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Post by dragonlots on Oct 24, 2011 16:05:43 GMT -5
I’m the editor on this one and it will be published by WolfSinger Publications.
Time Traveling Coffers
In the 1990’s movie, Timestalker, two Wild West collectors bought a pair of trunks at an auction. In the one the college professor, the hero took, he found a photo taken of a cowboy with a modern day weapon. The professor theorized the person pictured might have been a time traveler. He wrote a paper which survived into the future and he was called upon to save a family line by preventing the murder of their ancestor resulting in an unexpected reward for the hero.
While the editor is NOT looking for the plot to be repeated, Timestalker is given as an example to show what can be done with the theme of the anthology. Yes, the plot line is cliché, but the time traveling device, the hero learning to be a fast draw, the use of music as a clue, and an unusual friendship, make this movie unique in its own way. Not to mention it was written by Brian Clemens, a well known English screenwriter.
Rules for the anthology – an object must be found in some sort of container and result, directly or indirectly, in a time traveling adventure. What kind of object, what it’s found in, when the story starts and to when/where it travels, is completely up to the writer. For instance a character in the wild west could find him/herself in the past running from dinosaurs by finding a bone in a barrel or in the future on a spaceship because of something shiny in the gold mining pan. For ideas on possible containers suggest checking a Thesaurus starting with the word ‘box.’
Feel free to use historical settings or events, space ships, other planets, fantasy realms or mythology. Characters can be human or not. How the container is obtained or from where can range from it being bought, found, dug up, given as gift, inherited to…? Method of time travel can be a machine, putting on the object, via the astral plain, or something new and different.
Don’t follow tried and true plot lines, ideas or formulas. The more ‘out of the box’ the story, the more likely it is to be accepted. Meaning - break the story writing rules if you want. Would prefer original stories. Query for reprints.
ALL writers are encouraged to submit. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro with years of credits, a beginner just starting out or a teenager - please feel free to send the editor a story. In your cover email, please tell the editor a bit about yourself and a quick one line synopsis of the story. Include genre. If experimental, please explain the type or how so the editor doesn’t edit out the form or reject it out of hand. Thank you. In the Subject line please put : Submission : Time Traveling Coffers : Title of your story : your name. Attach as rft document. Send to: Submissions@wolfsingerpubs.com
Payment will be $5.00 initial, plus an equal share of 50% of royalties.
Deadline will be 31 May 2012 – we are hoping to release around mid October 2012.
Will accept Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fantasy, Steam punk, Alternate History, Christian Speculative Fiction, Space Opera, Romance, yes, the editor will consider a Romance, and any other genre as long as it meets the guidelines including experimental. No Fanfiction, shared universes or continuing serials.
Length 1000-6000 words. Will consider flash fiction if it’s well written. Times Roman 12. Standard manuscript submission form must be used. Any submitted incorrectly will be rejected.
PG 13 rating only! No sex. No erotica. No graphic violence. No gore. No profanity. d**n or Hell acceptable, but the F word is not. No preaching of ANY belief system. If the character’s faith, whether Christian, pagan or whatever, is integral to plot, it will be considered without bias.
If your story is accepted, bios will be requested. They should be written in third person.
VERY IMPORTANT: Writers - please be warned that the editor is ‘your worst nightmare English teacher’. Expect to be asked to do rewrites and have your story critiqued. There may be a few exceptions, but not in most cases. Editor will listen if a valid case can be given for something you’ve been asked to change but you think it shouldn’t be. You are the writer after all. However, excessive argument could result in rejection. Pet peeves: ‘crutch words’ like - that, suddenly, in a moment, but, still, yet, or any word used excessively. Not editing or spell checking your story. Fragments okay as long as used correctly and for effect. World appropriate similes. Andre Norton is the best example of doing this correctly. Please, remember that the editor is there to help the writer publish the best and strongest story possible.
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Post by Kessie on Oct 25, 2011 11:54:34 GMT -5
Any time travel story will inevitably be compared to Back to the Future, of course. Although some of the best time travel I've ever read was in the third Harry Potter book.
So, the time travel gimmick has to be a found item. Besides that, it's up to us? It sounds kind of fun. I'd love to write a short story and expand it into a book later.. :-)
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Post by yoda47 on Oct 25, 2011 13:51:39 GMT -5
I actually have an idea for a time travel story that's been percolating in the back of my brain for a while...
I'd have to add the "found item" part to it, but that's not a problem, especially since I wasn't sure how they were going to time-travel anyway..
But can I get it done by the deadline... that's the question...
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Post by Kessie on Oct 25, 2011 17:42:37 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't really have a story, I just know what the found item would be. I'm writing the epilogue of a story right now, and I feel like my brain is clogged with this story and wrapping up all the loose ends. After that, I need to land that one book that Jeff lists, about how to write short stories.
