Hint Fiction

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And He Went A-Tumblin'

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Late last night I went downstairs and my foot slipped on one of the steps and I took a hard tumble. Luckily the ground broke my fall. It wasn't a bad fall, per se, but I was laid out on the ground for a good few minutes just staring up at the ceiling. And, as I happened to have my phone with me, I of course tweeted about it. What lady and what commercial?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQlpDiXPZHQ

No, not that lady. This lady.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0

Yes, after taking a tumble down the stairs, all you can really think about at first is Where's the beef?

Anyway, you have less than three days left to enter the Hint Fiction contest, so do it to it.

If you were putting off purchasing The Calling because 99 cents was just too much, well, I'm sorry to say the price has gone up to $2.99. That was, of course, what was meant by an introductory price. Also $2.99? The Dishonored Dead, which already has a five-star review up at Amazon (thanks, A.M. Donovan!).

I haven't really had a chance to thank everyone who "attended" my live reading the other week. I hope you enjoyed it. It was fun, but, as it was my first time, there were some technical issues, namely that for some reason comments weren't coming through and that I had completely forgotten about Ustream's chat option. If I ever do something like this again -- and I probably will -- I hope to make it much smoother and more entertaining (and will, despite their rambunctiousness, have the pets back). In the meantime, I want to address a question that was asked by Horace Torys:

Can you talk about taking your stories from a concept to making an outline, planning scenes, writing the thing out, etc.?

The simple and easy answer is no, because mostly I don't outline or plan scenes out, at least on paper. Usually a story idea will pop in my head, or a character, or even a first line or story title, and I'll mull it over for a few days or weeks or months or even years before I finally sit down to write it. By that time I have most of the story planned in my head, or at least have an idea of what the story is about. It's like what Harlan Coben once said when writing a novel: "I don't outline. I usually know the ending before I start. I know very little about what happens in between. It’s like driving from New Jersey to California. I may go Route 80, I may go via the Straits of Magellan or stopover in Tokyo … but I’ll end up in California."

The same applies with me, because I almost always know what the main story will be, but different things might occur along the way. Then again, there are exciting moments like the one I had with The Dishonored Dead, as I had originally planned for it to be a novella, but at one point a very minor character appeared, a simple janitor hanging in the background for no good reason, and it wasn't apparent why until a few chapters later -- and that created a whole new conflict and ended up changing my novella into a full-fledged novel. That never would have happened had I stuck to an outline.

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The Last Four Days

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In the last four days, just over 200 stories have been submitted to the Hint Fiction contest, the majority of those done via the alternative submission form. I haven't really sat down and read the stories closely yet, but I've been glancing at them as they come in, and it's interesting to note that a good portion don't include titles. Granted, in the guidelines I say that titles are encouraged but not required, but still, this is Hint Fiction, right? But honestly, it doesn't matter much to me. I've learned my lesson over the course of two years. I could talk about how titles are important in Hint Fiction, or that writers would be best to stay away from focusing their stories on murder, but what's the point? The only people reading this post are regular readers of this blog, and I suspect most of you skim through it on your Google Reader anyway (yes, I'm talking about you). If any writer wants a serious shot of winning this contest, he or she will do their research. Or they'll get lucky. Either way, I think I've gotten to the point where I've said all there is to say regarding Hint Fiction. Except that the University of North Texas has released a few more mock covers. Here's one of them:

Speaking of covers, I forgot to mention that the cover for The Dishonored Dead was illustrated and designed by Jeroen ten Berge. Jeroen's clients include Blake Crouch, Brett Battles, Marcus Sakey, and Lee Goldberg. He does excellent, excellent work, and I'm thrilled with what he came up with for my zombie book.

Speaking of which, have you bought a copy yet? If not, why? Make sure your answer is 25 words or less.

