Tag: Short story

Sold a Story! Unhallowed by Sidney Blaylock, Jr.

Image Source: https://www.wattpad.com/296700758-fantasy-sub-genre-guide-weird-west (link appears to be nonfunctional)

Hi Everyone!

Sorry that I’ve not posted since before the new year (Happy New Year, by the way), but one of my “unofficial New Year’s resolutions” was to restart the blog/return to writing the blog on a regular/semi-regular basis. I have a block of time that I can use to write this semester, so that is what I’m doing starting today. Of course, it helps when you have big, exciting news to share, so if you haven’t read the title, nor looked at the thumbnail, I sold a story! Woo Hoo!

Unhallowed

The story that I sold was Unhallowed, my “Weird Western” short story. Obviously, I can’t go into a lot of specifics (I do want readers to actually read the story and not be spoiled), but I will be doing an “Author’s Note” blog about it once the story releases (so of a “behind the scenes” look at the creation of the story–similar to what movies and video games do when their products finally release). However, if you’ve been a long time reader of the blog, you’ll know that there is a blog entry where I’ve talked about the general formation of the story.

What’s interesting about this story is that it is the first story that I completed under my new focus on the “Writing Process.” For the majority of my other stories before this one, I just sat down and wrote based on the idea that I had in my mind. For Unhallowed, I actually followed a process (idea formation, character sketch, rough draft, working draft, and revision). I usually “skimp” on the character sketch elements, but this time, I really dove in and created a strong backstory for the main character, Arizona.

Actually, this backstory, while allowing me to create a strong character, actually hindered my selling of the story. I included the backstory in flashback scenes (in italics to set them apart) and put these flashbacks in-between the “main” story narrative (so main story, backstory flashback, main story, back story flashback, main story). However, time and again I was told that the backstory slowed down the action. I think I received that comment from three different editors. I removed the last two very early in the submission process, but it was only after the 3rd editor mentioned that the backstory was slowing everything down that I grudgingly removed the last backstory section.

It sold on the very next submission! Goes to show you that a lot of times revision just comes down to listening to the feedback that you’ve been given and acting on it, even if it is “painful” to hear or goes against what you think/want for the piece.

Underdog Press

I sold Unhallowed to Underdog Press, for their anthology called, Underdogs Rise. I will go into more details about the press when it gets closer to time for the anthology to release, but a lot of people ask (in real life, at least), how they can support me or my work. The easiest answer is to buy a copy of the anthology (or magazine) that my stories appear. As a short story writer, I don’t earn royalties on my works, even if they appear in books like anthologies. For me, it is a one and done transaction. However, I need places to actually send my work to. That can only happen if you support these small presses by buying copies of the books/issues that my stories appear. If people don’t support small presses, then I don’t have anyone to buy my work and then I can’t be able to produce my stories (because if there’s no one to sell to, then what’s the point?).

So, please, Underdog Press is taking preorders on their anthology. You can either place a preorder with them for Underdogs Rise or purchase a copy when it releases, but this is the best way to support me as a writer until I start writing (and selling) novels and other long form work. Your support of the small press doesn’t just help me out, but it helps out all of the writers in this anthology as well. So please, consider preordering or purchasing a copy if you can. You don’t know how much of a help it is to us (non-Stephen King level writers) to have a consistent place to submit work to that we know will be available to us when we finish our next stories.

Thanks so much and have a great day!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (December 2022):

Creative

  • The Runner (2022 Revision) (Fantasy Story–4100 words)
    Status: In Revision
  • Unhallowed (2023 Revision) (Weird Western Story–4100 words)
    Status: Sold! Underdogs Rise Anthology for Underdog Press
  • Science Fiction Story
    Status: Section 1 of 3 completed

Scholarly 

  • Dissertation Completed
    Status: Editing (Dissertation Director’s Comments/College of Graduate Studies formatting rules).
  • Unnamed Book Chapter
    Status: Drafting
  • Blood on the Shield: African American Trauma in Falcon and the Winter Soldier
    Status: Accepted for Publication (Forthcoming)

Mini-Post: Writing Update–Spring 2022

Hand holding a pen and writing in paper journal
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/cnn-underscored/creative-writing-bundle-review/index.html

This will be a shorter blog post, but (hopefully) one that will be a regular feature. I’ve been inspired recently to get back into writing creatively by the way Brandon Sanderson wrote through the pandemic. I’m trying to balance my creative writing, with my teaching, with my scholarship, and I am hoping to find some some sort of balance between these three elements of my writing life. Brandon is able to write prolifically and I’m not–I have to juggle too many competing interests on my time to do a weekly (even, monthly update), so I’m going to go for more realistic goals: Semester Goals. While I like monthly goals, I don’t work “monthly,” I work semester to semester, so this is where/how I’m going to focus these updates. Ideally, I’ll do 2 a semester, one at the beginning (my hopes/dreams for the semester in terms of the project(s)), and one at the end (what I was actually able to accomplish).

