A Question of Interpretation: Introducing Stories of Life 2018

By May-Kuan Lim @ACWriters

Storytelling is essentially an act of interpretation, especially when we tell true stories of something that happened to someone.

A CCTV camera records pictures, and a court transcript records words, but neither tells a story in the artistic sense. A story needs something more. It needs interpretation. It needs to answer the question: what joins the plot points? Or, more importantly, who? And why?

In Steering the Craft, Ursula Le Guin writes:

Plot is merely one way of telling a story, by connecting the happenings tightly, usually through causal chains. Plot is a marvellous device. But it’s not superior to story, and not even necessary to it.

In the opening pages of the Bible, we have the plot points of creation, temptation, and the fall. The serpent questions Eve – ‘Did God really say?’ – thus introducing doubt. With naivety, Eve recounts the story, affirming God’s commandment, but the serpent then reinterprets the story to suit his purpose:

You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

The serpent’s version gets some facts right – God doesn’t want you to not eat – but some facts wrong – you will not surely die. Furthermore, the serpent adds a duplicitous explanation as to why God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit – God doesn’t want you to become like him. Eve buys into the serpent’s version of the story, and eats the fruit.

It is only human to long to know if our lives are by design or by chance. If it is by design, we wonder about the identity and character of the designer: good or bad? Kind or cruel? Still invested in us or distant and disinterested? The way we interpret our lived experience affects the decisions we make and ultimately the life we live.

In the Bible, we hear heroes of the faith interpret key moments in their life. When Abraham saw the ram caught in the thicket, he didn’t thank his lucky stars. Instead, he named the place, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'

While running away from his brother who wanted to kill him, Jacob had a dream. He did not attribute this to stress, but said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.'

When Joseph’s brothers came begging for grain, he did not see this as a chance for revenge, but as evidence of God’s greater purpose, 'God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.'

These stories form the bedrock of our Christian faith. 

They tell us God joined the plot points. For our faith to be living and vibrant and active, we need to know that God still joins the plot points today.

In the 2017 Stories of Life anthology, The Gecko Renewal, I read exactly that. In one of the stories in the anthology, Three Miracles, Hazel Barker records what her Christian mother had said in war-time Burma. 'Last night, while the bombs rained down, Rose sang, Father, we thank Thee for the Night. Her eyes were shut when she thrilled out the hymn. I placed my hand on her forehead. Her temperature had dropped. I knew the crisis had passed.

In Freedom Calls, Shakira Davies recalls an abusive relationship, ‘Then you raised your fists. I knew what was coming, and yet I could feel an unusual strength inside that I drew on. I steeled myself and stared at you, almost daring you to act. You stared at me, drew back your hand, read to punch … but what happened? What did you see? Because you dropped your hands and walked out. I knew at that moment that God had been the one protecting me all my life. I knew at that moment God was protecting his child.’

In A Moving Experience, Jo-Anne Berthelsen poses the question, ‘Could God play a key role in such a practical matter as moving house? What do you think?’

We are Christians most probably because we have seen God’s hand in some aspect of our lives. I am writing today to ask a question:

Would you consider writing up one such story and enter it in the Stories of Life writing competition?

Our website states, ‘We are not looking for devotionals or reflections on bible passages.’ 

That is to say, don’t submit something like this blog post. Rather, tell us your story, with you, the viewpoint character. (You can also write someone else’s story, with his or her permission.) If a person of faith is the viewpoint character, the story will be a story of faith, whether or not bible verses are quoted.

Apart from the AUD4,500 worth of cash prizes, Stories of Life is also a chance to get your story published because all short listed entries will be published in an anthology at the end of the year. Some stories will also be broadcast on Life FM radio in Adelaide and may also be printed in the Eternity Matters column of various newspapers.

To date, over sixty stories of faith and testimony have been published. 2017 runner up, Lisa Birch, noted, ‘One interesting thing about being published in Stories of Life has meant that people in my life who don’t usually read have been really happy to read The Gecko Renewal – and not just my story either. The incidental collaboration with people from all walks of life is refreshing – there really is something for everyone in this anthology.’

At Stories of Life, we want to help Christians tell their stories well. We have numerous writing resources on our website and we are holding a free editing class tomorrow, Thursday, 21 June, at Tabor Adelaide. The first part of the workshop, from 7pm to 7:30pm Adelaide time, will be live streamed on Facebook. Those wishing to attend in person and participate in small group work, please register here.

The closing date for submissions is 31 July 2018. Winners will be announced at the official launch of the Stories of Life anthology in late October or early November.

