Do you ever take yourself too seriously? You know what I mean. Things like trying for all those wonderfully long, purple-prose filled, adverb trails in your sentences. Only writing a story if it has a "meaning" or a popular theme. Deciding that your story is too good to grace the pages of a non-paying zine, after all, your words are golden, they're worth a great deal of money.
I find myself doing that occasionally and it takes a good swift kick in the butt to remind myself that I'm not one of those golden writers. I'm merely a storyteller and storytellers are supposed to have fun. They're supposed to get their stories out there for people to read.
The core of every story should have that spark of fun in it. Sure, you're writing noir or serious sci-fi or doing that "High Noon" showdown, but if you're not having fun writing that story, it shows. When you're excited about a story and you're Snoopy dancing around the room when a sentence or paragraph comes together perfectly - you're having fun and your readers will, too.
Give yourself a break. Enjoy the work, have a little fun with your words, give your imagination free-range to go wherever it wants. You might surprise yourself, but even better, you'll surprise your readers.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Markets
I ran across an Australian zine called Roar and Thunder. They're looking for shorts up to 6000 words with elements of magic, horror, fantasy, or sci-fi. The pay is $5AUS. http://roarandthunder.com.au/submission-guidelines/
Here's another twitterzine for you folks that write extremely short. Textofiction is a non-paying market looking for stories of 140 characters, open genres. http://textofiction.wordpress.com/
If your muse is in need of a nudge you might find something on Duotrope's theme list. They've got a year's worth of themes and deadlines for you. http://www.duotrope.com/themecal.aspx
And if you're a western writer the deadline for Schlock Magazine's Western issue is November 1. This is a non-paying market that publishes quarterly themed issues for short stories and daily flash stories. You can find all the details at http://schlockmagazine.net/submission-guidelines/
####Just a quick addition: Flashes in the Dark has put out a call for submissions for their online zine. This is a non-paying horror flash market looking for flash pieces to 1000 words. http://flashesinthedark.com/2010/09/04/call-for-submissions-2/ You can find their guidelines on the right in the Pages section.
Here's another twitterzine for you folks that write extremely short. Textofiction is a non-paying market looking for stories of 140 characters, open genres. http://textofiction.wordpress.com/
If your muse is in need of a nudge you might find something on Duotrope's theme list. They've got a year's worth of themes and deadlines for you. http://www.duotrope.com/themecal.aspx
And if you're a western writer the deadline for Schlock Magazine's Western issue is November 1. This is a non-paying market that publishes quarterly themed issues for short stories and daily flash stories. You can find all the details at http://schlockmagazine.net/submission-guidelines/
####Just a quick addition: Flashes in the Dark has put out a call for submissions for their online zine. This is a non-paying horror flash market looking for flash pieces to 1000 words. http://flashesinthedark.com/2010/09/04/call-for-submissions-2/ You can find their guidelines on the right in the Pages section.
Astra Publications
Last week Duotrope listed some new print magazines from this publisher and yesterday a few more went up.
Futura Machine http://futuramachine.astrapublications.com/submissions.htm
Read Shift SF http://readshiftsf.astrapublications.com/submissions.htm
The Written Word http://thewrittenword.astrapublications.com/submissions.htm
These are all print magazines with pay ranging from 2.5cents a word to 6cents a word. The word counts also vary from publication to publication.
I finally found a home site for Astra Publications http://www.astrapublications.com/ On this site you'll find links to all 10 of their publications. Several of which also publish online stories. I posted this link over in the print/anthology section rather than each individual zine.
Futura Machine http://futuramachine.astrapublications.com/submissions.htm
Read Shift SF http://readshiftsf.astrapublications.com/submissions.htm
The Written Word http://thewrittenword.astrapublications.com/submissions.htm
These are all print magazines with pay ranging from 2.5cents a word to 6cents a word. The word counts also vary from publication to publication.
I finally found a home site for Astra Publications http://www.astrapublications.com/ On this site you'll find links to all 10 of their publications. Several of which also publish online stories. I posted this link over in the print/anthology section rather than each individual zine.
New Issues
With the beginning of the month comes new issues of our favorite online zines!!
Powder Burn Flash http://www.powderburnflash.com
Mystery Dawg has posted a whole new group of flash stories with some familiar names.
Issue #3 of All Due Respect is up http://www.all-due-respect.blogspot.com This is a new zine which publishes one story per issue so each story receives center stage until the next issue.
Gum Shoe Review is a mystery review site. They're looking for shorts up to 1000 words and the pay is $10, they also print articles of the same length for the same pay. You can find details at the site and their September issue is up. http://www.gumshoereview.com
I've mentioned Southern Grit a few times here and their first issue has gone live. They'll be open to subs for their winter issue on September 15. http://www.southerngrit.org/home
The September issue of Thieves Jargon has gone live http://www.thievesjargon.com What I love about this zine is that you never know what kind of story you'll find.
