The Stories of Scott D. Southard

June 15, 2012

Notes From THE HONEYMOON, What Would Have Been the Last Part of The Dante 3
While creating the scripts for Time Out Of Mind, the proposed sequel to The Dante Experience, I began to take notes and scribble ideas for the third and final part, which had the working title of The Honeymoon.

I always knew I wanted the series to be a trilogy. Where I saw the first part being the afterlife and the second being time, I wanted the third to be a little more personal, and less large scale. For some reason I became fascinated by the idea of putting as many of my characters as I could on a boat in the middle of the ocean… and seeing what happens.

After sending Time Out Of Mind to Mind’s Ear and realizing it was not going to happen, my notes and scenes for The Honeymoon became… well… history. (more…)
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June 13, 2012

The Trials of Self-Publishing: Why I Consider It a Last Resort
Self-publishing feels so easy… It feels so safe.

The sad truth of writing is that the fun aspect of creation is only really 10 percent of the work. The rest is the difficult and time-consuming work of marketing and promoting the manuscript to the publishing world. Query letters, writing conferences, agent meetings; that is the real work, and self-publishing takes all of that away… Just leaving the author with their creation and then publication and none of the hassle of the mess in between.

It all sounds like bliss.

Yet, the easy path is not always the right one, and for self-publishing that is just as true. While there are a few self-publishing success stories, there are a thousand unsuccessful stories to each successful one of books that appear on amazon and disappear into the vacuum that is a search engine never to be seen again.

Frankly, if an author wants success for their book, and success for their own future as a writer, self-publishing should be a last resort, to be only considered when all of the other avenues have been tried. Why? Well, I’ll get to that… (more…)
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June 12, 2012

Upon The Ground: The WOMB Story
The twelfth story from my collection Upon The Ground is up at www.greenspotblue.com. It is called “The WOMB Story.” On a side note, part of this was inspired by something Ray Bradbury said about his memory. I’ll just leave it at that.

Here is a snippet from the beginning of the story:

–

“The WOMB Story”

I can recall EVERYTHING.

I remember being three and chasing clouds with my dog and being one and being rocked to sleep by my mom (“Hush little baby don’t say a word. Momma’s gonna buy you….”), but, more amazingly, I can remember being in the womb. I remember it because it was the safest I had ever felt in my life.

It was warm.

My mom’s heart was always there and I could feel connected to it (Thump. Thump. Thump.). I was connected to nature. Life in its purest moment. I could feel hands touching the stomach. I remember kicking and the taste of my thumb and the cord and the echoes of the voices outside laughing and talking.

Those memories are what warp my dreams today.

I can’t tell my wife. She won’t understand…. Well, she will claim to understand, but she won’t. It was my wild imagination that attracted her to me in the first place. She’s a Kindergarten teacher (“You’re like a grown child.” “How am I supposed to take that?” “As a compliment. You treat everything as a new experience. I love to watch your eyes.”).

–

You can read the rest of the story here. And in the Upon The Ground page you can find links to the other stories already from the collection. Thanks for reading!
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June 11, 2012

Five Things I Am Into Right Now, June 2012
When I lived in Los Angeles, I found the weather boring. It was almost always the same every day!

Warm, no clouds. Warm, no clouds. Warm, no clouds.

And while for some that may seem like a piece of heaven, for me it made time non-existent. I didn’t feel days pass or time; it all felt the same, like a wheel on a well-paved road. I like bumps in the road to jar me into reality. So it is not surprising to me that most of my activities this month relate to things indoors.

That’s just how I roll…

Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Am I the only one that loves it when Apple does these long titles? There is something wonderfully “out there” about doing it. And speaking of “out there” in many ways this album feels more experimental than her previous CDs; surprising, since this is her first album in 7 years. Her demons are still tormenting her and make appearances in every songs, but there are also wonderful little moments of innocence and beauty, under the slighty out-of-tune piano and tribal drummings and random chantings. (more…)
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June 9, 2012

Prometheus: So Many Questions…
I just saw Prometheus which opened up a lot of questions for me. So if you have not seen the movie yet, consider yourself warned about this article. There are massive spoilers (I’ll warn you when I am about to start with a scream like this: Ahhhhh!!!)

In preparation for seeing Prometheus I rewatched the director’s cut of Alien. Since that was the only film that Ridley Scott directed from the Aliens series, I felt I was safe just rewatching that one.

