“Beached” appears at Wily Writers

April 22, 2013 By

The second [story], “Beached”, takes place in the throes of ecological apocalypse. The protagonist, a skin-changer, is not the only cryptid in the story, but the story is hers. In the intersection of the hidden and the human, what happens when the boundaries shift? That’s what author Nicole Feldringer is asking, and the answers her creature arrives at may surprise you.” ~ Richard Dansky, guest editor

Brendan Kelly, NSF

Portrait of Nattiq (photo by Brendan Kelly, NSF)

I was thrilled upon learning that Richard Dansky was slated as the guest editor for the cryptofiction theme at Wily Writers, as he wrote my favorite story in Dark Faith, “The Mad Eyes of the Heron King.” And then doubly (triply? quadruply?) thrilled when my story “Beached” was accepted for publication. You can read it online, though I recommend listening to the audio version; Angel does a wonderful job with the narration. The story is also available via iTunes, on the Wily Writers podcast, if you’d prefer to download it to your iPod.

I used to claim my expertise in climate science didn’t influence my writing. I was clearly deluding myself. The premise behind this particular story was inspired by my colleagues’ research. They studied projections of snow thickness on Arctic sea ice, which is critical for the reproductive cycle of ringed seals. Lack of snowfall means that the seals are unable to dig dens atop the sea ice and keep their pups safe from polar bears. And I got to wondering how this particular climate change impact would affect mythological Arctic species, such as selkies and cryptids.

Here’s a press release from the University, if you’re curious about the science.

I drafted “Beached” while at Viable Paradise. Much about the writing exercise was not particularly my bag, and I’m a little embarrassed to think how much I must have groused to my roomies and neighbors (sorry, gang!). I probably produced one of the shorter student pieces. But for all that, I’m proud of the final product, and that it’s appearing at Wily Writers, under the delightful stewardship of Angel Leigh McCoy. Many thanks to Angel for the lovely narration as well.

I hope you enjoy the story.

Filed Under: Short fiction Tagged With: , , , , ,

Harstine Writers Retreat

April 15, 2013 By

Sorry for the blog silence; I’ve been working on my PhD dissertation. I also attended another writers retreat. Where I worked on my dissertation. There’s a theme here.

Since I’ll be leaving Washington soon, I’m very motivated to say yes to everything, in spite of stressful dissertations. This time “yes” meant hanging out at a ridiculous house in south Puget Sound, with kayaks and indoor totem poles and outdoor hot tubs and grass-fed steaks from Idaho and pomegranate margaritas and most excellent company. Many thanks to Kath for organizing, and to Sara, Dawn, Mary, Mickey, Amy, and Anne for their creativity and camaraderie. I was very pleased with my progress over the weekend. The magic of the writers retreat strikes again!

Some pics:

Writers writing

Writers writing

South Puget Sound at our doorstep

South Puget Sound at our doorstep

Mutual admiration society reunion

Mutual admiration society reunion

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: , ,

Back from Rainforest Writers Village

March 18, 2013 By

… and finally on the upswing from flu/bronchitis/whooping cough, whatever circle of hell I’ve been living or dying in this past week.

Rainforest was fabulous, as it is. Patrick does a bang-up job organizing. The company is wonderful, and I loved seeing so many friendly faces and being able to converse for bouts longer than 140 characters. The trail running was so great that I went every day.

In addition to plenty of writing time, there were optional talks by pros. Here are some tidbits of advice I picked up:

  • A strong character is individual, plausible, and active ~ Nancy Kress
  • Inconsistency and lack of detail are the two most common worldbuilding problems. Politics, technology, geography, and economics need to be worked out in advance, in broad strokes at least. Details can be incorporated in later drafts. On second draft, focus on consistency and vividness. Show your characters interacting with the worldbuilding. In the beginning, it’s more important to be interesting than clear. ~ Nancy Kress
  • Write to two themed anthologies, the second deadline about three months after the first. This keeps you from writing to the center of any theme, and your story is more appealing, more fresh, as a result. Also, write to the word count that intersects both calls. ~ Mae Empson
  • Give yourself the opportunity to be both mean and kind to yourself ~ Mark Teppo
  • If you’re unhappy with your tale, or stuck, it may be a symptom that your story and plot have diverged. When this happens, you have to decide which is most important to you to keep as is. When you know that, you can test the secondary elements in the tale to see if there’s an adjustment that both fixes the problem and makes you happy. If doesn’t work, try to put your finger on the point where the tale broke, and see, with the benefit of hindsight, if there’s any wiggle room there. Tweak non-load-bearing plot elements to make it work the way you want. Note, there may not be a solution. And maybe there doesn’t have to be, if your plot is so hell-on-wheels that people will love it regardless. ~ Susan Matthews (2012, because I found last year’s notes)
  • Outlining can be a progression of questions. What does the character want and need? What happens next, why is this happening, what do they want? Whether or not the character gets what they want can have four outcomes: Yes, but; No, and; Yes; No. The first two make things worse and sets up new questions. The second two are endings, happy and sad, respectively. ~ Mary Robinette Kowal (2012, because I found last year’s notes). See also Wendy Wagner’s Inkpunks post and Episode 7.50 of Writing Excuses.