I don't write short stories. I write novellas. >_>
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Post by Divides the Waters on Oct 25, 2011 19:01:08 GMT -5
Hmm. Never really done time travel before. Started a "Cowboys and Aliens" short story before I had any inkling that someone else had already had the idea.
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Post by Kessie on Oct 25, 2011 22:21:27 GMT -5
Upon doing a little online research on how, exactly to write a short story, I found the following advice:
Put a man up a tree Throw stones at him Get him down
AKA Man up a tree being introduce your protagonist, throw stones at him being the stuff that happens, then get him down being the resolution. :-)
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Post by myrthman on Oct 27, 2011 9:01:51 GMT -5
Now just make one of the stones a magical, future-inducing walnut. Or something. In a "box."
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Post by dragonlots on Oct 30, 2011 16:15:06 GMT -5
yoda47 – Deadlines are a fact of life for writers. Editors/Publishers get grumpy when you’re late or say you can’t meet them. I did ten submissions over the summer, despite working full-time, taking care of a family of feral cats in our back yard, who we eventually trapped and are now in a foster home, some financial bombshells, a sudden shift change at work and a death in the family. Results – 4 rejections, 3 acceptances, and 3 I’m still waiting on. My current writing schedule is as follows : Finish in progress novel ‘God’s Gift’, which a publisher has already requested to see. Write, edit and submit 3-4 short stories. All during November. December, revise ‘Her Security Hero’ and write query letter for the Love Inspired Suspense line at Harlequinn. Januray until May, write ‘Winter Emergence’ and ‘Winter Moon’. Publisher is already working on Marketing ideas for the two books. End of May – start reading submissions for TTC. This does NOT include any short story submissions I may discover I want to submit to or am invited to. Plus, I have at least two anthology releases coming out next year so must working in marketing time. And this is on top of working full-time and having a spouse and a life. Everyone, please remember that the object can directly or indirectly, like in the movie, be the reason for the time travel adventure. Kessie – ‘Winter Awakening’ was originally a short story expanded into a novel. Not an uncommon occurrence according to several writers I’ve talked to. Also, it’s not uncommon to write a number of failed stories. I run into this with editors all the time and discussed one rejection, the editor did not me, about why she rejected it. I’m fine with that. Of course, I seem to one of those writers who doesn’t mind getting them. @divides the waters – how about transforming your story into steam punk? It’s very popular right now. IMPORTANT – The guidelines are only up on Facebook and on The Anomaly. I checked yesterday and the publisher doesn’t have them up yet. So, you all have special advanced notice!
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Post by newburydave on Oct 30, 2011 19:00:26 GMT -5
Hmm; time travel?
Interesting subject for a short.
I may just give it a try.
SGD dave
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Post by Kessie on Oct 30, 2011 19:05:50 GMT -5
Dragonlots: Whoa, you're like, a human! I thought you were just one of those people going around posting on a lot of forums. I didn't realize you were a member here. I still am a noob.
I applaud your writing energy! I have three small chilluns and finish one novel every six months, if I'm lucky. I don't have the energy to pursue publication, so I'm just going to write a whole series and mess with publication once the kids are older. But short stories ... I might be able to do short stories. Because, well, they're short.
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Post by newburydave on Oct 30, 2011 19:38:12 GMT -5
Let's see... ;D
Rev. 02
"Something thudded against the port side of my dory as I drove the boat upwind, into the swells with the short, measured, oar strokes that dorymen had used for centuries to control these tender craft. Without half a thought I spun my craft around her center to see what I'd hit. The water was too deep out here for a lobster buoy, it could only something adrift, and jetsam was good for the salvaging It swept past the the thole pins to my right just as my turn killed the way on my craft and laid me beam to the wind just above my prize.
My dory swooped up a ten foot swell; from the crest I got a glimpse of the New England coast. I was beam to the sea and my narrow bottomed boat set over as it rolled over the top of the swell and soared down the other side. The long ridge of water swept away to the southeast in its timeless march to the distant shore. Then the bottle cleared the crest and I got a good look at my find. It was an antique flattened oval style bottle, the kind with the label and writing embossed into the glass. An old cork, shaped like a mushroom, sealed the neck so it floated rather high in the water. 'Now there's an interesting specimen to add to my glass collection.' I shipped my oars, grabbed the gunwale and jumped onto the side of my dory to force the gunwale down to the surface of the water. I'm a nautical history buff and I was always pleased for an excuse to use my dory like the net and handline fishermen of old on the grand banks. The bottle floated tantalizingly close just downwind of me. I glanced over my shoulder to gauge the wind. I was drifting faster than the bottle so I'd only have a second to get it before it went under my boat.
