Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Short Story Gold

Courtesy of Michael Bracken we have our first three links to articles about short stories.

The first is an interview with Atlantic Fiction Editor, C. Michael Curtis. While his insights into writing short stories are wonderful, I was pulled up short by this statement. "As for genre writing, I doubt it helps much, and it teaches at least some bad lessons. But sometimes you just want to get away." At first I was insulted by that, but then I got to thinking. Yeah, I'm here to entertain my readers, that's really what writing short stories is all about for me. You can find the interview here http://booklifenow.com/2010/04/preserving-the-writer

The next link is from Lisa K and it provides a great insight into marketing your short stories. http://writingonthinice.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-small-press-to-pro-choosing.html

And the last one is the first in a series of ten tutorials aimed at the newbie short story writer from author, Sally Zigmond. And yes, even you pros out there will probably learn something. Here's the first part http://theelephantinthewritingroom.blogspot.com/2010/05/short-story-tutorial-one.html For those of you who can't afford classes, this is an excellent opportunity to further your short story education.

And if you haven't taken time to listen to Michael's interview over at the Reading and Writing Podcast, you really should. The podcast lasts for half an hour and is very informative. Though I've got to admit that knowing Michael lived in Texas, I was expecting to hear a cowboy drawl, which he doesn't have. :-) Voices always surprise me. Take a listen here http://readingandwritingpodcast.com/022-reading-and-writing-podcast-michael-bracken-interview

Courtesy of Charles Tan's blog, I ran across an essay by Lydia Sharp with some very good tips for writing short stories. http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-they-do-it-guest-blogger-lydia.html

And one market note. Tor.com has changed their submission guidelines http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=59268 Tor.com publishes Sci-fi and Fantasy stories online. This is a pro market and the competition is stiff. They're looking for stories under 12,000 words and the pay is 25cents a word for the 1st 5000, 15cents for the next 5000 and 10cents a word after that.

6 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

I can't get by that first statement by the Atlantic editor. If writing genre is so low, why are so many so-called literary writers trying it--because it has stories that people want to read! I got this attitude on writing workshops, too. Oh, you want to write romance--not in this class-you're demeaning yourself. The woman he said that to wrote a fabulous "literary" story and then dropped the class.

Michael Bracken said...

I've been in Texas a long time, Sandra, but I wasn't born here and wasn't raised here. After 16 years, I'm still trying to learn the language!

Charles Gramlich said...

I've got a feeling I'm going to be irritated by that Atlantic editor. Again, sounds like a serious lack of imagination on his part. I feel kind of bad for people whose imaginations are so stunted.

sandra seamans said...

Sometimes I think the "literary" only want to write for each other, Patti. When they finally discover that there's little money in it, they write for the rest of us. :)

I think there's a level of snobbery in all writers. I read a blog post this morning where a writer said he was offered $150 to be published online and he thought that was a below him because it wasn't a professional fee. Go figure!

Ah, that explains it, Michael! I've heard that Texas has its own language.

You won't be irritated too much, Charles. The rest of the interview is wonderful and full of useful information. I wonder sometimes if literary writers and editors tend to feel the need to put down genre to make themselves feel better?

Voyle Glover said...

Thanks for the excellent work you do on your blog. Lots of valuable info for the writer here; especially like the links to valuable resources.

sandra seamans said...

Thanks! And welcome to the Corner, Voyle!