Spring 2022: Short Story & Dissertation

Creative Writing: Citizen X (short story–In Progress): This is a rewrite of a short story that I wrote a while back. I’m rewriting it because I think that it had promise, but that I didn’t understand the concept of “Alternate History” well enough. I also think the characterization was a bit off. I’m rewriting it in hopes that the new character that I created is strong enough to carry the story through to the end. I only started thinking about/working on the rewrite in late February/early March, so this has a way to go.

Scholarly Writing: Dissertation (Afrofuturism–In Progress): This is where most of my focus has been during this semester. I’ve been working on it on my “off days” from teaching and really trying to get it “finished” before summer, so that I can use the rest of the summer for editing, addressing any feedback, and defending the dissertation.

Scholarly Writing: Blood on the Shield: African American Trauma in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Conference Paper–Completed): This is a 10-11 page paper written for the 2022 TPA Conference. It has some good ideas that I’d like to expand out into a longer article, but I’m not sure that I have the time as I’m focused on the dissertation.

Scholarly Writing: Afrofuturism: The Power and Promise of Black Science Fiction (Presentation–Upcoming): This is a 90 minute talk that I’ve been asked to give at my current school for the university. I plan on discussing Afrofuturism and the ways in which it helps to have diverse voices in a traditionally non-diverse genre. This is coming up in the middle of April and is something that I hope will help me as I work on my dissertation.

In Closing

So that’s what I’m working on in terms of my writing this semester. While there might be other things/projects, they are pretty much on the back burner as these are the ones that I’m currently devoting my energy towards this semester. I’ll be back in a few weeks with a follow-up update at the end of the semester to see how well I’ve done with these projects. I intend to do another post shortly after to set my “goals” for writing for Summer 2022.

Have a great weekend!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (March 2022):

  • The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
    2022 Revision; Out to Market.
  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–4100 words)
    2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
    2021 Revision: ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION (Mythic Magazine)

Mini-Post: Citizen X

Black man in a suit and hat

Today’s blog is going to be a super short one–I wasn’t able to work on 3 full blog posts over the weekend. You can expect these mini-posts to pop up whenever circumstances prevent me from getting all 3 posts done over the weekend. The goal is to 1) continue to make sure that I write/create content for the blog even when I don’t have a whole lot of time and 2) to make sure I don’t have any long gaps where I’m not going months without posting because of . . . life and stuff. Now on to the topic!

Rewriting Citizen X

So, today’s mini-topic is that I’m in the process of rewriting an unpublished story that I’ve previously sent out, but haven’t had any luck with selling. The story, Citizen X, is a short story set in an Alternate World/Future. Without going into too much detail, civil liberties for American citizens have been seriously curtailed and America is controlled by a technologically advanced and repressive regime. Only a few dare to speak out, but most are silenced. However, one person, a mythical “Citizen X,” whose figure is hidden under a disguise and obscured from all tech./surveillance is able to speak out against the government.

Reception to Citizen X 1.0

When I sent it out, I got rejections, but not a whole lot of comments. However, the last submission to a market, while still a rejection, gave me really good feedback. Basically, they liked the character and felt the first 1/3 of the story (it is broken up into 3 parts) was really good, but they didn’t like the direction of parts 2 & 3. They also didn’t care for the use of real world names (even though it was supposed to be an alternate history story).

Working towards Citizen X 2.0

I’m rewriting the story. I planned out a new outline over the weekend. I’m keeping most of the 1st part, but will revise it so that it matches the newer sections. Will be completely rewriting sections 2 and 3 and will move it in more of a “what happens if the hero is followed back home by the antagonists” storyline. Now, not only is the protagonist in danger, but potentially family, friends, and neighbors. While I won’t post this on my Signature Feed until I finish it, this is the story I will be working on for the next month or two.

Well, that’s all I have time for as I have grading and assignment sheets to work on for my classes! Have a great day, everyone!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (January 2022):

  • The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
    2022 Revision; Out to Market.
  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–4400 words)
    2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
    2021 Revision: ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION

Acceptance! “The Independent” is Accepted for Publication!

The word "Writing" in various handwritten forms.
Image Source: https://www.contentcreatorz.com/short-story-writing-guide-three-steps-to-short-story-writing-success/

Hi Everyone!

