Tim Allen Stories

Science-fiction, fantasy, and other stories

Category: fantasy novella

Stick the Landing / Castles in the Air, part 3

July 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Hello

To new readers and old, welcome to Tim Allen Stories! This post features Castles in the Air, Part 3, the final installment of a mash-up novella set in a faux-Medieval/“Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser”-style fantasy/English cozy-style mystery. 

Before we get to that, I have to acknowledge that it’s been several months since my last post. If you’ve been waiting for this last installment of Castles in the Air, I sincerely thank you for your patience. But that begs the question of what delayed this post for so long? What’s been happening behind the scenes? And what will happen next?

(Introduction continues after Shortcuts)

Shortcuts

I told myself that I needed to take a break for the holidays, and that I would finish this last installment after New Years. But when I still wasn’t writing months later, I knew something was wrong. I did begin writing then, but my progress was painfully slow, and to my surprise,  painfully stressful. What could be the cause?

Friends went on an exciting vacation to Europe, and they suggested I should get out of my rut and travel too. But I’ve done my share of traveling already, and the thought of packing a suitcase again held no allure. On the other hand, I did realize I needed to take some sort of  “vacation” from my daily, humdrum life.

I did find a local and nascent writing community, which I think is a critical resource for any writer, and something I desperately needed. But just as the community was growing, external events out of anyone’s control quashed the burgeoning group. The post mortem is still undecided. 

However, I felt that as long as I was healthy, and had no deadlines except my own, I would eventually finish rewriting Castles in the Air. But then two distressing medical situations bookended my daily life and made me reevaluate things.

Right now, one-and-a-half things are clear. The “one thing” that is clear, is that I felt deeply obligated to finishing Castles in the Air, Part 3. If you’ve been loyal enough to stick with me through Castles in the Air, Parts 1 and 2, and an all too long hiatus in between, then I wasn’t going to let anything prevent me from finishing Part 3.

The challenge of any story, and especially a long one, is to “stick the landing.” That is, to write an ending that justifies the time and attention already spent by the reader. Despite Part 3 being 20 percent longer than originally planned, I hope it sticks the landing.

The “and-a-half thing” that is clear, is that I should probably produce Tim Allen Stories in another format. I have a rough idea of what that means, and I will be working on refining that idea in the future. 

Meanwhile, I’m going to take a break from writing new content on a regular basis. I might write an essay or two, or I might get crazy-inspired and post the two Kevin Galwynn sequels I have planned. But I’m not making any promises. 

In the meantime, this site will remain up until further notice. So, if you haven’t done so already, there’s plenty for you to read and I hope, enjoy. 

Backstage

I’m planning to have a more traditional format for my stories. If my plans come to fruition, I let you know here.

Shout-Outs

Try Gene Ambaum’s Library Comic, a web comic about… libraries. Gene and a cadre of his favorite artists, such as Willow Payne (see the “About” page on his site), publish a humorous web comic that is ostensibly about libraries, but is as much about human nature as anything else.

Trust me. Try it. Have a laugh. Maybe discover a new book or some amazing merchandise. Check out Library Comic.

Library Comic is published twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday. Book reviews are also published twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday.

❖ ❖ ❖

A special shout-out to Shaina Krevat, who is an excellent author and YouTube advisor. Shaina provided me with valuable insights into the process of self-publishing your writing. If you’re thinking about self-publishing, Shaina’s YouTube tutorial might be just the thing you’re looking for!

Watch her YouTube posts at youtube.com/@shainak or visit her web site at shainakrevat.com 

Tell Your Friends

TimAllenStories.net
Tell your friends about it!
Then make new friends, and tell them!

MOEBIUS THEATER (PARAPHRASED)

Subscribe for future posts

Subscribe

Halloween / Castles in the Air, part 2

November 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Hello

To new readers and old, Happy Halloween and welcome to Tim Allen Stories! This post features Castles in the Air, Part 2 of 3, a novella set in a faux-medieval, “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser”-style fantasy/English cozy-style mystery. In short, it’s a story with a bit of something for everyone. 

(Introduction continues after Shortcuts)

Shortcuts

At this point I usually reflect on the process of writing the current post. Frankly, this post was both harder and easier to finish than I expected. The easy part was that I didn’t have to start from scratch because this novella is an update of one of my old stories. 

The hard part is that I should never have expected to write an update of an old story without being tempted to go off on interesting tangents. The “tangent” sections are few and seem necessary, but they took a long time to finish. (Not to mention the chores of daily living delaying things.)

All the same, I worked very hard to finish by an arbitrary deadline, apropos of nothing, of Halloween. However, I’ll save any insights gained from writing those tangents for a future post.

Let’s get on with today’s story.

Backstage

Maybe there really is something spooky about…(shudder!)…Halloween. This post was originally published 10/31/2023. You might have seen it then if you subscribe. 

