NOTE: In preparation for the upcoming Let’s Be Brief writing contest, the continuing theme of posts this week and next (see yesterday’s post here) will generally be on the subject of writing. For today, I just feel like telling you a story.

Ever since I was a kid (a child, that is; I’m not talking about when I graduated from being a young goat), I enjoyed reading, and particularly enjoyed science fiction. I can even remember what got me started – it was my grandmother’s attic.

You see, when I was very young (I was about 7 or 8 years old at the time), my mother, sister and I moved into my grandmother’s house, a big old semi-Victorian residence located in the Heights area of Houston, Texas. (Of course, it was probably big to me because I was rather small at the time.) Living there was fun because there was a large lot with several big old oak and pecan trees, and plenty of room to explore. The neighbors had two kids my age, and a big, friendly Collie named Butch.

But one day as I was exploring the house, I discovered, quite by accident, a secret door in the stairwell! It had been papered over some time in the distant past, but the outline was still visible if you knew where to look. Now to someone my age, this was too good to be true! I stealthily obtained a razor blade from my grandfather’s bathroom and cut the wallpaper so the door would open. After procuring various and sundry survival supplies (OK, it was a flashlight) I managed to work the door open, and voila! a whole new world opened before my eyes!

I’m sure you’ve seen in TV and movies the usual depiction of an attic: boxes of stuff, old furniture, clothes, etc. all lying around and covered in dust like they’d been forgotten by time itself. This attic was much the same, only dustier. It was unfinished (by that I mean you could see the frame of the house), and one really great feature was a window located in a small gable. The wood frames formed a kind of seat that was just perfect for gazing out onto the back yard. What a view! I was up where the birds lived, and loving it.

Then I found the real treasure: boxes and boxes of old magazines. And not just any magazines, it turned out there were literally hundreds of old Analog science-fiction magazines. Once I’d figured out what they were, I started reading one or two out of curiosity, and was hooked!

Having noticed that most of the magazines contained only one part of the cover story (they were serials, after all), the first thing I did was lay them all out in date order. Then, starting with the oldest one, I read every one of them. The best thing was, this was summer (no school!), and I had my own perfect, private spot to read: the window seat in the attic.

It was heaven.

I’ve never lost my love of good science fiction, and I think the reason I like it so much is that it exercises my imagination in ways no other fiction can. To me, my favorites were always forward-looking (although there are some that go back in time), and almost always, well, so hopeful. They gave me visions of possible futures that in many ways seemed as real as everyday life.

That’s what I like about (my particular favorite) science fiction stories: they show what’s possible. In fact, I still personally prefer the more correct term speculative fiction, because that’s exactly what it is – speculations about the future and where it could lead.

Now it’s your turn

One thing that came of reading so much as a child was that I never lost a spelling bee! Another is that it inspired my dream of becoming a writer of (you guessed it) science fiction. Alas, I’m not quite the rich and famous author – yet. But who knows?

Well, if you’ve ever nurtured the dream of becoming a writer, here’s your chance!

Starting Monday, January 15th, I give you the chance to show the world your ability to tell a story in print. Ah, but not just any story – there’s a catch. You have to write a complete story, but you can only use six words!

“Six words?” you say. “You must be crazy!”

Well, sure, but what has that got to do with it? The first MZM writing contest: Let’s Be Brief will be open and accepting entries from Monday thru Sunday, January 21st, so “point up” a pile of pencils and get ready to start exercising those little grey cells, because this is gonna be fun!

I’m getting tired of typing now, so if you’re interested and want more details, scroll down to Monday’s and Tuesday’s posts. (Or, you know, click on the links.)

One late-breaking detail to add: Shawn Callahan from Anecdote has agreed to join John Koetsier from bizhack and yours truly on the judge’s stand and help me pick out the best of the best. Thanks, Shawn and John! (You can put your arms down now – the gun wasn’t loaded!)

I realize this may sound a bit like a sacrilegious admission coming from yours truly (or any blogger for that matter), but in my constant struggle to produce daily meaningful content for the Middle Zone, there are times when I just can’t seem to get around to the gist of my point, and often end up becoming incredibly long-winded, pedantic, and puerile.

