Over at NewPages.com they've posted the newest call for submissions list http://www.newpages.com/literary/submissions.htm On the list I spotted a zine called "Dragnet" and thought, great, a new crime zine. Nope. it's a lit zine looking for flash fiction up to 1000 words. This is a non-paying market. You can find submission details here http://dragnetmag.net/?q=content/submit
There's also a copy-paying anthology call for "Call of the Wild". They're looking for shorts up to 2000 words for the theme "nature's world". This is a query first call with a September 1 deadline. You can find the call here http://www.ebibliotekos.com
NewPages also has a new section call LitPak Fliers. http://www.newpages.com/litpak-fliers/ This page contains pdf fliers from magazines with contest and submission call announcements.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Odds and Ends
I found an interesting discussion about strong female characters in fiction at this link http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?p=10383 While the discussion pertains to the sci-fi/fantasy genre, those of us writing in the mystery genre tend to have the same problem with our female characters.
Russel D. Mclean talks about writing genre here http://secretdead.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-dead-guest-post-russel-d-mcleans.html
From Jedidiah Ayres is this link to an interview with Daniel Woodrell which I enjoyed. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/02/winters-bone-author-daniel-woodrell-on-mixing-the-verve-and-vivacity-of-pulp-with-family-stories/ and later today Jed will be hosting an interview with Woodrell at his Barnes and Noble blog, Ransom Notes. http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Ransom-Notes-The-BN-Mystery-Blog/bg-p/RN
My horoscope today said, "Your day today will come extremely close to perfection-". Love it when they actually come close to what happens. Yes, I'm buffing my fingernails on my shirt. First, I was reading Sandra Ruttan's blog post over at Do Some Damage http://dosomedamage.blogspot.com/ and found myself being quoted. Very cool! Then David Cranmer sent me this link http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/magazines/needle-1/ What a great review for Needle Magazine! I am so pleased that my story was included in this wonderful new zine!
Russel D. Mclean talks about writing genre here http://secretdead.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-dead-guest-post-russel-d-mcleans.html
From Jedidiah Ayres is this link to an interview with Daniel Woodrell which I enjoyed. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/02/winters-bone-author-daniel-woodrell-on-mixing-the-verve-and-vivacity-of-pulp-with-family-stories/ and later today Jed will be hosting an interview with Woodrell at his Barnes and Noble blog, Ransom Notes. http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Ransom-Notes-The-BN-Mystery-Blog/bg-p/RN
My horoscope today said, "Your day today will come extremely close to perfection-". Love it when they actually come close to what happens. Yes, I'm buffing my fingernails on my shirt. First, I was reading Sandra Ruttan's blog post over at Do Some Damage http://dosomedamage.blogspot.com/ and found myself being quoted. Very cool! Then David Cranmer sent me this link http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/magazines/needle-1/ What a great review for Needle Magazine! I am so pleased that my story was included in this wonderful new zine!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Markets
From Brian Lindenmuth we have word that "Rotten Leaves" has reopened to subs for their third issue. http://www.rottenleaves.com/submissions-are-now-open/ They're looking for dark fiction up to 3000 words in all the genres except fan-fic, high fantasy, and erotica. Their submission guidelines are here http://www.rottenleaves.com/submissions/ This is a non-paying market.
And we have anthologies!
Innsmouth Free Press will open to subs on May 1 for "Future Lovecraft". Yep, Lovecraft type stories of 1000 to 10,000 words. The pay is 1cent a word with $70CAD max. You can find the details here http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?p=11090
Blue Berry Lane Books has three anthologies open with March 31, April 16, and April 30 deadlines. Token payment of 1/2cent per word. Details at http://www.blueberrylanebooks.com/?page_id=65
Misanthrope Press has two anthologies opening on April 1. One looking for werewolf stories, the second looking for dark stories set in the forest. Pay is $5. They also have a quarterly print zine that will open for shorts on May 1. Payment here varies from 1cent a word for flash to $5 for shorts, and $7.50 for one chosen story each issue. Details and links to the zine at http://www.misanthrope-press.com/pages/upcoming-projects/
And we have anthologies!