This is just a short blog post to let everyone know (well, reiterate what the title already says) that my short story, The Independent, has been accepted for publication by a market! To say that I’m ecstatic would be an understatement! So, which market is it? Well, I’ll let everyone know once I’ve signed the contract and it gets closer to release. I’m so very excited by the chance to publish in this market, however, as it is one that I’ve been submitting to with my stories since I discovered them through Duotrope.

“Space Trucker” Story

Older readers here will remember that I’ve been working on this story for a while now. The genesis of it came about during my regular commutes from Chattanooga to Murfreesboro as I was beginning my PhD program at MTSU. I won’t go into too much detail as I’ve already written on it extensively and I’ve also devoted another full blog post on the genesis of the story. The short version is that there is a “truck rest area” on the drive up to MTSU, and I imagined what happened if there was a sci-fi version of that rest area in space. Along the way, the actual story has changed (quite dramatically) from the original idea, but the core idea and characters still remain.

So, What Happens Next?

So, the next step in the process is the contracts. The editor will send a contract, and I’ll sign it and send it back. I’ll also need to send a short bio as well. Usually, the editor will then compile the issue with the other stories, poems, features, and art. When it comes together, the editor will then send out “proofs/galleys” where the author has a chance to make corrections/changes (minor) to the story. Once that’s done, then I’ll probably be at a stage where I’ll be able to share more details about the market and I’ll have a better sense of when the issue will be coming out and I’ll publicize it here.

Happy Dance!

So, with that, I’ll close out for today! While I’ve done some grading, I’ve still got some more grading to do tonight, so I’ll go ahead and stop here. I’ll close with a gif of one of my favorite “happy dances” from The Peanuts. Enjoy and have a great day!

Image Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/thegifys-gifys-5xaOcLGvzHxDKjufnLW

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (October 2021):

  • The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
    Completed: 2021; Out to Market.
  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
    2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
    2021 Revision: ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION
  • Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story–3500 words)
    2021 Revision: Completed.
  • Project Wall (Science Fiction Story)
    In Progress–First Draft: 925 words (10/9)

Author’s Note: The Runner

Tarahumara man with headband and pole, running on a brown dirt road with green trees in the background.
Image Source: https://ultrarunninghistory.com/tarahumara/

It’s been a while since I was able to update everyone on my writing journey. However, I am happy to announce that I finished another story this year! The story is titled, The Runner, and it was formerly known as “Project Runner.” I’ve added it to my list of projects finished at the bottom of my “Signature” line. It is currently under consideration to a market. While I will talk a little more about the inspiration, drafting, and deadline for this piece, I just want to say that I’m fairly proud of myself for meeting the deadline for this work under some fairly trying circumstances. Even if it doesn’t manage to do all that I hope that it can accomplish–i.e., the compromises that I had to make due to time– I still think that I like the piece and how it ultimately turned out.

Inspiration

This piece has a number of inspirations and no one inspiration was more important than another. They all sorta’ blended together to help me come up with the story. There are too many to mention here, but I did want to talk about a couple of the more interesting ones.

The first one is the idea of a “Spear-Bearer.” I’ve always been interested in the “bo staff” and I was intrigued with the way Brandon Sanderson essentially takes a master of the bo staff and turned Kaladin into a spear-bearer in his Way of Kings novel. I, too, wanted to have a hero who was a master of the staff and created a female character (islander) who was good at the staff. However, being an islander, she would most definitely use a spear and not a staff due to the fishing community that her people would have started as in their history on the island, so I made my hero a spear-bearer as well.

Another one is the idea of a “Runner.” I knew that this hero would run the length of the island. I was already creating a running character when I happened across the development of a video game that described a Mexican culture (Tarahumara) that actually has “runners” as their warriors. The video game, Mulaka, had a developer’s diary video on the Playstation channel that helped me figure out that my “runners” weren’t warriors, per se, but more like “police/ambassadors.” They kept the peace between the human tribes and the fractious non-human “gods and demons.”

Finally, the major inspiration for this story was a tourism video on Vimeo about the island of Bali. Bali is actually known as the “island of gods and demons” and as a history minor (and some one who knows quite a bit about the world’s mythologies, I’d not heard that and was super curious to find out more. After I read about Bali a little more (I’d known of it, but not in a major way–my parents were meticulous on social studies as were my elementary school’s textbooks–while I can’t tell you exactly where every country is, I can generally point out on a map the general location of most countries in the world). I remember thinking that about the phrase “gods and demons” and taking it into my “Dungeons and Dragons” experiences and wondered what if these “gods and demons” were actually just fantasy races that were thought to be “gods and demons” because of their influence on the island. This really kicked the formation of the story into high gear and it was my need for a way to have the humans come to understand that these other races weren’t really “gods and demons” that drove me to create my hero and the story itself. I don’t have access to the original video, but here is a representative video from YouTube that shows the beauty and majesty of the island.

