The Confabulator Cafe

Author: slundberg

  • The Phases of Critique and Rejection

    Disclaimer: all of these statements are based on my own experience. Not everyone will experience all of these phases (although I’m guessing most people will or have experienced at least one or two of them!)

    The Phases of Critique

    1. Too shy to ask. You want desperately for people to read your work and praise it, but on the off chance it actually sucks, you keep it close to your chest and only share with people like your mom, who has to say she likes it even if she doesn’t. You can’t handle critique or rejection at this stage. (more…)

  • Mom’s Last Ride

    The house I grew up in backed up to a funeral home. As a kid, I had no idea what that meant, really. It was just normal for their parking lot to be filled up on weekends with people in church clothes, and periodically their chimneys would spew smelly smoke.

    I still remember that smell. The smell of burning bodies.

    Looking back, I realize it’s a little morbid, growing up being accustomed to the smell of weekly cremation. We just saw the parking lot as a great place to ride our bikes, and the snow plow made for great heaps of snow to play on. I only went inside the place once, when I was covering for a friend’s paper route. I set the paper on the table inside and ran home as fast as I could.

    That was when I was older. (more…)

  • I’m a Reader Not a Critiquer

    I have a confession to make: I am a terrible critique partner. In the last year, I’ve offered to read manuscripts for five of my writing group members. I’ve gotten through one and a half of them. I had one for so long that it went through two new drafts and was submitted to a publisher before I had gotten more than a few chapters in.

    I’m slow. I take critiques pretty seriously, so I like to be meticulous and pay very close attention to what I’m reading. That makes critiquing very time-consuming for me, and time has been my enemy lately; I do not have enough of it. Or rather, I have the same amount of time, but too many other things I have to do with it, so reading the manuscripts of my friends has taken a back burner.

    I also lack confidence in my ability to give good feedback. I am a voracious reader, and a decent writer, but those are the only qualifications I have to be a critique partner. I’m currently taking classes for a copyediting certificate, so I’m hoping my copyediting skills will be honed by the end of this year, but I’m still not sure that helps me with the fundamental edits. (more…)

  • Time Theft

    I steal time. I never use it when I have it. Somehow, I write better when I’m working with borrowed time, when I’m up against a deadline, or I’m behind. I stay up way too late. I sneak time at work. I put off chores, show up late to gatherings, I ignore loved ones.

    If I have a whole day set aside to write, you bet your ass I will find a million other things to fill it with. However, if I have a million things to do and the itchings of an idea, I will put off the world to write it.

    (more…)

  • Stories to Keep the Mind Engaged

    Because the human brain is what it is, we need stories.

    I think the first stories started as oral history – life lessons and wisdom passed down through generations. The history of our people is important. In theory, it helps prevent us making the same mistakes over again. Stories can impart morals by example – the Boy Who Cried Wolf being one of my favorite examples. Also, it seems easier to remember facts if they are presented as a tale rather than facts. People retain the enjoyable and interesting, not the dry and boring.

    Stories are also of value because they help people relate their experiences to one another. As humans, we all need validation. If we tell a story, and someone else has a similar story, we are affirmed and feel right. We can also share our stories so that our memories live on. Someday, I’d like the next generation – maybe my own children – to know what happened to me in my life, so in a way I am immortalized. (more…)

  • Depressing Non-fiction

    I have a short attention span when it comes to non-fiction.

    I feel like I could tackle just about any non-fiction topic, but then I remind myself that it’s probably impossible for me to write a whole book about anything. I love to do research for my novels, but to write a whole non-fiction book, I know I’d really have to dive into a topic, stay dedicated to it, and not drop it when I had the most basic understanding of it.

    That’s why I like the Confabulator Café posts. Perfect little 300-500 word bites of knowledge imparted from my brain to you. Short, concise, and no need of extensive (if any) research. I can handle that. I could probably talk about myself for a whole novel. So perhaps that’s what my non-fiction book would be. I did write a memoir once. Memoirs can be my non-fiction. (more…)

  • The Curse of the Elves

    Jenna frowned as her husband, Frank, shook his head. No, they would not have enough money to pay the rent. Again. It was their last warning. Eviction would follow, so they’d lose not only the butcher shop, but their apartment above, as well.

