Storyfeather Gazette: Book update, poll results, and some "recent" fiction

Published over 2 years ago • 2 min read

Special Update Issue July 2024

Circle format, a three-quarters view of Nila's smiling face from a photo with an oil paint filter applied.

SHORT STORIES AND BOOK UPDATE

We're currently in July, and the theme for this month's stories is Sci-Fi July. (No set theme for this month's podcast episodes.) I've linked the June stories and podcast episodes at the end. But I'll send the official round-up of the June stories in a future issue. I want to do the stories justice by making trailers for them, but that work has been delayed for good reason.

What's the reason?

My first ever book, Fictioneer's Field Guide, will be coming out soon!

And working on the book has taken much longer than I first anticipated. I tend to underestimate, sometimes grossly underestimate, how much time it will take me to do new activities.

So, I'm polishing and preparing my book. And doing all the behind-the-scenes tasks needed to publish it. Here's a little more about the book, including the results of the poll I sent out last time to ask which cover you preferred.

Life is filled with unexpected and surprising things.

After over 10 years of writing fictional short stories, the first book I'm publishing is...non-fiction.

In the book, I present and detail the streamlined method that I myself use to get my own short stories written from start to finish in five stages.

💡 Generate a story idea
🧠 Brainstorm your story idea to explore it further
🧭 Outline your story
📝 Draft your story
✨ Revise and finalize your story

I include examples, pep talks, and tips and guidance to adapt the method to your own writing circumstances. That's what I put inside the book. But when last I wrote, I was working on the outside of the book, the cover. I sent out a quick poll to ask which version you preferred.

And now, the poll results. Thanks to all who voted!

Screenshot. Two versions of eBook cover. Both identical at top third. Text box reading "Fictioneer's Field Guide" aligned to right. At left in space beneath first word is silhouette of a person from waist up holding a telescope to the right with scarf flowing out to the left. Subtitle below reads "A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories." Drawings of various creatures and elements on bottom two thirds. At left three elements in color from top to bottom, a hippocampus from myth, a sea serpent, and a brain with lightning above it. Image at right has no color, but only line art images. Hippocampus and sea serpent in same positions, but they are now line drawing only. Brain is gone, replaced by a tree made of bones. Other elements include a werewolf and a juggling crab. At bottom, text reads "Nila L. Patel" on both. Letter A with arrow pointing to left image. Letter B with arrow pointing to the right image.

Screenshot. Text at top reads "Poll results." Below this, text reads, "Which version of the eBook cover do you prefer?" Two bars are displayed below, filled to represent how many votes went to that choice. The first bar is labeled "A." at top left. The second labeled "B." Above each bar at left is the percentage of votes that went to that choice. Choice A is 33.3%. Choice B is 66.7%. Choice A is all grayed out. The fill bar for Choice B is green.

It seems B was the overall preferred choice. I received feedback from many other sources as well, and learned what people like about the particular cover they prefer. Here's one pro and one con for each choice.

Pro for A: The colors made the cover stand out.
Con for A: The colorful cover didn't match the topic of the book.
Pro for B: The various different elements.
Con for B: All those elements make the cover a bit "busy."

I used to think the hardest part of asking for feedback was not receiving any. 😂

So, is the final cover ready? Yes. Well, am I going to show you? Soon! Now that it's done, I feel strangely coy about showing it before the book's official debut.

In the meantime...

...here are the links to the June 2024 stories and podcast episodes, if you want to be adventurous and check them out without any further context. As I announced at the top, I'll send the official June story round-up in a future issue. (Maybe this will be a good way for me to see how interesting my story titles are on their own.🤔)

Short Stories

Digital drawing. A platypus lying on a rock. Body oriented diagonally with face at bottom left. Two bloody fangs extend from the bill. The one visible eye has a red iris and a hypnotic pattern of concentric circles. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along bottom of body, left side. Copyright notice at bottom left reads, “Copyright © 2023 Nila L. Patel”

The links below lead directly to the story post.

Ametrine and the Dragon

The Debutante of Fondant

The Werewolf and the Robber

Parasite Platypus

The Fox With Five Fiery Tails

Podcast Episodes

Digital drawing. Partial view of a watchband, showing the watch face and stitching at the edges of the band. A small label above the circular watch face reads “766.” The face itself, seen at an angle to show depth, bears five equally spaced control knobs on the frame at right. Contained inside the face is a heart with blood vessels extending to the edges. A thorny vine is wrapped around the heart. Some of the thorns pierce the heart, and each draw a drop of blood. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along left edge of watchband at top.

The links below lead directly to the episode page, hosted at Libsyn.

The Cat That Haunted the Mouse

The Nanocosmetologist

The Mind Beyond the Maze

The Thorn Clock

If you've got feedback about what's in this issue, please feel free to reply. And in the meantime, please keep your eyes peeled for the book launch announcement!

Till next time.
—Nila

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