About May-Kuan Lim

From 2007 to 2015, May-Kuan Lim wrote a monthly parenting column for The Borneo Post. She would interview experts for the column to answer her own parenting dilemmas. Interviewing people and writing became her way of trying to understand the world. In 2015, she won an Arts SA Emerging Mentorship grant for a narrative non-fiction work on asylum seekers. She is a member of Writers SA and Oral History Australia. May-Kuan blogs at maykuanlim.com.

Exploring Genres - Short Fiction

by Jeanette O'Hagan

This year, the cross posts between Christian Writers Downunder and Australasian Christian Writers are focusing on genre. So far, we’ve had posts on meeting genre expectations, in Space Opera and Superheroes, Portal Fantasy and Secondary World Fantasy, Poetry, Free Verse and Verse Novels , Regency and Historical Romance, Rural and Medical Romance and Supernatural Fiction.

This month we are exploring 'short fiction'.

Short fiction can come in any genre - and a range of sizes, from six words up to 50,000 words. And while it may seem easier to write less, short fiction requires it's own set of skills to do it well. 

Types of short fiction: 

1. Mirco-Fiction - up to 100 words. 

Though hard to write well, these are becoming increasingly popular with mobile phones and texting and twitter (140 characters). Clearly, every word must count. 

Ernest Hemingway's famous example of a six word story is as follows 'For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.'

2. Flash Fiction - between 100-1000 words. 

These stories can be used as 'palate cleansers' between longer stories in magazines. 

The Faith Writers Challenge requires no more than 750 words on a weekly theme (and the best are collected and published by Breath of Fresh Air Press in the Mixed Blessing books). A number of members have appeared in the pages, including Nola Passmore, Simon Kennedy, Jo Wanmer, and myself. 

Writing flash fiction helps tighten one's prose. The focus is often one or two scenes or on the climax of the story.

3. Short Story  - between 1,000 - 7,500 words

This is often what we think of as a short story. Many competitions, periodical, 'zines and anthologies require this length - often around 2000 to 3000 words.  Speculative fiction (sci-fi and fantasy) have bigger words counts of between 7000-10,000 words. For instance, two spec anthologies that I had successful submission to - Tales from the Underground and Quantum Soul preferred stories around 10,000 words.

There is more room to manoeuvre, but focus and tight writing are still essential. It's important to streamline --- limit the story to a short period time, small cast of characters, with few if any subplots, and start the story close to the finish. 

4. Novellette - 7,500 - 20,000 words

A novellette falls in between a short story and a novella. Heart of the Mountain started life as a short story (my original attempt at the 7000 word limit for submissions for Glimpses of Light anthology) but blew out to over 11,000 words, so I wrote Ruhanna's Flight instead (7000 word exactly). Later, I expanded HOM to 15,500 words.

Yet, I think there is confusion with the term 'novellette'. For some, it means a novella. Many others have never heard of the term. So, I've called Heart of the Mountain 'short novella'.

5. Novella - 20,000 - 50,000 words

A novella (and to some extent a novellette) allows more complexity, with perhaps more characters and twists and  develops over a longer period of time. 

Some famous classical works are novellas - for instance Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), H. G. Well's The Time Machine (1895), Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol (1843),  Geroge Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) and many others.

Presentation

Periodicals, zines, collections and anthologies are usually the home of short fiction.  

However, short fiction can be published on it's own. For instance, I and others (like Aussie authors Adam Collings, Sue Jeffreys or Meredith Resce) have published short stories or novellas as stand alone e-books. Novellas, particularly, can be published on their own --- both as e-books and also as print books. 

When I decided to publish Heart of the Mountain, I planned on an additional three novellas with the intention of combing all four into a single print volume. I thought that each novella would be too small to publish on their own (especially in the case of HOM). However, I have now published both Heart of the Mountain and Blood Crystal as stand alone print books and am very happy with the result, especially as the books are aimed at the Young Adult market. I chose a smaller cover size (8x5 inches rather than 9x6). 

Short fiction can also be collected in boxed sets - as for instance An Aussie Summer Christmas Boxed set - which allows fans to sample fiction from a range of authors - in this case Andrea Grigg, Narelle Atkins, Rose Dee, Meredith Resce, Marion Ueckermann and Lacey Williams. 

Another innovative approach is publishing short fiction as a series (similar to TV series) in which 'episodes' within a 'season' are published with individual story arcs plus an over-arching series arc. Adam David Collings is taking this approach with his Jewel of the Star series, having so far published the 'pilot' Earth's Remnant which sets up the series, and a prequel episode.

