New Flash Fiction

The Illuminated Stranger

By Alex Odom

 

And as The Stranger walked into town, the townspeople looked up at him standing on the hill. He carried with him an aura of illumination, and the townspeople, who had lived so many years in darkness, were blinded by the brilliance that emanated from him; their pupils dilated, and the sky behind him burned a fiery orange. The sky blazed so vividly, that the stranger became a mere silhouette. As he stood on the hill, outlined in darkness, many townspeople believed him to be a God, but most thought him a devil, and they hurled large stones at him until he fell dead on the ground. The sky turned grey and stormy, like it had been for some many years before, and the townspeople grew silent as they approached the stranger, but their fears were quickly eliminated when an old man called out, “He’s just a man,” and they soon saw that the old man was right, The Stranger looked like an ordinary man. “He was no devil,” one woman remarked, and the old man said, “But he was certainly no God, either.” All of the townspeople agreed, so they dug a shallow hole and buried him, and no one ever wondered about the brief illumination that The Stranger had brought to their town.

News

The Death of Margaret Thatcher was selected to be in The Avastama Play Festival. It’s going up Feb. 4, 2009.

More News

My play Louisville Swinger is now available for sale:

http://oneactplays.net/octopusride.html

Good News

Louisville Swinger was selected to be in the 2009 Acme New Works Winter Festival in Maynard, MA.

A Stone Face Killer is being produced by Spiritwood High School in Saskatchewan, Canada.

2nd Annual Longwood University Ten-Minute Play Festival

Call for Ten-Minute Play

Longwood University is pleased to announce its 2nd Annual Longwood Ten-Minute Play Festival.  Open to any theme, style and approach, playwrights are invited to submit a maximum of one (1) script.

(NOTE: Anyone affiliated with Longwood University–students, former students, employees and their families–are ineligible for this competition.)

COMPETITION GUIDELINES

Scripts should run no longer than ten minutes.
Stapled copies are fine.
Set and technical requirements should be minimal.
Each script must include author-contact information on its cover page.

There is no fee to enter.

PRIZES INCLUDE:
This year five winners will receive full production.

All winners, as well as one honorable mention, will also receive publication with One Act Play Depot. One Act Play Depot will hold non-exclusive rights to the work (meaning the playwright is free to publish their work elsewhere at any time.)

Winners will be notified by e-mail and then posted on brierycreekpress.org on or before November 30, 2008.  Plays will be produced in late April.

Please send plays (hard copies only) to the following address by October 15:

Longwood Ten-Minute Play Festival
English Department
Longwood University
201 High Street
Farmville, VA 23909

If you have any questions please email Alex Odom, Administrative Director, at: Alexlodom@gmail.com

or Brett Hursey at: hurseyrj@longwood.ed

 

 

 

Like Ships Run Ashore

  I had a dream about Eric, a few nights ago. He called me, and I answered from an antique phone in a house I have never seen before. The details of the conversation are hazy. All I really remember is that he invited me to see him. I said, “Sure, but aren’t you dead?” Before I finished the sentence, he hung up the phone.

            I met him in an old warehouse full of large wire spools, and wooden crates—all the stuff we used to hide behind when we played paintball. He looked healthier than I ever knew him to be in life. His posture was more commanding, and his body more muscular. We drank pineapple rum and played paintball with all of our old friends. At some point I told him that I thought he had died.

            “I’m not dead. I’m right here,” he said grinning—I believed him.

            I have never had a more realistic and vivid dream. In the morning, I believed, briefly, that it had happened. I thought I would call him later, once I had gotten out of bed, to see if he would like to hang out.

Twice now, I have driven to his parents’ house with a goal in mind. I had planned to shake his father’s hand, and tell his mother that, for years, he was a brother to me. I wanted to tell them the story about us restoring the boat– how much that meant to me. But I haven’t and I won’t. The truth is, no matter how painful the realization was, that morning, when I realized I couldn’t call my friend. I am glad I had a moment of doubt so I could think, honestly, about what we would do together if he were still here. I never saw him buried, and I’ve never seen his grave. Even though I know he is gone, part me has to see it to believe.

I see this in other people, this wanting things to be true, whether it’s a job they hope for but know they aren’t qualified for, or someone hoping to win the lottery against all odds. This is our condition—like ships run ashore, we move.

