The “Aha” of the “Aha From a Science Fiction Writer’s Workshop”

A short while ago, I gave a writing workshop at the local library to an interesting group of writers. Participants ranged from budding writers interested in creating short stories to established writers of non-fiction. Entitled, “A Writer’s Toolkit”, I entertained them with my misadventures in the publishing industry and then launched into a “show and tell” using a bazillion examples, many of which appear in my latest writing guide, The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! by Starfire World Syndicate.

For instance, one example in the book (in Chapter R under the heading “Something Worse Than Rejection”) relates the story about my multiple submission of the short story, Angel’s Promises. Here’s an excerpt:

Several years ago, when I was first submitting short stories everywhere, I was using several online market listings to find possible fits to my science fiction stories. I ended up submitting Angel’s Promises to Magazine A, among others (as part of a simultaneous submission, which is okay so long as you let them know) and I received a letter that the story was accepted and would appear in a particular issue. While I was waiting for Magazine A to publish my piece I got an acceptance from another publisher. I told them that it was appearing in Magazine A but they were welcome to second printing rights when they became available and the timing was right. Luckily, Magazine B was amenable. Why was I lucky, you ask? Because Magazine A never did publish my piece and when I finally got a look at their magazine, it turned out to be a stapled photocopy of newspaper clippings with a few hand-typed pieces. Luckily Magazine B was Dreams & Visions and my story went on to garner a nomination for the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Fountain Award and then was selected to appear in that publisher’s “Best of” Anthology. Lesson Learned: KNOW YOUR MARKET!

Another chapter from The Fiction Writer that I covered in the workshop was about The Hero’s Journey. It really resonated with one of my workshop participants, Colin Wiebe, a singer/songwriter and an accomplished writer himself (Colin wrote several books, his latest one being an inspirational guidebook entitled Advertise Yourself ). Colin is currently writing a screenplay and he recognized many aspects of the hero’s journey and archetypes I talked about that he’d already used intuitively. Colin writes a blog too and he blogged the very night of the workshop! Entitled, “The ‘aha’ From a Science Fiction Writer’s Workshop”, Colin described his own “aha” that he got from my discussion of the “Hero’s Journey” and from my own hero, Ray Bradbury, who I’d quoted.

“I am always curious to learn new tools, techniques to give me any advantage that might help my writing in general,” says Colin on his blog. “I rarely follow the rules, however Nina presented an overview of “The Hero’s Journey”…[whose] basic plot structure [is] in every Hollywood Blockbuster. I am writing a screenplay and I knew much of this structure intuitively (probably from reading too many “airplane” novels while on tour) however in the context that Nina described, the Hero’s Journey inspired me to ingest this ancient plot style and commit it to memory.” He also wisely bought my book! (Nina grins, rather self-pleased). “From fairytale myth to a Greek three act play,” Colin continues, “every Rocky movie and Indiana Jones film follows this incredible formula. Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and more recently, Christopher Vogler, have all expounded on this psychological elixir for humans.” Colin plans to “exploit this magical blueprint in as many devices as I can to practice the craft.”

That rascal even used it in the title of his blog post, which he says “draws the curious into my tepid plot, looking for the “aha” pay-off the writer has discovered.” Now, why didn’t I come up with that? Colin ends by thanking not just me but Ray Bradbury (after I’d reverently quoted something Bradbury had said in Palm Springs several years ago: “Every single word is important; everything is metaphor.”)

Thanks, Colin!

Colin Arthur Wiebe grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. Colin began his career by winning the prestigious American Song Festival with his song “Key To Your Heart”. Colin joined with Juno Award winning singer/songwriter Paul Janz in the 1980’s. In 1991 Colin joined with Canadian legend Randy Bachman (Bachman Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who) and has been singing all the Guess Who material and playing guitar and keyboards since. Colin is prominently featured on the new Randy Bachman “Every Song Tells Story DVD” and is currently touring Canada. Colin’s debut album, “Livin On Dreams” was produced by Randy Bachman and the single “They Grow Up So Fast” is still played on Soft Rock radio. And, yes, his music is COOL!

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.