notapoet's fiction

By notapoet - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Fiction

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pffah!

Poetry, poetry, and more poetry kept popping up in the Top 100 of his writing group. It was almost to the point of becoming a poetry web site -- and he avoided those like the plague. He found most of what passed for poetry to be too depressing to tolerate, or so sickly sweet that it turned his... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Fiction is easy to write.

Good fiction, on the other hand, has to be one of the most difficult tasks a human being can attempt. There are exceptions, of course, but mighty damned few who can whip out decent fiction as if there was nothing to it. For the rest of us it is a grueling, painstaking task to produce a readable work... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Okay, Karkiller isn't coming.

But I still think it's a great name for a character, even if the original idea doesn't seem to want to pan out. I think it needs some more time to percolate. This is often the case with sudden flashes of inspiration. Sometimes it takes a while on the back burner for them to come to fruition. A... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Karkiller is Coming

Maybe. I have to be very careful here because he is very real and quite complex in his own way. I don't want to lose a good friend, or get sued over being too faithful to real life. Karkiller the character, or perhaps "the car killer," is going to have to be sufficiently different, in both... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Rainy days and Baltimore Orioles

The soft drumming on the roof of the mobile home told me it was raining outside. I looked up from my keyboard to add visual cues to the pleasant sound. Staring back at me was a real honest to God Baltimore Oriole. He (she?) was a blessing in feathered garb. I remembered being fascinated with the... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Based on fact...

is an apt description of much fiction. Some do it quite well, taking an event and spinning a fascinating tale around it. Others, like myself, struggle mightily with turning fact into fiction. Experience is a great source for works of fiction -- if we can overcome over-telling the experiences in... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

More interluding...

My fondness for fiction, and ambition to write a successful novel, i.e., one that sells more copies than I autograph and give to friends, led me here in the first place. Early on I posted quite a few lengthy pieces that were rough drafts of passages considered for inclusion in my temporarily shelved... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Time out for the time-tripper

Jesse got started on this latest little journey into a fictionalized past when his alter ego got fascinated with the idea of incorporating a few borrowed ideas from a little known old novel read early last year. I got stalled out when I decided to find the book and give credit to the author (Howard... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Time-Tripper Revisited

Two steps into the street the morning mist suddenly began to close around Jesse, obliterating what had appeared to be a bright sunny day. With each succeeding step the fog became thicker and the sunlight faded. Uncle Gil became a wavering figure partially defined in rolling fog. He looked over his... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Time-Tripper

Another foggy, misty morning greeted Jesse when he looked out the window to see how the new day was shaping up. Early riser that he was since his army days, he was not surprised. Most mornings were draped in fog in this area of sandy hills, small creeks and streams, and too many little ponds to... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Cutting Loose

She was at the party when he got there. His built in radar always found her, even when he had no reason to believe she was around. He watched her out of the corner of his eye while she enjoyed herself talking to mutual acquaintances and others that were strangers to him. Her current boyfriend didn’t... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Bad Christmases

Jeff had time to reflect on Christmases past on the long bus ride to Michigan. He was still young enough to remember with razor sharp clarity the Christmases of his childhood. He often longed for those innocent days when the days after Thanksgiving were filled with rising anticipation that reached... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas break.

The little multipart story I’ve been working on is suspended for the time being. I may take it up again shortly -- or save it till next year this time. My reason for posting today is simply to try to guide you toward my little Christmas gift to all Blogit bloggers. To find out what I’m talking... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 22, 2006

"Dashing through the snow..."

Jeff had traveled from North Carolina to Detroit many times in his young life. The first time he was not quite four and Grandpa had just retired from his job in Sault Ste. Marie. A North Carolinian by birth, Grandpa struck a deal with Grandma, Yankee born and bred, to spend half of each of their... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Sing it Bing

Jeff loved Bing Crosby’s version of “White Christmas.” He grew up with it and never considered it trite or over-played. It always made him long for the white Christmases in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Since moving south as a young boy he never enjoyed another one save one. Jeff really didn’t... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Careful What You Wish For

A bedroom of his own. That’s what Jeff dreamed of for most of his young life. He wished for his own room for almost a decade. He used to include it in his prayers at bedtime every night. He wasn’t unique in wishing for his own private space. It was a common dream of many youngsters in large... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Unfinished Symphony

Jeff usually didn’t read the obituaries. He found them to be depressing reminders of his own mortality. But, flipping through the pages, of his newspaper, this one jumped up and hit him between the eyes. Dr. Williams, retired, long time resident of Elizabeth City. It was Sue’s father. She had been... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

The Next Story

Even as he was in the midst of trying to get started on the continuation of his next fiction project, Jeff couldn’t help starting another. The words were coming and showed no signs of stopping immediately unless he forced them to stop. Even as he began to despair of ever finishing a story, he... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Dedicated to the One I Love

It was a tough crowd to play for. One of the hardest he’d run into for a couple of years. Beejay had been hired to do a disco night party at the Sheraton for a company party. He’d come prepared with everything from big band oldies to the latest disco hits. It was his something for everyone technique... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

True Confessions

Fiction writing was what originally drew me to Blogit nearly three years ago. I first got the fiction writing bug when I was about eight years old. The existence of a Fiction category in what was then called The Blogging Network made me decide to give it a try here. It seemed to me this would be a... Sign in to see full entry.

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