Drafting the Story

So, this was one of the stories that I worked on over the summer with my new way of working/writing. I took the summer to do all of the “Pre-writing” for this story. I worked on my story outlines, I worked on my character sketches, I worked on writing down a “rough draft” in my notebook (hand-written). I then transferred that hand-written rough draft to my computer. And I wrote a “possible” first paragraph for the story.

I set it aside and then I did the same for several other stories this summer. I then saw a “submission call” in which a TV personality was teaming up with a magazine to do a competition for stories that dealt with several subjects, with “gods” being one of those subjects. I decided that this would be a perfect time to go ahead and complete this project and try for this particular competition.

The deadline was fairly tight (August 31), but I was helped by the shortness of the piece. I’d wanted to make it more elaborate, but I didn’t have the time, so I stuck with three sections, a beginning section that worked as exposition and inciting incident, a second section that worked as raising the stakes, and a third section that worked as climax and resolution. I didn’t really have problems drafting the story, except that I found that I needed to add a section “3.5” in order to get to the resolution and anti-climax. I’d envisioned a much grander (cinematic) fight scene, but I just didn’t have the time. Instead of “war” between the three factions (gods, demons, and humans), I had to settle for a fairly terse personal challenge between three representatives of the factions. Still, I think that it worked out well.

Deadline

The deadline for the story was submission no later than 11:59pm on August 31st. I’d written approximately 800 words or so before I saw the listing–most of the first section. I devoted several days throughout the middle of August working on section 2. It was here that I realized that I was going to have to scale down the story I had in my mind and eliminate a couple of the longer scenes (running from village to village) in order to meet the deadline.

I promised a draft to one of the Writing Center consultants who wanted to read the story and who offered to give me feedback. Since the 31st was on a Tuesday, I worked most of the weekend on Section 3 and finished it and sent it to her so that she could give me feedback. I integrated the feedback on Tuesday afternoon and sent it off. I probably won’t hear anything back until late Sept. (if I didn’t make the 1st round), or mid-October, if I did make it to the 2nd round (2nd round are the “winners”–3 stories, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).

Overall

Overall, I have to say that even if the story isn’t chosen, I’m happy with it. It may get a 2022 “revision” (I plan to read over all my stories that haven’t sold and revise as necessary), but mostly I’m happy that I was able to write and finish the story in a reasonable amount of time (about two months, give or take a week or two) and get it off in time to meet the deadline. I’m working on “Project Wall” now, but that is going much slower because I’m devoting more writing time to the dissertation and teaching my classes. I’ve not yet figured out how to “re-intergrate” creative writing with dissertation writing. It seems to be either one or the other (The Runner was written during the time when my director was looking over my Introduction and while I was doing the edits for the intro). My mind seems to only want to focus on one project or the other, so maybe when I finish Chapter 1 of my dissertation, I can move to “Project Wall” and make progress on it as I did with The Runner.

Anyway, there’s a look at my process for this story! I hope that it might be helpful to other writers out there! Have a great day!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (September 2021):

  • The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
    Completed: 2021; Out to Market.
  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
    2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
    2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story–3500 words)
    2021 Revision: Completed.
  • To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
    Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress

Project Seas = To Dance the Sea of Storms (Short-Story)

Sailing ship on an ocean with a golden sun and sky and light gray clouds in the sky.
Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/548454060847640099/

I apologize for last week. I keep telling myself that I’ll work on 2-3 blog posts over the weekend, but it just never seems to work out. Last Saturday, I went have my taxes done, and I wasn’t able to get the blog posts again for a second week, so I decided to just do shorter blog posts so that even if I can’t do it the blog daily, I can at least get 2-3 blog posts per week. Today I’m going to start that with a shorter post on managing to finish a new short story.

2 Few Days

So, after finding out that I’ve only had two (2) writing this year, I was very disappointed in myself as a writer. I’ve had many other things to do, but only working on a project for 2 days was something that I have to better with. I’m slowly working my way toward a possible schedule for my class in terms of grading, but I think I over-extended myself on the amount of school projects that I’ve taken on this semester. However, there’s no use complaining–I just need to try to balance my writing, school, and life as best I can in order to accomplish what I can.

So, long story short, I set up a 250 word session goal for Scrivener and worked toward the ending of the first draft of the project. I wrote 272 words in 2 days, but because I was already close to the end of the story, I managed to finish the draft in those two days.

It took me a total of 9 Writing Days to finish the story: 5 days in December, 2 in January, and 2 in February. It is approximately 2,300 words. I feel that it needs a little more, though.

