My short story, "White Light," appears live on Amazon Shorts for 14 days. If you're somewhat of a writer and have been looking for a good, growing online writing community, join Gather. And while you're at it, why not visit the "White Light" page and rate it. If you do, I'll send you Bogart, my carrier pigeon, strapped with a Thank You note and a strand of the Manny Pacquiao armpit hair I've been trying to sell (quite unsuccessully) on eBay.
Seriously, don't listen to my blather and please just rate it.
I wrote it one warm, brownout evening while we all sat in the shadows. I was trying to read Stephen King's On Writing on my PDA and when I gazed up to look at the candlelight, the seed for the story struck me: What if story ideas were specks of light fluttering like fireflies in the darkness, that any writer could pluck and, instantly, there's a powerful story in his head and all he needed to do is write it down without having to think it up. Easy.
I admit what motivated me to write it was laziness. I'm more of a slacker than a writer; the truth is, although I love telling stories, I hate writing them down in a coherent, disciplined, consistent manner. In the same way I hate classrooms and studying under a professor (see Exhibit A of my chronic folly in "Out of Place") in a coherent, scheduled, consistent manner. Maybe I haven't found my voice, yet, and maybe I won't. So you can imagine how seductive it would be for me to just go into a room filled with white specks of light/story ideas, "pluck" them out of thin air, and exclaim Voila! like what those fake Italian chefs do in tomato sauce commercials.
So visit my story's page on Gather and please rate it. I'm feeling saucy today I think I'll even give you my sister's puppy.
3 comments:
"If you're not on Gather, you're not part of the conversation" from the Gather website.
alright, that was downright snobbish dont you think? When all I wanted to do was to rate your short story. "It pays to be on Gather!" Whoa! talk about exclusiveness! :)
Anyway, I've read "White Light" and find it very interesting. Your first commentator was confused. It was rather confusing at first. Based on experience, when I get into such mode, I flip the pages. So, I read the last eps, and man, I found how interesting your story was! It reminds me of Agatha Christie's "Destination Unknown" novel (1983). I admire the way you describe the pain felt by your character. I can even play it in mind. That's the real beauty of writing, you affect the senses of your reader. V
"If you're not on Gather, you're not part of the conversation" from the Gather website.
alright, that was downright snobbish dont you think? When all I wanted to do was to rate your short story. "It pays to be on Gather!" Whoa! talk about exclusiveness! :)
Anyway, I've read "White Light" and find it very interesting. Your first commentator was confused. It was rather confusing at first. Based on experience, when I get into such mode, I flip the pages. So, I read the last eps, and man, I found how interesting your story was! It reminds me of Agatha Christie's "Destination Unknown" novel (1983). I admire the way you describe the pain felt by your character. I can even play it in mind. That's the real beauty of writing, you affect the senses of your reader. V
hello vandugen, i think the lady who made the comment on gather has nailed it; i also think it should have been made more compact and tight, but i was just too lazy to change anything. or maybe it's her fault, too, for failing to get the tense shifts; 21 Grams is worse in this kind of shifting, but it got an award and i love it. maybe "White Light" is waiting for the right kind of person to understand it; or maybe im just being too childish to take negative opinion.
anyway, i really appreciate the kind words. i havent read any of agatha christie's novels, but i think she's great because you just compared her to me (he he!). but im aware of some of the weaknesses of this work, as well as its peculiar strengths (personally, i like better the latter half of it). anyway, lesson learned...
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