The author, his writings, and his warped little mind.
Just a quick update before bed. I have discovered that the blog Baryon Review reviewed Zero Gravity and had a sentence about my story “Leech Run”. The implication is that the reviewer enjoyed the story; he explicitly says he liked the book.
My brief con report for ChattaCon will be up tomorrow or Tuesday. I didn’t make any sales (that I know of), but I made some great contacts and new friends. Check back for more details.
Here I am at ChattaCon. Got here just early enough, nothing going on yet. I’m sleeping in the building with “all the party rooms”, so sleeping may prove a relative term. I’ll likely feel like an old man by Sunday. Or by….now. I’ll be sure to post some sort of Con report. It’s a small Con. I’m hoping it’s the nice-cozy-intimate kind of small (not that intimate) as opposed to the dull-boring-yocal kind of small. We shall see.
I can write. There’s been evidence of this for a while, but it’s just dawned on me tonight. I. Can. Write.
How did I reach this profound conclusion? This requires a little backstory. The culmination of the WotF workshop is the 24-hour story. At some point during the week, you interview a stranger, receive an object, and research in a library all so you can combine these things into a story you start and finish writing in a 24 hour window. I went through drafts and restarted and scratched and clawed until I had some sort of completed manuscript to turn in. It was crap. My characters were flat and cliche and there were loose ends and it was pulpy and I never wanted to see the thing again.
Anyway, “never” arrived today and I pulled this godawful manuscript up on the computer to read. It was great. I enjoyed the story in a did-I-really-write-that kind of way. The woman’s manipulation escalated in a nice arc. The main character’s internal conflict was not subtle but believable, especially since he was believably not-too-bright. The antagonists were predictable in a good way, though maybe a little repetitive but that’s their shtick. he tech was reasonable. Descriptions seemed appropriate.
So I wrote a story I liked. Lots of people write stories they like, does that mean they’re any good? My revelation is in the fact that a story I forced out and thought was worthless may well be a marketable piece. As in pro-market. I intend to try it anyway.
A big thanks to Jordan who inspired me to pull the piece out. (Sorry I wasn’t able to shave off the 1200 words I was hoping to for RGR. Maybe I can grind something else out soon.)
I suspect this post seems a little egotistical or at the least self-indulgent. It probably is. But I felt like this moment was important to share for two reasons. First, the secret to critiquing your own work is time. The moment you finish a manuscript is not the time to look for flaws. You’ll see none or you’ll see nothing but. Set it aside and work on something else. When you can barely recall what the story was about, that’s the time to read it. You’ll see it more like a reader. And second, and more importantly, a writer who can write well can do it under pressure, through writer’s block, underwater, against a deadline, or in any other case that might become an excuse. If it types out like crap, you can fix it later. I made a (large) number of fixes reading this story through, but I found the story in there and the fixes were so easy. If I hadn’t finished, there would be nothing to fix and I’d likely scrap the whole story. See, I told you there was a point.
In other news, I’m starting to fear I’ll miss ChattaCon. Bad weather is moving in and I don’t do snow-driving. Not a ton of snow so maybe it won’t be impassible; maybe the interstates and major highways will stay clear; maybe Chattanooga will be far enough south to miss it. Maybe not. We shall see. I’m on two panels Saturday: Are zombies the new vampires? at 10 am and Getting off this rock, how and why @ 2 pm (presumably about space colonization). Both should be good fun. If I can get there.
Not sure how well known the Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll is. It’s a small award whose prize is a lovely animated gif to post on your website. This year’s poll (for last year’s stories) is open for voting through TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT (not sure which time zone).
Why do I mention this so late? Mostly because it was just brought to my attention that “Leech Run” is on the poll for Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Story! I didn’t put it there, but I’m thrilled. Similarly, the anthology in which it ran, Zero Gravity, is also up for Best Anthology. Very cool.
Anyone can vote and voters are selected at random to win prizes, too. It’s probably tacky to tell you to go vote for me, so just go vote. If it’s for me, so much the better. 🙂
I’ve been going about this short story submission thing all wrong. As it turns out, the only sale I’ve made in the past six months is one I withdrew (details to follow). So maybe I just need to go pull all my stories out of slush so they’ll get bought. Or perhaps I should take this anomaly for what it is and move on.