To Dance the Sea of Storms

I’ve had a version of this title for most of the time that I’ve been working on it. I think I’ve said before, but in case I haven’t, most of my stories are generated from ideas that come to me first from titles. I generally think of the title first and then the plot, characters, and setting all come from the title. Rarely, it doesn’t work this way, but for this story, it did.

I will save a “deep-dive” on the plot and story and initial idea for the “Author’s Note” when I send the story off for the first time, but I’ll give a little information about it here. It is a fantasy story inspired by a line of dialogue in a fairly well known story by Stephen Crane called, “The Open Boat.” My story involves sailing and high seas adventure in fantasy world. Think of it as Master and Commander: Far Side of the World in a fantasy world.

So What’s Next?

I’m going to work on another project (planning it out and writing an outline). When I finish that one (hopefully, in a reasonable amount of time), I will come back to To Dance the Sea of Storms and work on the 2nd draft. In the interim, I’ll do a character sketch of the main character, Brynn and jot down notes for how the larger world works. I already have an idea for a new “beginning” scene that should show Brynn’s character to the reader without doing as much telling as I am in this first draft. Considering that this is the middle of February, I don’t think I’ll get back to working on the revision to this story for at least a month. However, as I’m comfortable with doing one new short story per semester, I think I’m still on pace to have the story ready for submission by late April/early May.

I enjoyed writing the story, but I just wish that I could have finished it in December or early January (by spending more time on it more consistently). I most definitely plan to do that during the revision phase.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (February 2021):

  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
    Out to Market
  • Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
    In for Revision & Editing
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
    Out to Market
  • To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
    Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: Not Yet Started

On the (Writing) Road Again

A straight road with a white striped line down the center disappearing into the horizon. There are brown fields of grass on either side with an azure blue sky above.

Sorry for stepping away from the blog, but college classes, under Covid, are something else entirely from what I’m used to as an instructor. I’ll save this rumination for another post, but basically, everything takes 5 to 6 times longer because everything has to be explained (in detail) in this environment and often, multiple times. A simple explanation at the end of class to clear up a misunderstanding often takes at least 1 email, sometimes 2 or 3. So, all that to say, I’m struggling to keep up with it all.

However, what I can say is that, after a two month unintentional hiatus, I am back on the writing path. Oh, I’ve been writing over these two months and while it hasn’t all been for school, most of it has. I even tried to work on other projects, but they’ve all fallen by the wayside until last weekend.

Project Wall

So, the obvious joke would be that I “hit the wall” with this project. That’s not true, however. The fact is, I still believe in this project and I still want to do it, but I don’t really have a strong character to help guide me through. I have a brother and sister duo here, and I’m an only child. I set it up so that the younger brother would try to save the older sister that he idolizes, but even in the very first scenes/paragraphs, I could muster much urgency for the character and his dilemma, even with a literal “clock” ticking in the background to increase the sense of tension with the story. And this isn’t some random bomb explosion, but a time-based story point actually woven into the story’s setting–and yet, I felt nothing as I was writing it. I may have to just make it the main character’s story instead of trying make it about saving his sister. Maybe the solution is to have him out and he has to struggle back before the time runs out. I’m not sure, but just writing those couple of sentences seems more tense than the draft I had been working on.

Project Ranger

The next project I’d been working on was one in which I can see the first scene and the last scene in my mind’s eye. I was able to get the entire first scene down, but without a middle, I don’t really have a narrative going. I have a thing that they are working towards, but it is a longer narrative that can’t easily be told as a short-story because of the number of characters involved and the way in which I want to tell the story.

Also, while I have a fairly distinctive character this time in terms of conflict, I don’t have a good sense of who that character is outside of his one defining trait: anger. Not only that, but I can’t “see” the character. I know he’s African American, but is he short or tall, bearded or clean shaven, bald or dreads down to he shoulder blades? I don’t know, I can’t tell you and it makes it hard when your protagonist is just one emotion: barely contained rage, and nothing else.

KnightWatch (Graphic Novel)

Which leads me to my final project, KnightWatch, and the one that I actually have worked on for the past two weeks in a row and the one that seems to be “the one.” It is a sequel to my long ago published story “Sister Knight.” This one is also going to take a while (probably all the way through Christmas) as it is a graphic novel. While not my first attempt at a graphic novel, it seems like it could be the first one I actually finish *fingers crossed* as it seems (right now) to be “flowing” where the other two projects did not.

