Tag: Online Writing

Story A Day May – Challenge!

Challenges, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse
Day 27 Short Fiction
Image by texasgurl via Flickr

Story A Day | About.

Pushed for inspiration in May. Why not try “Story A Day in May”?

I have just signed up. This is  a great opportunity to get writing and get creating in the short story format. 

Every day this website posts a writing prompt for your short stories. The aim of the challenge is to write a short story every day for may or write 31 short stories.

Stretch yourself and take up the challenge.

My user name on the site is: lastlines

Look forward to seeing you there.

– Kim

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Creating a Magic System – Contest Alert!

Contests, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Postaday / Postaweek 2011
Might and Magic
Image via Wikipedia

Creating a Magic System Final and Contest.

So you would know from a few posts this year that I am on a Short Story roll right now. I am loving turning an idea into a short story. At the moment I have so many ideas flying around in the Aether of my imagination that I am hard pressed to capture them all. So instead of turning all of them into potential full length fiction, I am turning some of them into short stories.

Above is the link to a wonderful short story competition about Magic.  The contest will start from today, and run until May 31st, which should give you plenty of time to plan and get your submissions in.

Contest Part 1 – Create a magic system, using roughly the format outlined here. 2,000 words is the goal.
Contest Part 2 – Use that magic system to write a 5,000 to 10,000 word short story, and submit both it and the magic system to L.M. Stull. She’ll blind them and pass them on to the judges, and we’ll pick which ones are the winners.
Prizes – And the part I’m sure you’re all wondering about. We’ve got a $50 Amazon gift card for the first place winner, and a $25 card for second place.

So not only do you get a chance to practice your short story writing skills but you get to play with a new magic system that you have created. On the original contest link you will find a series of posts on magic systems and what they can consist of.

So let’s weave some story magic and tell a tale that is short, magical and entertaining. Win yourself an Amazon gift voucher.

– Kim

Short,Sweet & To The Point

Kim Koning, Monday Mental Muscles, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Postaday / Postaweek 2011
story

I have recently been stretching my narrative abilities through the medium of Short Story. This is a medium that I find very challenging. Not since High School have I really read or written any Short Stories. Last year at the RWNZ Writers’ Conference that I attended I specifically enrolled in a talk on the Short Story and on Novellas. Then this year I started looking at writing some Short Stories for competitions. This month though I am working on three Short Stories. One is for an anthology that I have been asked to contribute to. The other two are for writing competitions. So I thought today’s post would be focused on the Art Form of Short Story Writing.

What is the difference between a Short Story and a Novel?

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels. (Wikipedia)

A short story is more concise and tight in writing than a novel. Unlike a novel where there may be a number of incidences leading to one climax; a short story usually contains one incidence.

A novel can have multiple plot lines, different settings and a variety of characters. A short story has one plot that covers a short time period in one setting and fewer characters.

A novel is very structured in the traditional 5 point structure: Plot; Exposition, Complication, Climax, Resolution and Anti-Climax. A short story on the other hand follows a much looser structure. You have a limited space to write in so often the beginning of the story is started abruptly and often in the middle of action. The Short Story still has a Climax/Crisis/Turning Point. The ending of a Short Story is abrupt and open sometimes having a moral turn to the story. Short Stories that follow a strong moral or ethical theme are called Parables or Fables.

Now we come to the Length of a Short Story. The classic definition of a Short Story dictates that it should be read in one sitting. When talking Word Count though there are varying definitions. Often the consensus is that a short story is between 7000 and 9000 words. Once a short story gets to a count of 15 000 – 20 000, it starts becoming a Novella. Stories with less than 1000 words are called Flash Fiction.

The History of The Short Story

Short Stories find their birth in oral story telling. All the ancient cultures of this world have a base in oral story telling. Stories that were told to one another to pass down truths and teach lessons. These stories were the fodder for early imaginations. As children short stories are the first stories we come to hear, read and love. Whether we call them Fairy Tales, Bedtime Stories or Fables; these are all Short Stories. Think of ghost stories you heard sitting around camp fires or the stories your parents told you to calm you when you woke from a nightmare. In contemporary times, magazines are filled with Short Stories. Radio brought another form of media to the art of Short Stories. Short pieces are pieces of fiction to wet our imaginative taste buds.