See, I was hoping I would go in fully prepared to see all of the little connections to the first one. Since the script was written by the genius behind Lost, Damon Lindelof, I was expecting a lot of little touches and references… well, just like any episode of Lost, but this time in space; where they can’t hear you scream, but we still do apparently. And here is the spoiler scream- Ahhhhh!!! (more…)
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June 8, 2012

Episode Ten: Time Out Of Mind
Episode 10 of

Time Out Of Mind,

The sequel to

The Dante Experience

“Gettysburg”

OPENING CREDITS

Scene 1

SOUND: Of Heaven

MICHAEL: Hazzah, your stellarness! I have good news for you. The communication link has been set up and I can get our team to fight the dragons!

REPAIR ANGEL: I said, I would fix it… All you had to do was wait.

MICHAEL: Not now! I’m talking to the big guy…Anyway, your infiniteness, I’m about to make contact with our team. Jenkins, can you hear me? Hello?

Scene 2

SOUND: Of Beach.

MICHAEL: Jenkins.

JENKINS: Oh, great, it’s Angel Michael.

ALL: (Sigh) (more…)
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June 6, 2012

Ray Bradbury
It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.

-Dandelion Wine

I apologize if this sounds overly dark, but the last of my childhood writing heroes is gone.

One by one, as I get older and older, they slip away. I remember when I heard of Kurt Vonnegut’s passing. I was backing up my car from the driveway… and it was a normal day, nothing special about it. It all felt so very bland. And all they had to say on Morning Edition was “So it goes” and I knew what they were about to say. I parked my car in front of my house and hung my head. It was about ten minutes before I restarted my car and the rest of my day felt slow.

Growing up though Ray Bradbury always felt like more than just an author. He felt like a mentor, a friend; and with his vast library of work, He always felt “available” to me—if that is the right word to use—because there was always something new to discover. (more…)
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June 6, 2012

Writing Advice: Never Be Happy
I am never happy with my writing and I consider that a very healthy mindset to have.

I want to forget about past books, destroy old short stories, and hang my head in shame over screenplays. This does not mean I think the work is bad, far from it. It’s just I am always a different writer in a different “place” when I look back at past work, and that old writer who slaved over those chapters or scenes… well… he ain’t in this house anymore, and the new tenant isn’t into it.

In my last writing editorial (“Leave Home“), I discussed some of the pluses and minuses around most writers being introverts. The dangerous fact for writers is introverts like to be in a rut.

A rut is safe.

There are no surprises in a rut.

And for a writer that means genres, characters, scenes, plots, dialogue, expressions, and even favorite words may find their way again and again into “new” works. These ruts are like a warm blanket on a cold winter evening, why would you want to go get out from underneath all that security? (And if you are lucky enough to make actual money off your writing, it makes it that much more difficult.)

Some might find offense in my saying all this, but frankly, the answer to that question in my opinion is the difference between being just a writer and being an author. (more…)
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June 5, 2012

Upon The Ground: Firsts
I’m on day 2 of having a cold and the medicine is making me a little loopy so if I forget what I’m… Okay, what am I doing again? Oh, yeah! A new short story from my collection Upon The Ground is up at www.greenspotblue.com. It is called “Firsts.”

Here is a bit from the beginning:

–

“Firsts”

Lisa thought love was stupid. How else could she explain what she was looking at? For there below her bedroom window was her sister with her lips implanted against a man’s face.

Lisa couldn’t help but squirm at the vision. Her mind was filled with a thousand repulsive thoughts regarding it. What if he had food stuck in his teeth? What if he doesn’t even have teeth? (Her grandfather doesn’t have teeth. When she was three and she saw him first remove his dentures it took her grandmother twenty minutes to calm her down). Or more disgusting than that- What if he used his tongue?

She had heard her sister discuss this boy before. It was over dinner last night. Her father (the mayor) didn’t think he was the right kind of boy for his daughter to be associating with (as if any boy would be). Her sister, Emily, then followed that comment with a more drastic comment. That drastic comment created the bedroom detention that should have been going on for the next few weeks…. However, that was not the case. For there was Lisa looking down at the “punished” Emily with her lips “stuck” to this stranger.

–

You can read the rest of the story here. Also I have links to the other stories from the collection on the Upon The Ground page. Thanks for reading! I’m going to go sneeze now.
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June 1, 2012

Episode Nine: Time Out Of Mind
Episode 9 of

Time Out Of Mind,

The Sequel to

The Dante Experience

“Two Roberts for the Price of One”

OPENING CREDITS

Scene 1

SOUND: Of Heaven.

REPAIR ANGEL: Best out of three?

KELLII: Ok. You move first.

MICHAEL: Can you two stop playing that game! This is the throne room and I am doing important things. The big guy doesn’t want to see you playing a board game.

KELLII: I don’t hear him complaining.

REPAIR ANGEL: Actually, I haven’t heard him at all since I’ve been here.

MICHAEL: Can you two please stop judging the maker.

KELLII: Is he even awake?… Hello? Anyone there? (more…)
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