This time, unlike my previous project (which I do hope to go back to at some point), I delved directly into the sequel. I think my beginning point is strong enough and evocative enough to capture the audience’s attention, but if I need to recap my short story as a “first” issue, my rationale is that I know how to do that well now from the previous project and right now, the story I want to tell is the one that I’m telling–a new story, with old characters in an “advisory”/”adjacent” position and new characters taking up the story. I can see the main protagonist of the story with my mind’s eye and the secondary characters are beginning to come into “focus.” I’m going to change my Signature file to reflect this new story. I’m giving myself a while (3 months) to get it done.

Well, that’s all that I have for now. Hopefully, more shortly!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (10/2020):

  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
    Out to Market
  • Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
    Out to Market
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
    Out to Market
  • KnightWatch Graphic Novel (Fantasy Graphic Novel)
    Drafting: 1st Draft (Issue 1)

Writing Log: July 2020 (7/2020)

A Bullet Journal that shows a bar graph and a smaller set of boxes that indicate days/acts written with the boxes colored in when done.
Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/365776800984668476/

Wrap-up for June 2020 (6/2020)

Before I move into new projects for July 2020, I wanted to take a moment to wrap-up what I’ve done for June 2020 to both tell you, the reader, what I’ve accomplished on a monthly basis, but also to hold myself accountable for the goals that I’ve set for myself during this time-period with the hope of becoming more professional over time and finishing more (and longer) projects as time goes on.

The Independent: Finished my revision of the project for a goal of submitting it to a market by June 30th. I originally revised it with help from the MTSU University Writing Center, but then I saw a short segment by Neil Degrasse Tyson in which he explained what a “flatlander” in two dimensions might interpret someone like us who live in three dimensions if they tried to interact with them. I tried to do the same, but with time. We live in space (three dimensional space-height, width, depth), but there is also a time component that we aren’t privy to (except to note its passing). I tried to take that idea a little further–what if there was a race who lived in a “curled” up region that we can’t interact with because it is mostly a region of time–what would that look like, how would that act, etc.? The I tried to have my “space truckers interact with this “dimension” in the story briefly. I think it came off moderately well. I don’t feel that I necessarily hit it out of the park, but I don’t feel that it is particularly bad or without merit. I feel that if I had more time, I might have been able to handle it better, but the story (from seed to this revision) is already 3+ years in the making, so I really need to get it out there. Maybe feedback (if I get any) will help me push the story into a stronger position if it doesn’t sell.

Project Arizona: Although I started on this one late (well into the month of June), I still have almost finished the 1st Draft of the story. This is where the power of working on the story consistently has helped. This is the story I will be working on for July.

Project Wall: This is the one next story will be working on. While I won’t draft it until next month, I will be working on character sketches, world history, politics, and other “Bible” documents for it all through July.

Prospectus (School): Finished my prospectus (hurray!). Even though I need to get “official” approval from my graduate director and my graduate committee, I’m going to start putting together a tentative dissertation outline and begin preliminary work on the dissertation with the books that I have available to me. I probably won’t get to work on it “formally”/”officially” until September at the earliest, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t still put together a draft so that it isn’t a burdensome to do in the Fall and Spring of next year.

What’s on tap for July 2020?

Well, there are several goals that I’m hoping to do, however I only want to talk about a couple of them in-depth here:

  • Work on 2nd Draft (and officially unveil the title) for Project Arizona. I don’t think I will dive right into a 2nd draft of this story immediately as I think I will do another project in the interim. Hopefully, though by the 2nd week of July I will be ready to start drafting a second draft. I actually like the way much of the 1st draft turned out, so I will try to begin turning those places where I’m “telling” the story into places where I’m “showing” the story (dramatizing). It will be a beginning to end look at the draft, where I rewrite as necessary. I also have a title in mind for the story and I intend to start using it once I unveil it officially.
  • Plan Project Wall: Now that I have a “rough draft” down on paper, I’m going to do what Hollywood would call “pre-production.” I’m going to try to nail down the elements of the story that may not necessarily appear in the story, but are crucial to the reason the story exists. Basically, answering a lot of What, Why, Where, When, and How questions that I still have about the story. It also has a title, but I’ll wait to unveil it.
  • Lastly, I really want to get back into the “graphic novel”/comic book writer mode. That’s a place where I feel I can grow. Eagle-eyed blog readers will notice that the “Ship of Shadows” line under What I’m Working On” hasn’t changed in a while. Now, whether the graphic novel actually is me working on that or another project altogether, I want to put together a script that I can try to market by the end of the year at the latest, so I’m planning on working on it starting this month.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope that this month will be a productive one as last month was. Have a great weekend, and if you’re in the U.S., have a safe and fun July 4th Holiday weekend!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (6/2020):

  • The Independent  (Sci-Fi Short-Story)–
    Finished: Revision 1

Rating: 5 out of 5.
  • “Project Arizona” (Weird Western Story)
    Drafting: First Draft

Rating: 4 out of 5.
  • Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel 
    Finished: Script, Issue #1
    Next: Script, Issue #2

Rating: 1 out of 5.
  • “Project Wall” (Science Fiction Story)
    Finished: Rough Draft

Rating: 5 out of 5.

