Flash Fiction: The Secret
I’d always been told to keep it to myself.
Keep it locked away.
What might happen if it fell into the wrong hands? I didn’t want to know. That could be catastrophic. A disaster great enough to dissolve worlds and destroy life as I knew it.
Securing the door–all eight locks–I made sure nothing could escape, no matter how hard it tried. It was mine to protect, mine to hide. The air was thick and musty, like the lingering heaviness after a storm. An unbearable stillness filled the room and the banging from inside the door echoed like long forgotten thunder.
Let me free, it screamed.
I stopped, wondering if anyone was privy to the truth. Did they know what was hidden here?
Behind the door, there were murmurs. It was rowdy and unrelenting, in constant demand of being let loose. The screams and shouts might be muffled, but they still pleaded for attention. Begged for it. All I could do was pretend they were but memories from another time and will myself to forget.
Let me free, it screamed again.
If somehow it was unleashed…Could it be?
I stared, wondering if there was a way to unhinge the locks and let it out as it wished. Perhaps then it wouldn’t yell so much, wouldn’t cry so much, or cause me such worry. But this was earth-shattering, something that could break walls and create them just as easily. Letting it escape wouldn’t be so simple. It would be a challenge unlike any other, too difficult to handle, too much for me to take.
So, I stepped away, letting its howl sear into my brain.
I’d keep it locked up like I’d always been told.
Hidden from everyone but me.
Going with the Flow
I’m a simple girl. I like cats. I like chocolate. I don’t like when plans fall through. But this is publishing, people. Nothing you plan really works out the way you expected. We’ve all been there- assuming or expecting one outcome and then something else entirely happens. Heck, I was supposed to have out-sold JK Rowling by now. But what can you do?
Well, I’ve found the best way to combat exceedingly high expectations or the anticipation of that monumental first leap is to just go with the flow. I know, I know, kind of hippie-dippie but honestly, this has helped curb my writer-crazy considerably. I took a page out of my personal discoveries book and applied it to writer life. Whatever happens, happens. Hakuna matata.
You wrote your wicked awesome novel and now you have to let the world do with it what they will. Sign it, publish it, ridicule it, love it, share it, hate it. Things like this are going to happen regardless of how much you worry about them or not. You did your best, so instead of feeling like you’ve been let down or passed over, just know that everything happens for a reason. Maybe it’s not your time. Or not THE book. And that’s okay.
I get that this philosophy is hard to embrace and sometimes even hard to understand but it’s worked really well for me. That doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced disappointment or plans that fall apart, still. I’m human. I have hopes and dreams and sometimes those things don’t work out like I thought. Sometimes it’s hard to accept. But if you stay true to yourself and your personal and professional goals, everything will turn out right in the end.
So, write what you love, take a deep breath and put it out there for the world to see! You got this 🙂
Reading Your Feelings
I’m looking for more YA books (all genres welcome!) to add to my TBR and thought in return for any suggestions, I’d give some recs as well. I’ll categorize them by overall mood they provided me but since reading is subjective and everyone experiences books differently you can take that with a grain of salt. With that said, I really enjoyed all of these for one reason or another and I hope you do too!
Happy
I’ll Give You the Sun – Jandy Nelson
Ask the Passengers – AS King
Leviathan – Scott Westerfield
Love in a Time of Global Warming – Francesca Lia Block
A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab
Simon Vs The Homosapien Agenda – Becky Albertalli
The Girl From Everywhere – Heidi Helig
Girl Mans Up – M-E Girard
Lumberjanes – Noelle Stevenson et al
Bittersweet
Proxy – Alex London
Far From You – Tess Sharpe
Openly Straight – Bill Konigsberg
Every Day – David Leviathan
Brooklyn, Burning – Steven Brezenoff
If I was Your Girl – Meredith Russo
Two Boys Kissing – David Leviathan
Everything, Everything – Nicola Yoon
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
Sad
All the Bright Places – Jennifer Niven
The 5th Wave – Richard Yancey
Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
This Is Where It Ends – Marieke Nijkamp
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Pantomime – Laura Lam
This One Summer – Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
Angry
Grasshopper Jungle – Andrew Smith
The Summer I Wasn’t Me – Jessica Verdi
We All Looked Up – Tommy Wallach
Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender – Leslye Walton
The Wrath and the Dawn, Renee Ahdieh
Firsts – Laurie Elizabeth Finn
Gena/Finn – Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson
Suspense / Shock
We Were Liars – E Lockhart
Naughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman
Vicious – V E. Schwab
The Walls Around Us – Nova Ren Suma
Bone Gap – Laura Ruby
Illuminae – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The Love That Split The World – Emily Henry
The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
Not Your Sidekick – CB Lee
If you have a recommendation (or a few!), please feel free to leave it! Happy reading! Or sad reading, or angry reading. Whatever type of reading is fine so long as you’re reading!
Shifting Gears: A Spec Fic Writer’s Journey to Contemporary
If you follow my blog, or twitter account, or know me even a little bit, you’ll know that I’m a speculative fiction writer. I mostly write alternate history but I have been known to dabble in scifi and fantasy. As I’ve surely said before, I enjoy these genres because they allow for easy escapism. The worlds do not exist but while writing or reading them, they feel real and for a short time I can lose myself in wondrous places and it doesn’t cost me a dime 😉 After all, I’m a dreamer. Being able to explore different historical, technological, or magical elements in a given story excites me. Sometimes I do all of the above! What I’m saying is, I’m pretty much wired to write spec fic.
I also looove to read spec fic and enjoy experiencing the imagination of others. There’s so many incredible stories out there! I’ve read quite a few spec fics over time, but within the last year I’ve started to read a lot more contemporary. GASP, I KNOW. It was never an interest of mine before, to be honest. I live in a contemporary setting and I didn’t find the stories I picked up stretched my brain much, if any.
But then I started finding more and more contemporaries that really spoke to me. So I explored the genre further and further and further — and now I’m hooked. So hooked in fact that I’m WRITING A CONTEMPORARY. Okay, I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath. I realize that was quite a revelation, but it’s a good thing!
Reflecting on my reading habits from days gone by, I think I didn’t connect with contemps was because I hadn’t really found the right STUFF. I didn’t see me on the page and so I didn’t bother looking for others, but now after reading the likes of Jandy Nelson, Tess Sharpe, Jenny Han, Andrew Smith, AS King, Rainbow Rowell, etc., I finally GET IT.
Writing contemporary is a whole different animal from writing spec fic. First of all…THERE’S TEXTING. I cannot express how much this excites me! After writing stories with no cell phones, or no phones period, it’s nice to have this communication of convenience available to me. I also find the voice can blossom more from personality and less from the time period. There’s also the ability to reference pop culture (of course, not so much to date the story– or me!) and current events which is wicked awesome. The whole thing is like exploring the real world from behind the scenes!
Although right now this story is primarily an exercise in craft and fun, it’s a challenge that’s helping me grow as a writer and maybe some day (*fingers crossed*) it’s a story I can share with others 🙂
Pitch Wars Mentee 2014
Awards
