What we haven’t mentioned much is how crucial Carol has been behind the scenes here, for all her help with The Pete Wood Challenge, The Odin Chronicles, and Tales from the Brahma. Therefore, this seemed like a good time to catch up with Carol and ask her our usual batch of half-serious, half-silly questions, and point you towards some of her stories on our site.
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SS: What is the first SF/F book or story you remember reading?
CS: My parents let me read whatever was on their bookshelves, and when I was five, my eyes gazed at books by Ian Fleming and James Clavell… King Rat sounded like such an interesting title, but all the long words clumped together in a tiny rat-sized font, so I put that one back. (Now that I know the subject matter of that book, I’m rather glad I didn’t read it at age five!)
I discovered a book that was easy to read for my young eyes and had lovely illustrations to boot: The Tin Woodman of Oz. It was an old paperback book with a musty smell behind its bright yellow cover. In those pages, I followed the adventures of the Tin Woodman over and over.
Eventually, my parents took me to the library so I could give the old Tin Woodman book a rest before I read it to pieces. On the library bookshelves, I found other books in the Oz series, and as I grew older, I jumped into stories by Madeline L’Engle and Robin McKinley. There were always new magical worlds to visit.
I’ve never stopped reading fantasy, and I’ve been known to return to those old books that captured my young imagination. On my bookshelf now rests my parent’s copy of The Tin Woodman, and the musty pages still bring a smile to my face.
SS: When you write a new story, are you a plotter or a pantser?
CS: I generally consider myself a panster. I like to start out every story with a plan, and I handwrite outlines and ideas in a notebook. I even scribble out rough first drafts so when I sit down in front of a computer, I can start typing right away.
In the process of typing, I’ll get ideas on how to make the story better, and I veer more into pantser territory. The ending will change, or I’ll figure out a really neat twist that I want to incorporate. But I can’t get to that point without a plan to get me started in the first place.
SS: What is your favorite beverage to drink while writing?
CS: I’m a tea drinker, and every morning, I brew a pot. Then I may brew another pot in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, I always need to work near a bathroom. Still, there’s something wonderfully relaxing about writing with a steaming cup of tea with sugar and milk nearby.
SS: How do you balance writing vs having a life?
CS: I have young kids, and I love watching them grow and discover their passions. Because my kids take top priority, I look for the moments in-between their adventures, and that’s where I find my writing time. Maybe it’s in the time spent waiting for my child to race at the swim team meet, or in the hour-long drive to an activity. It may be five minutes here, 30 minutes there. I always have a little notebook and pen with me so I can scribble story notes and ideas no matter where I am. Then there’s that glorious hour between 9 p.m. and midnight, when I can be found typing the story up.
SS: What feels like your best natural length for a story?
CS: I’m very partial to flash fiction, which is funny because my earliest attempts at writing fiction were novels. I started my fiction journey with National November Writing Month, progressed to short stories, then to flash. At first, it was my lack of time that drew me to writing shorter, but I quickly realized that shorter isn’t faster or easier! My first attempt at flash ended up being 5,000 words long.
I kept trying my hand at flash, though, as it was one of my goals to be published in Daily Science Fiction. Once I met that goal, I found that I really enjoyed the challenge of writing flash fiction and kept at it. It now feels like my most comfortable story length.
I also feel like it’s made me a better writer. It’s taught me to look at word choices closely, whether side plots are actually beneficial, and how to identify the heart of the story, among other things.
SS: Is there an author whose work you think has been unfairly overlooked or forgotten?
CS: I feel like the authors of short stories need more exposure, and I’m not just saying that as a short story author myself. There are speculative writers experimenting with stories and genres in ways you don’t see with novel-length stories, and I’m continually finding myself blown away by the talent out there.
One of the first flash fiction rock stars I followed was Melissa Mead, who was a frequent contributor to Daily Science Fiction and has also been published here at Stupefying Stories. She twisted fairy tales and tackled sci-fi concepts with wit and imagination. I’d read her stories and think, “Dang, I want to write like her.” Melissa passed away in 2022, but her stories still live on to entertain us. I highly recommend going to the Daily Science Fiction website and searching for Melissa Mead. There’s a treasure trove of her tales there!
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Speaking of a treasure trove, in preparing this profile for publication we decided to put together a short list of Carol’s stories on this site, and were genuinely surprised by just how many there are. Rather than a short list, then, here’s every (we think) story by Carol Scheina we’ve published in the past three years.
If you read nothing else by Carol, read this:
“Exploring Strange New Worlds with a Hearing Loss”
Our favorite fiction by Carol
“How to Return an Overdue Book to the Summer Library”
“True Love is Found in the Bone Sea”
“Of Myths, Legends, and Parenthood”
“Monthly Magic Subscription Box”
Pete Wood Challenge Stories
“Would You Like Fries With That?”
“The Secret to a Happy Marriage”
“Secondhand Hugs Still Have All the Warmth”
“The Difficulty of Disembarking”
“For Sale: Used Time Machine. No Refunds!”
“Don’t Ignore Your Television’s Captioning”
“A Conversation Held at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Butler Assassins”
Tales from The Brahma Stories
The Odin Chronicles Stories
“The Same Bratwurst Every Day”
The Pete Wood Challenge is an informal ad hoc story-writing competition. Once a month Pete Wood
spots writers the idea for a story, usually in the form of a phrase or a
few key words, along with some restrictions on what can be submitted,
usually in terms of length. Pete then collects the resulting entries,
determines who has best met the challenge, and sends the winners over to
Bruce Bethke, who arranges for them to be published on the Stupefying Stories web site.
You can find all the previous winners of the Pete Wood Challenge at this link.
REMINDER: There is another Pete Wood Challenge that is open for submissions right now. For details and how to enter, click this link.
4 comments:
Great interview! And, thanks for all the links to her stories. A prudent reader would start working their way through Carol's impressive fiction. Try any link. You won't be disappointed.
Agreed! Carol Scheina’s work is among my favorite published on this site. Whenever I see her work pop up I make an “Oh goody!” gesture with my hands and settle in for an enjoyable read.
Agreed as well!
Thank you so much, Karin! (From Carol)
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