These are the points to write a successful Short Story:

  • Have a very clear theme but Beware of being Preachy
  • Have a very strong Protagonist with clear characteristics and antagonist and a maximum of 2 other characters should secondary characters be needed
  • Hook your readers with a powerful first paragraph
  • Immediately grab the reader’s attention with an action or a conflict point
  • Strong POV – Choose 1 point of view to write from
  • Stick to one tense: Either Past Tense or Present Tense
  • Decide if your Narrator is going to be subjective or objective
  • Write tight and meaningful dialogue
  • Be very concise in your setting: Include just enough detail to put your reader into the story but make sure your detail only adds to the story
  • Set up the plot very clearly before writing
  1. Beginning – Start with a situation of conflict
  2. Middle – Present the problems (Rising Action) that occur from this situation
  3. End – Solve the problem. Keep the reader’s suspense by revealing the final point as late as you can.
  • Create Conflict and Tension quickly
  • Build this Conflict/Tension to a Crisis Point/Climax
  • Find a Resolution by showing your character has learnt and will grow from the Conflict you threw them into
  • Use vivid imagery
  • Use your words like a man uses water in a desert: very sparingly and with clear intent

Below are authors that were successful at both the Art form of Short Stories and Novels:

Charles Dickens, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Nathaniel Hawthorne, Virginia Woolf, Boleslaw Prus, Rudyard Kipling, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, P.G. Wodehouse, H.P. Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway

Like with any medium of story telling you need to immerse yourself in Short Stories to be a successful Short Story Writer. Read Short Stories. Read some fairy tales or fables. Take note of what points the various authors use to make that Short Story a success.

What have I learnt from Short Stories?

I have found that dipping my pen back into Short Story telling is teaching me to be concise and to the point in my writing. It is teaching me the value of a gripping start to a story. It is teaching me to have a very clear POV. IT is also teaching me the essential tool of having FOCUS in a story. I have even been editing one of my full length novels with all the above points in mind. I think that the lessons from writing a short story translate perfectly into a Suspense / Thriller or Adventure story. Your words and sentences have to be short and sharp. You have to connect with the reader in a very immediate way that is very visceral in impact. This is definitely a medium of writing that I am going to continue to further hone my writing craft.

Have you written any Short Stories? What challenges did you face?

Stretch your creative muscle this week by writing a Short Story. You may just find that this Art Form teaches you essential points about writing that you have missed before now.

© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning

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Online Creative Clusters

Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Social Media
online friends
Image by ritab38315 via Flickr

In July last year I started this WordPress Blog and not long after that I signed up to Twitter. Since then I have joined 4 online writing / creative groups. I remember wondering how I would develop any sort of following either through this blog or through my tweets. But I have a following and I have learnt a lot about myself as a writer the last 6 months.

I have been reading a lot of blogs online from agents, editors, publishers and writers that developing an online presence is essential to the success of any pre-published writer. I had heard about it quite some time before deciding to build an online presence myself.

Initially I was fairly resistant to the idea. For me it seemed improbable that I would be able to build any sort of following. I also did not know anything about being a blogger let alone about being a successful blogger. Yes, I had a Facebook profile but that was for personal use. I knew that my blog would have to be at least interesting and maybe even useful. The other deterrent to starting a blog was that it felt like I was throwing a very small pebble into a very large ocean. With so many blogs out there, why would people choose to come to mine.

Eventually though I signed up to WordPress and I wrote my first post. I remember being absolutely amazed when people commented on that first post. By then I had signed up for twitter and after following a few people who returned the favour by following me, I had a small following.

Since then my following has grown. I am more confident in the direction that I want my blog posts to go. I am also more confident on Twitter. Although I must admit, it was quite addictive just sitting watching tweets from all over the world. It fascinated and amazed me, sometimes even shocked me, what people were willing to tweet about.

