The author, his writings, and his warped little mind.
Every now and then I post something I think people might actually find useful rather than just entertaining or informative about me. I’m going to try to maintain a list of links to those useful posts on the right side (with all my other exciting links). Just another service I provide. If you see a post that belongs in my “useful” list, leave a comment and I’ll add it.
-Oso
I had a nice comment or two from a Baen’s Bar user named Rad. Some minor hunting revealed him as a Clarion 2007 graduate (yes, the one whose two year old blog post freaked me out the other day). It’s nice getting compliments (even vague, keep-at-it compliments) from writers who have already passed the stage of their careers that I am in. Did he say I was brilliant? No, of course not. I did once have an editor say I was brilliant (or did something brilliant) only to not print the story. That sucked. But he said I “…have more going than most.” Not glowing, but nice.
It was especially nice after the painful critique he just gave “Leech Run” in the slush. Ouch. It was good stuff, a very in-depth critique not terribly dissimilar from what I strive for through Critters. But any time someone uses the words “Please no!” repetitively in relation to your story, it stings. He had a point, that I had overdone the headcounting. His advice helped my rewrite, but I have written myself into a corner (or a middle, if that’s possible) where I need to gut a small section and rework it, probably building in more action.
Anyway, it was nice of Rad. (You can look up his real name yourself the same way I did, but you have to be a Baen’s Bar member.)
-Oso
My first order of business is to keep myself busy so I don’t go mad waiting to hear from the Clarions. Sure the application deadline is past (or will be in a few hours), but they still need to review last minute applications, compare scores on all the applications, select their top 18-20 as well as an alternate list, then decide when to start contacting people. I will be shocked if I hear something this week. That doesn’t mean I’m not holding my breath each time I check my caller ID.
So how do I keep busy? Writing, of course. I’m still trying to finish up my second version of “Leech Run” for Baen’s Universe, not that I’m terribly optimistic about it getting picked up. If it doesn’t (I’m not giving up all hope), I’ll set it aside until the workshop (I am still overly optimistic about that, in spite of myself) since it should be the first of my stories to be analyzed by the masses there. (It could be “Glow Baby” if I end up in San Diego, but I digress). Regardless, I don’t expect the rewrite to take more than another day or two.
I decided my next project will be to run with my woman-warrior story, as yet untitled but the file is saved under Kree.doc since Kree is the name of the alien race. Before I go too far, I need to read The Science of Aliens, which is sitting on my bookshelf. It will give some hard science credibility to my aliens and my story in general.
This project will probably take a few weeks at least. I won’t be surprised if I get distracted by another project before I finish, but I’m trying not to do that. If I get stuck, I’ll try to brush out another story for young readers, something under 2k words, so I can get back to the serious story. I have a lot of emotion, intrigue, and social commentary planned for this one. It may be tough, but I bet it comes out good…for me.
Anyway, that’s my to-do list for the next few weeks. I’ll likely know about a Clarion before the Kree story is done unless I hit an unprecidented rhythm. *sigh* Time to get to work.
-Oso
The neat thing about having a story in the BU slush at Baen’s Bar is the chance to rewrite a story based on the feedback it receives, then just toss it back out there. I’ve been rewriting “Leech Run” based on some fairly harsh criticism, much more to the point than Critters has ever been. I am fairly happy with the rewrite except for the one transition paragraph I need to rework to get rid of the lies. (I didn’t mean to lie, but the story flowed better that way.) I hope to have the rewrite posted there Monday.
While exploring other writer’s blogs, I discovered a post from someone exclaiming his delight at being selected for the Clarion workshop. I was a bit dejected seeing as I haven’t heard anything yet and the submission deadline has not quite arrived. It got me very nervous, twitchy. Then I reread the post and discovered it was from two years ago. 😐 It felt sheepish. I hadn’t realized how much I was counting on being accepted. I may not be and I know it. I just need to receive my official verdict so I can move on with planning my life…or at least my summer.
That’s all for now. More soon.
-Oso
I’ve just updated my look, adding a small but pleasant list of SF markets including links to home pages and to submission guidelines. I’ve started with some zines I know and love; some have printed my stuff, others have wasted trees on the rejections they send me. I plan to add to this list periodically. Use these links as much as you like. For a more thorough listing of markets, try the Duotrope link.
I always find it difficult to move on once I finish a story. I get a big “now what” hanging over me. Do I go back to an old, incomplete project or press on to a new story. I refuse to start any new novels until I get one or more finished. But short stories can be started on a whim.
So what to do? I have a story, “Thinking Out Loud”, that never sold despite being a very good story. Looking back, I find that I didn’t really build a protagonist the reader would care about. It occurred to me to rewrite the story from a different point of view. It’s a completely different story that way. I may try toggling back and forth between the old POV and the new one, which turns out to be jumping between an army general and an inmate/test subject. I think it will be a massive rewrite and am a little overwhelmed by the thought of it. I keep putting it off. It might be a good project for Clarion (cross fingers).
