Today is Christi Floss’ Birthday and what follows is my gift (55 words of Flash Fiction) to her. Christi is a free spirited poet who owns Getting It Right where she unknowingly published one poem in particular, Breathing You, that …pinned me for reasons some of you may guess, and fewer will know.

Happiest of Birthdays Christi!

Fresh Air

“Air!” She gasped as her flight path sped upwards, “My sweet air.”

A tear marked her cheek as she glanced back at her cage. A tear for illusions she once knew, and for the freedom allowed by her muse and lover.

“I’m yours,” her scream filling the night air, “I am me- free to love.”

© 2011, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

A love letter I wrote in the moment as it were. This exercise in creative writing, like all my poetry, may or may not have been written for someone specific- I love keeping you all guessing.

Did I fake it?

Oh my sweet love….

The breath of late autumn has been fierce today. Coming under skies that
look brooding and contemplating, that breath has been constant with a
touch of ice on the edges.

The leaves of now abashed looking trees are littering lawns all up and
down Dale Avenue. Most of the fodder in the yards belongs somewhere else.

That breath truly has been strong.

But across from the porch, across two yards, and on to the next street,
there is one tree that has stood vigilant against the mighty breath of
fall.

That tree is painted with splotches of verdant green, chunks of old
orange, and a very healthy badge of rustic red fire.

The leaves hold fast against a steady wind that cascades over giving and
bending limbs and branches. They twist and turn, but do not yield to the
angry breath.

Today, as I sit here in awe of that one tree, in a neighborhood marked by
hundreds of naked dancers, I am humbled by our love.

A forever love that was discovered two springs ago. A love that has grown
for six seasons. A love that was sparked at the first grain drop in the
oldest hour glass.

A love that will spark life.

A love planted in strong soil and rooted with the total support of four
hands, two souls, two hearts, and fate. A love that has been nurtured, not
with exacting care, but with the fire of need. The need to know everything
about each other, the need to support and work side by side, the need give
entirely, the need to take without shame.

A love that has withstood mighty winds, and will withstand even mightier
winds to come. A love of complete devotion.

A love whose fruit is the fire of passion.

Today, that tree over on Janet Street standing tall against the elemental
onslaught…today, that tree is our love.

Tomorrow, Lover, the strength of our love will have outgrown that of the
tree.

© 2011, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

Sam Spade, Phillip Marlow, Alexander Black, trench coats, fedoras, violence, and dames. Crime Noir is a literary genre made popular by the likes of Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler, and has survived since the genre’s pioneer Carroll John Daly’s story, Knights of the Open Palm was published in the June, 1923 issue of Black Mask magazine.

Daly’s main character in that story, Race Williams, became the model for many of the protagonists in fiction crime noir that have left bloody footprints and gasping bims since his first appearance. Williams’ sharp tongued, hardboiled, cold blooded, and shoot-first-don’t-give-a-damn-about-names attributes can be clearly seen in Chandler’s Phillip Marlow, Hammet’s Sam Spade, and Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.

But not all crime noir involves private eyes of eras gone by. Stieg Larsson’s wildly popular The Millennium Series, starring Lizabeth Salander as the main character, is considered crime noir, and Lizabeth is just a girl in a heap of trouble. Additionally, James Lee Burke and Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald Westlake) are huge names in crime noir, and their main characters range from the on again/off again cop, David Robicheaux to the non-hero, professional thief, Parker.

What Is Crime Noir?

Buy Alexander Black for .99

To sum up almost all definitions of crime noir- the story must be dark, and treat violence and sex with the kid gloves off. In other words: fiction that makes us flinch.

In most cases, the protagonist is not a character instilled with socially accepted moral standards. Sam Spade and Phillip Marlow are known as anti-heroes- characters not above using unscrupulous methods to get the job done (entrapment, strong-arm tactics, and womanizing, Oh My!). And then there is Richard Stark’s most well known protagonist, Parker, a cold blooded thief who punches, bullies, and often shoots his way out of a soured caper so he doesn’t get pinched.