I mentioned the 4 online writing / creative sites I joined. They are:

I have grown to enjoy blogging and tweeting but it is these 4 groups that give me the most joy in my online presence. I have “met” friends through these sites and found mentors. I have been inspired, supported, encouraged and always felt included. Any creative pursuit can be very lonely. As much as your friends and family want to support you, sometimes they have no idea how much energy your creativity can take from you. The people in these 4 groups do know and understand because they are in exactly the same pathway in life. It is through these online friendships and mentorship that I have both grown as a person and a writer. I am still growing and learning more each day.

So yes I would say that building an online presence is vital to the success of a pre-published author. But I am not saying yes for the same reason so many other people say yes. I am saying yes it is vital because of the support, the networking, the friendships and the mentorship that you gain through an online presence. For me this was the impetus to take up the challenge of NaNoWriMo 2010 in November. I knew that I could do it because at any time of day or night somewhere in the world I would have a supportive voice who understood my frustrations, my excitements, my stresses and my wins.

NaNoWriMo also brought me into contact with another inspiring group called:

The Word Warriors

This was a group formed by the creator and developer of Scribblerati, namely an amazing dynamo of a lady called Lia Keyes. Through the drive of this group I managed to complete NaNoWriMo in the first 2 weeks of November. Many of the writers/members of this group have become firm friends and beacons of inspiration and creativity.

I am a firm follower of Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way. In her books she talks about the importance of forming creative clusters. In this spread out world we live in, it is sometime difficult to form creative clusters in the real-time. The wonder of this age is that it has become such a digital driven world. So I am proud to say that 2010 I took up Julia Cameron’s wise advice and now belong to 5 successful creative clusters.

I have a feeling though that 2011 is the year when I am going to really be leaning on these inspirational and creative friends. 2011 is a year that is going to be devoted to creativity and branching out into more and newer forms of creativity. For this I am going to need the support, encouragement, challenging, critiquing, mentoring and friendship of my creative clusters.

So I am taking the time to tell you – no make that to urge you to develop an online presence this year. It may take some time and effort on your part but at the end of it the reward of having the support of people who are creative too far outweighs any effort it will take you to build that online presence.


Thank you to my creative clusters and to all the members of the 5 groups I belong to: You have my appreciation and admiration. Thank you all for pushing me on and encouraging me these last 6 months whether it was for Blogging or for NaNoWriMo or any other creative ventures and goals I set myself. You have all become friends of the truest nature. I treasure and cherish my creative clusters. I look forward to many years of friendship,mentorship and support.

Make 2011 the year of the Online Creative Clusters.


© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning.

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Postaday/ Postaweek 2011 ~ Blogging Challenge

Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Postaday / Postaweek 2011
Monkeys Blogging
Image via Wikipedia

WordPress have laid down a gauntlet and I am taking up the challenge. By now, you may have realised that I am someone who thrives on taking up challenge that is why NaNoWriMo was right up my alley.

Well after taking a month-long hiatus from writing in December, I am back in the saddle and ready for new challenges and goals. WordPress sent me an email with an open challenge to Postaday / Postaweek 2011. The idea behind this is to blog more either by attempting to post a blog post per day or to post a blog post per week of 2011.

I have signed up for both. I am hoping that I can do 365 posts this year but in case of life-interruptus, I am definitely doing the minimum 3 posts per week.

So I am going to continue with Monday Mental Muscles and I am going to add two more blogging themes to my blogging week. Sunday is going to be a day of exploring and branching out in different creative and writerly pursuits. I will call it Sunday Serendipity posts where I will share A-ha moments that I have purely by chance or “accident”. Thursday is going to be Thursday Tips day where I will share tips that are and have helped me creatively – both my own tips and tips from other creative types I follow and admire.

So the definite 3 weekly posts will be:

  1. Sunday Serendipity
  2. Monday Mental Muscles
  3. Thursday Tips


What are your blogging goals in 2011? Are you blogging? Maybe one of the 2011 goals could be to start blogging or to commit to Postaday 2011 / Postaweek 2011. Share some of your blogging goals with us. We would love to support you and encourage you just as my followers and friends support and encourage my goals.

So here is a toast to taking up gauntlets and opening up new possibilities in 2011!


© All rights reserved Kim Koning.

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Pack your suitcases. You are moving into your NaNoWriMo story!

