fiction friday
Showing posts with label fiction friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction friday. Show all posts
Alas, it's been a little while since Fiction Friday has shown its face around here. But never fear! It has returned, with a pick from one of my favorite authors of all time: Maggie Stiefvater.


You may remember Maggie Stiefvater's name from somewhere around the Internet because a) it is visible on the covers of the pieces of brilliance called The Scorpio Races, The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, and Blue Lily, Lily Blue; b) it is attached to her hilarious and enlightening Tumblr; or c) it appears impossible to pronounce and therefore kind of sticks in your brain (Maggie has declared her last name is pronounced steve-otter, if you were wondering). You may also remember Maggie Stiefvater's name from somewhere around the Internet because I fangirl over her... well, often, to understate things.

Some of you may also recall that I'm a fan of Twitter fiction. I even featured it in a Fiction Friday post once. I think it's a very innovative form of storytelling full of possibility.

So when the annual Twitter Fiction Festival rolled around this year and I learned Maggie Stiefvater would be participating, I was ecstatic. And not disappointed in the least. As my fifteenth (!!) Fiction Friday feature, I'd like to present Maggie's "Stories About Gods", a hilarious and inventive tale about... yes, gods.

Instead of the usual excerpt, I'm pleased to be able to embed the entire piece in Storify form below:



Did you enjoy that? Are you a fan of Maggie Stiefvater and/or Twitter fiction? Let me know in the comments below!

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Hello, everyone, and happy Fiction Friday! (What are you talking about? It's totally a real Thing with a Capital T. Go with it.)

This week's rec was published by Literary Orphans, a magazine that's known for publishing some pretty top-notch material despite its comparatively generous acceptance rates. I had vaguely heard of the publication before around the online lit sphere, but I hadn't really delved into it until I stumbled upon its archives by accident.

(Let's face it; the entirety of the Internet is composed of fortuitous accidents and we all like it that way.)

Anyway, I took one look at the magazine's 'mission statement' of sorts and I was absolutely intrigued. It's a gorgeous idea captured in equally gorgeous language:
It’s the nervous glances back at your apartment when you go for a walk without your cell phone. It’s the nostalgia you have for squeaking cassette tapes and Soviet ICBMs. It’s an analog dream in a digital era. The writing on Literary Orphans is an exorcism of the mind of its contributors, and reading the work here is putting up your fists and getting confrontational with solitude–solitude in a world where neon signs are out and LCD billboards are in, a world where you can’t think for following because everyone is doing all the thinking for you.
The Lit Orphans story that I read was "Gray Girls" by Tess Walsh. This is a rich and reflective short story about two sisters, Harper and Ophelia Gray. Its greatest strength lies in its characterization; Harper and Ophelia are polar opposites, and that's evident in the mood, the tone, the taste of the entire piece. Walsh explores how we don't really realize how tightly intertwined our selves and souls are with those of our siblings until it's almost too late to fix any damage each of us has done to the other. We're shown that our siblings can be our lifelines and our weaknesses all at once. It seems ordinary, and maybe on some level all of it is, but Walsh's writing tells us the truth: deep down, it's anything but.

It helps that the writing is really elegant and wonderful, too:
The girl in the bed looked like Ophelia’s corpse, bones and wires glued to the skin as if there were nothing left inside anymore but parts and strings. Unnatural. Something dug up from a grave and scrubbed over. She looked even worse than their dead father had in the casket, and Harper could hear the breath shaking in her own lungs as panic crested inside her, lots of foam and the sensation of drowning.
You can read the full story here.

Enjoy! (Anyway, ahh! Thank goodness it's Friday, right?)

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Long time, no Fiction Fridays! I've been neglecting this feature for entirely too long, which is lamentable, considering that it's one of my favorites to do on the blog.

This week's pick is a piece called "Five Fairytales About the End of the World", written by Chloe N. Clark. I'm just going to let that title sit in your head for a bit.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

The story was published in an online literary magazine called Gingerbread House, which publishes magical poetry and fiction. The magazine tells its submitters to "Take your fairy tale and twist it. Bend your fantasy to suit your needs. Be original and fresh, loose and lovely." And those are some pretty fabulous submission guidelines, if you ask me. I'm looking forward to reading more of Gingerbread House now that I've discovered it, and I advise you all to take a look into its archives as well!