I leaned out past my grip point on the gunwale and shipped some water into the boat. Now! I made a quick grab the bottle was mine. The next swell lofted me up and I looked downwind, toward the coast. Somewhere away to the southwest was the mouth of the Merrimac river where old Pert Lowell had watched a wine cork in the vicious tidal riffle and conceived of the design for my dory. Thank God for old Pert and his boat design with three bottoms. I sat back on the center thwart to examine my treasure and the dory righted herself. The small amount of seawater I'd shipped sloshed in the bottom, under the duckboards. I held the bottle up to the light. The old blown glass was ripply and bluish but I could see that there was something inside the bottle. Maybe a treasure map, or a plea for help from some long dead castaway.
Time to investigate later, I slipped my new bottle into the sack that I'd lashed to the thwart and carefully retied the knot that held it closed. No point of having an unsinkable boat if you lost all your stuff in a tumble. I picked up the oars and spun the dory back on course toward my destination. Mary and kids would be glad to see me after this spate of terrible weather when nobody could make it out to her island. I glanced at the boxes and bags lashed into the aft end of my dory, she'll be even more pleased to get the supplies I 'spect.
Mary wouldn't let any boat with a motor on it or in it dock on her island. They say all New Englanders are eccentric, maybe they're right. Not too many men these days would row the twelve miles out into the cold north Atlantic to Mares Island, not in this day of powerboats. The one design day sailors just used the island as the windward mark in their race course, not many ever landed and they didn't carry cargo anyway.
I guess I'm just contrary enough to like the challenge of rowing the distance. I watched a big military transport jet fly overhead, clawing for altitude on the first leg of its trip from Pease AFB to somewhere in the middleeast. As the thunder of its engines faded I relished the rhythmic creak of my spruce oars against the oak thole pins. Yep, eccentric.
To be honest thouh, a big part of the reason I made the trip was the fact I was sweet on Mary; even had grown to like all the orphans she'd taken in over the years. She had a way with healing broken things, maybe she'd even worked some of her magic on me. Anyway here I was, like a durn fool, ten miles from land rowing into a stiff northeast wind with two more miles to go. Here I was going to visit the love of my life, who never even saw me. Eccentric, durn fool more than like as not.
Well at least I found a new bottle for my collection."
.....
Maybe a start
SGD dave
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Post by Kessie on Oct 30, 2011 20:25:10 GMT -5
Dave: Sounds interesting. Got a story to back it up with? :-)
I had a short story I had started, but I can't find it anywhere. I'm going to have to rewrite it from scratch and include the elements I have in mind. Not sharing what, though.
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Post by newburydave on Oct 31, 2011 7:16:11 GMT -5
Well Kessie;
That first post was just a prose doodle that I banged out before I shut off the generator and went to bed last night. (We're some of those central New Englanders who are without power.)
I just did a quick edit on it and modified the original post. I may try to turn it into a short story for Dl's anthology next spring.
OBTW she's DB over in the Sandbox, I feel honored to have her as a member since she's a published author.
If you can put out that much prose in a year, and chase a bunch of kids, etc you are awesome. I'm struggling to just get 'Zander' edited.
A well, I too used to be smart and efficient before I got old.
Write on Sis
SGD Dave
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Post by choosybeggar on Oct 31, 2011 15:39:05 GMT -5
Mr. Dave! It's been too long since you've been on here. Glad to see you back! The Anomaly has felt lacking when you've been silent. I always have fun talking with you on here. Great beginning to the story, by the way. I hope you continue it. While I'm saying stuff that's completely irrelevant to the time traveling stuff, I might as well say this: Kessie, the cake is not a lie. You get it in the special downloadable bonus pack thingy. It's in the secret area labeled "Minecraft world."
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Post by newburydave on Oct 31, 2011 19:02:01 GMT -5
Cake? What cake? Okay, are you guys holding out on me? I didn't get any cake when I joined up back in 1842; are you discriminating against ancient mariners, or something? =================== Ahem Sorry, these things just come over me sometimes; like I really belong to another time. ==================== Choosy; Thanks for the bouquets. Life has been happening big time around here. Please pray the Lord gives me wisdom to not get myself over-committed this year. I'm majorly writer blocked on Zander, but the inspiration is flowing on the time travel story. There must be something else about Zander that I'm not seeing yet. "Oh Lord, please open my eyes!" In the meantime I guess I'll bang out the time travel short for Dragonlot's anthology. My working draft title will be "Remembrance of Sorrows"; I will probably bounce it off the Sandbox crew for feedback before I submit to Dana. Story ho! Write on Bro SGD dave
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