The Stories of Scott D. Southard

October 16, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Half of the Writing Hurdles
This Friday, when I post chapter 13, I will pass the halfway mark in my book. With that publication I will exceed 175 pages in the book, mapping out a book that will roughly be about 350 pages in length.

Those are the numbers, but they hardly express the emotional and wear and tear of the process to get to this point.

Recently, I had someone on Twitter ask me how many drafts I create of a chapter before I post it. It’s a great question and in a typical book, I would have numerous drafts of a book. There is the initial draft of a first draft when I do what I basically need to do; the other drafts are as it is updated to fit the rest of the book that is coming together; and finally the master drafts as the book is melded together into one beautiful whole.

Yet in Permanent Spring Showers that is not how it works out. I move forward, because the book moves forward. So I can only hope that the work when completed as a whole will feel like a complete whole by the end. Right now, I’m feeling really confident. That is probably the main gift reaching the halfway mark has given me. (more…)
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October 1, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Emotions Run Amuck
I’m an emotional writer.

What that means is I “feel” a book into existence. That’s not to say logic doesn’t have a place at the table (I wouldn’t have realistic motives, character sketches, or even an outline without Mr. Logic), it’s just that he is not at the front of the table. He is somewhere in the back of the room and if he raises his hand he might not be seen.

Yes, logic has to shout to get my attention a lot when I write.

It’s just for me to accomplish writing something I consider “true” I have to experience it emotionally as the reader will, maybe even more. If you read something that makes you cry, chances are I wailed before you. If I make you laugh, chances are I laughed as well (maybe even out loud with a slight loss of breath).

However, there is one important problem with being an emotional writer, it is that a work while in progress is more than simply words on paper, it is emotional dynamite for me, and it can affect my mood and my perception while working in the book or even while thinking of it outside of it. It is always there, like a powder keg ready to be lit. (more…)
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September 25, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Permanent Spring Showers, the story so far…
This Friday, I will be sharing the tenth chapter in my (possibly maddening) online literary creation/experiment/novel Permanent Spring Showers.

A new book that can be read in two very different ways.

Permanent Spring Showers is the story of a half-dozen different relationships and how they interact with each other (good and bad) over the course of two to three months. The relationships are romantic, funny, serious, sad, hard, lost, falling, rising, and passionate… basically the same as a rainstorm in that turbulent season.

Each of the earlier nine chapters in this literary experiment (I will discuss more how this is an experiment for those that don’t know below) can be found on the Permanent Spring Showers page here. (Minor spoilers below after the jump.) So how can this book be read two different ways? (more…)
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September 5, 2012

It’s time! The eBook version of MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS is available! (Links, samples, and a new introduction to the work is included in this post)
The eBook for MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS is now available via Google eBooks for a mere $9.99. You can find it here.

This version can work on any eBook reader from Kindle to your iPad or iPhone.

If you would rather have a paperback copy of the book, it is still available via amazon.com (here) for $15.95.

There are a few samples from the work available out there if you would like to check it out first. You can find a sample from the work via the official Google eBook page for it (here) as well as a sample on my own website (here) of one of my favorite scenes in the work.

If you have read the book and liked it, please consider sharing it with a friend. If you haven’t read it, I hope you will check out this unique and surprising novel. I am very proud of it. A new introduction to the creation of the work is included below. (more…)
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April 25, 2012

Dinner With Jack the Ripper… a scene from MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS
Today, I am going to do something a little different and share a scene from my novel My Problem With Doors. After being honored in a novel writing competition, it was published by a new small press in late 2010 (you can find it on amazon.com here and as an eBook on Google here).

This is probably one of my favorite moments from the novel. I hope you enjoy this excerpt.

–

He was waiting at a table in a private part of the restaurant. He was sitting alone and tracing his fork across the tablecloth. He seemed to be fascinated by the lines they made on the fabric. His medical tool chest was nearby on a separate chair. It was as if he had positioned his weapons so I would know that they were there. It was when he took a sip of his red wine that he noticed me standing near him. His smile broke into a frown. “You’re late.”

“You didn’t give me a time.”

That answer didn’t appease him. “I’m not the kind of person who should be kept waiting.”

I decided not to test him with a biting reply and sat quietly across from him.

Jack seemed to be overjoyed that I was there. He clapped his hands cheerfully and motioned for the waiter to come over. “My guest has arrived.” (more…)
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April 17, 2012

Upon The Ground: The Duck
This week’s short story from my collection Upon The Ground is up at GreenSpotBlue (Here). This time it is a comedy entitled “The Duck.”

Here is the beginning of the story:

–

“The Duck”

“Do you know what that is?” The Interviewer asked in his deep, rough, slow voice. He pointed at an object on his desk. I didn’t have the slightest idea what it was. Whatever it was it was bloody and very disgusting. I quickly thought back to all my classes on job placement and interviews. No… No… No…. None of them said anything about bloody objects. The only experience I had in college with bloody objects was when I dissected that frog in Biology 101, but that wouldn’t come back to haunt me now (would it?). I decided to be honest with the interviewer. “No, sir, I don’t.”