Also common in fiction crime noir are story lines where the central characters are somehow connected to a violent crime—-murder and armed robbery being the two biggies— and are forced to make a decision— should they seek help from the authorities, or should they attempt to untangle themselves using their own wits? Almost always, the decision falls on the latter side of the coin, providing opportunity after opportunity for the protagonist to dig themselves into a deeper hole.

Think Dr. Richard Kimble of The Fugitive.

Can Crime Noir Be Literary Genius?

Why not? James Lee Burke is often hailed as one of the genre’s masters with praise attached for his literary prowess. And it’s true- Burke’s tales are written beautifully with complex characters and stunning metaphors. His talent for laying down descriptions, putting the reader in the middle of wherever Burke dictates, is nearly unrivaled. This passage from The Glass Rainbow is a prime example of his talent as Dave Robicheaux describes a room he rented in Natchez, Mississippi:

…the ventilated storm shutters were slatted with a pink glow, as soft and filtered and cool in color as the spring sunrise can be in the Garden District, the courtyard outside touched with mist off the river, the pastel walls deep in shadow and stained with lichen above the flower beds, the walkways smelling of damp stone and the wild spearmint that grew in green clusters between the bricks. I could see the shadows of banana trees moving on the window screens, the humidity condensing and threading along the fronds, like living tissue. I could hear a ship’s horn blowing somewhere out on the river, a long hooting sound that was absorbed and muted inside the mist, thwarting its own purpose….The wood floor and the garish wallpaper and the rain spots on the ceiling belonged to another era, one that was outside of time and unheedful to the demands of commerce…

Even if Burke does deserve the praise he gets for his awesome ink, it is almost unfair because there have been authors in the genre equally talented. Where Burke is a master of painting almost surreal scenes taken from the reality of the Mississippi Delta, Richard Stark was a master at putting the reader in the taut mind of professional thief.

Parker—just Parker, no first name, no last name—was as hard as cold blue steel. But he didn’t operate without rhyme or reason; Stark let us in on his protagonist’s psyche and showed us how Parker logically evolved through the series of twenty-four novels. One Parker faithful made this observation:

And Stark…yes…moving words- active, eliciting emotion…and subtleties find their way between the lines. Like the poor beauty shop owner, how she died accidentally, how that guilt seeps in long enough to resonate within Parker’s psyche, and then..somehow…he let’s himself off the
hook..thereby letting you off the hook..

What is the common denominator that makes all memorable crime noir work? The same magic trick that all great authors have up their sleeves, no matter the genre— tension. The tool of champions is what has readers reaching for the a book when they should be doing something else, or turning one more page than they promised themselves they would.

In 1980, among the top fifteen U.S. fiction titles sold, seven belonged to Mickey Spillane— in spite of the fact his books were constantly crucified by literary critics who found the high content of violence and sex in his work to be distasteful. Mickey’s reaction:

Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar… If the public likes you, you’re good.

From the era of fedoras, trench coats, classy women who knew how to play, and acerbic gumshoes to modern themes involving abused girls and doctors trying to prove their innocence while running from the law, crime noir has proven over and over that it is a genre that can’t be plugged and sent to the big sleep.

Alexander Black operates below the surface of every day life. Some would call him a Cleaner, others a Fixer, but few would call him by his real name more than twice. Pledging allegiance to no one, he works on both sides of the law, performing the type of wet work that calls for molten steel in his veins, and a noble approach to justice before legal.

Additional information on Alexander Black can be found in the article Fiction Crime Star Alexander Black, at Squidoo.

© 2011, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

Happy Birthday, @jkewell! Kacy is one of my closest Twitter friends, so I wrote this flash fiction piece as my gift to her…

Lost, floating, bobbing, and bouncing- off of elbows, knees, and… what the heck was THAT? He wanted to cry out, “I want my mommy!” But all he could do was squeak.

“There’s my ducky!” Reaching past Theresa, and around Mary, Kacy scooped him up.

He squeaked when she said, “You’ll always be my rubber ducky.”