Kim Koning, NaNoWriMo 2010, Notes on Wrestling The Muse

 

I am a writer.
Image by DavidTurnbull via Flickr

 

“Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be…Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before.”                – Erich Fromm

NaNoWriMo is just a day and a few hours away or two days away, depending where on the globe you happen to be.

So tell me, how are you feeling? Are you panicking with nerves? Are you wondering if your plot idea stacks up? Do you know enough about your MCs (main characters)? Have you set up a writing schedule? You only have a couple of days to sort out any plot holes you may have. Hopefully you have been using the month of October to prepare to succeed in NaNoWriMo.

This weekend is not the time to panic! If you start a race thinking you are going to fail or that you are unfit, you will not succeed. You will instead be setting yourself up to fail.

Instead, take a step back from all your preparation. Give yourself a breather. This is the weekend that you need to relax and get yourself in the right frame of mind. You want to enter Monday filled with enthusiasm and the power of positive thinking. Take a book and a pen and do this for yourself. Turn to a blank page in your book and in the boldest letters you can form, write:

I AM A WRITER.

Now tear that page out of your book, place it in a frame or a mount and put it in a place where you will see it every time you sit down in November to write your story. You ARE a Writer. You ARE a Storyteller. You already have the story you want to write within you, whether you have prepared for it or not. It is time to face this fact. You are going to start writing on the 1st of November and the writing will just flow. You will tap into your most creative part of your soul and mind and the story will take you on a magic carpet ride. Feel the story. These last few days before Monday, don’t do any more preparation. Instead immerse yourself into your story. Look out at the world through the eyes of your protagonist. For the next couple of days immigrate to the world of your story. Talk to your characters. Tell your characters you believe in their story and more importantly you will tell their story to the best of your ability.

Spend the next couple of days spending time with your family and your friends. Make it quality time. Tell them your story. Make them believe in your story. Introduce them to your characters. Let them fall in love with your characters just like you have. Do something you truly love to do that fills you with joy. Have a picnic. Treat yourself to a movie. Buy something luxurious for yourself. Buy something totally frivolous and beautiful. Have a wonderful meal. Have ice-cream for breakfast. Laugh. Play with your animals. Play with your children. Do only positive and happy things this weekend! Believe me, it will pay off for you. Give yourself the weekend off plotting. Don’t put your story aside. Live it, breathe it, play in your world. You will be surprised how valuable this sort of world-immersion into your story will be.

It is time to pack your suitcases. Pack in your positive thoughts. Pack in your inspirations. Pack in your “Writer”. Pack in your “Muse”. Pack in your passport of creativity. Pack in your visas of Character and Plot arcs. Pack in your ideas. You are now ready. Your flight leaves in a couple of days. You are booked into a window seat. Your window looks out onto your imagined world. Your muse is your pilot. Your characters are your flight attendants. They will look after every one of your needs for this month-long journey. They will also be your tour-guides. Listen to them. You will be travelling first class with the exclusive opportunity to go into the flight deck and to see where your Muse, the pilot, is flying you.

Now sit back. Say goodbye to your loved ones. Tell them you will see them again in a month’s time. Promise them you will take pictures of your journey. You are set to fly Midnight, 1st November, 2010. You have been waiting for this journey for a long time. At the end of this journey you will have a novel that you have written in your hands. That is the prize. That is the golden egg. Now fly and go get it Writer!

“Never ask whether you can do something. Say instead that you are going to do it, then fasten your
seat belt.” – Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way)

My NaNoWriMo user name is: last_lines

If you are on Facebook, join this great group: NaNoWriMo Warriors

© All rights reserved Kim Koning.

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Today’s lesson ~ Flexing those mental muscles & getting fit for NaNoWriMo

Kim Koning, Monday Mental Muscles, Notes on Wrestling The Muse
Me Running
Image via Wikipedia

I am centering today’s mental muscles in honour of this being the last week before the gun goes off and the writers are sprinting away in the mad creative marathon of NaNoWriMo.

So is your story clear in your head? Is your story as tangible as a photograph or is it a scarf, flung carelessly, constantly been blown out of your reach? Could you describe it in a page, in a paragraph or in a sentence? Are character/s knocking on your mental doors or have they been breaking & entering in through the windows? Are the character/s nagging you yet? Have they been revealing themselves to you or are they a little reticent?