I love this piece because it's composed of dark, magical vignettes that really give an impending sense of doom without being too forceful about it. It's absolutely exquisite, and chilling in the best sort of way. The writing is fluid and lovely and really controlled, elegant without being overdone. And the ending is perfection.

Here's my favorite sentence in the whole piece, just to give you an idea:
Death’s voice was boats breaking up in the middle of the sea and buildings crumbling in wartime and ice that cracks too soon.
But don't just let me tell you about it; see for yourself! The full story is available to read here.

(NOTE: It's Alyssa's birthday today! Go give her some virtual cake. Meanwhile, I'll be helping celebrate the birthday of one of my family members, which is also today.)
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Long time no post! I'll be making up for my absence by spotlighting two pieces of short fiction available for free on the Internet, for my twelfth edition of Fiction Friday. You'll thank me later, because this week's stories are so, so gorgeous.

This Friday's first fiction pick is one that I found completely by accident on Twitter and am now so glad that I did. It's called "Little Doors of Blood and Bone" (don't you adore that title?), and it was written by Katherine Catmull, author of Summer and Bird, a middle grade book that I've been dying to read. The piece was featured on The Cabinet of Curiosities, a short fiction site updated periodically by authors Katherine Catmull, Stefan Bachmann, Claire Legrand, and Emma Trevayne.


This particular story is such a stunning one because of the way the prose and the premise work as a team to grab you and never let you go. That kind of writing - writing that's somehow in tune with itself - is hard to find and even harder to execute, so I admired that in this story. It peels open the layers of everyday life and turns them upside down in a delightfully inventive manner. Also, the magic in this is exquisite. It's one of those "I wish I'd thought of that" kind of things. And the ending! The ending is one of the best things about it.

Here's an excerpt, in case I haven't convinced you yet of this story's merit:
Instead, when Ida peered inside the little door, she saw a blue flame, teased and roused by a silky wind that swirled around it, smelling of smoke and sunbeam-dust. As Ida’s peering face blocked the bone-and-fur door, the wind withdrew, and the flame sank almost to nothing. Scattered around its embers were sharp, curving things—fangs, or claws, or both—and the tiny bones of birds.
The full story is available to read here.

My second Fiction Friday recommendation is "Madder Root and Rampion" by Sean R. Robinson. It was published in the fifth issue of Betwixt, a speculative literary magazine that I've only recently started looking into. From the little tastes I've had of the magazine, I'd definitely recommend it to you all, so do check the rest of the publication out as well as the story I'm highlighting below!


I loved this piece because of the rich descriptions and the subtle air of grief that it was permeated by. The use of second person here is perfection, and the slow but determined progression of the story is absolutely gorgeous. Robinson does a marvelous job of using a palette of words to paint a bold and lasting picture of a fantasy world steeped in mystique while building up characterization.

Here's the customary excerpt to seal the deal:
She has heard of you, scar breeder. Your names are stories in the rampion yards of Rasia and each one whispers down the caravan roads. She listens. You have laid tracks down the wrists of old women. Young men boast in their mead halls that they do not fear your phoenix-bone knife, though they live in the shadow of your tower and will not speak your name.
The full story can be read here.

So there you have it! Go forth and enjoy, and have a wonderful Fiction Friday.
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(EDIT: This is apparently my 150th post! How exciting and strangely fitting.)

(This is my second time doing a Fiction Friday on a Saturday, because I have the most terrible timing.)

I have some crazy amazing news for you all (but mostly for me). Some of you heard it on Twitter this week:
(The link in the tweet leads to the official winner announcement made by the Freshman Fifteens themselves. The info there sounds much more coherent and logical and nicely laid out, so head there if you're interested in a formal rundown of what's happening. If you'd like my disorganized version, stick with me.)

So, what does this "winner" thing mean?

It means I'll be part of a frighteningly cool group of teen writers who will be mentored by the Freshman Fifteens, a group of 2015 debut YA authors who have so generously extended this opportunity to us.

It means I specifically will be mentored by the amazing Kim Liggett, whose debut novel Blood and Salt will be out in 2015 from Putnam. I will even get to read said debut. (Psst. Add it to your TBR because it sounds so, so great. Seriously. GIVE ME ALL THE WITCHCRAFT. *cackles*)

It means my short story "Destinata" will be included in a collection of short stories by the aforementioned amazing teen writers and published as a whole on Wattpad.