© 2011, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

This week’s memoir prompt is courtesy of Sunny from the blog Sunny Sings the Blues. I am going to paraphrase and add some ideas here and then post her own answer to this prompt in a separate post (this is a must read). (I’m cheating a bit since I’ve already seen her response… heehee…)

Not Down and Out – this phrase could apply to so many different aspects of your life from funny to extremely serious.

Did you lose a race at Olympic Day in grade school? Were you not accepted to the college you really wanted to attend? Did you fail your driver’s license test the first time (or more)? Were you not chosen Homecoming Queen, Prom Queen or Miss USA? Have you been turned down by multitudes of publishers? Did the economic recession come visiting and decide to stay at your house a while?

Think about a time when you were devastated, lost, unfocused. How did you cope with it and eventually overcome it (I hope)? Tell us your story of being “Not Down and Out”.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Sunny is a pen name for a gutsy, grief stricken, carb addicted, debt ridden and onion hating lady. Did I say funny? Funny too. While dealing with the sudden death of her husband and the aftermath of his actions, she started writing to keep her sanity and attempt to make sense of her life. She excelled and found her voice. To learn more about Sunny (and there are some traits that cracked me up), visit her About Me Page at Sunny Sings the Blues.

© 2011, mandeesears. All rights reserved.

In the past few weeks, we have discussed the Hemen class words, Nouns and Verbs- Now it’s time for the wimpy class…

Editor’s stab them. Good writers rip them out like they were malignant tumors. And why not? Adverbs dirty up prose and other writing, just by being slutty. We don’t need our writing to be anything but crisp and confident, and abusive use of adverbs can make the picture cloudy and weak.

At least that’s the rumor on the street.

A quick and simplified reality check about adverbs tells us these perceived miscreants are modifiers. They expand, intensify, enhance, and/or tell us more about verbs and adjectives. Hell, adverbs modify other adverbs—15 yards for piling on—and entire sentences. Oh yeah; let’s not forget that a lot of these modifiers are created by modifying other verbs and adjectives by adding the –ly.

Adverbs come in two flavors- interrogative and conjunctive. Interrogative adverbs put whatever it is they are modifying under the lamp and asks questions; How- She wrote very quickly, When- The post she wrote yesterday, Where- She will write anywhere, and How Much- She wrote tons.

Conjunctive adverbs join two ideas in a sentence- in other words, they demonstrate how the concepts are related: She writes every day; although, she knows she is putting off other work.

The detour down Grammar School Lane is over, and we are back on De-Clutter Street.

The reason Editors see red when it comes to adverbs is simple. Most often, adverbs clutter good prose with lazy outs and braces for weak verb choices. The reading is less crisp and the excitement withers when fluff is added. Think about it, would you rather read ‘Tom ran very quickly’, or ‘Tom darted.’ How about ‘She is extremely beautiful’ or ‘She is a knockout’?

Avoid using redundant adverbs: quick sprint, gently caressing, stammeringly stuttered, slyly slinked- let the verbs live on their own, especially if they are strong.

Long winded, flowery writing doesn’t make it awesome, nor does it make art. Our readers, including the clucking editors, want writing that is clean, crisp, and confident. This doesn’t mean our ink has to be antiseptic or boring; quite the contrary. Crisp writing crackles with electricity and does everything BUT lull our readers to sleep.

The best writers live by the ‘bend the rules, don’t break them’ concept. Keep this in mind when looking at adverbs, because as fluffy as they are, they shouldn’t be completely thrown out during the draft rewrites. Adverbs do have a home and should be tolerated from time to time. They are not always sluts. Check out the tag line for a Porsche ad (via Constance Hale’s Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose ):

Kill bugs fast

That adverb, fast, rocks the statement to no end.

Just remember these two guidelines when weighing adverbs: Never, ever employ an adverb to strengthen a poor word, or sentence, choice (Okay- Don’t use an adverb to bolster a weak word or sentence), and since adverbs are modifiers, marry them to what they modify- don’t make your readers try their hand at lexeme husbandry.

