Short Story Connect discussion

Join us on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, for a special discussion with author David S. Reynolds!

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

David has been kind enough to provide us with some free coupons for his stories! Simply enter the code provided next to the link when you check out and the price will be free:

Quickies https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... EP97S
Contracts of the Father https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... BT72A
Don't Press the Red X https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... HD35U
Aware https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... ZJ37S
Visitor https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... JK58J

If you have a question for David, please post it in this thread, where he will be discussing his writing and books.

Remember - you can post questions here throughout the duration of the Featured Author Discussion at any time.

We are looking forward to the insightful questions and answers!

Hello David,

Thank you so much for being our featured author this session!

To get things started, we were wondering what part of the writing process comes the most naturally to you, and what you find to be more of a challenge. How do you address this challenge when you write?

Thank you for the opportunity! (although nobody said I had to be insightful...)

Hi David,

As an editor, I was wondering what qualities you value most in yours. In your opinion, what makes a good editor?

DigiWriting wrote: "To get things started, we were wondering what part of the writing process comes the most naturally to you, and what yo..."

The most natural part of the process for me seems to be coming up with concepts and ideas. I usually have at least 3 or 4 different ideas in my head at a time.

This can be a bit of a double edged sword as it can lead to one of the bigger challenges which is finishing a story. It is not unheard of for me to be almost finished with a story and then go off on another tangent. (a friend calls them plot bunnies) Because of this I have a slush pile of stories and ideas sitting around. This is also helpful because if I do write myself into a corner I can put it aside and look at another world for a while.

Talia wrote: "Hi David,

As an editor, I was wondering what qualities you value most in yours. In your opinion, what makes a good editor?"

The obvious is attention to detail. From basic mechanical stuff like commas and spelling errors to conceptual stuff like continuity errors, there is a lot to keep track of. Even in a short story that is only a few hundred words.

While it is not necessary, trust is a good thing. A story or book is a very personal thing to have another person go through it with the specific goal of finding stuff that need attention.

I also like someone that can find issues without rewriting my work. Luckily for me, my wife is very good at this. Rather than say this is a problem here she asks me what I meant to say and we discuss how to make it better. It's easy as a writer to think what we wrote is perfectly clear but that is because we know what we are talking about. A reader that is not in our head may be without a clue and lost. This is probably the most dangerous trap for a writer.

Annd didd I mention spealing? I kan't speal my way ot of a wett papper sak. Sommwon that can speal is worht thier wait in gold.

Hi David!

How do you select the titles for your stories? Do they grow from your writing, or do you have the title in mind before you start to write?

Blue Moon wrote: "Hi David!

How do you select the titles for your stories? Do they grow from your writing, or do you have the title in mind before you start to write?"

It depends on the story at the time. Some start with a title that sticks, some start with a title that changes, and some pick up a title along the way.

Futurecaster, Spirit's Last Vision, and Don't Press the Red X are stories that started with a title in mind.

Contracts of the Father started from the single short story The Interview that grew to a sort of collection of shorts that gained its title in the last section when I discovered a secret that one of the characters had. Along those lines, I'm Sorry came from a 55 fiction piece that was titled What Price for Vengeance.

Aware, Visitor, and The Eternal Question all started as general concepts that I wanted to explore so the titles came to be after I started writing.

All told, titles for me is a rather fluid subject that depends on the inspiration at the time. It's a bit like the chicken or the egg.

Hi David, I have a question I often ask fellow writers: Do you have a specific writing process or do you plan your writing time? ie. do you fit your writing into the rest of your life or does your life revolve around your writing?

Hi David,

Do you write in more than one genre? Is there a particular genre you find to be more of a challenge than others?

Thanks David!

Speaking of titles, if someone were new to your writing, what would you start them off with and why?

Hi David,

Your wife sounds like a great editor! Do you often offer your work to your friends and family to edit, or do you wait for a finished product?

Amanda wrote: "Hi David, I have a question I often ask fellow writers: Do you have a specific writing process or do you plan your writing time? ie. do you fit your writing into the rest of your life or does your ..."