“Project Arizona”: The Research

A woman whose face is hidden in shadow of a wide-brimmed had wearing a long flowing duster, with a gun in a brown holster and various throwing knives on her belt. Her hands are down at her sides. She is standing on a desert-like landscape with the sun shining above her head.
Image Source: https://www.wattpad.com/296700758-fantasy-sub-genre-guide-weird-west

I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m closing in on finishing the First Draft of “Project Arizona,” my Weird Western (Fantasy Western) story. I thought I’d just quickly highlight a few of the websites that I came across while doing research for this project. This by no means an exhaustive list, but I found out several interesting things and found several unique websites while doing the research.

There Were Black Cowboys

Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesser-known-history-african-american-cowboys-180962144/

Here’s something they don’t teach you in traditional American History classes: not only were there black cowboys in the time of the Old West, but they were fairly prevalent. According to the article, 1 out of every 4 cowboys in the Wild West was black. A side note here: that means, Hollywood, that every Western movie made in the 1950s and 1960s (the heyday of the cowboy movie) that had 4 or more cowboys featured should have had at least 1 black actor. Did that happen, Hollywood? No, it didn’t, you say? Well, just some food for thought, Hollywood.

I digress, however. I wanted an African American female protagonist for “Project Arizona,” but I wasn’t sure if African Americans were even a part of the Old West outside of the “Buffalo Soldiers,” but with this source, I was able to find out that not only were they a part of the Old West, but racism was blunted due to the nature of the West being a dangerous place and cowboys (of all colors) had to depend on each other to survive and couldn’t afford to let racism get in the way of survival.

Black Cowboys Existed into Modern Times

AZCentral Website: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-history/2019/03/17/black-cowboys-were-common-old-west/3180296002/

True West: History of the Western Frontier: https://truewestmagazine.com/the-racial-frontier/

Here’s where I found some more information about black cowboys and how the change from the Old West into “modern society” affected them. This site talks about how Hollywood changed the depiction of the Old West from what it was to how it is perceived in America today. More importantly, for my story, this is where it showed modern interpretations of African Americans (in the 1960s and 1970s) competing in contests such as roping and riding. While there’s not a lot of that in my story (well, none at the moment), it did give me a good sense of how African Americans could contribute in an Old West Setting.

The True West website gave me some good context for where the black cowboy tradition began and also some ideas for period specific clothing and gear for my story.

Wild West Prisons

True West: History of the Western Frontier: https://truewestmagazine.com/old-west-prisons-were-no-place-for-sissies/

A significant portion of the story takes place in an Old West prison (not a jail like you see in traditional western movies), so I needed to find out what prisons looked like in the Old West looked like and how they operated. I like this site from True West because it has the rules that one prison operated under. While I didn’t actually need to use these rules for this story, it gave me the “flavor” of the prison setting, and who knows, maybe on the next iteration of the story, I might need those rules. I’ve already done a little research into Civil War prisons due to an interest from the way they were depicted in another movie–The Outlaw Josie Wales? Glory? I can’t remember exactly–but the point is, I knew there were prisons earlier than the Old West, but I didn’t know how they changed.

Well, that’s all I have for today. Just wanted to highlight some of my research as I’m slowly wrapping up the first draft of “Project Arizona.” Expect to hear more about it in the coming weeks as I finish it up.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (6/2020):

  • The Independent  (Sci-Fi Short-Story)–
    Editing: Revision 1
  • “Project Arizona” (Weird Western Story)
    Drafting: First Draft
  • Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel 
    Finished: Script, Issue #1
    Next: Script, Issue #2

HawkeMoon Reviews Are In

Storyhack Issue 4 Cover HawkeMoon by Sidney Blaylock, Jr. Has a scarecrow with hood and young red-haired lady in blue tunic with crescent blades.
Image Source: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WJXVR9D/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I was cruising the internet yesterday, trying to see if I could find reviews on my latest published story, HawkeMoon which appeared in Storyhack #4 last year. There are couple of major sites that do short fiction reviews, but to the best of my knowledge (Tangent Online and Locus Magazine), but I guess neither reviewed Storyhack because I didn’t see the magazine listed for either site). However, the issue was reviewed by a couple of places. One, a fellow WordPress blogger and the 2nd was a market that I think I’ve submitted to once before. Both had interesting things to say, so I’ll link to their reviews.

