Matthew J. O'Dwyer

Writing Wednesday: Flash Fiction and The Word Wood

It’s that time again, Writing Wednesday here on the blog! This week I’m going to talk a little bit about flash fiction. My own personal experience with flash fiction is pretty limited. It’s something I’ve only recently started reading on a regular basis and I’ve rarely attempted to write it. I’m not an expert but I know someone who gives top notch advice about flash fiction and I’ll talk about her a little later.

For someone who wants to try something new, or someone who is looking to try out writing, I think flash fiction can be a wonderful tool. For a beginner, I think this can create some great habits for description. When your story needs to be five hundred words or less, every description matters, every piece of dialogue matters. In truth, every single word matters and they should all be chosen carefully.

I came to the conclusion that, in my opinion, flash fiction and poetry are really kindred spirits. I began studying poetry in college because my fiction professor thought it would help me hone my descriptions. It worked, my imagery become stronger and tighter because of studying poetry. I think writing flash fiction can exercise some of those same muscles. You need to get right at the heart of the tension, the center of the scene, and the pacing needs to be just right.

If you’re interested in flash fiction, The Word Wood is a great place to check out. The site has some great writers with wonderful stories. The stories are short in word count, but not in scope and depth. With multiple writers working in multiple genres, there’s something on the website for everyone to enjoy. Who knows, one of the stories might even inspire you to write something of your own.

If you’re interested in learning how to write flash fiction, I’ll direct to my friend R² Writes. You can find her first post on the subject here, and her second one here. She’s also one of the writers for The Word Wood, so you can check out her writing and see some of her advice in action. If you end up having questions about the subject, feel free to contact her over on her blog. She’s always happy to talk about writing and flash fiction is something she’s incredibly familiar with.

Now it’s your turn! Do you write flash fiction? Are you interested in trying it out? What techniques do you use in your own writing to keep phrases and descriptions concise?

Story Sunday: The Hangover

Hi, everyone! It’s Story Sunday again! I have to admit that this month has been a bit strange, so my choices for Story Sunday are a little unusual. In addition to a couple of big deadlines, I had an old friend come into town for a week and this weekend I threw a bachelor party. Next weekend I’ll be out of town to attend a wedding where I’ll be the best man. So I’m writing the posts at strange times, surrounded by strange events, trying to keep up with deadlines, and watching March fly by in front of me. In honor of the bachelor party weekend, I’m talking about The Hangover.

Surprisingly, this movie is still pretty relevant since The Hangover III is in the works and (unless I’m mistaken) will be coming out later this year. The Hangover is full of absurdity that slowly unfolds in front of the audience. When this movie first came out, I watched it in a sold out theater. This movie was a huge success and I think there are a few reasons worth mentioning here.

When a movie has an original concept or idea, or a different twist on an idea, it always has the potential to be a huge success. The Hangover is the perfect example of a twist on the classic party movies. This is after the party, after the big night, and these guys need to figure out what they did and where they went. At the time, the market had been saturated with party movies. You know the type, big movies where characters do all kinds of hilarious things because of drinking or drugs. This movie is different. We have a missing person, a wedding to attend, and three characters that are worn out, confused, and trying to use clues from their hotel room and pockets to figure out what they did. We get to experience the humor of the morning after, the humor of watching a couple of wrecks figure out what they did.

Even though it’s a comedy, this movie handles tension really well. There’s the tension of a missing friend, an impending wedding, and the mind game of figuring out how long they can go without calling the bride. There’s tension between the characters, especially with Alan and his loose handle on reality. Then, there’s a constant feeling of suspense, which creates enormous tension. Each step forward is going to pull back the curtain a little further. When that happens, there’s always a new problem to deal with, leading to suspense uncommon in most comedies.

This movie works and it’s fantastic. This is definitely one of my favorite comedies. I couldn’t really say the same about the second one and I’m not sure what to expect from the third. The first one, however, is great and I always enjoy watching it.

Now it’s your turn! What other comedies manage to create great moments of suspense and tension? What’s your favorite moment from the movie? Are you looking forward to a third installment?

Fan Friday: Fiddler’s Green

Hey, everyone, it’s Fan Friday again! This week is St. Patrick’s Day and it just so happens to be the weekend of my best friend’s bachelor party. I don’t usually talk about local places on Fan Friday but I’ll make an exception this week. I’m talking about a great pub called Fiddler’s Green in Winter Park, FL! It’s a fantastic pub with great service, delicious food, and wonderful people. If you’re somewhat familiar with the area, it’s not very far away from Rollin’s College. http://www.fiddlersgreenorlando.com/home.htm

Hands down, this place has the best fish and chips I’ve ever had in the states. To be honest, I haven’t had anything at this place that I didn’t like. For a while, a few friends and I would go there every week. We would each order something different and share our dinners. So we’ve tried just about everything on the menu and it’s all really fantastic. As for drinks, they have quite a large selection. The bar is huge and their beer menu is quite enormous. From seasonal beers to everyday favorites, they really have it all.

