Tag Archives: short stories

Clearing the Kindle 6: – What did I just read? (Feels like AI?)

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Book read: Zombie 69 by Kitty Glitter
Pages: 20

Sometimes you read a book and you wonder… What did I just read?

That is how I felt after just a few pages of Zombie 69. This short twenty page book contains two short stories, the first about zombies and the second about a cat and dog that live with some humans. Neither story makes any sort of sense. They both feel meandering, and broken, almost as if it was written by a primitive AI generator, not a person.

I don’t remember the zombie story very well. It had to do with zombies going to high school (why?) and doing ordinary teen things, they are just zombies that have to pop their eye back into socket now and then.

The second story was…weird. The cat and dog can talk to each other, and they swear a lot. Some random person breaks into their house and kidnaps their child, then the dog goes a little savage and blames the cat. The cat, for it’s part, starts talking about time shifts, and the girl being pushed out of time. Then it just ends. The girl is still gone, there is no explanation of time shifts, there is no explanation of why the cat is able to drive an RC car, or who that guy that kidnapped the girl was. It just ends.

This clipped, piecemeal story telling gave both stories a generated feel. It felt almost like it was using some sort of madlib format. (I am not saying it is, of course, I can’t know that. But the feeling is there.)

This chaotic structure is often how people recognize AI generated art. The AI can combine aspects of different pictures, and even blend them together, but it often gets anatomy or structures wrong. It adds extra fingers, or one eye is much bigger than the other. It becomes incredibly obvious that whatever created the artwork, be it human or program, it has an uncanny valley feel. It seems like it should be art, or human, but it just feels… wrong. And sometimes we aren’t even able to tell what is wrong about it, just that there is something that doesn’t work.

In written work it’s much the same. Algorithms are pulling from sources all over the internet and smashing them together, but it’s a predictive text structure. Just like the predictive text on your phone doesn’t always suggest the right word for that sentence you’re writing, ChatGPT sometimes adds whole paragraphs that just restate what it already said, or breaks structure, or leaves out key details. When dealing with factual information it may even just be flat wrong as it pulls from the wrong information online. Remember, a predictive text formula is only as good as the information being fed into it, and a LOT of the information on-line is just wrong. How could a language model be expected to be right all of the time?

I don’t know if this particular story was written by an algorithm, or just some random stories built from the authors wildest dreams, but the feeling is the same. It doesn’t feel…cohesive, or right. And it makes zero sense.

How would you fix the very structure of your story telling? My suggestion is to have beta readers, or a writers workshop. Being part of a writers workshop and having honest feedback about my writing helped me get the words right faster than just spitting words into a void and hoping they made sense. And with the age of the internet with facebook, forums, meet-ups and more, finding a group of people dedicated to helping each other get better at writing is easier than ever. It can be on-line so that you don’t have to put faces to the criticism, or you can opt for in person where you can get better at people skills, too. Either way, having good feedback about your work is crucial to not just finding your voice, but refining it.

As for AI…There are arguments for and against AI generation. I tend to be of the opinion that it’s a tool just like any other random plot generator and that if you, as the writer, don’t take that generated idea and actually write it yourself than it will never be a great story. AI just simply rewrites what has already been written. Good for ideas, for plot summaries, or settings, but not good for a finished product. Not yet, at least. (That’s a little spooky to think about, really.)

There’s a lot more to go into about AI generated art as a whole, including copyright, stolen assets and more, but that’s a much bigger topic than I may cover in a blog post. So for now we’re just going to take from this short story that if you don’t have a cohesive story that makes sense people might think you’re a computer. And if you want to get better at writing you might try a writers workshop.

Next story: Immortals by Eva Fairwald.

Clearing the Kindle: 3 – Tell Me a Story

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Book read: Avengers: Heroes Welcome
Author: Brian Michael Bendis
Pages: 14

What is one of the first things they taught you in English class? Or one of the lessons that stuck with you? For me it was always, ALWAYS, “Show! Don’t tell.” It was drilled into my young mind from the moment I could hold a pen. Show the story, show the characters, and the interactions, don’t just tell it to me.

Picture this: A dark trail, branches reaching high above, their naked fingers scratching at the velvet black sky. A lone figure stumbles down the path clutching at his leg, hot blood seeping from a wound. With heaving breaths, he sends quick glances back over his shoulder, but there’s nothing there.

Can you picture that? Can you feel his heart thumping, the fear in him as he tries to staunch the wound, the desperation as he searches the darkness?

Or I could say “A dude walks down a dark path with someone chasing behind him. He has a wound on his leg that’s bleeding.”