Translation: Bubba, being concise ain’t easy!

The ancient Roman poet Horace (oh, that guy) once lamented, “I struggle to be brief, and become obscure.” Yeah, Horace, I know what you mean. A bumper sticker I used to have, oh, more than 25 years ago read “Eschew obfuscation” (no, that’s not a picture of my car – I just happened to find this photo on the internet). I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen, but alas, no one else seemed to get it. I even had someone pull up beside me while on the freeway and ask what language it was!

That’s the problem isn’t it? In the attempt to be concise, all meaning can be lost. I imagine this to be a constant challenge for good newspaper or TV news headline writers. It’s not storytelling; it’s how to grab your interest in three to ten words.

But writing headlines has at least one advantage over writing stories – a headline’s intent is to make you want to read or listen to the rest of the story (sounds like a lead-in for Paul Harvey). So it only need contain enough words to serve as pointers to the content. For example, the headline, “Man bites dog; film at 11″ doesn’t give you any details but it does (presumably) pique your interest enough to get you to stick around for the explanation and find out it was just some politician eating a hot dog.

When we tell stories, on the other hand, we usually need words (well, duh!), and plenty of them. But storytelling isn’t about being concise; its more about being able to paint clear word-pictures. When was the last time you told a story, any story, in just a few sentences? Usually it takes paragraphs, pages, even whole chapters in order to provide context enough for the story to make sense and the hearer to get the meaning.

“Ok”, you ask, “so what?”

Well, what if you had to tell a story, but were severely limited by space restrictions? Do you think you could do it using very few words (specifically, using only six words)? This article from Wired Online illustrates what I mean:

“We’ll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves.”

I’ve picked a few choice ones to demonstrate what I mean. (You can find the complete list of – ahem – shorts here.):

• “Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.” – William Shatner
• “Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.” – Joss Whedon
• “Automobile warranty expires. So does engine.” – Stan Lee
• “We kissed. She melted. Mop please!” – James Patrick Kelly
• “The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.” – Orson Scott Card
• “I couldn’t believe she’d shoot me.” - Howard Chaykin
• “I win lottery. Sun goes nova.” – Stephen Meretzky

And my personal favorite:

• “In the beginning was the word” – Gregory Maguire (Although – the actual author of this line was John the Apostle, and it’s from, you know, the Bible.)

Let’s Be Brief

OK, hopefully by now you’ve probably heard about the upcoming writing contest. So here’s the deal:

I’m throwing down the gauntlet (sound of gauntlet being thrown down) to anyone who cares to take up the challenge. From Monday, January 15th thru Sunday, January 21st, all bloggers, lurkers, and other various and sundry types out there in the blogosphere will have the chance to demonstrate to the blogging community their ability to tell an entire meaningful story using only six, count ‘em, six words.

Sharpen up your pencils and start thinking about it now, friends, because it’s not as easy as it sounds. You have plenty of time to come up with one or more stories, with no restrictions on punctuation, theme, etc. – except of course to just use six words; no more, no less.

As a special bonus, I’ve lined up John Koetsier from bizhack to help me judge the entries and determine the best of the best.

Want to know more? Stay tuned for more details!

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ANNOUNCING!
UPCOMING WRITING CONTEST:
Let’s Be Brief

Whatever you do, don’t touch that dial!

After participating in Ben Yoskovitz’ group writing project What I Learned in 2006, I had so much fun I decided we should do something similar here at the Zone every now and then. After literally minutes of careful thought (oh, the agony!), I believe I’ve come up with a suitable challenge to kick things off.

So start sharpening your pencils, my friends, and be sure to tune in on Monday, January 15th. I won’t share all the details just yet (that would be telling), but for now suffice it to say this will be an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to be creative in an entirely different way.

If you’ve never participated in a group project before, it’s an opportunity to extend yourself out beyond the boundaries of your own blog and interact with a larger group. You will be introduced to plenty of other bloggers; and, it’s a chance to share some of that link love (the chocolate of the bloggers’ world) of which bloggers are so fond .

Stay tuned for more details at this site throughout the week.