As for new projects, I have a few things I’ve brainstormed. One story about a future society where the females are the warriors. Lots of ideas as to why the women must fight, who they fight against, and what internal struggles the protag goes through. I need to develop the characters a bit more, but it’s got steam behind it. I have another that is basically a superhero-working-for-the-government story that lost all momentum. I’m not sure I’m ready to pick that one back up. And of course there’s my young adult SF novel (set on a sub-light colony ship), my military clone novel (probably my strongest idea), my SF comedy novel (hung up on the first major event), my YA fantasy novel (first thing I ever wrote; complete but needs a major rewrite), and my Fultus stories that need to be expanded to novella or novel length. Whew.
I may look through my unfinished works and see what grabs me, be it something here or something else. We’ll see. I think I agonize more over what to work on than over what to type. I’ve been in a short story mood with my focus on Clarion, but who knows. I’ll be sure to post when I make up my mind.
I think part of my problem with moving on is the pain of waiting to hear the fate of stories in market slush piles. “Brother Goo” is still in the mail to Cricket. “Glow Baby” is working its way through editors at Strange Horizons. “Leech Run” is in the slush at Baen’s Bar, fighting for an opportunity to slip into the Jim Baen’s Universe that way (past critical eyes of readers and editors alike). I can’t remember ever having three stories in the wind at once. Chilling. But I have to keep working. That’s what a real writer would do.
-Oso
I looked at the updated list of WordPress global tags and noticed some more potential titles. They amuse me, so here they are.
That’s all for now. Check the global tags for your own ideas or check out my previous post. Happy writing.
-Oso
I went ahead and sent “Brother Goo” to Cricket today. Duotrope suggests it will be 3-6 months before I hear back. I’ll miss that story while it’s gone. If it gets rejected, I’ll have to strongly consider a rewrite. I haven’t posted my full version (submitted slimmed down version) to Critters for review, but I will. There seems to be no rush.
I also posted “Leech Run” to the slush mesage board at Jim Baen’s Universe. It’s a neat idea, posting stories to a password protected page (so there is no technical publication…same as Critters does) to get comments from readers. Editors also peek at the stories, requesting rtf files from stories they find particularly promising. I’m running it through the “Introducing” bracket, basically contending with other writers that haven’t breached pro level markets. If you are a Baen’s Bar member, you can give it a read and post some comments, especially if they are helpful comments.
At any rate, I’m keeping my top-end stuff out there. Even a blind fisherman gets a nibble or two, right?
-Oso
We’ve all heard it: Harry Potter saved reading (from Voldemort, apparently). I got to wondering how I grew up a reader, let alone turned into a writer. I got to thinking about what books were popular when I was young.
Hardy Boys were still around and grownups pushed them on me (a little younger than the Potter readers, but not by much), but I don’t recall ever finishing one. I read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown. My wife read Judy Blume, but she’s not really a reader anymore.
Then it occurred to me: Choose Your Own Adventure!
How many of those books did I own? How many did I check out of the elementary school library? There were hundreds of them out there. One of my favorites (something about dragons) had a page number typo and I never reached a good ending.
They turned out about the length of a short story by the time you finished, never reading a good percentage of the pages. They were quick, easy reading, and literally got the reader involved in the story. I suspect they were the Harry Potter of their time, though they clearly never carried into the adult demographic. They made readers out of many in my generation.
It made me wonder who wrote those stories and whether I could do it. I probably could with a model or two to pull from. I wonder if they’re still making new ones. Hmm.
-Oso
In a response to an open plea from a youth-oriented SF magazine’s editor, I wrote a story about a boy and the alien that possessed his brother. Not the most original of ideas, but it was for kids. As I wrote, new twists on old ideas came to me and found their way to the page. Now I have two problems.
First, the story is too long for the market that inspired it. The market caps at 2000 words and this story is just over 2300. I could probably cut a few hundred words if I wanted to, but I’m pretty sure it would weaken the story. After all, it’s not the plot that’s special, it’s the relationship between the brothers (even though one of them is not technically there).
Then there’s the other problem: I think this story is too good to start with this particular market. This market offers only token payment and will have minimal exposure value. I like the market and the people who run it, but I am trying to establish myself as a professional.
I may try the story in some non-genre youth-oriented publications, maybe Boys’ Life or Cricket. I need to look up their guidelines first. I may also try Black Gate (though I think they may be closed to submissions right now) or some other zines that insist their demographic begins with preteens. It might prove a futile endeavor, but it would be a shame to sell a story for pennies when it might have been worth something.
I’ll probably drop it in the Critters queue while I wait for responses. I’m having some trouble with the title: “Brother Goo or Why I Threw My Brother in the Ocean” is what I have right now. Old school “or” format. Unfortunately I feel like the first sounds like mucus and the second gives away too much. I may just try “Brother Goo” and see how it is received. Look at that, I made a decision right here in the middle of my blog and you were here to witness it. Momentous.
-Oso
UPDATE: I checked out some of those guidelines. Boys’ Life has a 1500-word limit. Cricket‘s is 2000. I went back through the story and trimmed it down to 1990 (the last cut I made was a full paragraph). I probably could have left a little more in there. I’ll reread the cut version in a few days, after it’s filtered out of my memory some, then maybe send it to Cricket. It could still make the rounds of the standard genre magazines, but Analog won’t be likely to touch it. I’ll probably stick to semi-pro markets outside the youth-oriented zines. Time will tell how it all works out.
Scott W. Baker .net 