"The Death of Emily Dickinson" by Bill Lindbald. http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2009/10/11/the-death-of-emily-dickinson/
I read this essay just a few minutes ago and it's one of those posts that smacks you upside the head. I believe that fear of rejection is the biggest stumbling block for beginning writers. We're afraid that our story will be rejected. We're afraid that we haven't used the proper words or sentences or comma groupings. We're afraid that an editor is going to ask us why we're writing such crap. We're afraid that we're...well, you get the idea. We ride the rails of rejection fear until we're paralyzed by it.
But the truth is, all the editor said is no. No, by itself, can't hurt you. And there are just as many reasons for that simple no as there are fears for sending out your story. No, the story isn't a fit. No, I just bought a story like this. No, all the slots are filled. No...you see, it isn't just about the quality of your story, it's about a hundred different variables that you have absolutely no control over.
Write the best story you can, then send it out. The worst that can happen is that some editor somewhere will say no. Rejection won't stab you in the heart. It might bruise your ego, but it won't kill you. Submission and rejection are part of the process, so suck it up and send out those stories. What have you got to lose?
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday Links
Over at The Kill Zone blog, James Scott Bell has an excellent essay entitled "Will Arrogance Get You Published?" http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2009/10/will-arrogance-get-you-published.html He makes some excellent points about the difference between confidence in what you do and the air of arrogance that won't get you anywhere.
In the markets section to the left you'll find a site called darkmarkets.com. I was on the verge of deleting this link because there had been no new content added since last December. Checking in yesterday, I discovered that they're revamping the site and updating the available markets. Be sure to check out the site, maybe you'll find just the right spot for the new story you've written. http://www.darkmarkets.com
Over at Duotrope I always check out the new markets section. While some of the markets are new, others have been around a while. Such was the case with Nefarious Muse. Yesterday when I checked out their site, I discovered that there had been no new content since January and I thought dead market. Today there's a new story, so apparently they weren't receiving any new submissions. Shows what a little advertising does for a site. This is a non-paying blogzine looking for dark, violent stories. There's no word count constraints. You can check them out at http://nefariousmuse.com
In the markets section to the left you'll find a site called darkmarkets.com. I was on the verge of deleting this link because there had been no new content added since last December. Checking in yesterday, I discovered that they're revamping the site and updating the available markets. Be sure to check out the site, maybe you'll find just the right spot for the new story you've written. http://www.darkmarkets.com
Over at Duotrope I always check out the new markets section. While some of the markets are new, others have been around a while. Such was the case with Nefarious Muse. Yesterday when I checked out their site, I discovered that there had been no new content since January and I thought dead market. Today there's a new story, so apparently they weren't receiving any new submissions. Shows what a little advertising does for a site. This is a non-paying blogzine looking for dark, violent stories. There's no word count constraints. You can check them out at http://nefariousmuse.com
Friday, October 9, 2009
Chasing the Story
Sometimes opportunity knocks when you least expect it. I had this happen to me recently in the form of a request for a possible novel submission. Yeah, cool, but I write short stories. Well, do you have a short story that could be a novel? Of course, they could all be novels.
What I forgot in my pursuit of chasing opportunity was that not all shorts can be novels, they are, after all, short stories and padding them out from the 2,000 to 5,000 word range to 100,000 is not always feasible. I also forgot that exploring the possibilities of a story is the fun part of the process and immediately set out to pad a short story into something marketable. Uh-huh, reaching for the dollars has never, ever worked for me. Writing for dollars always takes the focus off the story for me, and what I wound up writing and submitting was utter trash. Now, the door wasn't slammed in my face, but damn close. So I went back to work on the story I'd proposed.
While I pounded away at turning the beginnings I had into the possibility of dollar bills filling my pockets, I stumbled across this essay by Matt Mikalatos called "Embracing Your Inner Weird" http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/10/guest-blogger-matt-mikalatos.html and I was stopped dead in my tracks.
I realized I wasn't having fun, that I was trying too hard to turn the story into something that it wasn't because I thought that was what I should do. So, I freed my "weird" dumped most of what I'd written and started over again. Will it work? I have absolutely no idea, but I'm having fun again. I'm actually enjoying the work, the words I'm writing and the story that's unfolding on the page. Will it be a novel? I don't know, but if not, it'll be damn sweet short story.
At the end of the day, the writing should be about the story. Sometimes it only needs a thousand words to be complete and other times 150 pages. A story is what it is, a living breathing collection of words that speaks to your readers.