 

 

 

 

Exits Stage Left and Contemplates Action

I recently read a playwrighting blog about stage directions. This playwright believed it was a great idea to “spice up” stage directions, that stage directions like, “He drinks his tea and silently destroys the universe, in his head”, are a great way to develop characters. It’s the classic debate about whether or not stage directions should be as minimal as possible. Many people say no, that greats like O’Neill wrote lofty stage directions, but I say, yes, keep it concise. Before you disagree, consider your audience.
Ultimately, all writers should be writing to an audience– if you’re not, go get a journal. No writer will ever please everyone, but it is very important to please someone. As playwrights, you have to please your first reader, and nine times out of ten that first reader will be a director. Here is where stage directions really matter. Every director I have ever met is directing because they feel they have something to say, and they don’t want it said for them. Complex stage direction can be considered “directing from the page.” Since a director will probably be the first person to read your play, don’t insult them.
The most valuable thing I learned as a playwright, from a directing course was that directors are taught to ignore stage directions. Almost every stage or set design is unique, and the scene you envisioned in your head will probably look different– if you’re lucky enough to see it. Directors can’t begin to recycle old stage directions because most of the time they won’t work. You can save yourself a lot of time if you just worry about the essential actions. That’s all that will survive, anyway.
So maybe a director will love your witty stage directions and want to direct your play. You have only just started to run the gauntlet. The designer will not care what you think the set should look like because that’s his/her job. They aren’t concerned with custom tailoring the set to your specific instructions, so, once again, don’t waste your time. Okay, so you’re hardheaded. Guess what? Actors aren’t concerned with nuggets of contemplative thought either. It is their job to establish their own set of motivations for every word they say and move they make, and they won’t be looking for help within the stage directions.
The final audience the playwright writes for is the audience. Audience members don’t sit in the house and follow along with scripts in their hands, and ultimately, if the audience can’t see something, it doesn’t exist. Eugene O’Neill is not considered a great playwright because of his stage directions, and no playwright ever will be– no matter what they think. If you can’t get over this fact, and you really want your stage directions to matter, learn to write for the screen.

You Can’t Believe Everything You Read

It pains me to say it, but you really can’t believe everything you read– even if it is a bestseller. Take a book like A Million Little Pieces, for example. This was a book published as a memoir by a major publishing house, but the book proved to be a partial fabrication in which the author had embellished major events.

This event was a fairly rare occurrence; most books don’t make it print without extensive fact checking, but somehow A Million Little Pieces managed to slip through the cracks. Major books are not what concern me because reputable publishers will not publish fabricated stories as anything but fiction. I am concerned by the recent surge in self publishing.

As writers, the natural instinct is to publish and have your work read, but the publishing process can be very arduous, and it is understandable that some writers get impatient and self publish. These aren’t the books about which I am talking. I am talking about self-published books on success, spirituality, and personal philosophy. These are books that are, normally, so devoid of any factual material that their authors have no choice but to self-publish. The truly disheartening thing about this is that some people see these published works and assume they are credible.

Recently, I had a conversation with my family that brought this to my attention. Over dinner, we were talking about the Mayan civilization, and how there is some debate about what brought the empire down. A close family member interjected that she knew what happened to them because she had just read a book that explained everything. The book, she said confidently, explained that the Mayans had discovered a passage way to the center of the earth, and that is where they now live. So, I asked what evidence grounded this theory. She explained that it had none, but the author of the book claims he channeled it from god. (Keep in mind, the most printed book in the world is The Bible and its authors make a similar claim.)

Now, this is not a stupid woman, mind you. She is a well-educated, savvy business woman, with a great deal of life experience. I had to wonder how a person like this could be so compelled to believe such an outlandish claim. She told me if I was interested in this that there were a lot of great books I might like to read as well. I said sure, and I looked a number of these books up. Most of these books are self-published, and a number of them are bestselling audiobooks on iTunes. These people aren’t writers, but they are marketing geniuses. I asked this family member why she believes any of this stuff, and she replied that she no longer relies on the credibility of scientific fact, that she was searching for spirituality. I was stunned, I didn’t even know how to begin to reply. On one hand, I admired the fact that she was searching for something deeper. On the other hand, my head almost exploded after hearing this claim.

Now here is what really concerns me. Suppose this claim is true– humor me– and this man really did channel this fact about a civilization of magma dwelling people at the center of the Earth. What is to stop other self publishers from claiming a similar ability to channel un-foretold knowledge from god?
Apparently, there is a market for this type of writing, and apparently people accept it as fact.

