Friday, March 15, 2013

MicroWeird is Coming

Sometime in the next few weeks I'm going to self publish a collection of my flash fiction stories under the title MicroWeird: Tiny Tales of the Strange. The stories are already collected and edited, though I'll give them one more read through, and I've got an idea for the cover but need to work on that a bit more. Xavier is closed for Easter Break during the week of March 25-29, so the final touches will probably get done then.

The plans are for 16 stories, with a total word count of around 10,000. Not counting the "about the stories" section, which I always include, the stories will average about 600 words a piece. Quite a few are shorter, and a couple are less than fifty words long. Only three of these have been published before, and only one of those three in anything folks reading this blog may have seen. The price will be 99 cents.

Most of you know I tend be varied in what I write, but this collection has some stories in it that are weird even by my relaxed standards of the strange. Although most of the stories have been written over the past few years with a "Microweird" kind of publication in mind, two of the tales were written during the years before I ever published anything at all. Two others were written and submitted time and again without getting accepted. One of those went to seventeen places without a taker. You might think I'd take that as a sign that it's not very good, but the problems with that are: 1) I think the story is really good myself, and 2) readers I've shown the story to love it. I just think most of the editors I've sent it to have had no idea what to do with it.

Of course, most of these tales will have a "twist ending."  In fact, it was working on the newer stories in this collection that led to Fiction Techniques #3: The Twist Ending, which is one of the writing tip articles I recently put up on Amazon.



So, COMING SOON:  Just when you thought Gramlich couldn't get any stranger. MicroWeird!
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35 comments:

Ron Scheer said...

There was never any doubt. Thanks for sharing the output of your creative imagination.

Tom Doolan said...

Let me just say, I LOVE this idea. I am inspired. I'm thinking collections of flash fiction in other genres now. Looking forward to this one, Charles. :)

Sean Patrick Reardon said...

I love twist endings, especiallly when I know they are coming and can't figure them out until the end. I Am looking forward to this, and good luck!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sounds like a twisted good read! Let us know when it's out.
And you really need that break, don't you?

BernardL said...

I'd go with the title Tales From the Razored Zen.

Deka Black said...

Twist ending are something i love!

Charles Gramlich said...

Ron, thankee for the kind comments.

Tom, cool!

Sean, I'm pretty sure most will come as pretty big surprises, although one seems a bit too predictable to me. I guess we'll see.

Alex, will do. And yes, I need some time to sit and focus on getting some projects 'finished.'

Bernard, a good suggestion. Hum, I will consider it.


Deka, me too!

Ty said...

Looking forward to it. I love great flash fiction.

And this is one of the great things about self publishing: It would be quite difficult (though not necessarily impossible) to place such a work with a traditional publisher.

laughingwolf said...

can't wait!

Charles Gramlich said...

Ty, absolutely. I mixed a little bit of flash fiction in with my three anthos from Borgo but it had to be in small doses.

Laughinwolf, thankee.

Riot Kitty said...

Cool! I will look forward to it. Weird as in good weird, I take it?

SzélsőFa said...

sounds good, and good luck with selling!
Paul, the Struggling writer has recently posted about flash fiction.

writing short is not that easy as it may seem. sometimes it is way harder.

sage said...

I like that title! And I like the idea of micro-stories. Good luck.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Charles, a short story collection with word counts of 50 to 600 definitely appeals to me. It's a very good concept. I look forward to the release of "MicroWeird: Tiny Tales of the Strange".

Charles Gramlich said...

Riot kitty, well not kinky weird. More like surreal, with some humor.

Szelsofa, it definitely can be tough. Every word counts to the maximum.

Sage, thankee, man.

Prashant, in a couple more weeks, I hope!

Randy Johnson said...

Microweird. Good title. Be looking forward to this one.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Looking forward to it, Charles.

Charles Gramlich said...

Randy, thankee, man.

Patti, I appreciate that.

Unknown said...

Charles this sounds great. Testament to your versatility.

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Greg said...

sounds like a cool collection. the shorter the story, the more it's likely to grab my attention.

ivan said...

I think all writing and no play makes...Jack?

But writing too many tales with a twist has succeeded in twisting me a bit.

I am sarting to distribute O Henry chocolate bar wrappers as calling cards. :)

G. B. Miller said...

You, weird? Perish the thought.

Looking forward to it.

Charles Gramlich said...

Richard, thanks, man.

Greg, I'm trying to cover all the bases!

Ivan, I'd like an O'Henry chocolate bar. I believe.

G.B., I know. It was a real stretch for me. :)

ivan said...

Heh,

O'Henry. Right.

Happy St. Paddys' Day

X. Dell said...

Looking forward to reading it.

X. Dell said...

Looking forward to reading it.

Charles Gramlich said...

Ivan, indeed.

X. Dell, thanks, man.

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Erik Donald France said...

Love the title ~ smashing ~!

Vesper said...

I really love this title! MicroWeird!
Bring it on! I'm very much looking forward to reading it.

Charles Gramlich said...

Cris, I'm glad someone besides myself was able to help you. :)

Erik, thanks, man!

Vesper, I appreciate that!

jodi said...

Charles-the name 'Microweird' is totally cool! Good luck with it!

Shauna Roberts said...

Can't wait to read it!