Short fiction has advantages for both readers and writers. 

For readers:

• In a time-pressed word, short fiction can be enjoyed without a huge time investment - often over half an hour or a couple of hours. One can start and finish a story without having to worry about when one might get a chance to read again.
• It also gives the reader a chance to sample a range of unknown authors. This is especially true for anthologies or boxed sets, which include a range of authors, one or more of which may be already known to the reader. 
• At its best, short fiction can be thought-provoking, evocative, original, experimental.
• On the other hand, short fiction may leave a reader wanting more character development and/or world building or plot complexity. 

For writers:

• It's a great way to break into the market, as there are many opportunities for competitions or anthologies or to self-publish.
• While not easy to write, short fiction requires less investment of time and money (for editing etc) than a full length novel.
• Short fiction can help a writer to hone her (or his) skills - to write powerfully with less words, to set the scene or show character without the fluff, to better understand plot and story structure.
• Short fiction can be an opportunity to experiment with subject, genre, approach without a huge investment in time (so it's not so critical if it doesn't work out).
• Short fiction tied into the novel world can be a way of either introducing the novel, continuing momentum between novels (and keeping fans happy), filling out the story world,  and/or as a freebie in promotions. 
• It can be fun to write.

Perhaps short fiction are like an artist's sketch compared to a fully developed painting. Both can be beautiful, both have different functions, both tell a story.

Over the last four years, I've enjoyed playing with short stories at different lengths and have had several published in a range of anthologies. Generally, a story has it's own innate length. The trick is limiting the complexity or the number of needed scenes for the word count and then paring back the excess wordage. Sometimes this means sacrificing scenes or elements you like (or deciding to try again with another story).

Have you written (or read) short fiction? What do you like (or dislike) about this form? Who do you think does it well?

---------

Jeanette started spinning tales in the world of Nardva at the age of eight or nine. She enjoys writing secondary world fiction, poetry, blogging and editing. Her Nardvan stories span continents, time and cultures. They involve a mixture of courtly intrigue, adventure, romance and/or shapeshifters and magic users.

Recent publications include her novellas Heart of the Mountain and Blood Crystal and short stories The Herbalist's Daughter and Lakwi's Lament and her novel Akrad's Children. Other short stories and poems are published in a number of anthologies, including Glimpses of Light and Futurevision with three anthologies coming out this month - Redemption anthology, Tales From the Underground, and Quantum Soul.

Jeanette continues to write her Akrad’s Legacy Series—a Young Adult secondary world fantasy fiction with adventure, courtly intrigue and romantic elements.

Find her at her Facebook Page or at Goodreads or on Amazon or on her websitesJennysThread.com or Jeanette O'Hagan Writes . if you want to stay up-to-date with latest publications and developments, sign up to Jeanette O'Hagan Writes e-mail newsletter.

Book Review - A Lightness of Being

From the simple white cover with its coloured feather from an Indian pea fowl, this book is a delight. All the poems were entries in the 2013 Poetica Christi Poetica Competition. The judge chose 25 and the committee chose the remaining poems. Like all anthologies there is a wide representation of poets and topics that fit into the theme A Lightness of Being, edited by Janette Fernando. 

The winning poem, Waiting at the Sydenham Rail Crossing might seem to be about waiting for a train to move from a rail crossing, but is about so much more than that. It is about memory, changes in society and the passing of life. I really enjoyed it. Contrast this dense and thought provoking poem with the gently lyrical Catching Clouds, that is as fine as mist, and you get some idea of the variety in this anthology.

I also liked the scenes portrayed in Nowra Evening which starts

All afternoon the town’s

Been drilled by sunlight.

You feel the changing temperature and atmosphere as the evening arrives over the town.

The idea behind Weightless and the way the words enhance the theme is particularly effective and is another favourite of mine. The light hearted touch in the rhyming Making Poetryis effective. These are just are few I have highlighted. There are plenty of other great poems. The poems are enhanced by black and white photographs. One that is particularly striking is the spider web behind the poem Recognition. It is delicate and graceful as the poem itself.

As in most of the anthologies presented by Poetica Christi Press from their poetry competitions there are a lot of poems to like. This anthology contains poems that will set you thinking and remembering, poems that will have you revelling in the play of words, and poems just to sit back and enjoy. This is a book that will get dipped into time and time again, a book to lift the spirits and spend time in. It is an anthology that gives a great representation of the extent and talent of poets writing in Australia today.