A Snap Plagiarism

Hint Fiction is, I guess, my baby, and like all babies, you're supposed to look out for and take care of them, right? So whenever Hint Fiction is mentioned around the Webosphere, I'm usually aware of it. Oftentimes people mention the anthology or might even quote a story from the anthology, but when they do they almost always give proper citation for the author in question. Other times writers post their own Hint Fiction in various places. But never before have I run into a situation like this one, where I came across this tweet last night:

The story looked very familiar, and at first I thought, No way, and then I thought, Maybe? and then I double checked and I thought, Son of a bitch. You see, one of the honorable mentions from the very first Hint Fiction contest (and a story reprinted in the anthology) was a story called "A Snap Decision" by Jamie Felton and it went a little something like this:

Her finger tapped against her teeth. “I don’t think it’s going to work.” He sank slowly underneath the surface. She could still see his eyelashes.

A little different, yes, but not by much. In fact, it's the line of dialogue that really pushed it over the edge for me. So I sent this tweet:

I knew a blog post about this was coming but wanted to hold off until I got a response. Well, that response came earlier today:

Not really sure why this guy is thanking me, but I responded with this:

No reply yet, and who knows, maybe it was just coincidental or an innocent mistake, but then there came this tweet:

Classy, @tjpitre. Real classy.

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Submissions keep pouring in for the new Hint Fiction contest. A rough estimate shows about 90 stories submitted so far, the majority of which are being sent via the alternative submission form. That's a lot of submissions considering the contest has only been open for three days! Remember, people, you have until the end of the month to submit, so don't rush yourselves.

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Hint Fiction Contest The Third

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In one more day, Hint Fiction will turn two years old. Hard to believe that what originally started as a not-so-serious essay which was intended to be read by only a handful of people turned into something this big. After all, Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer came out in November to very positive reviews. It was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon. It was chosen as one of The Nervous Breakdown’s favorite books of the year. And the Gotham Writer's Workshop featured Hint Fiction as their writing contest this past fall. So yes, a lot has happened in the past two years, and to celebrate Hint Fiction's continuing success, we're having another contest!

First, what is Hint Fiction? Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s infamous six-word story — “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn” — Hint Fiction is a story of 25 words or fewer that suggests a larger, more complex story. These are complete stories that hint at a larger story, not a first sentence or random sentence plucked from a larger work thinly disguised as a story. To see examples, look at the past two years' winners and finalists (2009 and 2010), or check out examples of my own Hint Fiction. Or, better yet, read the anthology.

This Year's Judge:

Two years ago the very first Hint Fiction contest was judged by Stewart O'Nan. Last year it was judged by James Frey. This year? Why, this year's judge is the legendary Joyce Carol Oates, who really needs no introduction (though I will mention that her story in the Hint Fiction anthology was the much-loved "The Widow's First Year").

Prizes:

  • The first place winner will receive $100; the second place winner will receive $50; the third place winner will receive $25. The first place winner will also receive a slew of  journals and anthologies donated by a handful of publishers:
  • All runners-up will also receive a copy of the Hint Fiction anthology, signed by over a dozen contributors, including Benjamin Percy, Michael Martone, Edith Pearlman, Randall Brown, Roxane Gay, and more.

Rules:

The contest starts now and will take entries until midnight April 30th eastern time. There is no entry fee. You are allowed to submit up to two stories of no more than twenty-five words each in the comments section of this post or, if you would prefer, in the alternative submission form below. (The submission form is for those writers who do not wish for their stories to be publicly read or who have concerns that, because the stories will appear in the comments section of this blog, they will be considered published. I personally don't think it's a problem, but I don't want to leave anyone out, so the submission form is an alterative.) Any writer who submits more than two stories will be disqualified. If submitting two stories, submit them at the same time. At the end of this contest, all submitted stories will be deleted from the comments section. No reprints. Titles are not required but encouraged, as they can create an extra layer to the story. Winners will be contacted by email and announced here. In the meantime, "like" Hint Fiction on Facebook or follow Hint Fiction on Twitter for any and all Hint-related news. Have fun!