Wait, how did this happen?

Back in July, I heard about this almost too-good-to-be-true contest opportunity for teen writers ages 13-19. I remembered a little belatedly that I was age 13-19. I messed around on a Google Doc, trying to get an idea for a short story. I dug up an old flash fiction contest entry that I wrote for Figment and then took down a few months ago. I tried to extend it. For a very, very long time, I failed.

Then, in the last two or three days before the deadline, I pounded out nearly three thousand words of story. And then I wrote a pitch on pure willpower. I even tweeted about it.
And then I uploaded "Destinata" and tried to push it out of my brain, because getting my hopes up wasn't going to be good for me. (Although I did do a little bit of tweet-gloating about the fact that I actually managed to get it in.)
But who am I kidding? I, along with many other teen Wattpadders, anxiously awaited the results of the contest.
And when I was contacted about being a winner, I did a not-so-little happy dance in my bedroom.

What's the story about, anyway?

 "Destinata" is a contemporary fantasy about Evie Lancaster, a girl who has to fight off a pretty debilitating curse. Here's part of the pitch (the rest is over on Wattpad):
Sixteen-year-old Evie is a Lancaster girl, cursed by her lineage to drive herself mad and drown if she ever kisses her true love. Until now, she's obeyed her overprotective mother; she's never given herself the chance to meet this love, wherever he or she is. Until now, she's been uncatchable. But when Elliot Morgan - the boy she's been crushing on from afar for five years - asks her if she'd like to have dinner with him, Evie says yes before she can stop herself.
And how about the other winners? You seem to be talking an awful lot about yourself right now.

 That's where the "Fiction Friday" part of this post comes in. I'd like to take a moment to highlight all of the other winning entries, because they all sound fabulous and so creative. I can't wait to read them when the collection is released in January, so I've included my favorite sentence from each of their entries.

"Soulless" by Rachel W., username Chandelier:
But I guess this is where the saying 'expect the unexpected' comes in, because I definitely did not anticipate the earth shattering catalyst in my life to be a roll of Charmin Ultra Strong. 
"Locked Out" by GracieWacie, username GracieWacie:
That wouldn't be too bad, if there wasn't a murderer on the loose.
"Violet" by Anne Lutz, username AnneLutz:
But there wasn't anything to say that would end his anger or Violet's pain.
"Mixed Messages" by Make Me Swoon, username MakeMeSwoon:
Alyssa Singh has never gotten over her first love; maybe it was because of how he simply smiled off her confession as his family drove away. 
"A Poisoned Pear" by Arminius, username Arminius:
When speaking of Johannes Skathi, the words lazy, worthless, and pay the damn rent get thrown around with alarming frequency. 
"The Married Tree" by Antara, username _coralsky_:
He was eternal and I was his bride. 
"Attachment" by Julia, username ceilingflower:
The wind stung like a warning on the tip of her tongue.
"Imagine" by Aisha, username Metaphorphosis:
But there's something about standing face to face with reality right in front of you that makes you think twice.
"Honestly" by Anne Brees, username AnneBrees:
Other people lie and steal for noble reasons: to feed their families or to keep warm at night.
"Leave the Light On" by Ashley, username ashjellison:
You have to find out who, or what is in your house, before it's too late. 
"The Voices in My Head" by Katie Spektor, username KatieSpektor:
And if everything is a lie, there is just one question: Is she really insane?
"Babysitting Grandma" by Coralie, username terryco:
What is it like to watch over someone who should be watching over you?
"A Thousand Stars" by Britton, username CutieFlutie:
"Someday," she would pause to smack her lips, "we'll all be dead, and if we were, at one point in time, star dust, then won't we all be star dust again at another point in time?"
"Library of an Old Ghost" by Shelly, username shellyzev:
Rachel knows that Jay is not the most trustworthy person but unable to resist his smug smiles, she agrees to help him on his adventure, if only to wipe that stupid smile off his face.
So, that wraps up this super long and happy and writerly post. I'd like to thank the Freshman Fifteens for this experience in advance, because I know it'll be awesome (literally awe-inspiring). I hope you all are excited to get into the Common Room, because I know I'm pumped to see how it looks when it's finished!
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