I am selling “Leech Run” to Escape Pod podcast/ezine as a reprint, my first reprint sale. More excitingly, it’s my first audio sale! It’s just as exciting as having “Poison Inside the Walls” illustrated. Having another artist/performer interpret my work is very exciting to me.
The Escape Pod sale was not without hitches. I won’t bore you with the details beyond the fact that the fine people at Pill Hill Press — the editors of the anthology Zero Gravity: Adventures in Deep Space where “Leech Run” originally appeared — have been fantastic in their help to allow things to progress naturally. (You should go buy Zero Gravity on Kindle. Five bucks for thirteen awesome stories in deep space. Or buy it in paperback. Or special edition hard cover if it’s still available…but I think that was just through the end of 2010. Or buy all three!)
This reprint sale has me wondering how many people would enjoy “Leech Run.” Would it translate well? There is money to be made in foreign sales, even for short fiction. Other stories might also do well translated. Or in audio. “Excuse Me” would probably be better performed. Maybe I could do an audio recording for this site? It could be fun. Surely I can find a student actor or two willing to read some lines. Hmm… [sticks idea on shelf to revisit later]
Now on to my latest obsession: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog!! It’s a short film done by Joss Whedon (and family, it seems) starring Neil Patrick Harris as the eponymous villain-on-the-rise (was that Horrible or Howser?), Nathan Fillion as his heroic but egotistical nemesis Captain Hammer (or was that Reynolds?). Funny, dark, and musical. The cleverness and musicality of the songs hearkens to the South Park movie. Afterall, NPH is a Broadway guy. I love it in all its cheesiness. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack on my iPod nonstop for two days. If you have not seen this 42-minute marvel, find a way. I’ll likely bring my copy to ChattaCon for a potential (small) viewing party/sing-along. Consider the love shared. If you too love it, I have done my duty. If not, well, you may want to have your funny checked. (You should do that every ten thousand miles anyway.)
When I get details regarding Escape Pod, I’ll let you know. Until then, read Zero Gravity, watch Dr. Horrible, and eat Mezzetta Garlic-Stuffed Olives.
It’s that time of year again…time for goal setting, promise making, and resolution vowing. I have a few reso’s myself this time. I think I usually do. I don’t recall last year’s. I suspect that means I didn’t keep them. Anyway, here’s the list for 2011.
Five resolutions. That’s a lot for a guy that has never followed through with one before. I guess it’s like planting a lot of seeds hoping one or two might grow.
On the heels of my market list summary post, I get the fantastic news that the space opera zine Raygun Revival is back. Even better, my WotF vol. 25 pal, Jordan Lapp, is the one who brought it to my attention since his posse at Every Day Publishing is responsible for this resurrection. They’ll be paying between one- and five-cents per word (Canadian, I suspect) for one story per week, 1k-4k words.
Ray Gun Revival (RGR) is an online magazine dedicated to fun stories, grand escapism, and good old sensawunda. RGR provides just that, a throwback publication that revisits space opera and golden age sci-fi. Their stories focus more on character development than hard science and sail all the wide-open waters between science fantasy and harder SF. Think of the original Star Wars stories, Doc Smith’s Lensman series, the Warlord of Mars tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Think of everything from John Carter and Gully Foyle to Kimball Kinnison and Han Solo. They are bringing out the deepest elements of what has traditionally been rather superficial fiction and updating them for a new generation of fiction enthusiasts.
I am rifling through some old stories to see if I have something I could send. Most of my stuff is just too long. I bet I have an abandoned draft or an undeveloped idea I can make work. If not, maybe I can sequel “Leech Run” and see how Titan handles himself coming into port with a hold full of leeches on a crippled ship. Fun to be had there. Regardless, I’ll be sending something. You should, too.
At long last, I am adding my mini-commentaries on the markets in my market list. I had time issues and formatting issues to combat to get it this way. I hope it displays okay on your computer. It looks pretty good on mine. I’m no web-wiz; I just played with Excel and WordPress until it looked reasonable.
I’ve been trying to water my list of SF markets so it will grow. Each time I solicit a new market (new to my submission list), I add it, with the exception of one-shot anthologies which I don’t add so I don’t have to subtract later. Besides, an antho has limited spaces and I don’t need you stealing mine. So there.
