This all started with 100 Stories for Haiti, and has moved on from Haiti to Pakistan to Queensland and now Japan.
On March 11, 20011 a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. We all saw the news, saw the devastation, witnessed the drama at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
When disaster strikes, what do you do (besides watch it play out on the news). Well, writers write. Which makes sense, it is what writers do, right? They write. So another disaster, another anthology raising funds to help those effected by the disaster.
This one is called “New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan” with all proceeds going to the Red Cross to aid in the relief efforts in Japan.
New Sun Rising is a little different: the content will include stories, poetry, and artwork; all content must celebrate Japan and the Japanese culture; there is not a set number of stories; the maximum story length is much longer (7500 words versus 1000 or 500).
So, when the call went out, I wrote. And this was a tough one for me. My knowledge of Japan pretty casual, and I have never been there.
My first attempt died within the first few pages; it was a clever concept, but was going to require huge amounts of research and take far to long to write (and would probably be too long).
My second attempt fared better; and I ended up with “Shogun Dreams”. It is the story of an ordinary man that is transformed by a medical diagnosis and fulfills his life long dream of going to Japan. It is longer than my other charity stories (3,600 words), which is nice, allowing the story to have a broader scope. It is sweet story and has a mild sci-fi element to it.
It took a lot of research and was tough to get right. My beta readers took me to task for my initial ending, but after extending the story, we ended up with a solid story.
And I am very excited to say that “Shogun Dreams” has been accepted for the anthology! I really love this story and am quite proud of it. I am glad be able to contribute in this small way to help Japan.
I’ll keep you posted as things progress.
What to know more about New Sun Rising?
Website: http://booksthathelp.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NewSunRising
Blog: http://storiesforjapan.blogspot.com/
