Strange Horizons Fiction: The Serial Killer's Astronaut Daughter, by Damien Angelica Walters

Another fantastic story on Strangehorizons. I should make a donation to this wonderful magazine this year.

Great use of First person POV / Present tense. I like the edgy humour, the beautiful tight wording. The way the dialogue brings characters to life. The stunning TITLE for this story. How could you read the words 'The Serial Killer's Astronaut Daughter' and NOT want to read on?

I checked the author's website and was surprised to find some other work that sits in the Horror camp. A couple of other pieces I read were a lot darker than this. Then again, there's a dark and interesting undertow in this story.

Strange Horizons Fiction: The Serial Killer's Astronaut Daughter, by Damien Angelica Walters:

'via Blog this'

Part 5 of 5 part story challenge

Final part of fantastic story prompt from Chuck Wendig - Flash Fiction Challenge - 200 words at a time - part five

Silk 

Part 1 by   murgatroid-98    Part 2 -  LC Hu    Part 3 - Jeremy Podolski    
Part 4 (and story title) - Meagan Wilson

Part 5 by Yours Truly   

Part 3 of 5 part story challenge

Part 3 of fantastic story prompt from Chuck Wendig
Flash Fiction Challenge - 200 words at a time - part three

A Gifted Wizard 

Part 1 by  Andrew Linder - Part 2 by  Caitlin McColl

Part 3 by yours truly - 

Part 2 of 5 part story challenge

Part 2 of fantastic story prompt from Chuck Wendig
Flash Fiction Challenge - 200 words at a time - part two read more


Millions of Cats

First 200 words by Rebecca Douglas

Things never worked out according to plan when there were cats involved.  I knew that, and I should have known better than to take the job.  Either don’t try to plan or stay far from cats, and I knew which would have been better for me.  But Keelan made it all sound so easy: we just had to pick up the consignment from Alpha-Centauri 4 and take them to Exilion 17. Four days, max, and two of them in hyperspace.

Part 1 of 5 part story challenge

Great writing prompt from Terribleminds - Read More

As the portal lights flash green, Betty says, "We could knock the Moseby kid out you know. Tranquilize him. Grab the whole stash."

It's 5.30 pm and we're about to make our last jump for the day. Everyone is exhausted. But still desperate to fill the weekly quota. 

Weekly prompts and music

Just subscribed to Spotify.  And discovered great weekly prompts on Terribleminds. 

Headphones on listening to 'Sounds of Nature' - hoping my emotions, my writing, will flow out with music.

Taking baby steps. 

Just one Flash every week. Minimum. Doesn't matter how stupid and dull and boring it is. Just need to get down one Flash every week. 

And keep finding the joy in experimenting, in discovering what moves me.

Begin with the Antagonist

Advice from writer Kristen Lamb -

In the early stages of building a story, develop the antagonist first. Don't start off with the hero. Must experiment with this.  Also, the thing about antagonists ? Evil is more interesting than goodness. So maybe starting off with the more 'interesting' character gives you more writing inspiration ? 

With no clear antagonist, it is impossible to know the core story problem in need of resolution by Act Three. It’s impossible to plot (even good pantsers still have to know the story problem). It’s impossible to generate dramatic tension and what we are left with is melodrama….and a great way of getting STUCK at 30,000 words and wanting to kill ourselves and give up being novelists.

The antagonist is the beating heart of the story. He/She/It creates the crisis and the crucible that forces our protagonist to become a hero. If we don’t know the endgame, we have no idea how to insert roadblocks, create misdirection, setbacks, or drama. So if you keep getting stuck? It might not be you are lazy or fearful (I wasn’t either). It might be your foundation (the antagonist/core story problem) either isn’t there or it’s weak and unable to support the bulk of 65-100,000 words.

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/the-single-largest-cause-of-writers-block-might-not-be-what-you-believe/