Will I be sorry if the opportunity slips away? Probably. But maybe this opportunity was only meant to be a wake-up call, a chance to see where a story can go if I allow myself to chase the unexpected threads of a story instead of the path that's already been worn down by the writers who have gone before me.
What I forgot in my pursuit of chasing opportunity was that not all shorts can be novels, they are, after all, short stories and padding them out from the 2,000 to 5,000 word range to 100,000 is not always feasible. I also forgot that exploring the possibilities of a story is the fun part of the process and immediately set out to pad a short story into something marketable. Uh-huh, reaching for the dollars has never, ever worked for me. Writing for dollars always takes the focus off the story for me, and what I wound up writing and submitting was utter trash. Now, the door wasn't slammed in my face, but damn close. So I went back to work on the story I'd proposed.
While I pounded away at turning the beginnings I had into the possibility of dollar bills filling my pockets, I stumbled across this essay by Matt Mikalatos called "Embracing Your Inner Weird" http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/10/guest-blogger-matt-mikalatos.html and I was stopped dead in my tracks.
I realized I wasn't having fun, that I was trying too hard to turn the story into something that it wasn't because I thought that was what I should do. So, I freed my "weird" dumped most of what I'd written and started over again. Will it work? I have absolutely no idea, but I'm having fun again. I'm actually enjoying the work, the words I'm writing and the story that's unfolding on the page. Will it be a novel? I don't know, but if not, it'll be damn sweet short story.
At the end of the day, the writing should be about the story. Sometimes it only needs a thousand words to be complete and other times 150 pages. A story is what it is, a living breathing collection of words that speaks to your readers.
Will I be sorry if the opportunity slips away? Probably. But maybe this opportunity was only meant to be a wake-up call, a chance to see where a story can go if I allow myself to chase the unexpected threads of a story instead of the path that's already been worn down by the writers who have gone before me.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Market News
On the heels of Eastern Standard Crime closing its doors, there's news that print magazine, "Necrography", is closing shop due to lack of funds. There's an interesting post here http://nithska.blogspot.com/2009/10/necrography-is-dead.html about the closing and what we as readers/writers can do to keep our markets growing. While not everyone can afford subscriptions, spreading the word about a market or pointing to great stories in a zine is great advertising for publications and can drive readers to the sites.
Also closed is Orchard Press Mysteries, no reason here, just disappeared into the ether.
And Flash Fire 500 closed early in the summer with a promise to reopen in the fall. I've been dropping by their site since September and yesterday found a note that they're still closed with no hint of when they might reopen.
All very depressing news but I really hate leaving you on that sad note, so here's a new market, and a paying one. "Strangetastic" has one and a half issues up so you can get an idea of the type of story they're looking for. According to the guidelines they want supernatural fiction in the 1000 to 6000 word range with a flat pay rate of $25. You can check them out here http://strangetastic.com/
Also closed is Orchard Press Mysteries, no reason here, just disappeared into the ether.
And Flash Fire 500 closed early in the summer with a promise to reopen in the fall. I've been dropping by their site since September and yesterday found a note that they're still closed with no hint of when they might reopen.
All very depressing news but I really hate leaving you on that sad note, so here's a new market, and a paying one. "Strangetastic" has one and a half issues up so you can get an idea of the type of story they're looking for. According to the guidelines they want supernatural fiction in the 1000 to 6000 word range with a flat pay rate of $25. You can check them out here http://strangetastic.com/
Sunday, October 4, 2009
New Issues
I missed this one earlier. There's a new issue of 10Flash out in the ether. Eleven new flash stories from writers like Stephen D. Rogers, Robert Swartwood and Angel Zapata. Hey, what are you hanging around here for? Go. Read! http://10flash.wordpress.com/
And this one. The first issue of Jersey Devil Press' new zine is up with seven shorts stories from writers like Christopher Woods, Kate Delany, and Robert Levin. Lots of free reading today, folks! http://www.jerseydevilpress.com/current_issue/
And this one. The first issue of Jersey Devil Press' new zine is up with seven shorts stories from writers like Christopher Woods, Kate Delany, and Robert Levin. Lots of free reading today, folks! http://www.jerseydevilpress.com/current_issue/
The Best Laid Plans
Often go awry. Its been a slow week for the blog, but then life doesn't always care if you have other things you'd rather be doing. Hopefully, I'll be back on a more even keel this next week. I always feel like I'm letting you folks down when I don't post everyday or so.