I realize that I don’t delve into these markets very deeply here. I shouldn’t need to, as Duotrope and Ralan’s have more information that I could dream of providing here. But I should toss out a few comments on these markets just so you don’t think I’m claiming publications in them all (I have very few) or advocating them all (though most I advocate to some degree).
Key:
= Accepts Science Fiction 
= Accepts Fantasy
= Pays Pro Rates 
= Has Published My Work
SF Markets |
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| Market | My Blurb | My Experiences | ||||
| Analog | One of “the big three”; reputed for hard-SF. | Several form rejections, usually including a copy of the guidelines. | |
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| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine | Australian, semi-pro. According to one of their emails, 95% of held stories do not get printed. | Held two of my stories but have not published any. | |
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| Aoife’s Kiss | (pronounced “ee-fah’s kiss”); token payout; part of Sam’sDot Publishing that evolved from Promartian that gave me my start | Published one of mine online. Good relationship with the editor. | |
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| Apex Magazine | Pro market. Dark fiction is their game. | At least one personal rejection. Not the fastest response time, but not unbearable. | |
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| Asimov’s | The second of the big three. Hugo and Nebula winners roost here. | Some nice rejections, formulaic but specific. | |
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| Basement Stories | Another dark market. Semipro but recently raised rates. Appears to be quite reputable. | Still awaiting first response at about the 2-month mark. | |
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| Black Gate | Semipro fantasy zine, one of the most respected. Responses are very slow recently. | One rejection, personal. | |
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| Bull Spec | New pro-paying market, likes local (North Carolina) submissions. | One rejection, form. | |
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| Clarkesworld | Pro rates for science fiction. Prefers optimistic stories, I believe. | Several form rejects. Super fast response time (less than a week). | |
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| Daily Science Fiction | Another recent upstart. Pro rates. Likes flash but takes longer works. | A couple form rejections. Fairly quick responses. | |
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| Escape Pod | Audio market that recently went print and pro! Big bullseye on this one. | Withdrew one stary when rights changed. Waiting for first reply. | |
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| Every Day Fiction | Flash market under the leadership(?) of my pal Jordan Lapp. Low pay but good stuff. | Has run two of my stories, one in their yearly antho. | |
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| Fantasy & Science Fiction | The third leg of the “big three”. Long history, stellar rep. | Multiple rejections, mix of form and personal including one from the editor himself. Fast replies for snail mail. | |
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| Leading Edge | Heroic fiction, semi-heroic rates. Long response times. | Only one try, a reject with nice long feedback. | |
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| Lightspeed | Fastest rejections in the galaxy. Good rates if you can get it. | Numerous form rejections, some I didn’t receive but found on their tracker. | |
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| Martian Wave | Another Sam’s Dot zine, this one focused on space travel. Small pay, big love. | I don’t recall selling here. Not sure I ever tried it. | |
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| OSC’s Intergalactic Medicine Show | Orson Scott Card’s brainchild, now edited by Ed Schubert. Good pay, good online content by subscription. | Several rejects, the latest a personal from Ed’s desk. | |
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| Shimmer | Semi-pro with a good rep and very discerning taste. | One rejection, personal. | |
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| Sniplits (audio) | Audio-only market that extends beyond speculative fiction into literature. | Been waiting a while for my one response. Long waits. | |
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| Strange Horizons | Online pro-zine with a loyal fanbase. I haven’t quite figured this one out yet. | Numerous rejections, mix of form and personalized. | |
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| The Fifth Di… | Yet another Sam’s Dot Market. More low pay but quality beyond its tax bracket. | My first short story sold here! Will always have a warm place in my heart. | |
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| Triangulation Anthology | This one’s put out by PARSEC, a Pittsburgh area SF group. Well reviewed by Asimov’s. Theme changes annually. | One of my favorite stories sold here a while back. One rejection since. | |
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| Writers of the Future contest | The biggest contest of them all. Novices only. Some of the best fiction you’ll find. They have a rep for taking longer works. | Most visitors recognize this as my big break (still in the process of breaking). | |
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Oops, I’ve let time get away from me without any new posts. Part of that is the rush of all things distracting: school nears the semester’s end, Thanksgiving-related gluttony, Christmas-related shopping and decorating, doctor visits…all getting in the way of the normal flow of life. Including writing.