Planetary Defense Command

The first review comes from Planetary Defense Command whose tagline reads: “Defending the planet from bad science fiction.” I’ve not read this blog before, but they do give a short review of Storyhack #4. While I’m not going to post their entire review (which you can read by clicking on the “short review” link in the previous sentence), I am going to repost their review of my story for commentary purposes.

They say: “Hawkemoon by Sidney Blaylock.  A strange form of undead, an assassinated king, and animal magic sounds like too much to cram into one story, but it fits together nicely.”

This is a hopeful review for me. I read novels, but I write (at the moment) short-stories. I’m always trying to get a lot accomplished in the 5,000 or so words allotted to me by the short-story format. I do have a lot of elements going on in my stories–because I think of them as mini-novels (or maybe better, proto-novels). I just can’t be as grand in scope with the myriad of plots and subplots as I would like because I don’t have the space to go into that level of detail. I have just enough time to one major plot with a character arc and then I’m pretty much out of space. How can I expand my stories out more so that they can breathe and not feel like I’m putting too much in and making them too busy?

Now, the final statement of the review isn’t a criticism. As long as I can balance all the elements, like I did for this reader, then it will work fine. However, as you can tell from this blog entry, I tend to be quite detailed and meticulous and I often want to imitate the complexities that I read in my favorite authors (Brandon Sanderson, Tad Williams, Elizabeth Moon, and Robert Jordan) in short form where as all of these writers are primarily long form writers.

My goal is to work on my stories to get them to where the reviewer would like to see them turned into novels as he/she does for the last two stories reviewed. That’s ultimately where I’m going anyway, so if the reviewer notes that that story could be the entry chapter in a novel (or expanded out into a novel), then I’ll know that I’m on the right track with getting my stories where I want them to be.

Broadswords and Blasters

The 2nd review is from an online market that I think I’ve submitted a story to in the past called Broadswords and Blasters. No, they didn’t take whatever story I sent them, but I don’t think it was HawkeMoon that was submitted (but I’d have to check my submissions via Duotrope to be sure). They had a much longer review (with criticism) of the issue as a whole, but I’ll just repost my review (again, for commentary purposes).

“HawkeMoon by Sidney Blaylock, Jr. A king has been assassinated, so the captain of the royal guard goes in search of the one master assassin who was responsible… only it turns out she wasn’t the one behind it. This story is memorable for its characters, but even more so for the ultimate villain of the piece, The Scarecrow King.” I wished the setting had been a bit more developed than it was, as it felt very much a cardboard backdrop against which the characters acted, as opposed to a fully developed world. I know, that’s a lot to ask for in a short story, but I still think the overall setting was too roughly sketched, and thus seemed fairly generic for my taste. This story is the cover story for the issue, and I can absolutely see why.”

Okay, so there’s a lot to dig into here. First off, the characters. It is gratifying to here that the reviewer responded to the characters. While I did focus on them, they weren’t completely my focus like with a couple of my stories. Yet, hearing that the characters were the most memorable parts of the story really heartens me and helps me think that when I focus on characterization (& not just the cool visuals/plots happening), I can create a story that is interesting and intriguing to the reader. Now the criticism–the reviewer did not like my world–he/she thought it was too “sketchy” and underdeveloped. It is a fair criticism. I did have a more detailed world in mind, but it didn’t get from my mind on to the page. The world was supposed to be a mix of traditional fantasy lands, kings, knights, guards, but with the beginning of the new (German) renaissance–burghers, merchants, mayors, etc., just beginning to come into play, with an Old Town (more like a medieval village) and a New Town (more like the early modern Germanic towns in which the “Kris Kringle” legend sprang up (without the guns/gunpowder of the period). However, I couldn’t figure out how to work that into the story without a great big exposition info dump. The best I could come up with was having New Town be where the castle and townspeople were located and Old Town being more like a rundown fishing village.

Still, this criticism is both valid and constructive and I can use it. I knew that the world I had in the story seemed generic, but chose to ignore that fact. Now what I plan to do is identify places where I think the story is weak and see if there is a solution that addresses the weakness in some small way to at least alleviate, if not fix, the problem area in the story.

Sure, as writers we’d like to have perfect feedback, but now I’m learning that world building, while not really a weakness, may be a bit sketchy for me as I focus on characters and characterization. It’s something that I know I need to be aware of going forward to make sure my stories are the best they can be and so I can get reviewers to want to say that they’d love to see my stories as novels (or as the beginning chapters) to a novel.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • The Independent  (Sci-Fi Short-Story)–
    3rd Draft of 3 Drafts 
    Revising Section 3 (of 3)
  • Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel 
    Finished: Script, Issue #1
    Next: Script, Issue #2

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