The Story Cupboard

Stuck for an idea? Have you tried pictures? With the Internet, finding picture inspirations is really easy. I have used Yahoo search to find pictures of all kinds of things from fairies to steampunk to hobble skirts. Here's a few I clicked on today.

old buildings http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=fp-yie8-s&va=22+old+buildings There's all types of buildings here, strong buildings and falling down buildings and even the titles under the pictures can provide some great ideas to get you started.

depression era images http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=fp-yie8-s&sz=all&va=depression+era If you're doing historical fiction this is great place to get a feel for that time period in history. Some of the faces will haunt you, but use those faces to step into a world that has fallen apart.

street people homeless http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=fp-yie8-s&va=street+people+homeless I love looking at faces to get a feel for a character. You can see fear, contempt, loss, greed, need, nearly every emotion in the world, then you see their setting and all kinds of stories pop into your head.

Quotable Thoughts

I was watching Robert Downey, Jr. on the Actor's Studio this morning and he left the students with a quote he attributed to Joseph Campell. "If you're trodding on the beaten path, it's not your path."

Curious, I looked up the quote to make sure my "memory" got it right. What Downey did was paraphase Campbell's quote which is. "If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path."

Great words to write by! Follow your instincts, write what you need to write, and don't worry because it's not the same as that rich and famous writer over there. Your voice is unique and your writing path belongs to you. Be brave!

For more great Campbell quotes to start your day go here http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/20105.Joseph_Campbell

And the Winner is...

I'm always amazed at how passionate some people are about awards. Yes, it's wonderful to be nominated. The feeling is beyond great! And the nomination says that you're good at what you do and people admire your work.

What really puzzles me is the way some people actually seem to sit down and calculate how many awards they are eligible for. At which point I begin to wonder, do they actually enjoy writing and working at their craft or are they just about grabbing nomination spots so they can get their name out there and buff their nails on their shirt?

What is it about awards that turn people so crazy? I've seen them on various sites begging people to vote for them. I've seen tag lines and bios stating that the author has been nominated for or won umpteen thousand awards. Can anyone sit down with a calculator and prove that "winner of ______" actually sells more books, gets the author submission invitations to better markets, or gets more money thrown in their bank account?

I suppose it could, or it could be that you're just good at your craft and people have finally noticed. And the award, well, it's something for you to hang on your wall or set on a shelf and know that you've accomplished something you're proud of. And there's no calculating the pleasure in that.

I know I've talked about this before but there's something about awards season that sets my head to spinning.

Writing Essays

"Sometimes it Sucks" by Jason Aaron http://t.co/yoxXw2x Great essay that makes you realize that when the writing sucks, it's not just you.

Allan Guthrie's Infamous Writing Tips http://t.co/y9fQ6XC Just plain good advice.

Those two links are courtesy of Brian Lindenmuth.

This next essay is called "Would You Please Fucking Stop" by Ursula K. LeGuin http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/03/09/would-you-please-fucking-stop/ If you're easy offended by cuss words, by all means skip this, but there's a great history of swearing here that makes you wonder what all the fuss is about.

Twitter Peeking

Yes, so I was snooping around Twitter and discovered that Brian Lindenmuth has set up a new twitter account called @crimeshorts http://twitter.com/crimeshorts where you can find links to all kinds of crime stories. Very cool!

And Crimefactory's first anthology, "Kung Fu Factory" has been released on kindle http://tinyurl.com/4hjwbeb That's the link to the Amazon page, when I find a post that lists the ToC, I'll put up the link so you can find out who's "inside?". Hmmm, can you be inside a kindle?

Also available on kindle is Beat to a Pulp: Round One. Details and a ToC are here http://davidcranmer.blogspot.com/2011/03/beat-to-pulp-round-one-on-kindle.html

Bigfoot Anyone?

I've been coming up pretty empty of late with new markets. Over at Duotrope they have about 8 or 10 anthology calls listed but they're non-paying markets. You can find the listings here http://www.duotrope.com/recentupdates.aspx

If you've got a Bigfoot story hiding in your files or sneaking around in your brain pan this anthology, "Bigfoot Among Us" might be of interest. The pay here is a penny a word and the call closes when filled. You can find the details and links over at darkmarkets.com http://darkmarkets.com There's an interview with the editors of this call over at DL Snells's blog http://marketscoops.blogspot.com You'll also find other interviews and calls at this site.

More Linkage

Over at Hell Notes there's a great interview with Tom Piccirilli. Go check it out! http://hellnotes.com/ty-ing-up-the-genre-an-interview-with-tom-piccirilli

And this month's story over at All Due Respect is "Let's Make a Deal" by Scotch Rutherford http://www.all-due-respect.blogspot.com

And a second piece of new fiction over at Spinetinger, "Less than Living" by Jason Duke http://www.spinetinglermag.com