Innsmouth Free Press will open to subs on May 1 for "Future Lovecraft". Yep, Lovecraft type stories of 1000 to 10,000 words. The pay is 1cent a word with $70CAD max. You can find the details here http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?p=11090
Blue Berry Lane Books has three anthologies open with March 31, April 16, and April 30 deadlines. Token payment of 1/2cent per word. Details at http://www.blueberrylanebooks.com/?page_id=65
Misanthrope Press has two anthologies opening on April 1. One looking for werewolf stories, the second looking for dark stories set in the forest. Pay is $5. They also have a quarterly print zine that will open for shorts on May 1. Payment here varies from 1cent a word for flash to $5 for shorts, and $7.50 for one chosen story each issue. Details and links to the zine at http://www.misanthrope-press.com/pages/upcoming-projects/
Charity Anthologies
Paul Brazill emailed this link http://ourmaninabiko.blogspot.com/2011/03/japan-earthquake-get-writing-now.html Money raised will go to the Japanese Red Cross.
As will this one. "New Sun Rising" http://booksthathelp.org
And Writers Abroad is accepting submissions to their 2011 charity anthology "Foreign Flavors". Subs close on September 9. This one is for expat writers with food as the theme. http://www.writersabroad.com/
As will this one. "New Sun Rising" http://booksthathelp.org
And Writers Abroad is accepting submissions to their 2011 charity anthology "Foreign Flavors". Subs close on September 9. This one is for expat writers with food as the theme. http://www.writersabroad.com/
Friday, March 18, 2011
Inside or Outside the Lines?
Genre writing tends to have a "sameness" to it, a familiarity that after a while breeds contempt in some readers. And yes, I'm one of those readers. I spent years reading mostly romance novels until one day I said, "God, can't they write something different?"
Each genre has a pattern the writer must follow, but within that pattern some writers have their own patterns. I noticed it first with the romance novels by Paula Fairman whose heroine always had three lovers. The first one rapes her, but by the end of the rape she's a willing participant, the second was usually a rich man, and the third was a bastard. In the end, she always wound up with the first man because a woman always falls for the man who takes her virginity by rape. (and yes, that was a sarcastic comment.) After the second or third book there's no point reading books by this author because you know how it's going to end. There's no surprise or excitement that engages the reader's imagination. And yes, I know, many readers like this familiarity and that's why the market publishes the same old, same old.
The same thing can happen with short stories. A writer can find a formula that works for them and that's all they write. That successful formula, in a way, becomes a crutch. I don't blame writers for using the crutch because that's what the market is looking for and they have to make a living.
That pattern of sameness thrives in the marketplace. Pick up a copy of EQ or AHMM and you can almost always tell how every story is going to end. It's like reading an episode of "Murder She Wrote". I think that's one reason I enjoy anthologies. Yes, there is that genre sameness, but a good editor will find stories that step beyond that sameness into new territory.
I adore writers who can surprise me with each new story. Stephen King collections are a good example. His stories, while wrapped in the cloak of horror, step into the crime and sci-fi genres. His endings vary from the twist, to the gotcha, to the yeah, it needed to end that way. You never know how one of his shorts is going to end so you're never bored.
By now you're probably wondering what brought this on. It was an essay by Guy Hasson called "How to be Truly Original". He makes some great points and tosses out some good ideas on how to make your story different from the guy writing next to you. http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-post-guy-hasson-on-how-to-be.html
Each genre has a pattern the writer must follow, but within that pattern some writers have their own patterns. I noticed it first with the romance novels by Paula Fairman whose heroine always had three lovers. The first one rapes her, but by the end of the rape she's a willing participant, the second was usually a rich man, and the third was a bastard. In the end, she always wound up with the first man because a woman always falls for the man who takes her virginity by rape. (and yes, that was a sarcastic comment.) After the second or third book there's no point reading books by this author because you know how it's going to end. There's no surprise or excitement that engages the reader's imagination. And yes, I know, many readers like this familiarity and that's why the market publishes the same old, same old.
The same thing can happen with short stories. A writer can find a formula that works for them and that's all they write. That successful formula, in a way, becomes a crutch. I don't blame writers for using the crutch because that's what the market is looking for and they have to make a living.
That pattern of sameness thrives in the marketplace. Pick up a copy of EQ or AHMM and you can almost always tell how every story is going to end. It's like reading an episode of "Murder She Wrote". I think that's one reason I enjoy anthologies. Yes, there is that genre sameness, but a good editor will find stories that step beyond that sameness into new territory.
I adore writers who can surprise me with each new story. Stephen King collections are a good example. His stories, while wrapped in the cloak of horror, step into the crime and sci-fi genres. His endings vary from the twist, to the gotcha, to the yeah, it needed to end that way. You never know how one of his shorts is going to end so you're never bored.