Could self-publishing become as harmful as television?

Be a picky reader; choose books from reputable publishers, and help support them, so they can afford to continue to publish with a standard.

Interview With Master Bookseller Bob Gray

I recently had the good fortune to be a part of an interview with Master Bookseller Bob Gray. Mr. Gray works for Northshire Books, an independent bookstore in Vermont where he also teaches, regularly contributes to Shelf Awareness with his column Fresh Eyes Now, and he is one of a small handful of people who have been named a Master Bookseller. Mr. Gray’s wealth of knowledge about the literary world is truly intimidating, but he was nothing but kind and generous with both his time and knowledge.

“Good books are what matters,” says Mr. Gray. While large publishers flood bookstores with advance copies, he says it can become difficult to pick out all of the good ones, especially from smaller presses. However, you are likely to find them at Northshire Books because Mr. Gray helped bring a display of independent presses into the store.

For any writers out there, make a note, Bob Gray could save your book from becoming an orphan– think of him as a literary Daddy Warbucks. Figuring out how to market books to individuals and pairing people with good books is Mr. Gray’s favorite part of his job at Northshire. This hands-on approach to selling is what makes independent bookstores great. It’s nice to hear that a book is good from a good reader rather than from a marketing executive. “Well written and poorly written books can have equal marketing,” says Mr. Gray. On the other hand, he also says marketing people are swamped, and sometimes they just have to send books out the door. Even if it is a great book, they don’t have time to make sure it will do well. He says it’s independent booksellers and devoted book groups that help save lesser known books from falling through the cracks.

So if you’re in Vermont, stop by Northshire Book Store and let Bob Gray set you up with a good book, but if not, stop by your local independent bookstore and introduce yourself– you might be fortunate enough to meet someone as knowledgable as Bob Gray.

Check out http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder to find your nearest independent book.

Hook Up With Local Singles

Okay, I’m not talking about meeting single people, but that doesn’t mean you won’t if you check out your local independent bookstore. I know, there are probably seventeen chain bookstores between your house and your local indie bookstore, but they don’t have everything– no, seriously.

I recently checked out Baines Books in Virginia, and I was reminded how truely unique independent bookstores can be. Baines Books is tucked away in the historic downtown area of Appomattox in a beautiful brick building with a hand-painted sign on the side. It’s the sort of thing you would expect to see on a 1950’s small town movie set. Before I even walked into the store, my eyes were drawn to advertisements for local bands, writers and artists, and I was invested on a personal level.

Upon seeing the inside of the store I realized something. Independent bookstores are smart– of course, they have to be to stay afloat. This store had everything a chain bookstore has: comfortable sitting areas, a cafe with fresh brewed coffee drinks and food, and books (that’s about all chain bookstores have), but Baines had a lot more to offer, too. The store sells music supplies, local pottery and artwork, lesser known films and CDs, books by local writers, and a collection of specialty books. Since Appomattox has so much Civil War history, the bookstore carries a large selection of books on the subject. They also had an impressive inventory of used books for sale, which is also great for avid readers.

Of course, there are some things you probably won’t see in Baines Books and other Independent bookstores and that’s shelves and shelves of best sellers. That’s not to say they won’t have them, but indie stores don’t always have the room to push the endless lists of best sellers. Believe it or not, “best seller” does not always mean “good book.” A lot of great books slip through the cracks of major bookstores because they don’t have the marketing that some best selling authors do. Independent bookstores are known for selling these great books that haven’t been noticed yet.

That same day I visited a local Barnes and Noble, and the first thing I saw was a cheap, laminate shelf of best sellers. The flourescent light formed glares on the super high-gloss book covers, and I immediately missed the dark, stained oak bookshelves, cozy low light, and all around personal touch of Baines Books. At Baines I felt like a reader, and choosing the book was part of the experience. At Barnes and Noble I felt like a consumer where I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted the book I bought or if someone else wanted it for me. Sure, I will probably still enjoy staying up all night reading a book from Barnes and Noble, but I won’t respect myself in the morning because Barnes and Noble doesn’t care about me as a reader and certanly not as a person. Walk into any local independent bookstore, and you’re likely to meet the owner or someone who will ask you what you like to read, and will work to get you a copy of something they don’t have.