Well for today’s muscle flexing, I am going to give you some tools that may help you catch that scarf of a plot or maybe your niggling runner’s cramp is a reticent character. Either way, you have one week left to flesh out your character/s and colour your story. Maybe nerves are striking and you keep on wondering why you have signed yourself up for NaNoWriMo in the first place. I mean it’s crazy to think that you can fit more time into your day solely devoted to writing. What about the animals, or the kids or the spouse – who is going to feed them? What about that pesky Day Job that steals at least 8 hours of your time every day? Before you resign from the Day Job and move into a secluded, but handy hermit’s cottage, just like the spooky one you used to skirt past as a kid….Stop….Breathe…that was 3 deep breaths please…Now refocus…Feeling better? If you are still in the freak-out, hair turning white from stress, stage….maybe it’s time to test yourself a little without breaking the NaNoWriMo rules either. I can help you with that. Of course if you are cool, calm and collected and as ready as you ever will be, well you can do these for fun then.

As this may be the first time you are entering this creative gym, I will go over the etiquette. You need to do at least 1 of the exercises listed here. If you do, let us all know which one you chose and how it went. You can do this by commenting on this post. If you put it up on your blog, please link back through to my blog. As with everything else, feel free to pay it forward and give these exercises to anyone you may feel needs to do them. Now onto the workout floor…Hope you brought your stretching mats, work out towels and water…Ready? Let’s begin.

  1. Plotting ~ Write up your novel’s plot into a 1 sentence synopsis. Now flesh that out into a paragraph length synopsis. Next flesh that out into a single page length synopsis.
  2. Plotting ~ Music is a vital tool to anyone. Firstly our sense of hearing is the first sense we develop and the last we lose. So with this is mind…Close your eyes and think of the story you have so far. Now listen carefully. In the background you will start hearing a melody that will turn into a song, maybe even a compilation. This is your story’s theme song. Everything needs a theme song. Now you have your NaNoWriMo theme song. Use it for inspiration or even to vaccinate yourself against procrastinitis.
  3. Plotting ~ Without telling them it is your story, get a trusted friend (non-writer) to read the synopsis from exercise (1) and tell them to give you an honest opinion on whether they would want to read this story. Also ask them what the plot’s strengths and weaknesses may be. Does the story hook them? If it does not, what is missing? (Aside: Remember every story needs to be read as well as told. Readers give invaluable insight.)
  1. Character ~ (This first exercise is for the writer with the reticent and secretive character/s.) Find a spot where you feel comfortable and relaxed. Grab a few snacks and treats. Then make a date to rendezvous with your writing muses. Ask your character/s to introduce themselves to you. You may be surprised. Maybe your character/s are polite and were just waiting for you to make some time for them to introduce themselves to you. (This exercise needs a minimum of at least 2 hours. Make sure you have no interruptions in this time.)
  2. Character ~ Close your eyes and picture your character/s in your mental vision. Once you have them in your mind, start a sketch of your character. (You don’t have to be an artist to do this exercise. Remember this is just for you.) You can keep this sketch in your NaNoWriMo notebook or pin it up on your corkboard / wall to keep you focused throughout November. Sometimes you have to see to believe it.
  3. Character ~ Close your eyes again. Now ask your character/s what their 6 favourite meals are. Now for the next 6 days make these meals for yourself and for your loved ones. Taste is a vital key to personality. Is your character a gourmet or fussy eater? Is your character a simple home-cooked pasta type of person? Use these meal times to further get to know your character and to flesh out their personality/s.

Now choose at least 1 each of the above exercises, 1 for plotting and 1 for character, and let yourself have fun with it. Now how are you feeling about NaNoWriMo? Remember this should be a FUN Adventure and not a chore. You have a story locked inside of you. Use NaNoWriMo to unlock this. Use these exercise to help draw your map for your NaNoWriMo story.

Good luck and happy stretching!

(For any of you NaNoWriMo participants: if you would like to add me as a NaNo buddy, my user name is last_lines)

© All rights reserved Kim Koning.

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