The point is, adverbs really do belong, but they are also the easiest way to slide into a lazy habit that leads to lackluster writing. Believe me, I may be the worst offender of this little guideline- but I promise you I will look closer at my rewrites.

What about you?

The judge has just sentenced you to a life filled sentence to be served next week.

© 2011, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

Lists of particulars. We writers love ‘em, and we use ‘em every chance we get. Inventories can add a ton of images, atmosphere, and/or flow to any writing we do.

Last time out; in the article about Nouns, I used an example for powerful nouns, from a Philip K. Dick story, that also included a very strong, stark and unsettling list of particulars. That particular list, as short as it was, spoke volumes about the character who was recounting the particulars of a certain birth defect. In my story, Twice Missed, I employed an inventory of telling items at the very opening of the tale:

A rainy night in late March, the Appalachian Mountains, a shallow and dank cave, Harry and his parents. The three of them were huddled over a fire that was small and short on providing real warmth, but sometimes perception is everything as they felt like they were warmer, even as the cold dirt floor tugged at their fantasies about heat.

I used the list of four particulars to open the story, and by funneling from the broad item, the weather and time of year, down to the three characters in the story, I was able to set the scene with the first twang of tension.

Food inventories are huge in writing. A lot can be said with a run of delectable dishes, because every one of us can relate to grub. Wedding feasts, Sunday dinners, school luncheon fare, and smorgasbord offerings are all fodder for palatable menus in literature. One of the most fun lists of food particulars I have ever read comes from Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods (via Arthur Plotnik’s Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style):

Four large pepperoni sausages, five pounds of rice, assorted bags of cookies, oatmeal, raisins, M&M’s, Spam, more Snickers, sunflower seeds, graham crackers, instant mashed potatoes, several sticks of beef jerky, a couple of bricks of cheese, a canned ham, and the full range of gooey and evidently imperishable doughnuts produced under the Little Debbie label.

Fifteen items in a list of particulars seems like a lot, but in this case, the inventory is perfect because we get a good look at Bryson’s buddy, Katz, through his excessive grocery list.

As handy as lists are, these tools can be taken well beyond the extremes; some writers go on and on as they puke item after item to fill up a list. When writers start ‘list-stuffing’ for the sake of displaying what they think are cool items, the inventories become a disruptive force and a snooze factor- show of hands: how many of you have actually read all the begatting without skipping to the end?

Is there a rule on the length of a list? Not really, but there is one covenant to keep in mind when creating inventories: The magic of the inventory does not come from the individual particulars; the magic is in how the items play together to create the list as a whole. There indeed is the secret: the list as whole.

Some stylists will teach that a list of particulars should feel like a room, or parlor. For me, an inventory feels like a crime scene being eyed by a seasoned homicide detective (of course). Not every minute detail needs to be initially reported—leave the small stuff for the lab techs—but take in the items that paint the picture:

Stan took a moment to scan the scene; a moment was all he needed these days as fresh kill scenes looked like the stale ones now residing in the hundreds of vanilla folders back at the station. A glitching neon light that accentuated ‘BEER’ with a stuttered bzzzzt, a splintered bullet hole in the pressboard wall behind the liquor stained bar, A yawning and empty cash register, a pool of blood swept towards the back door, no body.

Stan grimaced, worked the toothpick with his teeth and thought to himself- I can eliminate about 700 vanilla folders.

I am sure you noticed the list of items above didn’t end with a conjunction to include the last particular. Why? Because I didn’t want the inventory to be definitive; I was hoping for a hint of mystery while allowing my readers to complete the image in their minds. This is another nifty little trick in helping to keep our lists to a ‘feel right’ length.

And there was also another useful element in the passage above. The summation that is also a transition: ‘I can eliminate about 700 vanilla folders.’ The list starts by reading like a typical robbery/homicide, but ends with a missing body- no longer a typical crime.

Creating lists can be fun and addictive for us writers, but we should always remember the purpose of an inventory is no different than any other tool in our wordsmith arsenal; flow, cadence, and just the right amount of ‘ahhh’.

