Monday, May 30, 2011

"HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS STORY" Terrie Moran

"How I Came To Write This Story": "For Keepsies"

Nearly five years ago I began writing short mystery fiction. I’m not a prolific writer and usually write only two or three short stories a year, most ranging between four and six thousand words. Although I have written a few longer pieces, never once have I written anything shorter.

In May 2009 I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. A few weeks later my thyroid was surgically removed and until the end of my radiation cycle in October, 2009 I functioned (barely) as though I was continually overdosing on sleeping pills. Writing was out of the question because coherent thought was impossible. After radiation I began taking Synthroid, adjusting the dose on a weekly basis until my blood work became somewhat normal, but my brain continued to dawdle.

In January 2010, while my brain wandered around on its own, I was beginning to doubt I would ever again be able to create a readable story. Then Kathleen Ryan, my blogmate at Women of Mystery http://www.womenofmystery.net/ mentioned a contest on NPR. The required theme was “Apartments and Neighbors” with a submission length no longer than 750 words. The topic dragged up an old memory. The length presented a real challenge. Such a tiny word count means that every word MUST count. Still, I needed to restart my writing career and I chose this as a beginning. I struggled to write the story and, because I actually finished it before the due date, I paid the $25 contest fee, (something I never do) entered and didn’t win, but that was fine because “For Keepsies” got me back to the keyboard. In the following months I wrote three additional stories, all of which I placed, including one purchased by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. http://www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm/ I also spent a couple of months doing the story edits for an anthology, Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices, to be released this September.

So, “For Keepsies” revved me into a highly productive year and—sat in the file cabinet. In my heart I was glad the story hadn’t been selected for the NPR venue because I believed it was too personal to share. Every story I write is made entirely from whole cloth. I’d never taken a person, an incident, or even a quote from my real life. Only the settings of my stories come from the real world. But this story is based on a true incident from my childhood, and drawing from my own life is a very new experience for me as a writer.

Now and again I would take “For Keepsies” out, read it and then put it back in its folder. Last December it finally dawned on me that the story is fiction, and didn’t need to be locked away like some teenager’s secret diary, so I sent it to David Cranmer, publisher of Beat To A Pulp. David is a good friend and BTAP, as I’ve often said, is a site where writers can move away from what they normally write, try something new and get polite and, often, brilliant critiques from writers and readers alike. I was thrilled when David accepted the story.

I’d like to invite you to read my first flash piece, “For Keepsies,” which was published at Beat To A Pulp last month.

http://www.beattoapulp.com/stor/2011/0417_tfm_ForKeepsies.cfm

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Patti - Thanks for hosting Terrie.

Terrie - Thanks for sharing the story of how that writing contest spurred you on. Sometimes just picking up one's fingers and putting them on the keyboard is the "kick in the pants" we need to keep writing...

Anonymous said...

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

Jeff M.

David Cranmer said...

"For Keepsies" has been one of our most successful stories at BTAP and I can't thank Terrie enough for sending it our way. And what an inspiration you are to have been through all that and still reach for the keyboard.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Patti, thanks so much for inviting me to tell this story.


Margot, it's the old "put butt in chair" dictum. Works every time.

Thanks, Jeff!

David, I can't thank you enough. It was so much easier to let "For Keepsies" see the light of day when I put it in the hands of a trusted friend.

Charles Gramlich said...

And a very good piece it was. I sure enjoyed it.

Kathleen A. Ryan said...

Thank you for sharing this story, Terrie. I was thrilled when you responded to the challenge of writing the 750 word piece about "Apartments & Neighbors." I was privileged to be one of the first to read it ~ and I knew "For Keepsies" was going to be a keeper.

The story was always within you, waiting to emerge ~ the timing and the theme of this particular contest drew it out.

How wonderful that writing "For Keepsies" triggered such a productive literary year for you :-)

Congratulations on finding such a fine home "For Keepsies" at BTAP; the placement of your other stories (EQMM ~ wow!) and all of your efforts in editing "Murder NY Style: Fresh Slices."

Best wishes, my blogmate, Sister-in-Crime, and fellow survivor!

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Charles, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

Kathleen, there are a lot of stories inside all of us. I have always chosen not to write them, which is what makes "For Keepsies" an aberration, a good story, but an aberration none the less.

Terrie

Travis Erwin said...

I loved reading this and getting to know more about your Terrie. Funny how bits and pieces escape us even when we read a blog regularly. Off to read for Keepsies now as i missed it as well.

Dorte H said...

Patti and Terrie, thank you very much for sharing this story behind the story with us!

As I suffer from chronic fatigue, I know what it is like when your brain just fogs up and you feel you are the narrator of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s Nest" so one thing that irritates me is writers who not can write every day - and think that because THEY can, everybody else can. Nope, no matter what you think, it does take the involvement of a few brain cells even when you write crime fiction.

Great that you got back in the saddle, and I know that Kathleen is very good at pushing you in the best possible way :D

Terrie Farley Moran said...

I did leave responses for both Travis and Dorte, but they seem not to have posted.

So, let me thank you both for your kind comments.

Terrie

Laura K. Curtis said...

Hah! You only had to ask and any one of us who'd read your work would have told you that you didn't have to worry about getting back to writing. You're a great writer, and this story just proves it.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Laura, you are such a pal!!