I heard about this market from two sources, the lovely Paul Brazill and from Pam Castro's Flash Newsletter. I was aware of the Gumshoe Review but since they were a book review site I didn't list them as a market. But as of October, they've decided to publish one short story and one non-fiction essay a month. The word count limit is 1000 and the pay is 5cents a word with a $50 cap. They're also looking for reviewers if anyone is interested. This was mentioned in the "Just the Facts." section by the editor. You can find all the details here http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=1852 The main site is at http://www.gumshoereview.com/
Pill Hill Press http://www.pillhillpress.com/index.html has listed four new anthology calls.
Bucket 'O' Guts Press has an open call for submissions to their new anthology "Foetus Fatale: Fubar'd Noir. They're looking for crime noir stories set in a Lovecraft type world. They opened October 1 and will be open until all the slots are filled. 1000 to 4000 words with a payday of $50 and a copy of the anthology. They'll dicker on the price if you're famous. http://bucketoguts.wordpress.com/foetus-fatale-fubard-noir/
Weirdyear is a brand new market for flash fiction. They're looking to publish daily. The maximum word count is 1000 but their sweet spot is 500 - 800 words. They want off-beat and weird fiction in any genre, no pay. There are no stories up, so this is a very new enterprise. http://www.weirdyear.com/
And Issue 33 of Thuglit has hits the streets with eight new short stories from writers like Trey R. Barker, Jimmy Calloway, and Johnny Zephyr, to name just a few. Happy? reading, folks! http://www.thuglit.com
I heard about this market from two sources, the lovely Paul Brazill and from Pam Castro's Flash Newsletter. I was aware of the Gumshoe Review but since they were a book review site I didn't list them as a market. But as of October, they've decided to publish one short story and one non-fiction essay a month. The word count limit is 1000 and the pay is 5cents a word with a $50 cap. They're also looking for reviewers if anyone is interested. This was mentioned in the "Just the Facts." section by the editor. You can find all the details here http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=1852 The main site is at http://www.gumshoereview.com/
Pill Hill Press http://www.pillhillpress.com/index.html has listed four new anthology calls.
Bucket 'O' Guts Press has an open call for submissions to their new anthology "Foetus Fatale: Fubar'd Noir. They're looking for crime noir stories set in a Lovecraft type world. They opened October 1 and will be open until all the slots are filled. 1000 to 4000 words with a payday of $50 and a copy of the anthology. They'll dicker on the price if you're famous. http://bucketoguts.wordpress.com/foetus-fatale-fubard-noir/
Weirdyear is a brand new market for flash fiction. They're looking to publish daily. The maximum word count is 1000 but their sweet spot is 500 - 800 words. They want off-beat and weird fiction in any genre, no pay. There are no stories up, so this is a very new enterprise. http://www.weirdyear.com/
And Issue 33 of Thuglit has hits the streets with eight new short stories from writers like Trey R. Barker, Jimmy Calloway, and Johnny Zephyr, to name just a few. Happy? reading, folks! http://www.thuglit.com
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A Contest and a New Zine
I don't usually post paying contests but this one may be of interest to many of the writers who stop by here. The contest is sponsored by Shots Magazine and ABCTales out of the UK. They're looking for serial thrillers, that would be 10 episodes of 1800 words each. Lee Child will be judging. The cost is $20. You can find more information here http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/2009/10/serial-thriller-competition-launched.html or you can go directly to the submission page at ABCTales at this url http://www.abctales.com/node/587321
I've ran across a couple of blog posts this past week that spoke about this new ezine, but the site hadn't been set up yet. Today Michael Bracken was kind enough to send me the link. Michael really keeps his ear to ground when there's a new market popping up.
The new zine, "Feral", is the brainchild of editor, Lyman Feero. The idea behind this new zine is to free writers so they can cross as many genre lines as their stories need. But he also wants the stories dark. You can find the guidelines at http://october365.com/feral/?page_id=15 There are already two stories up on the site which you can find by clicking on fiction at the bottom of the page. The stories? First is "The Cove" by Patrick Shawn Bagley, and the second is "A Better Life" by Chris F. Holm.
I've ran across a couple of blog posts this past week that spoke about this new ezine, but the site hadn't been set up yet. Today Michael Bracken was kind enough to send me the link. Michael really keeps his ear to ground when there's a new market popping up.
The new zine, "Feral", is the brainchild of editor, Lyman Feero. The idea behind this new zine is to free writers so they can cross as many genre lines as their stories need. But he also wants the stories dark. You can find the guidelines at http://october365.com/feral/?page_id=15 There are already two stories up on the site which you can find by clicking on fiction at the bottom of the page. The stories? First is "The Cove" by Patrick Shawn Bagley, and the second is "A Better Life" by Chris F. Holm.
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