Tag Archives: writing

GISHWHES 2014

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Two teenagers who I know – one my godson, the other a girl in my girl scout troop – asked me to help them with the GISHWESH scavenger hunt this year. Specifically, they asked me to produce an original short story, 140 words or less, that includes Misha Collins, the Queen of England, and an Elopus. Because I know them, I was happy to do this favor for them.

Other, much more well known, authors have been inundated with these requests and have refused them. I understand their point of view – writing these stories did cost me several hours of writing time that I could have spent on another project. But it was an interesting challenge to get the three required items, all the names of the teens on each team, and a coherent story into 140 words. And I’m fond of these kids.

Below are the two stories I came up with. Which do you like better?

 

The Scavenger Hunt: A SF Story for GISHWHES 2014

By Antha Ann Adkins

Hordes of teenagers swarmed through the space station, lists in hand, looking for the items worth the most points. Sophie and Abigail led a group to Hab 12.

“What the heck is an Elopus?” Erica asked.

Linda looked surprised. “A cross between an elephant and a octopus. My Aunt Holly collects them.“

“Would she have a Misha Collins?” asked Greg, stopping. Meleena, Berber, Tiana, Sarah, Dyson, and Vianne almost ran into him.

“Or a Queen of England?” asked Isa.

Linda knocked on her aunt’s door.

An Astrid-class robot answered. “No, you can’t have an Elopus,” it recited.

“Aunt Holly,” Linda called. “Are you home?”

“Linda!” her aunt said. “So many strangers have asked to borrow my stuff today. But you’re my favorite niece. Come in, and let’s see what I’ve got. Just promise me you won’t bother the bridge crew.”

 

The Scavenger Hunt: Team 2: A SF Story for GISHWHES 2014

By Antha Ann Adkins

Michael and his friends commandeered a classroom to strategize their twenty-first century scavenger hunt entry.

Peter shook his head. “The only thing I recognize on this list is the Queen of England. But which queen? Elizabeth? Kassandra? Emily? Zelda? Jessica?”

“Twenty-first century? Must be Elizabeth,” said Rodrigo.

“How do we take our picture with a dead woman?” asked Adam.

“Cosplay!” said Guilia. “A dress, a handbag, a sash – no problem.”

John bounced with excitement. “Can I cosplay, too? I’ve got the Misha Collins stubble.”

“I could draw an elopus,” said Megan, opening her sketchpad.

“I want to cosplay Sherlock,” said Steven.

“I want to be Watson,” said Chris.

“We can make a TARDIS,” said Tom and Walter.

“I’ll get a wide angle lens,” said Michael. “So we can get all of twenty-first century pop culture in one shot.”

Blog Tour: #MyWritingProcess

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My Writing Process is an ongoing blog hop where a writer answers four basic questions about their writing process and then is asked to pass the baton to two more authors. I’ve been invited to participate by the funny and talented James Beamon.  You can find his answers to the questions here: fictigristle.wordpress.com.

You can find my answers to the questions below.

What am I working on?

Last year, I had yet another short story idea expand into a novel.  I knew that was happening early on in the process, so I used my version of the snowflake method to plan it out, and I have a plan down to a list of chapters and scenes.  However, said plan does not stop me from writing whole chapters of additional material when I realize I need it – which I just did.  I’m now on chapter 11 out of 21 (unfortunately, my word count is not yet at half a novel, but I’ve got some content that I need to fill in later), and I’m trying to keep my momentum going and finish it this year.

Meanwhile, a number of short story ideas are rattling around in my head.  I’m trying to keep them quiet long enough to finish the novel.  Gags and muzzles may be required.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I’m more inclined to think about utopias than dystopias, and my take on even the darkest subjects is likely to be light.  I am an eternal optimist, a glass-half-full kinda gal.  I’m also an engineer by profession, so my take on things tends to be “how can we fix this” and “how can we make this better” more than “everything sucks”.  So all hell may be breaking loose around my characters, but my emphasis will be on how to fix it, not on how bad hell is.

I wish I could claim that I was funny; the best I can say is that I’m working on it.  Writing humor is very challenging.

Why do I write what I do?

I am fascinated by space travel and the idea of alien life (hence the title of this blog).  Science fiction is a natural fit.

How does my writing process work?

When I start a new project, I start a document I call the project “journal”. I use this document to discovery-write various aspects of the story: the plot outline, character names, the world I’m writing about, etc.  If the project grows to novel length, I follow a modified snowflake method to plan it.  I also doodle a lot and have a sketchbook where I draw maps and building layouts and spaceships and aliens and whatever else I need to “see” before I can write the story.  I write the story itself in a different file. Once I hit “the end”, I still have a checklist I follow to edit the story. Once I’m sure there’s nothing I can improve, I send it to my real-world writing friends and my online critique group (critters.org, which I have gotten a lot of mileage out of) so I can learn that there is, in fact, a lot I can improve. I wait until I’ve gotten all their comments, make a list of my responses to their comments, and implement my list. Then it’s a last pass with my editing checklist, and I’m ready to start submitting. Through all of this, I keep a log of how much time I’ve spent writing and how many words I’ve written per day.

So those are my answers, but every writer is different!  You can find answers to the same questions from two other members of the Houston SFF Meetup group at the links below next week.

They are:

Dominick D’Aunno, MD, was born in New York and now lives in Houston, Texas.  He is an Internal Medicine physician with a subspecialty in Space Medicine and Physiology.  He was a NASA and US Air Force flight surgeon and a research physician-scientist at NASA JSC, focusing on cardiovascular adaptation to short and long duration space flight. He is also interested in immune function and extreme environments, and bone and mineral metabolism in microgravity.  He currently provides primary medical care for adults and adolescents with autism/mental retardation and children in CPS custody.  He writes science fiction and fantasy, and enjoys giving lectures and workshops about writing.  You can find his blog at: www.dominickdaunno.com.

and…

Judith B. Shields is a cross-genre filmmaker, screenwriter and author for historical, sci-fi, light fantasy and New Adult topics. In the fable tradition, her goal is to publish stories with a moral ending. Her website is www.judithbshields.com; her blog is judithbshields.wordpress.com.

Be sure to stop by and read their answers next week!

Killing Your Darlings

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There’s a phrase used in writing that you have to “kill your darlings”.  I don’t think that means that if you like something, you should automatically cut it.  What I do think it means is that if something isn’t working for the story, even if you love it, you have to cut it. 

While editing my current WIP, I realized that I was letting the main character off the hook in the middle of the story and that the tension died at that point.  The way I let her off the hook had some funny lines that I really liked.  I didn’t want to cut them.  But I did.  And it worked—the tension increased.

Are you willing to kill your darlings?