.

Considerations:

That connection between the plotlines is pretty crucial, or else the story will seem pointless and disjointed. It must be apparent to you as well as your reader.

Every time you switch from one plotline to another, you are bumping the reader out of the story and forcing their mental GPS to recalculate their route through it. Give them both the details and the time they need to re-orient themselves in the narrative. Remember that sensory stuff — particularly non-visual — is useful for pulling them back in.

Possible Pitfalls:

As with any device, there must be a reason to use this structure other than “it would be cool to write a twinned story.”

Remember as well that you must carry the plots out to satisfaction and that this will take space. The more plotlines you have the longer your piece will be, and you will need to resist the temptation to skimp for lack of room if you are trying to write to a particular word length.

Remember that you have less space than usual for everything as a result of this, including character development. Make everything count.

If you move about within time inside each of the storylines, providing flashbacks or memories for example, remember that you will need to make sure the reader does not mistake this for a movement to the other story line.

Next Steps:

Take inventory of what you have. Where are the blank spots in both that you will need to address? What can each lend its partner?
What are the differences between the story? Are there any you need to reconcile in order to make the parallels between them stronger?
How will you mark the transitions between the two storylines?
Map out the chronology of both storylines; you must know this in order to have them run in parallel.

Exercises:

Figure out some differences between the main location for each story. If time is the difference, what has changed and what existed in the earlier landscape that is transformed or accommodated for in the later one? Along the same lines, if location is the difference and time is not, how is the time of year reflected differently in the two locations? Are there cultural aspects of society that change as well?
Sketch out the main character(s) of each plotline and pair them with their alternate in the other story. List three differences and three similarities between them.
Why are you using this device? List three things that you can do in one story that enhances the other one, such as having the same character appear in each in a way that deepens the reader’s understanding of them, showing how a landscape changes over time, or exploring the idea of inheritance.

In the class material, I try to provide an example of a story that came out of each kind of inspiration, but I don’t have one of these (how can this be?)! So I’m working on one, “The Sheriff Who Dreamed of Astronauts,” which Patreon supporters will get both early glimpses of and a first chance to read when it’s done, and that will get added to the class material at some point.

In the meantime, if you’d like to read interesting examples of this technique, I highly recommend Katherine Blake’s Interior Life for an innovative example, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg for a traditional but highly satisfying example, and If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino for something that will really stretch you and make you think while (I hope) delighting you..

If you’d like some interesting audio talk about such things, here is Linda Aronson talking about parallel narratives (unlike me, she includes narratives of parallel characters):

And here is Quentin Tarratino talking about non-linear narrative in a way that may be useful:

...

Rambo Academy Certificates

March 25, 2020

The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers now has a certification program! I wanted students to have a way to represent the work they’ve put into the live classes when applying for jobs, workshops, and other opportunities, and so I’ve put together four categories.

How it works: If you have taken five classes in a category, you have earned a certificate. Mail me with the category or categories and the names of the classes, and I will send you the certificate as a .pdf. You have permission to display it on your website.

I’m working on something similar for the on-demand classes — look for that coming soon.

The categories are:

WorldBuilder – Classes on worldbuilding and characters fall into this slot. Examples include: Fantastic Worldbuilding, Masks and Mayhem with Carrie Vaughn, and Writing about Horses with Judith Tarr.
WordWeaver – Classes that focus on language, techniques, and tools. Examples include Literary Techniques for Genre Writers, Power Word Real Name: Upping Your Game with Names and Titles, and The Power of Words.
StorySmith – Classes that focus on story structure, including specific genres. Examples include Flash Fiction workshop, Mapping the Labyrinth: Plotting Your Novel So Stuff Happens, and Moving from Idea to Draft.
Bookmonger – Classes that focus on publishing and the book industry. Examples include Book Promotion on a Budget, Managing Social Media For Writers, and So You Want to Put Together an Anthology?.
GameMaker – Classes that focus on writing for and building games. Examples include Adapting Your Novel into a Game, Worldbuilding for Games, and Writing Interactive Fiction.

This list is, I believe, complete, and sorts past classes into their groups. If you took a class and cannot find it on the list, mail me. If you took my six week workshop, that counts as one credit in each category. Currently almost all classes that are coming up have links; eventually this should all be filled in.

WORLDBUILDER
Beyond Bipeds: When Aliens Look Nothing Like Us
Blood, Guts, Gore & More
Character Building Workshop
Christmas in Narnia: Creating Traditions for Fictional Cultures
Consent Is Sexy: Writing Consensual Scenes
Cross-Examining Your Character
Crypto- and Xenobiology and You: How To Build a Better, More Believable Beast, Using SCIENCE!
Cussing in Secondary Worlds
Designing Magic Systems
Dialogue and Dialect
Different Kinds of Love: Writing Relationships that Aren’t Romantic
Dunking Your Reader in the Details
Eating Your Words: How to Write About Food
Fantastic Worldbuilding
Fashion of Worldbuilding: Clothing, Technology, and Taboos
Follow the Money: Using Economics in Plotting, World-building, and Character Development
Groups, Parties, and Crews: Writing Ensembles
High-Speed Worldbuilding for Games and Fiction
Historical Research for Writers
Hooray for Evil: Fearsome Monsters and Effective Villains
How to Write Better Food
How to Write Steampunk and Weird Western
In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes
It’s Almost Here: Writing Near-term Science Fiction
Mapping Fantasy
Masks and Mayhem: How to Write Superheroes
No More Lone Wolves: Writing Characters in Community
Reasonable Consequences: Building a Better Alternate Universe
Power and Politics in Worldbuilding: Schemes, Factions, and Culture
Prophecies, Predictions, and Prognostications: Creating Fortune-Telling Systems for Your World
To Space Opera and Beyond
Queer Is a Verb: Disrupting the Norm
The Spice Must Flow: Writing Speculative Drugs
Story Generator Workshop
Systems of Magic: How to Use Your Magic to Enrich Your Worldbuilding
Taking Your Titles to the Next Level
Tarot for Writers
Where Babies Come From: Speculative Reproduction
Witches Are People Too: Writing Well-Rounded Pagans and Spellcrafters
Worldbuilding as a Banquet
Worldbuilding as a Meal
Writing about Horses
Writing Distinctive Characters
Writing Masculinity
Writing Neurodiversity
Writing Nonbinary
Writing Queer Characters from History
Writing the New Mythos