This is a great place to go if you want dinner with your friends, if you want to go on a date, if you want to watch a big game, or if you want to sit as the bar. From the outside, it doesn’t look very large. I don’t know if they’re using Timelord technology, but it’s definitely bigger on the inside. The seating is varied. When you walk in, to the left, a quarter of the pub is dedicated to seating for two. The lighting in this area is a little lower, it’s not right on top of the live music (if you’re there on a live music night), and it’s a great spot to sit and talk. The center of the pub is where live music takes place and there’s a lot of group seating there. This is great for drinking and eating with a bunch of friends. To the right, is a room somewhat separated from the rest of the pub. There’s a large screen in the room where they’ll play big soccer games and whatnot. This is great for large parties or groups of friend. The back quarter is dedicated to a long bar with no shortage of seating.

The atmosphere is really great. When there’s live music, the place really comes alive. Without live music, the place is has the amazing look of a classic Irish pub. Dark wood throughout and a varied collection of Irish items are scattered throughout the bar, but don’t call attention to themselves. I had the good fortune to visit Ireland years ago and this place is the best representation of an Irish pub that I’ve ever seen. If you’re ever in the area, stop in and grab a bite to eat. Their burgers are great but if you like fish and chips, you really can’t go wrong here.

Now it’s your turn! What are some local places that you love? If you like the pub feel, what are some great ones that you really like?

Writing Wednesday: Using RPG Books

Hey! It’s Writing Wednesday again and today I’m going to talk about RPG books. Books for Roleplaying Games like D&D, which I’ve talked about on the blog before. These books can be amazing tools for writer, especially fantasy writers. While you might be skeptical at first, trust me, these books can be a great source of information and inspiration.

A couple of weeks ago I took part in a Google Hangout with R² Writes. I’ve mentioned her on the blog before. If you haven’t checked out her blog, stop by and take a look at it, she’s really great. Anyway, in the background, I noticed what looked like a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual on her bookshelf. When I brought it up, she revealed that she owned a few of these books for the purpose of looking through monsters for her own writing. They can be an amazing starting point for inspiration in a person’s writing. I’ve always advocated the use of these books to other writers and when I saw it on her bookshelf, I thought it might be worth doing a blog post on the subject.

The Monster Manual books are great, from any edition, and have some fantastic artwork inside of them. They can also be used for an interesting look at lore, though your mileage will vary with different books and different description. While those books are great, they’re not so different from finding collections of bestiaries and flipping through those. So, while those are useful RPG books, there are some with even more uses.

About twenty years ago a company named White Wolf acquired the rights to the world of Ravenloft created for Dungeons and Dragons. White Wolf proceeded to make quite a few products about Ravenloft, my favorites being the gazetteers. They numbered five in total and each book covered only a couple of regions that make up Ravenloft. For each region they would discuss how much education the average person had, and how much a wealthy person had. They addressed the number of wealthy to the number of poor, the fashion, the languages, and the cultural traditions of the region.

The information you acquired about a town, a region, would most likely be more than you could ever make use of in your Dungeons and Dragons campaign. However, it was there, the information was present. The DM could use or disregard any of it. For writers, this is what we need to achieve with our own novels and our own world building. These book can be wonderful sources because we can look at great world building and see what it involves. We can look at different regions and question ourselves about the different regions in our story. Then, just like with a Dungeons and Dragon campaign, some of the information will be brought into the story, some won’t, but it will all be there if the storyteller needs it. They can be wonderful for inspiration but they can also be a guide for you to look to when you feel your own world is underdeveloped. They can be a blueprint of the things you should know about your own story.

Now it’s your turn! What helps you with inspiration for world building and monsters? What sources do you look at when you feel your own world is underdeveloped?

Story Sunday: The Prestige

Hi, everyone! It’s Story Sunday again and this week I’m talking about The Prestige. This movie is an adaptation of a novel with the same name by Christopher Priest. As with all adaptations, the question arises as to which version was better, but this is one of the few cases where I can’t decide. So, for this Story Sunday, I’m just going to take a little time and look at both versions of the story.

The novel has quite a few things going for it. The two main characters, Borden (Christian Bale) and Anjier (Hugh Jackman), are seen reading journals in the movie. Well, in the novel, the reader is actually reading the journals and that’s how the story is told. Anjier’s account, if I remember correctly, is dated and numbered. Borden’s journal is quite different. Rather than being a daily account of his life, it seems to be written in the future and looks back on his life. The style is amazing and the format is truly a different way of storytelling.

In both cases, you have the theme of obsession. Both magicians throw their lives away in a feud but have different ideas about why the feud is taking place. The audience sees that the obsession can manifest itself in different ways. For Anjier, the implications are personal. For Borden, it’s the people around him who suffer. His wife suffers, his daughter, his brother, everyone else suffers for the sake of the performance. Anjier sells himself, his soul, his humanity, to become better than Borden.

Now, there’s a spoiler ahead for those of you who haven’t seen the movie or read the book. In the movie, Anjier’s machine creates copies of himself. However, they’re true copies, they’re like clones. This leads to the conclusion that he killed himself, or his clone, in each show. The novel is different. The novel produces what seems to be a corpse. The new Anjier appears on a balcony and the old body has to be disposed of. The real difference comes at the end. Borden tampers with the machine during a show and the machine turns off halfway through the teleportation. This leaves a physically sick Anjier, and a wraith Anjier. The wraith can actually never die. He’s an incarnation of obsession that will never leave the family of the world. Both versions have amazing moral and personal implications. I really can’t say which one I prefer, so I’m glad to have experienced both versions.

Now it’s your turn! Which version of the story do you prefer? What do you think of these two men who sacrifice everything for obsession?