I'm writing a short story I intend on submitting to Dead North, a Canadian zombie anthology.
I've got a couple of different 'textures' in it - faux Google search results, and an online newspaper article. Now, I'm pretty happy with how the search results look, they pretty much look like a Google page without the logo and trimmings. But my online newspaper article just looks a bit rubbish. I've got two columns and wanted to include a relevant (and free, for obvious copyright issues) picture. I've had no luck so far searching for a picture and without it, it just looks kinda blah.
Have you guys got any suggestions for me?
How have you used different textures in your fiction?
Jess
I desperately wanted to submit something to that antho, but, as an abject failure, I couldn't come up with a single thing.
This new-fangled epistolary-type story telling I think is a cool idea, though it's going to get much more interesting when everything is published in formats that allow video, good hyperlinking, music etc. Search engine results is a cool idea.
Can't you just pay the 8 bucks and grab an image from iStockPhoto.com or something?
I've never used textures in fiction because I have no imagination, and everything comes off looking like a bad Stephen King ripoff. Who, by the way, writes a mean epistolary tale (see Jerusalem's Lot, and other shorts that I can't remember right now).
What kind of pic do you need?
commons.wikimedia.org
archive.org
Permission requirements vary from item to item, of course.
I wrote a story as a facebook message and a poem which featured spam-bot jibberish with links, but I've never done a long piece which used such a variety of textures.
I tried it out with just any old picture and it still looked rubbish, so back to a plain format for the article. My head clearly doesn't understand how to do newspaper articles yet!
I'm looking forward to the anthology. I moved to Canada from Australia about 4 months ago now so it'll be good to read up on the area, with zombies included.
J.Y. - I was looking for a picture of an animal in cage, preferrably looking miserable. I'm not particularly sadistic, the story was just about a PETA style organisation infecting meat eaters with a zombie virus.
How did the FB message story look? Sounds pretty cool actually.
You could probably find such a picture on wikimedia. Maybe not full public-domain, but at least a creative-commons-attribution or something.
The facebook story was on this site, in one the threads. I might have moved it. Being written in a comment box, the format wasn't quite precise.
It's still here. 12 comments down from top.
To print an image you'll need decent resolution, 300dpi at least (even if it's to be scaled down and printed in newspaper style at 72dpi), for web 72dpi is fine but higher resolution is always better. It's probably a good idea to submit a full quality image as an attachment so they can scale it down and place it, as well as putting an image in your text.
Speaking of which, how about this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Monkey_in_cage.jpg
Licenced to use as you wish. Full details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monkey_in_cage.jpg
J.Y. & Seb, thanks for the technical help, I'm going to have another crack it with an image now.
(J.Y. - loved the FB message story, very cool take on the old fashioned letters as stories.)
Thanks, MJ. Good luck with your project.
I wrote a story as a facebook message and a poem which featured spam-bot jibberish with links, but I've never done a long piece which used such a variety of textures.
That was awesome.
Dead North sounds good. I wish I had known about this, I have an idea for a zombie story.
Nick:
Punchnel's is also running a zombie contest, entries due by October 7th. 1500 words or less.
$50 plus publication to the winner; $10 and publication to the next four.
Only problem with this one Nick is that.the main requirement for the stories means I probably won't be able to submit it anywhere else without substantials redrafts. My story pretty much takes place in the Rogers Center around the Blue Jays!
thanks VC
Jess, you should post it in the workshop if you get a chance, I'd like to read it.
I have only the vaguest idea of what you're talking about. It sounds interesting though, so what is writing with textures exactly?
When I write, I try to take those different threads (textures) and weave them into the story. I think of it as braiding, sometimes. Take three or more items and lay them side by side, then take the outermost one and put in the middle, then the outermost on the otherside goes in the middle, and on (I guess you guys know how to braid).
I try to do this with the basics of Setting, Characters, Action (show the room, show who is in it, then have them move/talk within the scene). Then I try to do it with the characters (give them knowledge, show the knowledge, then have them use it), then have the other person do the same. While they are doing these actions, I make sure to include little mentions of the setting (especially if it will reinforce what they are saying (ie. looking at a picture of dead parents while talking about something that relates in an abstract way, such as getting a new dog (a new member of the family)).
Using outside textures like you're talking about, I would put them in people's mouths. Even if they are reading from a book or a google search, I always like it better when they are saying it instead of having the break in the page where 'the reader' becomes part of story and has to read an info-dump (any amount of expository text).
So, I would consider it another thread to weave into the story - keep it close to the setting, characters, and action. Keep it in the story, instead of apart from the story.
I've seen it work well to do the pages from a news article and such, but 97.3% of the time, I find it to be distracting and it kicks me out of the story.