    What was a poor couple in the midst of a recession supposed to do?

    What she did not expect for him to do was to give away a still good – well, maybe not good, maybe more like questionable but still sellable – hunk of cured meat to one of the homeless guys begging out behind the shop.

    “Goddamn it, Frank. We could have at least used that to feed ourselves. What are we supposed to eat for dinner?”

    Frank sighed. “It’s better this way. I ate some of that same batch for lunch yesterday and it gave me the runs.”

    They took stock of their empty larder, and went to bed with only a cup of ramen between them.

    “We’ll have to close up shop tomorrow,” Frank sighed as they drifted off to sleep. Jenna bit back bitter tears. This is not what she had in mind when she’d left her first husband for Frank four years ago.

    (more…)

  • Ephemera – Is the genre you write different than the genre you like to read?

    This week you learned what genre the Confabulators write in and why. Most writers tend to write what they enjoy reading, but sometimes they write genres outside of what they enjoy reading – Michael Crichton probably read more non-fiction as research for his novels than he ever read science fiction, and it’s rumored that J.K Rowling doesn’t read fantasy, let alone young adult – so the question we posed to the Confabulators was whether there was a difference in what they wrote verses what they like to read.

    Paul Swearingen

    I write nearly all YA fiction, but I read across nearly all genres (well, no romance or erotica and very little fantasy aimed at female readers). I do read quite a bit of YA, but I tend to read more adventure/action/thrillers/mysteries by British writers – Dick Francis, Victor Canning, Geoffrey Household, Nevil Shute, Robert Harling, for starters.

    Ted Boone

    Nope. I read SF almost exclusively, and that’s all I write, for the most part. It’s the only fiction that interests me, whether consuming or creating.

    Sara Lundberg

    I read and write a wide range of genres. I’ve been writing mostly horror lately, and I enjoy reading fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, science fiction, short story, mystery, and a lot of non-fiction in various subjects. Most of those genres I’d never try to write myself, but I enjoy reading them and respect the writers who can write them well.

    Christie Holland

    Whatever I’m reading is dependent on what I’m doing at the time. If I’m not writing, I’ll read anything. Murder mysteries, cheesy romance novels, non-fiction, etc. You name it, I’ve probably read it. If I am writing, I like to read books from my genre. I use them for inspiration, to get past writer’s block, . Artists, of all types, make the best thieves. We steal everything.

    Jack Campbell, Jr.

    It should come as no surprise that a large portion of my personal  library is horror, transgressive, noir, and other dark genres. However, in addition to that, I read a lot of classics and literary fiction. Nick Hornby is one of my all-time, top-five favorite authors, and he keeps it pretty light. I enjoy science fiction, but for whatever reason, I don’t really write it. The novel I am writing, Heaven’s Edge, takes place in a science fiction setting, but is a noir story at heart.

  • What Genre is This?

    To be completely honest, I never really thought much about genre before about three years ago. I had little interest in publication (at least not serious interest), so it didn’t matter how to categorize it. I wrote what I wanted to read.

    I still do that, to an extent. I write what moves me. When an idea inspires me, I write it. When dark things happen, it’s because it’s visceral and it resonates with me. If I look back and see that it’s horror, than let it be so.

    (more…)

  • Serious Face Is Serious

    The biggest changes in my writing happened in the year following my mother’s death. It’s been almost two and a half years now, and sometimes I still feel like my writing is suffering from that fallout.

    Although suffering probably isn’t the right word. I feel that each year I improve as a writer, so my writing isn’t suffering – but my characters are. I used to be pretty nice to my characters. If I made them feel pain, it was usually short-lived. If I challenged them, usually the choices weren’t hard.

    Not so much, these days. (more…)