Which would you prefer to read? Which would keep you entertained?

The idea of “show don’t tell” is a hard lesson to learn, and I think one many writers never learn. I believe this even more after reading this weeks short story, or rather a comic. Avengers, Heroes Welcome, does so much telling, and zero showing. So much that it felt more like a sermon than a story.

First I will say… I really do love comic books. I’ve been reading and collecting them for decades now. My favorite has to be Escape from Wonderland, with Fable as a close second. But I also had quite a few Avenger, Thor, and Spiderman back in the day. So I’m not unfamiliar with how comics use panels, and short page counts, to get a story across.

A comic is an illustrated short story. It uses art, as well as dialog and limited narration, to show the action. Most comics (back in the day) had high action content. Catch the bad guy, or escape the serial killer, that sort of thing. But a good comic could get the story across between the pictures and dialog, with very little narration.

“Heroes Welcome,” on the other hand, has no action. No real story, just a bunch of people sitting around discussing what makes a hero.

This feels like the author wanted to tell people what they thought a hero was, and instead of writing a story to show a heroes actions they had Nova (a young hero I’ve honestly never heard of) barge into the Avengers headquarters, and start asking philosophical questions about what makes a hero.

Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the first time a super hero had a case of consciousness and needed to figure out if they were doing the right thing. Spiderman goes through this frequently since his actions often cause the bad thing to happen, and his story revolves around taking responsibility for your abilities. But his questioning always happens while in the mist of action, and his actions or successes lead him to his answers.

Instead “Heroes Welcome” is literally just a bunch of people sitting around a room talking.

I was disappointed. The plight of the hero, and what is a hero, is the very substance of a super hero story. And yet they stripped away all vestiges of that to make it a boring classroom lecture.

And sadly they had the perfect opportunity to show exactly what a hero is. A rescue from a fire, and a heart touched. A single life saved, going on to be changed from then on.

This is something firefighters and police officers do daily. They could have used that example to show heroism, even in the face of a person who has no powers.

Instead we got a lecture.

Show. Don’t tell.

Next weeks book will be “Shadows over Innocence” by Lindsay Buroker.

Clearing the Kindle: 2 – Short Stories as Intros

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Book read: Halcyon Days by J.A. Cipriano
Pages: 14

Back when I started collecting kindle books I gathered a number from newer authors who I hadn’t heard of. I would hear about them from a daily deal, or a friend on Goodreads, and add them to my collection. Often because they were short reads that had been marked free to encourage you to get the second in the series.

Halcyon Days seems to be a free give away to introduce others to a series. I say seems to be because it is no longer available on Amazon. However, Mr Cipriano has a large list of books to his name since then, but this appears to be an abandoned series.

Considering many people think prologues are a forgotten relique, the idea of a short story prequel to a series has appeal. It could introduce people to the world, allow others to find the series, or give those who want more information about the world something more to sink their teeth into. Having it set up for 99 cents with the occasional free give away also gives readers a chance to try your writing.

Free books don’t have the same punch that they used to. Amazon changed a lot of algorithms, as did every other book sight, which changed how writers engaged with readers. That doesn’t mean the free give away is completely useless, just that it isn’t lightning in a bottle like it used to be.

One big problem with free giveaways happens to be the reader like me, the one that collects a bunch of new stories and doesn’t read them nearly as fast as they collect them. Still, with the hope that some of those who pick up the free copy will actually read it, enjoy it, and come back for more…we authors give away a lot of copies. It’s like sending a message in a bottle out to sea. So many of them get sent out, but only a few ever find another soul to connect with. But that small glimmer of hope, that dream, it’s the reason why so many bottles get sent out there with notes to begin with.

As for Halcyon Days, it was a solid contender to make someone interested in a series. A boy is rescued from the monster under his bed and taken to a world of magic. He is then introduced to a magical society that hunts the evils that go bump in the night, like vampires, hopping from one world to another in order to do so.

The idea left a lot of room for growth. Do you follow the lone earthling? Pick one of the alien hunters? Do you take the earthling to a new world? Such an open ended story could give a writer issues unless they had a specific destination in mind. That could be why this was abandoned, or it could be as simple as another series taking off and wanting to limit which series he put his efforts into.

We shall never know what became of Halcyon Days, but I might pick up his book “Alone in the Dark” just because it seems…interesting.

Clearing the Kindle: 1 – What About Episodes?

