Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: Writing


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More writing, more stories

Some people make their plans for the new year in December, but I still have this schoolboy attitude, to me the new year begins in September.
Or something.
Anyway, I think I mentioned my idea about writing more stories, and submitting them to magazines and anthologies and publishers. Sort of a good proposition for the coming year.
Well, the experiment is working.
In the last thirty days I have submitted five stories to as many publishers, for a total of about 20.000 words.
Two thrillers.
Two science fiction shorts.
One horror story.
This not counting the things I wrote for my Patrons, and my other stuff that I will self-publish, or my gaming material.

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Not bad, but it could be better.
What I would like to do would be to double that number, settling for 10 stories per month, roughly 40.000 words, while keeping the bouncing stories circulating.
It’s a tough call, but I think I can do it.
Right now, I’m revising a story I’ll submit tonight.
Then I have five more calls aligned over the next two months.
It’s a start.
The trick will be do this while still working on my other stuff, my stories and games and translations.
But after all, that’s the way it’s got to be if I want to pay my bills and get out of this place.

I wish to thank my friends, my readers and my supporters that have pointed out new markets, new resources and new open calls to me.
You know who you are guys, and you are helping me a lot.
Thank you.


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Pulp fairies

Cenerentola_ARI have just mailed my publisher a 10.000 words story called Away with the Fairies, a hard boiled, noirish retelling of The Three Fairies, a rather gruesome version of the old Cinderella tale from the 17th century.

In the original story, a girl meets an ogre, travels to the underworld and meets three fairies. They reward her for her kindness. When her evil stepmother tries to befriend the fairies and get herself and her ugly daughter a reward she is punished.
The girl then meets a prince,m and they fall in love, but the evil stepmother interferes again, and the prince is about to marry the ugly stepsister.
But a fairy cat intervenes, and in the end stepmother and stepsister die a very ugly death, and everybody else lives happily ever after. Continue reading →


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Obsolete media

You can’t do a post saying the war is over, that another (local) war starts.

Italian economist and politician Carlo Calenda revealed in an interview that he is not allowing his kids to play videogames, “so they won’t grow up illiterate.”
This was expressed as a personal opinion, and followed by the admission that he is not an expert, and indeed is looking for books to get into the issue and learn more about it.
Which is a rather healthy attitude from a parent, all things considered – I’m not sure, I want to know more, I’m looking for resources on the issue, meanwhile I apply a moratorium.
But the reaction was a blast.
Poor Carlo Calenda would have had it easier had he announced he was favourable to slavery, or that he believes the earth is flat. Or had he simply said he is not allowing his kids to be vaccinated right now, because he’s no expert and he’s looking for books to learn more on the subject before he takes a definitive decision.

And I agree that a politician should be more careful when expressing personal opinions, but it’s not this I want to talk about. Let’s keep politics and economy out of this thing. What I want to talk about is the objection, that some nerdz presented, that of course a gamer would shy away from books – because games are fast and furious and fun, while books are a slow medium.
The implication being, the written word is surpassed and obsolete, its slowness of fruition being a negative factor.

But really, who says that fast is always better than slow?
I’m not so sure. Continue reading →


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Very short stories

Short stories are tough.
There is this sort of… not really a debate, more like a feud, between those that Novels are proper literature, short stories are for losers and those that short stories are the true distillation of talent, any hack can write a 1000-pages trilogy given enough time and coffee.
Both are wrong, of course, and both are right, because the fact is, it’s not a binary system – there’s a whole lot of shades and issues there.

I write mostly short stories and novellas.
I feel comfortable with the word-count, and they make for reasonably fast writing, meaning I can sell them quick and keep the creditors at bay.
Sometimes I write longer stuff.
All formats have their pros and cons.
My favorite word-count is probably within the 8.000-to-12.000 words range. Shorter, I usually feel cramped, longer, I usually need a lot of time and planning and things get somewhat rambling. Continue reading →


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Nailed it!

I am happy to announce that I suddenly nailed a perfect idea for the mainstream/realistic/whatever novel I’ve been asked to write for a major editor, and that will be the subject of my NaNoSortaWriMo.
The idea is solid and fun, and while certainly appealing to a mainstream audience, it will still be my sort of story. Just a little less action and a little more structure.
But it opens with a scene involving a mechanical velociraptor.
Because you know me.

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Anyway, I’m quite happy with the first 1000-odd words, and I am going reasonably strong.
This is going to be quite an adventure.


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When summer is nearly over and kids start heading back to school, you know that three seasons are quickly coming up: pumpkin spice season, the holiday season, and novel writing season. For those who are a part of the writing world, writers can look forward to the 3-Day Novel Contest in September and National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November. Here’s how to be successful in novel writing season.

via Tips on How to Get Through 3- Day Novel: A Writing Marathon — Act the Giddy Goat