My writing is rather haphazard and a lot of it is done on the fly with bits written here and there. Occasionally I sit down with the intention to actually do some writing, but no too often. That's usually when the writers block hits the hardest.

As far as the actual process, it depends. Occasionally I have an inspiration in the middle of the night, write down the basic idea and crank out the story in a day or two. Sometimes I have an outline, other times I learn what's happening as I write it. My favorite example of this is Jenkins from Aware. I created her just so that RB3 would have someone to talk to as it explored its own growing consciousness but along the way she became much more a part of the story as she became more aware of herself.

So the short answer is no, my life does not revolve around my writing, it more slots in with all the other activities.

DigiWriting wrote: "Hi David,

Do you write in more than one genre? Is there a particular genre you find to be more of a challenge than others?"

While most of my writing has an element of sci-fi I would never rule out any other genre and not sure if any one is more challenging than another. I've never done anything fantasy. It might be interesting to try. I'm sure I'll get hoisted on a petard somewhere for saying this, but I think sci-fi and fantasy have share elements. It just depends on if the author is into magic or computers.

For me the choice of genre comes after the idea - what world best fits what I want to explore?

Blue Moon wrote: "Thanks David!

Speaking of titles, if someone were new to your writing, what would you start them off with and why?"

Depends on what you are looking for -

For satire, try A Burning Problem, an essay on education reform, or The Second Coming, a quick jab at religious followers.

Contracts of the Father and Aware would be good for those looking for a more traditional story with a beginning, middle and end.

I'm Sorry is good if you a looking for a bit of drama with a descent into madness.

Visitor and The Eternal Question delve into some of the bigger questions of life, as will a new story I've started on called Last Monday.

If you are looking for what I think my best work is I would recommend Futurcaster, I'm Sorry, Aware, and Visitor.

Talia wrote: "Hi David,

Your wife sounds like a great editor! Do you often offer your work to your friends and family to edit, or do you wait for a finished product?"

:) My wife is just all around great and I'm lucky to have her!

My friends and family are my guinea pigs beta readers and help with editing. If I waited for a finished product nobody would ever see it! However nobody sees a story that is still in the basic writing stage; I finish telling the story before it gets read by others.

Hi David,

Do you read in different genres, as well? Do the books you're reading affect your writing?

Hi David,

Speaking of reading, what is the best book or short story collection you have read lately? Do you have any recommendations?

Hi David!
I just read your flash fiction. I was wondering how long it typically takes you to write one of those stories? How do you decide which stories to put in which collections?
Thank you!

Hi David,

Do you imagine the world you’re going to write about before you write it? Or does it
come to you through the story?

DigiWriting wrote: "Hi David,

Do you read in different genres, as well? Do the books you're reading affect your writing?"

I read just about everything. If you put it in front of me I'll open it up and start reading.

Mostly I read sci fi, mysteries, the comics in the paper, (the world is a sadder place without Calvin and Hobbes) and magazines on motorsports and aviation. I also enjoy what many would consider fluf from time to time when I just want to escape. A bit of romance is good too, but I've yet to crack open a Harlequin.

What I read does work its way into my writing from time to time. The seed for Aware was planted while reading The Chaos Chronicles by Jeffry A. Carver. Harry Potter inspired Visitor. I also keep thinking I would like to do a re-telling of The Allegory of the Cave by Plato but haven't quite got it figured out yet.

Talia wrote: "Hi David,

Speaking of reading, what is the best book or short story collection you have read lately? Do you have any recommendations?"

I always struggle with this type of question, I think partly because I tend to read fast and go through a lot of material. One of my favorite things to do is type in free sci-fi or free mystery on my Kindle and see what pops up.

Currently, I'm re-reading The Illustrated Man. It's been so long since I read it last that it is like a new book.

Along those lines I do pick up my well worn copy of Asimov's Mysteries once a year or so.

Iron William and the Lost Prophecy by Michael Gardner is a fun period short, but I give fair warning that it is the first of a series.

I think my mostest favroitest short story is The Immortal Bard by Isaac Asimov. As a theater arts major that has always thought we take Shakespeare way too seriously it strikes just the right note.

Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer? Was it something in which you excelled at school?

Katherine wrote: "Hi David!
I just read your flash fiction. I was wondering how long it typically takes you to write one of those stories? How do you decide which stories to put in which collections?
Thank you!"

Some stories get written in a day or two, others take months or even years to get finished. Sometimes a story will gestate in my head for a while before being committed to paper. I think The Eternal Question was probably the quickest. The idea woke me up in the middle of the night and I had it written down by the end of the day. But even with that short writing time the original concept was talked about some time before that. I think Aware has the title for longest time actually writing that is finished at around six months. I have a few other projects that I have been working on for years now. As you may have guessed now my process is less process and more chaos.

As for what goes in which collection, that is currently a numbers game. I had what I felt was enough stories to put together in one set and so that is what I did. In the future as my catalog grows it would be nice to come up with a more themed collection.

Adam wrote: "Hi David,

Do you imagine the world you’re going to write about before you write it? Or does it
come to you through the story?"

It comes through the story. I usually start with a concept or idea I want to play with. For Aware I wanted to write about a robot that was struggling with consciousness. The best place for that to happen was an accident in space. For Futurecaster, I was interested in the idea I had that knowing your future is what brings it about. Because that could happen just about anywhere it got more of a contemporary setting.

Thank you so much for answering all of our questions, David! We very much enjoyed having you as our featured author this session, and your thoughtful and detailed answers were appreciated. Hope to see you around the group!

Talia wrote: "Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer? Was it something in which you excelled at school?"

I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up and I had a long journey towards becoming a writer.

A bit of background - When I was in the 4th grade legend has it (this is according to my parents, I don't remember it) that my teacher expressed concerns that I seem to have a good imagination but never wrote anything down. They gave me a bunch of tests (I remember that part) and decided that I had a learning disability. Specifically that I couldn't spell. I could have told them that without the tests, spelling bees are hell for a kid that has no clue how random letters come together randomly to form words. To make things even more interesting, I consistently read well over my grade level all through school. I'm sure I'm a case study in a textbook somewhere because of that. I also think this is where my incredibly horrendous handwriting came from; nobody knows you've misspelled a word if you can't read the letters.

So basically, this one teacher saw something in me and got me help. I didn't think anything of it at the time but that is an important turning point in the story. I still can't spell, which amuses my students greatly, but I learned how to get around it.

In high school I did well on writing assignments but I never actually tried my hand at writing any fiction unless it was an assignment. A also struggled with making my papers long enough. I always got to a point where I had said all I needed to say no matter how many words it was supposed to be.

After getting a degree in dramatic theory my first teaching job was as a high school special education inclusion aid. Part of my job was going to class with students and helping them with their work. One of the students was in an English class where the teacher introduced the students to 55 fiction and had the class write a few stories. This is where I first wrote The Interview which later grew into Contracts of the Father.

All through this time there were voices of support telling me I was creative. Teachers, friends, and family continued to fan the flame. The Interview continued to gel and a few friends and I produced and filmed a version of The interview that you can still catch on the local community access channel from time to time.

That was it for a while until about three years ago when I stumbled across a thread on a motorcycle forum title "Ask a self publisher". One comment that stuck out was the statement that it's doing nothing on your hard drive, put it out there and see what happens. That comment flipped a switch in my brain and got me to thinking about all those people in my past that told me I could do this stuff. I decided to put their good faith to use and put my first short on Amazon and went from there.

That's a really long way to say no, I didn't always want to be a writer and it wasn't something I really excelled at in the beginning. :)

DigiWriting wrote: "Thank you so much for answering all of our questions, David! We very much enjoyed having you as our featured author this session, and your thoughtful and detailed answers were appreciated. Hope to ..."

It's been my pleasure! I hope I answered all your questions to your satisfaction. I invite all to follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/DavidSReynolds1 and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Renaiss...

On my website you can find more flash fiction as well as samples of work in progress - http://davidsreynolds.weebly.com/

Thanks again, and if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

Dave