Showing posts with label Dawn Ford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dawn Ford. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Splickety Magazine and Flash Fiction

Hello Seekerville! I come to you from the flashy side of fiction today to share some information about Splickety Publishing Group where I work as Operations Manager.

Who is Splickety? Let’s start at the beginning.

In 2010 Ben Erlichman, aka our fearless leader Ben Wolf, decided to publish fiction for busy people. Short stories they could read fast. But he needed a name. By divine intervention, he smashed his hands into the keyboard, and the letters “splkty” popped up on the screen. So began Splickety magazine.

Ben, along with Arpit Mehta (Art Director) and Andrew Winch (Editor ), turned out a total of three magazines in 2011. By 2012 they could barely keep up with their growth. In 2014 so many stories were coming in, they couldn’t keep up with them all. Splickety Love and Havok were born.
The original magazine was then renamed Splickety Prime. Today, we’re the premiere source of flash fiction, both online and in print.

But, what IS flash fiction?

Flash fiction is a story that is told in 1,000 words or less. It breaks down from there into micro fiction (300 words or less) and nano fiction (100 words or less).When you’re talking flash fiction, every word counts, and often does double duty so the story packs as much power as possible.

Think of it this way: boiling a liquid down into a concentrated essence is called a reduction. What we’re doing with flash fiction is boiling a story down (a reduction) until you bring out its essence. Ka-boom!

Notice that last sentence? I originally wrote, “And boy, is it powerful!” But, doesn’t ka-boom say it all in one word? Did you see the proverbial explosion in your head? I did.
That’s how you boil a story down.

But, you may wonder how would one begin to write flash fiction?


I polled Splickety’s staff and came up with a few great tips:
1.      Lindsay Bracket, our Web Content Editor says, “Treat the story as a snapshot, one moment in time. Don’t try to write an epic in 1000 words. There’s no time for that.”
2.      Erika Wisdom, Havok’s Production Manager says, “I tend to focus on one big action, and one main character.”
3.      Sarah Grimm, Splickety Prime’s Lead Editor suggests, “Don't try and hit the target word count the first time through. Write less so you have room to add during revisions if needed.”

Some writer’s think that because it’s a short story the standards are lower. Not so. If anything the writing must be stellar to be selected for our magazines. Splickety’s mission includes setting the standard for what flash fiction is.

What’s in store for the future at Splickety? We are planning to expand our magazine borders by introducing non-fiction and fiction book publishing divisions. Splickety book publishing will be open for submissions in 2016. Stay tuned to our Lightning Blog for updates!
World domination. It’s what we do.

Does writing 50, 70, or 90,000 words intimidate you? Have you started a book, only to quit before you finish it? Here's a way to build up those literary muscles: give flash fiction a try! Let's talk about Flash Fiction and what an opportunity it can be. 



ONE LUCKY COMMENTER WILL WIN A $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD!
To sign up for Splickety’s newsletter and keep up with all of our amazing news and magazines, visit our Lightning blog (http://splicketypubgroup.com/lightning-blog/ ). If you’re interested in submitting a story to one of our magazines, check out our fun themes for 2016 (http://splicketypubgroup.com/submission-guidelines/2016-themes/ ). Or, if you’re into world domination as well, you can subscribe to one, two, or all three of our magazines (http://splicketypubgroup.com/subscribe/ ).

Dawn Ford has been writing young adult fantasy and adult small town dramas for eight years. She blogs with nine other Christian women at www.inkspirationalmessages.com and you can find her lurking in the cyber hallways, making sure everything gets done at Splickety Publishing Group. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Speculating on Speculative Writing


By Dawn Ford
Steampunk Dawn Ford
What do dragons, time machines, and God have in common? You might be surprised to discover they fall in the category of Speculative Fiction. When people ask me what I write and I tell them Speculative Fiction, they scrunch their brows and say, “What?” So, I’m here to try and take the speculation out of Speculative Fiction.

What are we really talking about when someone says Speculative Fiction? Fantastical in nature, this term encompasses genres such as Fantasy, Horror, Spiritual Warfare, and Utopian/Dystopian fiction. Simplified, Spec Fic is a sibling to Sci-Fi wherein a story, whether modern day, furturistic or historical, gets thrown together with some elements of an alternative nature. This speculation of time/world/nature turns the ordinary into extraordinary and thus becomes Speculative Fiction.  

Because of this, a story that is Spec Fic needs certain elements to be placed under this large umbrella of vastly different genres. Magic, time travel, alternative realities, non-human species or entities, a non-earthly world, or elements bent and stretched beyond the norm can be used to set your story apart from a “regular” fiction or even Sci Fi work.

Spec Fic claims hybrid genres such as Steampunk. Steampunk is a genre taken from a historical period of time (mid-eighteenth century) to magnify a certain aspect of that time (the use of steam over industrial technology) and uses it to tell a story. Think the movie Sherlock Holmes which stars Robert Downey Jr., whose exceptional ability to think ahead in the action helps him fight brilliant and resourceful villains. This in itself is a bit of a stretch in human ability even for a genius such as Sherlock. Mix that together with the use of weaponry and/or inventions dripping with a 19th Century retro-futuristic flair. That’s Steampunk.

Utopian/Dystopian stories have been on an upswing in the past few years as well, especially in Young Adult novels. Utopian: a perfect society vs. Dystopian: a partially or completely devastated society. These societies would have their own share of pros and cons, allowing a creative landscape for an author to bring about a new society, brimming with problems that would naturally arise in such an extreme world. Think The Hunger Games for dystopian and Divergent for Utopian.

Thanks to publishers such as Marcher Lord Press, Oak Tara, Port Yonder Press, and Splashdown Books, and the rise of Splickety and Havok magazines, the Speculative genre has gone from speculation to reality. At least a fictional kind of reality.

The Faith and Fantasy Alliance with the support of SpeculativeFaith.com have even spurred their own conference, aptly named Realm Makers. The 2013 conference had an overwhelming response, even though it was their first year. The 2014 conference, RM’s second, promises to be bigger and better with Tosca Lee as the keynote speaker. It also features the Clive Staples Award, given to the best published Speculative novel of the year. All of this shows how Speculative Fiction is becoming recognized by the publishing industry and seeing a growth in popularity.

Because of the diversity in genres, I could go on for days about the nuances that frame Spec Fic, but I’m sure you’ll be glad to know I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to strap on my goggles and go
tune up my time machine while you decide if I’ve taken some of the speculation out of Speculative Fiction for you.

For more information on Faith and Fantasy Alliance go here
or Realm Maker’s 2014 Conference, go here.  


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Dawn Ford lives nestled among the Loess Hills in Western Iowa. Her passion is in fantasy but she also loves small town drama. Dawn is a member of ACFW, SCWBI, and blogs with nine other Christian women on www.inkspirationalmessages.com.
Follow her on Pinterest : http://www.pinterest.com/sweatheart68/