WHAT DID IT SMELL LIKE?

by Earl Staggs

Marilyn Meredith posted here recently about the value of her critique group. I’ve belonged to one or more critique groups since I started writing and would be lost without them. Now I belong to two. One of them is long distance. We exchange critiques via email. The other one is local and we meet in person whenever we can schedule a date convenient to enough of us to make it worthwhile.

Both groups contain experienced, published writers who have become close personal friends. I love them and respect their expertise a great deal. If any of you are reading this, please know that. I never feel confident about anything I’ve written until you’ve gone over it. You point out the errors in spelling and punctuation, of course, but you also question story and plot points. You tell me if something I’ve written doesn’t make sense, simply doesn’t work, or if I’ve left out something important.

Like yesterday, for instance. I attended a meeting with my local critique group.

The chapter I submitted to the group for their slicing and dicing pleasure takes place in an outdoor market place near Kabul, Afghanistan. Tall Chambers, the main character, belongs to a secretive government agency which tracks and deals with terrorists. Tall and his team are on the trail of the worst of the terrorists who may be hiding out with a woman who runs a fruit and vegetable stand there.

I did some research and found a good place for the market to be located. I looked up what the people at the market would be wearing. I came up with the kind of stuff the different vendors at the market would be offering from their tents and lean-to stalls in the market. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, meats, handmade clothing, rugs, and such as that. There would also be animals. Camels, donkeys, and goats, for instance.

So I described the market and had Tall and his team walking through it, passing all the stalls, looking for the missing terrorist.

Good job, I thought.

Then a member of the group asked, “What did it smell like?”

Huh?

I hadn’t thought of that. Naturally, all that produce and meat and fish would produce odors that would permeate the open air space. Not to mention what the animals parked beside the stalls would contribute to the immediate environment.

Duh.

Okay, back to the drawing board – make that keyboard - for me. I have to describe how all those things would smell, even to Tall and his men who are on an important mission.

I don’t think Google or Wikipedia will give me that information, so I’m on my own.

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Earl Staggs

http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com

SHORT STORIES OF EARL STAGGS, a collection of 16 short mystery tales on sale now for 99 cents. That's only about six cents per story. Wow.

NOT A WORD

By Earl Staggs

I haven’t written a word for three weeks. And it’s painful.

When you’ve been writing fiction as long as I have, it becomes normal to create something new on a regular basis. There are so many story ideas floating around between the ears, there’s an irresistible urge – make that a need – to crank them out and see how they fly.

But for the past three weeks, all my available time has been spent wedging my way into the ebook evolution. With traditional publishing on its way to who-knows-where, I feel every writer should explore digital self-publishing. With what has happened Kindle-wise, Nook-wise and otherwise with incredible speed over the last two, three years, it’s like the world is passing you by. I’m tired of reading all the success stories of authors who have digitally published their work and are selling them with ease.

Well, not exactly with ease. I’m also reading about how much time and work are required to let the new world of readers know you’re out there. It’s not as if all you have to do is publish an ebook and the world will beat a path to your door.

But that’s the next stage. The initial stage is to format and publish something in digital media, and that’s what has devoured all my time and energy for the past three weeks.

I decided to enter the new world with a collection of some of my published short mystery stories. It wasn’t hard to find instructions on how to publish via Kindle and Smashwords. Amazon’s Kindle, of course, is the Godzilla in the field, selling more than ninety percent of ebooks worldwide. Smashwords sets up your book for ebook readers other than Kindle. Smashwords advertises it also puts you on Amazon for Kindle owners, but that’s not true at the present time.

So I dug in. Getting a manuscript ready for digital publishing is probably easy for those well-versed in computer lingo. I’m not one of those. I felt as if I’d moved to an alien planet where they speak a strange language. It was a step-by-frustrating-step process for me.

But I hung in somehow, and I’m happy to say my collection, cleverly titled, SHORT STORIES OF EARL STAGGS, is now live on Kindle and Smashwords.

My next project will be to tackle CreateSpace, which will make my collection also available as a print book for those who do not have an ereader. I have no idea how difficult that will be or how long it will take, but I’m going for it.

My biggest hope is that all those story ideas screaming to be written will be patient and not fade away. I want to get back to writing. I miss it. A lot.

Earl Staggs

"The Day I Almost Became a Great Writer," a short story good for a few laughs at earlwstaggs.wordpress.com