I haven’t written much in a couple weeks I guess. I had the urge to write bubble out of my head and into partial new stories a couple times in that span, both of which may turn into something. But not a lick of real progress on anything. Part of this can be blamed on one of my worst writer habits: waiting.
I have several stories out to markets that have taken longer than the median time to reply to (per Duotrope). Some significantly more time. But none beyond the query line. (Okay one is, but it’s not so far over the median time, so I’ll give it a few more days.) I spend way too much time actively thinking about these stories and their status. Why? Will thinking about it change the speed of reply? Of course not.
It’s a bad procrastination. I’ve run into a slow spot in my novel and my brain wants to focus on those finished items instead of doing the hard work. Subbing is easy. Even getting rejected is easy. Writing is hard work.
I plan to put in some hard work tonight. I need to get the ball rolling on a new part of the novel and it’s dreadfully painful to slog through, especially knowing I’ll likely cut it and/or rewrite it. That should make it easier, shouldn’t it?
I’ve added Kevin J. Anderson’s blog to the Pro Writers blogroll. He’s in the process of sharing advice for being a productive (and possibly profitable) writer. I need that kind of push right now.
Today I receive a wonderful rejection. It’s always nice to get a personal, positive rejection. It’s like hitting on girl (when I was single, long ago) and having her say “you’re sweet and I’d love to go out with you, but I’ve got a boyfriend and we’re pretty serious. I wish I’d met you three months ago.” At leas I think it would be similar to that. I usually got the cold shoulder of hysterical laughter as responses.
This email started by saying the story did not fit the anthology as well as other stories, hence the rejection. Then it went on to say the story (TWHDotGMP) was “very, very funny” — calling part of it “brilliant” — and said nice things about enjoying my style, ending with an invitation to end more for the next antho. Happy ego.
Alas, I don’t use that story’s in-your-face comedic style very often. I will definitely explore it further in the future. But gosh it’s tough to write humor. Time consuming. Only about 10% of my jokes are ever funny, so I need to write ten times as much to get each funny moment. And TWHDotGMP is wall-to-wall (attempts at) humor, be it snappy dialog, absurd situations, or rimshot jokes, I packed it. Exhausting to write so it can be perpetually amusing to read. And then I had to push a plot in, too.
It’s a dangerous thing, writing humor. I have a very odd sense of humor. My target audience would also be people with odd senses of humor, but odd has a lot of directions to choose from. Funny is subjective. On the up side, no single rejection of a humor story should cause concern about the story’s market chances. On the down side, this editor’s kind commentary is no guarantee that any other person (let alone editor) in the world will appreciate my razor wit.
I believe the market for SF humor is wide open. Start naming some sci-fi funnymen. Adams, Pratchett, Piers Anthony…I’ve received recommendations for others that I can’t recall. I’m not just talking about stories with funny moments, I mean stories designed to be funny above all else. There is a niche market for that and I could strive to establish myself there. But then there’s my WotF story. Are there any funny moments in it? Maybe a snarky comment or two (I can’t think of any), but not really. It’s got rape, drugs, incest, lying…no jokes. So maybe I’m spreading myself thin by trying to write the funny and the serious. Or maybe I’m covering all my bases. Or maybe I’m just writing what I need to write and to hell with anyone’s opinion. Or maybe I just haven’t found myself as a writer yet. Or maybe I just like starting sentences with the word or. (Ooh, I started and ended that one.)
I haven’t been able to count on sales to point me toward my niche. What have I sold? My two biggest earners were both fairly serious outerspace stories — one on a colony with aliens, the other on a fueling outpost near a colony. “Excuse Me” was farcical humor, “Faerie Belches” was a lot less funny than the title implies (kind of an urban fantasy for kids), “Leech Run” was new space opera (of the Firefly vein), and flashes really are their own beasts altogether. Oh, and a violent military vampire thing. And time travel, serious but Twilight Zone-esque. See, all over the place. And my submission catalog isn’t much more focused.
So I guess I’ll keep exploring myself as a writer. Some funny, some serious, some light, some dark…hopefully some sales. Maybe I’ll find a career somewhere in there.
Scott W. Baker .net 