“That is my spleen,” he said. He sounded very proud.

“Why, that’s nice.” I made a mental note that this man had no spleen in his body. It sounded important at the time.

“So can you figure out why I have my spleen on display?”

My mind frantically jumped from thought to thought. Can there truly be a good answer for why a person has their spleen removed and placed on their desk? I decided to go with the honest answer. “No, I don’t, sir.”

By the look of disappointment on his face, I instantly knew I had given the wrong response. “Because,” he said making sure to emphasis every syllable. “I want my clients to know that I am hiding nothing from them.” He waved his hands in front of his suit. “This is what I have on the outside.” He pointed at the spleen. “And this is what I have inside.” He made sure to make eye contact with me. “I am an open book.”

–

If you would like to read the rest of the story, please visit GreenSpotBlue here.

Thanks for reading!
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March 27, 2012

Upon The Ground: The Playground
Thanks to the reaction to A Jane Austen Daydream, GreenSpotBlue.com, has chosen to publish a collection of my short stories entitled Upon The Ground.

Each Tuesday, for the next fourteen weeks, a new story will appear on their site which I will link to in a post (like this) and on a new page I will be creating for the book.

This collection contains some of my best writing, including today’s first entry, which I think is one of the best things I have every done, and may ever do. It is called “The Playground.” The story begins with a very flattering preface to the collection by Henry Williams, Executive Editor of GreenSpotBlue.com. After the jump is the first few paragraphs of “The Playground.” (more…)
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February 28, 2012

An Excerpt from MEGAN, a Novel
In the hope of doing something different, I decided today to share a scene from my novel MEGAN. In 2009 it was honored in an international novel-writing competition which led to its publication with a new press out of Canada. It can be found on amazon.com here. It is also available as an ebook and audiobook by contacting the publisher or as an eBook from GooglePlay here.

MEGAN is the story of Megan Wane, an imaginative soul who lives in two different worlds. In the real world, she is an event planner at a large firm, dealing with a micromanager and angry fellow employees; in her imaginary world she is a princess and secret superhero who is on a mission to save her world which was turned to blackness. Sometimes her real world slips into her imagination. In this scene Princess Megan and her two companions meet a terrifying and strangely bureaucratic dragon.

–

“Greetings. Hello? Over here. Hi!” The great green dragon was standing in the middle of a large open field. The field (situated where the woods once were) was surrounded by yellow torches. All of the torchlight seemed to coalesce on the dragon, making the beast look larger in the contrast of shadow and the brightness. It was the first dragon Princess Megan had ever seen and it astounded her.

The dragon really didn’t need to direct their attention to itself. The beast was hard to miss, no matter how much the trio might have wanted to pretend that they didn’t see it. It was standing on its hind legs and was wearing a pair of thick reading glasses and a red sweater-vest. It was also holding a clipboard in its right claw and a pencil was positioned behind its left ear. “Are you Princess Megan and her two servants?” the Dragon asked when they had approached closer. (more…)
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February 9, 2012

Writer’s Corner: A Query Letter for Jane Austen
I always seem to be overtaken by a feeling of apprehension whenever I begin to consider the idea of contacting agents and publishers again. To begin with, it’s not like I feel like I am “selling out” myself or my books, but I am definitely doing something that makes me feel a little dirty.

See, when you are writing a book you have all of the best intentions. You want to tell a great story, maybe do something groundbreaking or new in your artform; but when you start to contact agents and publishers you have to forget all of that. The best intentions are fine for writing tables; agents and publishers, typically, want to know the bottom line.

Could this book sell?

More established authors have their name to help sell a new work, but when you are unknown you are a member of the ever-growing faceless mass. And by that I mean, the daily struggling army of want-to-be authors that fight in query letters and e-mails for attention for their work. And that army is growing each year as more and more people graduate from English programs and writing programs, or simply decide they want to write a book… growing and growing… (more…)
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January 12, 2012

Fiction Sample: The First Chapter from MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS
In the hope of doing something different, I thought I would share the first chapter of my novel, MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS. It is available on amazon. com, by iPublish Press, a new indie publishing house. Here is the link if you would like to check it out. I hope you will, if I can guarantee anything it is that this book is very unlike anything else out there right now (some books reviews for it can be found on the sidebar). I would like to think you will be surprised.

This first chapter is called “Beginnings.”

From MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS

I will do my best not to lie.

It wouldn’t help my cause to exaggerate,

fabricate

or change any aspect of my life.

Also, I will do my best not to forget anything that may be helpful. Unfortunately, I have never been the kind of person to remember dates or write such information down. Still, I hope that I will be able to generate enough material to aid me.

–

This is a plea for help.

If you have found this manuscript and think it to be only a novel or an ancient piece of fiction, it is not. This is the story of my life and I hope in your reading of it you will be able to help me. (more…)
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