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Book read: The Miscellaneous Adventures of Princess Leona by V.C. Coll.
Pages: 13

This short story has been on my kindle for over five years now. I picked it up when it first came out because I had been on a podcast with Miss Coll, and I wanted to support her work. I never got around to reading it, and I’m not sure why. I don’t really have an excuse, it’s only 13 pages, and took me less than thirty minutes to read.

The Miscellaneous Adventures of Princess Leona is a Grimms style fairy tale about a princess of extraordinarily ordinary origins trying to become a witches apprentice. It has a lot of forth wall breaking by the author, and a narrative style that I found charming.

This was written back in 2013 during a time when “episodic” story telling was all the rage. Miss Coll, along with myself, followed the Self Publishing Podcast which was a group of three guys that talked a lot about the episodic story telling model, so it isn’t unusual that many of us tried this tactic.

An episodic tale is one in which there are multiple shorter stories that are published separately, and together they create and entire season for that world. The SPP guys were influenced by film. Think Breaking Bad, Star Trek, or Friends. Each individual episode had a complete story involved, but they all progressed character development, and the over arching plot of the main series.

Many novel series does the same thing. Xanth, DragonLance, Vampire Diaries, Jack Reacher, etc. Each book in the series has a distinct story of its own, but it contributes to the overall progression of the series as well.

The main difference between a traditional book, and the episodic tellings of the SPP theory, is that the stories were shorter. A traditional book was about four times longer than the SPP episodes. They also sold them for $2.99, then bundled the full season for $5.99 when they completed the season.

For them, and many others, it worked. But there was one flaw that happened with many stories. That is the sudden cliffhanger, or the incomplete story.

Princess Leona’s story falls into this latter category. While charming, I did not feel like it had a satisfying ending. There was some progress toward the end goal, but the narrator kept insisting the end did not exist, there was no edge of the forest. And while there were a couple of encounters with dubious fellows, it felt more like building a team than overcoming an obstacle.

This is the trouble of episodic storytelling. You can, and probably should, have a cliffhanger ending, but you need to have a satisfying ending as well. When completing a book something should have been accomplished, even if it isn’t the final ending. Without that satisfaction of a job well done…well I feel like I’ve just wasted my time.

The other tangle in this weave is that there are only two stories out by Miss Coll, and because the second is just as short as the first I don’t feel an inclination to buy and read the second one. After all this time I doubt she will add a third, and I do not know if the second story will have a satisfactory ending to it. If it were to be another cliffhanger with no further reading then it would be even more disheartening.

In conclusion…Episodic storytelling may not be as fashionable as it once was, but it is still a viable story telling device. However, each story in the series needs to feel like a complete tale that is worth the readers time in reading, with just enough of a hint of the next book to keep them going forward. Otherwise you risk alienating your reader.

And that is what I’ve learned from the first book. Stay tuned for the next: Halcyon Days by J.A. Cipriano.

Clearing the Kindle : Intro

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I, like most kindle owners, have accumulated a vast collection of ebooks. Most of which I’ve never read. They are books ranging in those I picked up because they were free, because the cover looked interesting, or even because I just wanted to support an author I found interesting on a podcast or youtube channel.

This massive collection of ebooks needs to be paired down. I thought I’d start with the shortest books, and move forward.

Now, I couldn’t just read books and take nothing from it. Goodreads gives a little insight into my reading habits, sharing most of my audio book and reading history. But I’m not only reading for fun (sure, most of it is for fun, but not ALL of it). I also like learning from my book choices because I am a writer as well. The best way to improve writing is to read books, and actively see what works, and what didn’t work for you. So I’m going to start with the shortest book in my kindle TBR, and move my way up. And along the way I’m going to share what I’ve learned from it.

A couple of things to note about kindle readers in general. I have a Paperwhite and a Fire. I prefer the Paperwhite to read, the e-ink is easy on the eyes, and good even in a dark room. The Fire is just too bright for me, and needs to be charged a lot more. It also has a lot of distractions since it is a tablet, even if it is a slower model.

I also have a kindle app on my phone which I often use when I am out of the house. Still, it’s a small screen, and also bright like the Fire, and it has the distractions of games and technology as well.

All kindles allow you to collect your books into collections so that you can easily find specific categories. They also allow you to sort by read, not-read, and downloaded. What it does not allow is the sharing of collections between devices, which I just found out today after putting a large part of my books into collections via the online website. That means you have to go through the process of adding books to a collection directly on the Paperwhite, and then again for the Fire, and again for the phone. When you are doing this as you add books that isn’t as bad, but when you have a huge collection and you just want to sort books…well…tough luck, I guess.