By now you're probably wondering what brought this on. It was an essay by Guy Hasson called "How to be Truly Original". He makes some great points and tosses out some good ideas on how to make your story different from the guy writing next to you. http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-post-guy-hasson-on-how-to-be.html
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Short Tips
I love reading writing tips or articles about a writer's process. There's always a small nugget here or there that makes me go, "Of Course! How come I didn't realize that?". When I first started writing I absorbed everything like a sponge. Nowadays I need to let the sponge dry out a bit before I take in something new, because not every tip works for me. You need to take what works for your process and discard the rest. And finding a process that works for you is something that comes from just sitting down and writing and writing and writing. You'll find your perfect process if you keep at it.
And here's your writing tip essays for today:
With a hat tip to Michael Bracken we have "10 Tips for Writing Short Stories" by Amanda Lohrey http://theincblot.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-tips-for-writing-short-story-by.html
"Personal Writing Checklist" by Mark Charen Newton http://markcnewton.com/2011/03/15/personal-writing-checklist/ While Mr. Newton is talking about novel writing in this post, many of his checklist items also work great for short story writers.
"How Long is Your Story?" by Deborah J. Ross http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/03/15/how-long-is-your-story/ Finding the right length is always difficult for me. I've started out to write a flash piece of about 500 words and wound up with a 3000 word short story. A story just has to run its course. If you cut it off too soon to fit into a word length, it just doesn't feel finished and if you're padding to fit a word count it feels bloated. And I know, finding markets for longer stories is difficult.
And here's your writing tip essays for today:
With a hat tip to Michael Bracken we have "10 Tips for Writing Short Stories" by Amanda Lohrey http://theincblot.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-tips-for-writing-short-story-by.html
"Personal Writing Checklist" by Mark Charen Newton http://markcnewton.com/2011/03/15/personal-writing-checklist/ While Mr. Newton is talking about novel writing in this post, many of his checklist items also work great for short story writers.
"How Long is Your Story?" by Deborah J. Ross http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/03/15/how-long-is-your-story/ Finding the right length is always difficult for me. I've started out to write a flash piece of about 500 words and wound up with a 3000 word short story. A story just has to run its course. If you cut it off too soon to fit into a word length, it just doesn't feel finished and if you're padding to fit a word count it feels bloated. And I know, finding markets for longer stories is difficult.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A Few New Markets
Over at Duotrope I found a few markets that might be of interest.
First up is "Eric's Hysterics". http://www.erics-hysterics.com/ This is a new market looking for subs for its first issue. What they're looking for is humor pieces in all the genres. 100 to 3000 words for shorts and the pay is $5. They're also looking for poetry and artwork. Humor markets are hard to find so hopefully this one will take off and stay in business for a while.
This next one is a flash market called "Life With Objects" http://www.lifewithobjects.com The top word count is 500. There's a list of 14 objects to choose from for your story. This is a non-paying market. They're taking submissions but there will be no response until May so you might want to wait until close to May to submit if you're the impatient sort. :)
I thought Graveside Tales was a zine, but it appears to be a small press who is looking for novellas of 20,000 to 35,000 words along with short novels and standard length novels. Their submission period closes May 30 for dark supernatural stories, especially those set in the Lycanthrope universe. According to the site they've been in business since 2007. I didn't find any mention of payment so you might want to query first before submitting. http://gravesidetales.com/submissions/ They are also looking for authors with an available back list.
First up is "Eric's Hysterics". http://www.erics-hysterics.com/ This is a new market looking for subs for its first issue. What they're looking for is humor pieces in all the genres. 100 to 3000 words for shorts and the pay is $5. They're also looking for poetry and artwork. Humor markets are hard to find so hopefully this one will take off and stay in business for a while.
This next one is a flash market called "Life With Objects" http://www.lifewithobjects.com The top word count is 500. There's a list of 14 objects to choose from for your story. This is a non-paying market. They're taking submissions but there will be no response until May so you might want to wait until close to May to submit if you're the impatient sort. :)
I thought Graveside Tales was a zine, but it appears to be a small press who is looking for novellas of 20,000 to 35,000 words along with short novels and standard length novels. Their submission period closes May 30 for dark supernatural stories, especially those set in the Lycanthrope universe. According to the site they've been in business since 2007. I didn't find any mention of payment so you might want to query first before submitting. http://gravesidetales.com/submissions/ They are also looking for authors with an available back list.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)