Waves and Words

I love cereal.  It’s my comfort food.  Show me a box of cereal and I will show you how fast I can empty it.

But today I’m curious what you think about SERIALS.

When I was in college, I watched Days of Our Lives because…well, because it was on.  (Loved Bo and Hope, hated John and Marlena.)  But I watched it regularly because of the cliff-hangers and the fact that it picked up every day where we left off the previous days.  There was an immediate push forward in the story, no matter how ridiculous the story was.  (Marlena possessed??? SERIOUSLY???)  I was hooked.

And so now, in the immediate digital age, I’m thinking about serial fiction.  I know Stephen King did it with The Green Mile and I know there are a few others trying it, too.  I can’t understand why this hasn’t taken off.

For this reason:  nearly every day for the last two months, I’ve gotten an email or blog comment, begging for the next Noah book and/or Joe book.  The small readership that I’ve created wants more, which is an incredibly gratifying feeling – thank you for letting me know.  It helps more than you know.

But it takes time to write a story, even when I’m a pretty fast writer.  I’m about 100 pages into the next Noah book, a little less than that on the Joe book and I’ve got several other things in different stages of completion.  It’s gonna take a little bit of time to get them up.  But there’s this part of me that thinks I should break them up into smaller chunks and publish them as serials – maybe every two weeks or something like that.  Everyone wins.  I get my work out there, reader demand is met and we don’t have to watch Days of Our Lives to get our serial fix.  I know that for me, there are definitely authors I read where this would totally appeal to me.  Because I HATE waiting a year in between books and if I could have their work to read on a regular basis, I’d be thrilled.   If I could get several chapters delivered to my Kindle or Kindle app of a story that I was really into, well, that would be pretty awesome.

So here’s what I’m curious about – do serials have any appeal to you as a reader?  What structure would appeal to you?

50 pages at a time?

100 pages?

And what would you pay for that?

A buck?

Five?

ONE MILLION DOLLARS?

And if they don’t appeal to you, I’d love to know why.  Any thoughts you have on the matter would be much appreciated.  I’m not saying I’m going to do this, but I’m intrigued by the idea.

And now I’m going to go write some more…and eat some cereal…

Gerald So asked me if I’d be interested in participating in his 30 Days of the 5-2 Blog Tour in celebration of National Poetry Month.  It’s not often I’m asked to participate in something that actually, you know, seems worthwhile, so I said yes.  The poem I chose to feature is Keith Rawson’s “$25.”  Which is apparently the most popular poem on the tour.  But I think that’s because it’s a seriously cool piece of writing.  Raw and based on Keith’s own experience, it tells the story of a time when he needed money and what he had to do to get it.  For me, it’s the best kind of poetry:  sparse, vivid imagery, powerful punch.

Which is much like Keith himself.  He was kind enough to let me ask him a few questions about his work.

Your poem is called “$25.”  Was letting that nurse jab you 20 times worth $25?

20 times was a bit of an exaggeration, I think it was closer to 5 or 6 times, but it felt like 20. And, yes, it was totally worth it because I was able to go and buy groceries with the dough.

I faint when my blood is drawn.  Where do you stand on needles?

Twenty-year-old Keith would say No comment and get that camera out of my fucking face before I kick your fucking teeth in. Thirty-eight-year-old Keith hates needles with a blinding passion.

Okay – I know I’ve been absent for a few weeks, but my mom wrote me a note, so I’m good.  But seriously – this is gonna be brief – but I promise – there are new things coming in the next couple of days.  But for now:

Today is my birthday.  I’m 42 years old.

And because I get a lot of stuff backwards, I’m giving away THREAD OF HOPE for free.  It’s free over at Amazon right now.  It’s dementia setting in early, I think.  But if you’d each tell five friends, well, then you know, a lot of people would download it and I might do something crazy like give away more free stuff…or post excerpts from upcoming books…

Anyway – stay tuned.  More stuff in the next few days…

So once upon a time, I decided I really, really, really wanted to write a story and have it published in either Alfred Hitchcock Mysery Magazine or Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.  For those that aren’t aware, those are probably the two foremost print publications of mystery short fiction on the market and have been for a long, long time.

They can also be notoriously difficult to break into.

But I decided that I had a couple of novels under my belt and maybe, just maybe I could convince them to take a look at a piece of short crime fiction with my name on it.

So I set about creating a story about a cop in San Diego on the verge of retirement who just completely snaps and screws up his retirement in the blink of an eye.

I really liked the story when it was done and I felt pretty good when I sent it off to the magazines.

Alas, they did not feel the same way.  I got a polite little rejection notice informing me that it was not to be.

So it sat on my computer without a home.  For several years.  Until I decided to publish OUT OF TIME.

And here’s why I decided to include it with the other four stories:  I always thought it was a good story.  I liked the way things spiral out of control for the guy.  The way it just gets worse by the moment.  The way a life can change in an instant.  I thought all of those things came across pretty well in the story and it was different from anything that I’d ever written before.  It felt like I’d taken on a challenge…and passed it.

So even though the magazines didn’t think it was right for them, I always felt it had life.

And now it does.

So, today, if everything goes according to plan, when you read this…my short story collection, OUT OF TIME, should be free for you to download.  I give, you take.  I’m that kind of guy.

Short stories have always been a difficult animal for me.  I find it tough to tell a complete story in such a condensed format.  But over the years, I’ve either attempted them on my own or been asked to write one.  The five in OUT OF TIME are a combination of my own inspiration and ones that I was asked to contribute.  And because I just love to talk about myself, I thought I’d give you a little insight into each story in the collection.

I really learned how to write from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.  When I lived in Colorado, I joined RMFW and then joined an amazing critique group that truly taught me how to write.  When I was finally published for the first time, I tried to give back as much as I could – volunteering, mentoring, etc.  When the organization decided to put together an anthology and I was asked to write a story to be included, I agreed, despite being terrified of the medium.

I decided to write from a female POV because I’d never done that.  And I wanted there to be some conflict, some mystery because that’s what I was most comfortable writing.  No idea where the name Lucy Montoya came from – I just saw her at this cabin.  In the snow.  With her boyfriend.  That she couldn’t stand.

I knew it would be different than the others in the anthology and I liked that.

So that’s how Sparring Partner was born.

You can read it now – for free – if you go to Amazon and download OUT OF TIME.

Well, that was a crappy headline.  I should’ve said it’s available or for sale or something like that.

Regardless, OUT OF TIME, the collection of short stories I’ve put together is now available for less than what you’d pay for a crappy value meal at some cheap fast food joint.  That meal would in some way help contribute to your death.  My short stories will help you LIVE.

You can find them right here.

As always, thanks for your support, encouragement and kind words.  And your money.

Okay – we won on Saturday 41-39, advancing to the the state final four for the second year in a row.

But I fell asleep on the bus.

So I couldn’t draw names until today.

Tom, you were #1.

Diane Murphy, you were #2.

Email me at jeffreyshelby@gmail.com and let me know which format you prefer, Kindle or PDF.  (If you need another format, I’m sure we can figure it out.)

For everyone else – thank you.  For commenting and for all the nice things you’ve said.  GROUP HUG.

OUT OF TIME should be available tomorrow…I’ll post here as soon as it’s available.

Tick tick tick…