Also the kindle doesn’t allow you to sort by page count. This is partly because page counts on kindle aren’t always accurate, but I suspect they do not want to encourage you to read by page count, or deem it as unnecessary. There is a reason a lot of readers prefer to sort their books on Calibre. The features of the kindle haven’t changed in quite some time, and it shows.

In order to get book lengths I used Goodreads. Goodreads allows you to add your books directly from your amazon purchases. Then you can add them to a to-read list and sort them by length. I found that of the 900 books on my to-read list only a dozen of them didn’t have page lengths. The rest were comparable to the amazon page length count.

Goodreads did not import all of my books, and I know I’ve added random books from series I liked that I do not own, so this isn’t a perfect match, but it is helpful. Once I had this list I was able to go into my kindle and download the specific books that I was looking for.

Beyond the lack of collections across platforms, and sorting by length, the kindle is a useful tool. Having my books available on the go, on my phone, and on most devices, is incredibly useful. And using Goodreads, or Calibre, to augment the kindle helps to sort and find exactly what you’re looking for. So… on with the reading!

First up: The Miscellaneous Adventures of Princess Leona by V.C. Coll.

Fire meets Ice

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It’s here! Dragon’s Blood is now available, and I can’t wait to hear what you think of it. I did add it to Kindle Unlimited so you can read it through KU if you prefer. 

If you have read Dragon’s Flame please review it on google. Reviews are the best way to help any authors you love. Telling amazon you loved a book is the only way amazon will decide to promote a book.

Prophecy By Barlight : A comedic look at self fulfilling prophecies. 
The Scarab Necklace : A tales of the crypt style short story.
Twilight Tales : Four creepy short stories. 

And until then… Keep reading

A journey to the stars…

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September is almost over. I’m back in Texas and I’m already hoping for winter, and miss the rainy days in Seattle.

But I’m healing. We just drove another 3000 miles south from Seattle, down through LA, and over to Texas. It took four days this time because I wanted to see my daughter who lives in CA. Worth the extra time.

Also, I’ve finished the rough draft of Dragon’s Blood. I’m working on edits, but I should have it out next month. Now is a great time to read Dragon’s Flame if you haven’t yet. 

If you’re looking for a shorter read I have two books free this weekend. An anthology, and a short story. 

 
Stars End : Four short stories about life, and death, in the future. 
The Camera : A tales from the crypt style short story.

I can’t wait to get Dragon’s Blood out there. It feels like it’s been a long road to the end, but it’s more about the journey than the writing, I think. This year has been filled with crazy things, for all of us. The world has changed, and only time will tell if it’s for the better or not. And because of a lot of these changes (some personal, a lot global) things got slowed down a bit. 

 

Slowing down isn’t always a bad thing. Taking your time to enjoy the smell of the roses, or really savor that meal, or enjoy spending time with the ones you love…all of it is important so that life means more than pushing buttons. I hope that part of all the craziness moves forward with us. 

Until then, keep on reading!

Dishes and free short stories.

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I hope you are doing well.

This week my boyfriend has been making fresh bread. It’s the type of bread that you bake inside a pan with a lid, and it gets a thick crust. Today was the first time he added a few herbs to the dough and it was tasty. He’s really enjoying baking, and I am enjoying eating it.

Meanwhile, I’ve been learning to cook new things, and use food that I’ve never used before. You have to make do when all the potatoes are gone at the local grocery store.

This morning I complained about dishes, and couldn’t figure out where they were all coming from. “We’ve been eating at home more,” my boyfriend reminded me, and a light bulb went off. Less fast food means more dishes. It also means healthier eating.

I hope all of you are doing well. This week I have two more short stories up for free. Hopefully it will entertain you for a little while.

Footprints – The things in your mind are often worse than the things in the darkness.
The Scarab Necklace –  A tales from the crypt style short story.

TP in the mail? And free books.

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My mother-in-law sent us a care package from back home today. In the box of assorted snacks, and home made cookies, she included a roll of toilet paper, and a thing of hand soap. Odd that sending people toilet paper now seems almost normal now.

The best part was she printed out memes, and faces, for everything and stuck them to the individual items. Our Cheez-its now have a big goofy smile on them, it’s great.

It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been to the store so I don’t even know if they have any at ours. I hope you are able to find the things you need right now.

Continuing on my entertainment for those stuck inside (which is most of us right now) I have two more short stories for free, and an anthology.

The Ring and The Camera: Two short stories revolving around cursed items like a Tales from the Crypt style.

 

Stars End: a glimpse into a possible future, and the way technology might change relationships.

Stay safe out there my friends.

Crissy