Did They Really Say That?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

“The Beauty of Wynona” is the only historical fiction story I’ve written, so I’m certainly no expert on this sub-genre.  That said, this story taught me a lot about writing such stories.  “The Beauty of Wynona” is set in 18th century England.  I’m no expert in that place or time period, so I conducted a considerable amount of research.  By the time I finished the first draft of my story, I thought I had the world accurately portrayed.  How easy it is to delude yourself.

When I sent the first draft out for comments, I received several comments about the historical setting.  The general consensus was that I did a decent job of capturing the time period, but for some reviewers, a few things were off, e.g., how the various social classes addressed each other in conversation.  None of these things torpedoed the story itself, but they pulled a knowledgeable reader out of his/her suspension of reality.  Fortunately, these were easy to fix with some targeted research. 

The most interesting comment that I received, however, was that my first-person narrator used terms that didn’t exist in the chosen time period.  For example, my first-draft narrator used the word “paranormal,” which didn’t exist in the 1870s (it was first used in the 1920s).  A variety of other terms and phrases also were not yet coined.  Most readers wouldn’t notice (and in even this case no other reviewer commented) or particularly care about this discrepancy, but it was important to me that I get it right.  Fortunately the critiquer provided a link to an online resource with just information I needed: the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 

While they don’t always have every word I’m looking for, this site has become my go-to place for word origins, especially time period of first use.  As a logophile (not in Merriam-Websters, for example), I’m fascinated with the origin of words, and sometimes I find myself just looking up words while I’m writing to learn their origin and date of first use.  For anyone writing historical fiction, I recommend the Merriam-Webster site.  It might be a small, nitpicking detail to get the language right, but I think it goes a long way to giving the story credibility, especially if you use a first person narrator.

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“The Beauty of Wynona” Goes Live….Sort Of

Posted on October 15, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

“The Beauty of Wynona,” my novelette set in 18th century England, is in the October issue of Lacuna…or at least it will be once the editor sorts out a publishing glitch.  A few of the stories apparently got lost in the publishing queue, but Ms. Arkenberg is working to sort it all out, and my story, set at an English country manor, should be available soon (Note: everything is up and running now).

This story was great fun to write, and I got to channel my inner Jeeves to capture the voice I wanted for the narrator: a gentleman’s gentleman to a world-famous portraitist.  Here’s an excerpt to whet your interest:

           Our carriage jerked to a stop before wide stairs leading up to the pillared entrance of Penketh Manor, the country estate of Mr. Prufit and his new wife.  The end of our long journey north from London should have been a joyous occasion, but Master Hurlock, the world’s foremost portraitist, frowned as he squinted out into the afternoon sunlight. 
           “I am not up for this, Stevens.”  Master Hurlock drew back from the carriage window, letting the curtain drop and casting us back into shadow.  A man of modest build and swarthy complexion, he looked unusually small in the darkness of the carriage, as if he had been reduced under the weight of his concerns.
          I had initially attributed my master’s recent melancholy to an imbalance of humors, but of late, I had begun to suspect that he had taken recent allegations, always spoken under breath, to heart. 

To read the rest of “The Beauty of Wynona,” head over to Lacuna, and while you’re visiting, check out the other stories in the October issue.  Lacuna publishes some very good historical speculative fiction and wonderful period artwork to accompany the stories.   I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Proofs and a Possible Title Change

Posted on October 14, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

Last week I received the proofs for my story “Dreams in Dust” from John Joseph Adams, editor of Lightspeed Magazine.  They looked good, with only a few minor edits.

Mr. Adams asked if I would consider a title change for the story, which is perfectly fine with me.  I’ve never cared for the current title, and I settled on it only by default when I still had no title and was ready to submit it (the story originally had the ungainly title “Water Dreaming in the Sea of Dust”).  Mr. Adams made a few suggestions, and I’ve been wracking my brain for several days.  On Friday, I pitched it out to my writing group, Hopefull Monsters.  They had some good ideas, but none of them seemed quite right, so I locked myself in a room today and did some brainstorming, finally coming up with “Dust, Devils, and the Mechanist’s Dream.”  I’m not sure yet how I feel about it yet, but I think it’s better than what I had.  We’ll see how I feel about it tomorrow.

My story, with whatever title I eventually settle on, will appear in the December issue of Lightspeed.

Posted in Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hopefull Monster News

Posted on October 9, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

It’s a been a busy few weeks for members of my writer’s group, Hopefull Monsters.

Colum Paget sold his story “The Unfortunate Necessity of Regular Upgrades” to Kasma SF.  Kasma is a fantastic up-and-coming small market that has published good stories from some good writers, including Robert J. Sawyer and Ken Liu.  I also happened to have had the lead story in their inaugural issue a few years ago.  Be sure to check out Kasma SF and Colum’s story when it comes out.

D.J. Cockburn sold a reprint of “Summer Holidays” to the Dark Side of the Womb Anthology to be published by Cruentus Libri Press.  I don’t know much about them, but this is a horror anthology that looks like it might be a good one.

Rich Zwicker sold his story “Other Wishes” to the podcasting site Tales of Old.  They specialize in historical and alternate history fiction, and Rich describes “Other Wishes” as his take on the classic horror story “The Monkey’s Paw.”

Finally, and not least, Michael Vella’s story “Valletta City of Guilt” is now available at World SF Blog.  This alternate history story about an Englishman in Malta is one of my favorite stories written by Michael (and any of the Hopefull Monsters, for that matter).  Be sure to check it out.