And the second issue of Dark Valentine went live yesterday. They're doing a fantastic job with this zine! The artwork and the stories are a perfect match and all top notch. http://darkvalentine.net
And the September issue of Frontier Tales has gone live http://www.frontiertales.com Editor, Duke Parnell, is asking readers to vote for their favorite stories in this issue with an eye towards publishing a "best of" anthology.
Happy reading, everyone!! And for those in the states, enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!
Powder Burn Flash http://www.powderburnflash.com
Mystery Dawg has posted a whole new group of flash stories with some familiar names.
Issue #3 of All Due Respect is up http://www.all-due-respect.blogspot.com This is a new zine which publishes one story per issue so each story receives center stage until the next issue.
Gum Shoe Review is a mystery review site. They're looking for shorts up to 1000 words and the pay is $10, they also print articles of the same length for the same pay. You can find details at the site and their September issue is up. http://www.gumshoereview.com
I've mentioned Southern Grit a few times here and their first issue has gone live. They'll be open to subs for their winter issue on September 15. http://www.southerngrit.org/home
The September issue of Thieves Jargon has gone live http://www.thievesjargon.com What I love about this zine is that you never know what kind of story you'll find.
And the second issue of Dark Valentine went live yesterday. They're doing a fantastic job with this zine! The artwork and the stories are a perfect match and all top notch. http://darkvalentine.net
And the September issue of Frontier Tales has gone live http://www.frontiertales.com Editor, Duke Parnell, is asking readers to vote for their favorite stories in this issue with an eye towards publishing a "best of" anthology.
Happy reading, everyone!! And for those in the states, enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
"Doorstep Horror"
We've discussed this just a bit here at the Corner, of how crime shorts can fit into the horror market. Well, Conrad Williams says it much better in his essay "Doorstep Horror" go have a read. http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/2010/09/01/161
The horror market is a wide open field for short crime stories to find a fit.
The horror market is a wide open field for short crime stories to find a fit.
Submissions are Open!!
It's the first of September and that means there's a whole lotta markets opening for submissions. Over at Duotrope http://www.duotrope.com/recentupdates.aspx you'll find a list of 142 markets that opened as of today including:
Wigleaf - a flash market. You'll find the guidelines on the about page
Bete Noir - print
Big Pulp
Crimespree - print
Flash Quake
Macabre Cadaver
Links to those are to the left. You can't get published if you don't write/submit, write/submit, and oh yeah, write/submit!!
Wigleaf - a flash market. You'll find the guidelines on the about page
Bete Noir - print
Big Pulp
Crimespree - print
Flash Quake
Macabre Cadaver
Links to those are to the left. You can't get published if you don't write/submit, write/submit, and oh yeah, write/submit!!
Waxing Philosophical
I've got a birthday coming up this month, one of those with a big 0mg at the end of it, so when I ran across this quote last night I thought, "Hell, Yes!".
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used-up, totally worn-out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!" --Anonymous
After reading that, my thoughts immediately jumped to writing. And yes, every story we read should make us feel like that. I want that used-up feel, not just when I read, but when I write a story. I want that wiped-out satisfied feeling that I've stepped outside of my comfort zone and written a story that will blow the doors off a reader's mind. That's not too much to ask of oneself, is it?
I found a flash story the other day that just took my breath away. "Free" by Ian Ayris http://thrillskillsnchills.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-by-ian-ayris.html Drop on over and have a read, it's well worth the trip.
And a bit of news I've been sitting on since April 1st. Someone should explain to editors that April Fool's day isn't the perfect time to deliver such news! I've only mentioned this to a few people because things don't always pan out between the editor's desk and a publisher's print run. But, hell, my name is listed, there on the page, with all those real writers! http://www.tyrusbooks.com/books/BHOBC.htm To say that I'm thrilled is an understatement.
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used-up, totally worn-out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!" --Anonymous
After reading that, my thoughts immediately jumped to writing. And yes, every story we read should make us feel like that. I want that used-up feel, not just when I read, but when I write a story. I want that wiped-out satisfied feeling that I've stepped outside of my comfort zone and written a story that will blow the doors off a reader's mind. That's not too much to ask of oneself, is it?
I found a flash story the other day that just took my breath away. "Free" by Ian Ayris http://thrillskillsnchills.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-by-ian-ayris.html Drop on over and have a read, it's well worth the trip.
And a bit of news I've been sitting on since April 1st. Someone should explain to editors that April Fool's day isn't the perfect time to deliver such news! I've only mentioned this to a few people because things don't always pan out between the editor's desk and a publisher's print run. But, hell, my name is listed, there on the page, with all those real writers! http://www.tyrusbooks.com/books/BHOBC.htm To say that I'm thrilled is an understatement.
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