But that’s just Rainforest. There was also Kelly’s visit to Seattle (Fly Moon Royalty, Ravenna Woods, The Local Strangers, and Kithkin at a funky little art gallery in So-Do; some of my favorite watering holes like Fremont Brewery and Chuck’s Hop Shop), and my 24-hour academic bender in Boulder (the talk went really well, still waiting to hear back about the postdoc), and meeting up with Phoebe, who was in the neighborhood for her own writer’s retreat. Which was wonderful and random. We had teriyaki.

Related Posts

Quiet time in the Rainforest
Away at the Rainforest Writers Village

Filed Under: Events, Process Tagged With: , , , ,

Code for home

February 27, 2013 By

Yesterday I received my first postdoctoral fellowship offer. It’s for two years of salary, awarded directly to me, for a proposal that I wrote. I will not have a boss, but a host–the point being that I can follow my own research passions, rather than those of someone else. Academically and intellectually, it’s a thrilling opportunity, the top tier of postdocs. It’s a hell of a lot more money than I’ve made in grad school.

It’s not in Seattle.

I can’t tell if that sinking feeling in my stomach is just nerves over having to make a decision about postdocs and defend my dissertation and all of this compressed over the next couple of months, or if I should be legitimately second guessing my career plans and what I want from life. Probably both.

I realize this sounds ridiculous, but I’m crushed at the idea of having to leave my gym. I suspect “gym” is just code for “Seattle” in this case. But I’ve just found it, after a bit of a hiatus from martial arts, and of course the school teaches a style of kung fu that is taught nowhere else in the world. I’m falling in love with a sweaty room filled with punching bags, and with Seattle all over again.

I don’t have to make any decisions immediately, but they’ll come soon enough. Next week I’ll be giving an invited talk in Boulder (I have a postdoc fellowship pending there as well), and then I will rush back to Seattle and Kelly so that we can roadtrip out to the Rainforest Writers Retreat. I think I’ll be doing a lot of dashing, these coming months.

Somehow this will all get figured out, but right now I feel both excited and sad. It is nice to have an offer in my back pocket. I wish that offer came with a Space Needle and crummy weather.

Related Posts

Quiet time in the Rainforest
Away at the Rainforest Writers Village

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , ,

Quick start guide to beta reading

February 16, 2013 By

In the last seven minutes of the sixth episode of The Story Board, Mary Robinette Kowal and Patrick Rothfuss talk about beta readers. It struck me as a useful, straightforward approach, and I wanted to draw attention to it:

Fast forward to 1:05. What I like about Mary’s advice is how simple it is. She asks readers to note the following: (1) things that bored them, (2) things that confused them, (3) things they did not believe, (4) things they thought were cool. Plus any stream-of-consciousness comments. That’s it.

Mary refers to this as Orson Scott Card’s Wise Reader approach (p. 121-124, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy). Card also includes questions such as: What did you think about such-and-such character? What do you think will happen next? For a fragment of the novel, the answer to the second question tells you how you’re doing in terms of foreshadowing, setting up tension, and predictability.

Card (and Mary and Patrick) emphasizes that beta readers are first and foremost readers; whether or not they are themselves writers is somewhat beside the point. Reader reactions are valid because they are reporting their honest experience of the work.

I’m fascinated by the topic because I exchange beta reads with my fellow writers, and I spend a lot of time thinking about what kind of feedback is most useful. If you want more awesome writing advice from Mary (along with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells), I highly recommend the podcast Writing Excuses. I’ve been listening to the podcast since its inception, long before Mary joined the crew, and find it to be a valuable resource.

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Ten tips to a valuable beta read by author Corrine Jackson

Filed Under: Process Tagged With:
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