Posted in Hopefull Monsters | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Traveling, Writing, Traveling

Posted on October 7, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

I’m on the road again; this time with the family.  It’s a short trip—only a few days—and we’re traveling through the Willamette Valley of Oregon visiting friends and just generally looking around.  It’s a beautiful place.

I’ve been writing, too—more so than over the last few weeks which have been busy, busy, busy at the day job.  I’m revising a story that bothered me when I first wrote it.  I still find it somewhat disturbing, but I’m beginning to embrace it and to love the characters.  That’s a good sign for the story.  Hopefully it’ll be a good one when it’s finished.

Posted in Travel, Writing | Leave a comment

Inspiration: “My Mask, Humanity”

Posted on October 5, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

Frequent readers of my site know I like to write a post about the inspiration for each of my published stories.  While often no single thing inspires a complete story, I can usually pinpoint one or two things that were important inspirations.  “My Mask, Humanity,” which posted today at Daily Science Fiction for free online reading is an exception. 

I don’t know where this story came from.  One day, the idea of guy who could mimic other people popped into my head, along with a first line, “My mistress calls me her mimic.”  The rest of the story fell together quickly after that, and I sat down and wrote the first draft of “My Mask, Humanity” in just two sittings.

While I don’t know the inspiration for the story itself, I can say that this story was influenced by writings of fellow Hopefull Monster, Colum Paget.  Colum writes a lot of dark, high-tech stories, and this story follows in a similar vein.  I’m not sure why it went that way—I don’t usually write stories quite like this one—but I’m very happy with the results.  This story also happens to contain one of my favorite scenes that I’ve ever written; I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but it involves a restroom on Titan.

If you haven’t already, head over to Daily Science Fiction and check out “My Mask, Humanity.”  It will be the featured story on the DSF front page over the weekend of October 5-8 and can be found their archive after that.  I hope you enjoy it.

Posted in Inspiration, Writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Thanks for the Kind Words

Posted on October 2, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

I’ve gotten used to people I don’t know critiquing my stories.  It’s happened numerous times now with several of my stories.  Usually I’ll stumble across the review—sometimes they have nice things to say, and other times it seems like they didn’t even read my story.  These reviews are impersonal, and if I hadn’t stumbled across them (or gotten a Google alert), I would never have known they existed.

With “My Mask, Humanity” something a little different has happened.  I’ve gotten some wonderfully complimentary emails from readers (not to mention some nice comments on an earlier post).  One reader even reviewed my story on his website, and said it was a story he “won’t soon forget.”  Wow.  I’m happy just to get a story out there that doesn’t entirely suck, so it’s especially gratifying to hear that a reader really enjoyed something I wrote. 

So to all of you who dropped me an email, or left me comment on my site, or clicked that you liked my story on the Daily Science Fiction Facebook page, or posted a review, thank you for the kind words.  They are appreciated.

Posted in Science Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Inspiration: “The Last Horse”

Posted on September 30, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

“The Last Horse,” appearing in the September 2012 issue of Aoife’s Kiss, has been out for a while, but I haven’t had time to say much about it because the day job has been keeping me busy recently. 

All of my stories are special to me, but this one more so because it was inspired by my daughter.  When she was three, we took a trip to visit family in the western part of New York state.  While there, we went to visit the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum in Tonawanda, New York (warning: be prepared for annoying music if you follow the link!).  In addition to fascinating exhibits on the carving of carousel horses, the museum had two historic carousels and my daughter rode and rode them, grinning the whole time.  She was smitten by them, and for the rest of trip, we visited carousel after carousel—a half-dozen of them at least—across multiple states.  I still have fond memories of picking out our horses together, climbing into the saddles, and going round and round to the calliope music. 

I was so impressed by the beauty of these machines, I decided to write a fantasy story about carousels and magic.  The craftsmanship that went into each horse inspired the idea that the only thing stopping them from galloping off the platform was that they lacked an actual spirit within to bring them alive.  The final piece of the story came together when I saw a Gideon’s bible in our hotel room. 

Upon returning home, I wrote the first draft, a sprawling 15,000-word manuscript that had way too much detail about carousels (I did a great deal of research through the National Carousel Association).  A lot of cutting and focusing got me to the final story.  I hope you enjoy “The last Horse” (you’ll need to buy a copy of Aoife’s Kiss to do so), and I hope it allows you to see at these historic pieces of Americana in a different light.

Posted in Inspiration, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“My Mask, Humanity” Will Mail Soon

Posted on September 27, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

If you want to get a copy of my story “My Mask, Humanity” before most of the rest of the world sees it, you have a little time left to subscribe to Daily Science Fiction.  If you don’t subscribe in time, all is not lost.  In a week it will be available for free reading on the DSF website.

Posted in Writing | Tagged , | 5 Comments

A Quick Update

Posted on September 24, 2012 by D. Thomas Minton

Wow!  It’s been almost a week since I last posted here.  I usually try to write something every two-to-three days, but this last week I’ve simply been unable to find the time.  The day job has kicked into a higher gear over the last month (50-60 hour weeks), and I barely have time to write anything.  With what writing time I do have, I’ve focused on getting some backlogged stories finished.

I do have a quick piece of news.  I received the proof for my story “My Mask, Humanity,” which is set to email from Daily Science Fiction on Friday.  If you want to receive it, you’ll need to subscribe to DSF.  It’s free, and every weekday they’ll deliver a speculative fiction story to your inbox.  It’s a great way to start the day, so I recommend you give it try…no later than this Thursday, of course.  Alternatively you can wait a week (October 5th) and read my story when it’s posted on their website.  Either way, I hope you don’t miss.

Posted in Writing | Tagged , | 3 Comments