This post should have been automatically backed-up Halloween night by my database provider. However, something went wrong and the entire post and backup disappeared! I’ve spent the last few days working with my database provider to restore the missing files and recreate this post. 

Hopefully, the ghosts won’t make this re-post…vanish.

Shout-Outs

Try Gene Ambaum’s Library Comic, a web comic about… libraries. Gene and a cadre of his favorite artists, such as Willow Payne (see the “About” page on his site), publish a humorous web comic that is ostensibly about libraries, but is as much about human nature as anything else.

Trust me. Try it. Have a laugh. Maybe discover a new book or some amazing merchandise. Check out Library Comic.

Library Comic is published twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday. Book reviews are also published twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday.

Tell Your Friends

TimAllenStories.net
Tell your friends about it!
Then make new friends, and tell them!

Moebius Theater (paraphrased)

Subscribe for future posts

Head Games / Castles in the Air, part 1

August 23, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Hello

To new visitors to Tim Allen Stories, welcome. And to returning visitors, welcome back!

In the afterword to my last post, I said that for this post I was thinking of doing a fantasy/mystery, and that the effort would take a while to complete. 

Wow, what an understatement!

(Introduction continues after Shortcuts)

Shortcuts

The story I decided to do is an update of a novella that I wrote several years ago called “Castles in the Air”. (Actually, I intended “Castles…” to be a short story instead of a novella, but you know me: I write “long”.)

My only copy of the story was a printout, so I had to transcribe it to electronic form first. And while I was at it, I’d fix a few minor issues that have been bothering me ever since I wrote the original version. However, what I didn’t expect to happen when I started making revisions, was how difficult emotionally it would be for me to finish.

The problem I encountered as I revised, was that I began to notice all the flaws and missed opportunities in the original story. And the more I began to fix flaws, the more the story bogged down and refused to be fixed. I soon found myself paralyzed with self-doubt. I mention this because you might have the same experience with your own writing.

It didn’t matter that I knew the original story was very well received by my old writing group, whom I trust. Or that I could equivocate and simply transcribe the original without fixes. I was still paralyzed by doubt, and it was getting worse. So, what was holding me back?

A few weeks ago, while I was still suffering from writer’s block, my wife and I attended a major, juried, regional art fair held annually in a well-to-do nearby town. Several hundred painters, sculptors, woodworkers, and textile artists from around the country attended. Many of the artists return year after year (except when there’s a pandemic and the fair is cancelled).

Although I can’t afford most of the art I saw, and my wife and I don’t know what to do with all the small pieces we’ve already accumulated, I do enjoy talking to some of the artists about their technique, process, and backgrounds. This is especially fun if my wife and I already own some of the artist’s more affordable work. And if possible, I try to offer something in return in the form of supporter feedback or news about artists who do related work.

While looking at the work of a world-traveling, large-format landscape photographer I’ve admired for the last few art fairs, I struck up a conversation. I told the photographer how much I enjoyed his art, and wondered how he handled the business side of art since I surmised his kind of photography is very expensive to produce. 

What the artist told me was that he had been doing this kind of art for only a few years. By trade, he had been in advertising and only got involved in photography as a hobby. But over time, he discovered how much he liked photography, and gradually gave up advertising.

He further went on to say his business expertise wasn’t that beneficial to his art business. What’s more important is that you’re passionate about your art. You’ll figure out the business side when you need to.

I was surprised. “Follow your passion” is a modern cliche, but I took it to mean, “Get out of your own head and do what’s important.” That advice seemed on-point since that’s what my best social and literary advisors were telling me repeatedly, and what my wife and friends were telling me delicately, not to mention what the latest philosophy floating in the zeitgeist was telling me. 

Well, even I couldn’t deny what everyone and everything in the zeitgeist was telling me, even if I couldn’t quite believe it. So, on blind faith I gritted my teeth and finished revising the first part of “Castles in the Air”. Since the story is novella-length, this post is only part 1 of 3. 

Now I have to get to work on parts 2 and 3 (although I don’t believe they’ll be as hard to do, and take as long to finish, as part 1). I hope you enjoy it.

Subscribe for future posts

Shout-Outs

Try Gene Ambaum’s Library Comic, a web comic about… libraries. Gene and a cadre of his favorite artists, such as Willow Payne (see the “About” page on his site), publish a humorous web comic that is ostensibly about libraries, but is as much about human nature as anything else.

Trust me. Try it. Have a laugh. Maybe discover a new book or some amazing merchandise. Check out Library Comic.

Library Comic is now published twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday. And  book reviews are also published twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday!

Tell Your Friends

TimAllenStories.net
Tell your friends about it!
Then make new friends, and tell them!

Moebius Theater (paraphrased)

© 2024 Tim Allen Stories

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