What did you think about the crime scene list of particulars I created? What was wrong with it? Tell me? Why not try your hand at a passage that revolves around an inventory? Go ahead and fill the comment area below with items from your cave, knapsack, parlor, or crime scene.

Next time out: Those ugly adverbs really DO have a home.

© 2011, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

I am short on time this week, (meaning I have to work my real job more days than normal – ugh) so I am borrowing a memoir prompt from an awesome writer, mentor and teacher of memoir — Natalie Goldberg.

It is a fun prompt with only one rule. It will help you exercise your vocabulary and creativity. Let your mind go and write about the first thing the prompt brings to mind. Have fun!

“Give me a memory of the color red. Do not write the word “red” but use words that engender the color red when you hear them. For example: a ruby, a tomato, fire, blood.

Writing has the elegance of mathematics. Try to write economically. A red cherry is redundant. Cherry is enough unless it’s one of the yellow ones from Washington state. Then it’s a yellow cherry. But, otherwise, cherry immediately wakes up the color red in the mind.”

Source: Old Friend From Far Away, page 6, by Natalie Goldberg

Here is the color theory of red to help you out –

Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a color found in many national flags.

Red brings text and images to the foreground. Use it as an accent color to stimulate people to make quick decisions; it is a perfect color for ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Click Here’ buttons on Internet banners and websites. In advertising, red is often used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red nails, red-light districts, ‘Lady in Red’, etc). Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights). This color is also commonly associated with energy, so you can use it when promoting energy drinks, games, cars, items related to sports and high physical activity.

Source: Color Wheel Pro

Mandee

© 2011, mandeesears. All rights reserved.

In her book, “Old Friend from Far Away”, Natalie Goldberg tells us to say the phrase “I remember” and let our minds go — recording it with pen and paper or keystrokes — whichever you prefer.

“Go, 10 minutes” is one of her catch phrases. She introduces one or two word prompts, tells you to remember and then write; “Go, 10 minutes”.

Taking a lesson from this accomplished teacher and writer this week, I am going to give you 3 words and tell you to remember and then write.

Trains, Planes, Automobiles

Write about the last family car trip you remember taking;
your first ride in an airplane;
the time you waited anxiously at the train station for a friend you hadn’t seen in years to arrive;
the trip your sister learned she had car sickness (and so did everyone else);
traveling alone in your car and getting lost on your way to a wedding, funeral or important meeting;
or the pilot lessons you took…

Trains, Planes, Automobiles

“I Remember…”

“Go, 10 minutes…”

© 2011, mandeesears. All rights reserved.

Chapter 14 of Lou Willett Staneks book — Writing Your Life — is called “Accomplishments”. Yes, no matter how big or small, we all have them. Writing your life means including acheivements. She says:

“Don’t fret if you have been elected to office since you were the treasurer of the eighth grade chess club, or haven’t been awarded the Medal of Honor, the Nobel, Pulitzer or the Miss America crown. If you raised respectable children, survived a tyrant at home or in the office, taken care of aging parents, become successful without lying, cheating or stealing, you deserve acknowledgement.

Good writers pay unflappable attention to the stuff of everyday life — the daily decencies and indecencies of husbands and wives, the ongoing frustrations of too little money and too many temptations.”

Little goals acheived throughout our lives deserve to be written about just as much as the heart wrenching defeats. It is sometimes hard to write good things about ourselves. It is, however, a wonderful exercise in seeing the whole of our experiences, emotions and feelings. Remember what you did, how you felt, and the rush of adrenaline? Write about it.

Dig deep and come up with an accomplishment in your life, big or small, that has a warm place in your memory. Read the prompts below. One might trigger a success memory you hadn’t thought of in years.

• No one, including me, thought I had a chance.
• The most difficult test I ever passed…
• The competition frightened me.
• I got a bellyful of turning the other cheek, so I…
• They put it on display.
• It took all the willpower I could muster.
• I was the youngest person to have…

Remember – You are welcome to post your responses to any of the memoir prompts at any time. We’d love to read yours!

© 2011, mandeesears. All rights reserved.