Tag: writers of the future

Baker’s Dozen – coming soon to Kindle

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

On the advice of…well, at least 13 people, I have compiled 13 of my stories into a self-published ebook and have formatted it for the Kindle.

Why 13?  Well, that makes a Baker’s Dozen.  It was a title suggested by my friend Greg and I couldn’t resist the pun.  Guilty as charged.

Why self-pub?  I can’t see shopping this thing around for forever just to wind up self-pubbing it anyway. I am a long way away from giving up on traditional publishing (novels and magazines), but I’m convinced this is the way to go for a single-author collection.

Why just Kindle?  Okay, it’s not just Kindle.  By the time I release the thing, it may well be ready for Smashwords and Nook, too.  But I’m new at this and there’s a learning curve.

What’s in it?  Oh, I’m so glad you asked!  There’s quite a variety, but stories mostly fit into one of four categories:

  • Space opera like my Writers of the Future winner “Poison Inside the Walls” and my fan favorite “Leech Run”
  • Urban fantasy including my middle grades story “Faerie Belches” and the full version of the Uncle John’s Flush Fiction story “Excuse Me”
  • Near future science fiction like my flash piece “How Quickly We Forget” and the unpublished dystopian tale “Secondhand Rush”
  • Zombie fun like the sports riff “ZFL” and my play on the Pied Piper, “Not Rats”
  • and five others!  (I sound like a Time Life Music infomercial.)

Includes 9 of my greatest hits as well as 4 never before published stories; well over 40,000 words of fiction.  Tiny little flash stories to the top end of the short story scale; dark and gritty to farcically hilarious; hard science to impractical frivolity.  There is something in this collection for absolutely every reader of short speculative fiction, all for the low price of…

Okay, I confess, I’m still waffling on the price point.  When I see individual short stories from writers at similar places in their career selling on Kindle for 99 cents, a fairly high number isn’t hard to envision.  But then I consider the role that low price point plays in getting a reader to try a new writer and something bargain basement makes more sense.  I’m considering splitting the difference (high basement?) and also maybe releasing some of the longer stories for $.99 as single stories plus a teaser for another story in the book.  That’s my best impression of a marketing strategy, folks.

Anyway, I don’t quite have the release date set.  I’ll post it as soon as I do.  I’ll also Tweet it, Facebook it, and do whatever else I can think of to get the word out.

I’m pretty excited about this, excited enough to pull four very solid and promising stories out of my submission cycle to make sure my readers get value for their money.  It sure isn’t everything I’ve ever written or even sold, but this is a sample of my best.  If you’ve ever wondered how good I actually am at this writing stuff, here comes your chance to find out.

Check back soon for the latest.

Revelation: I can write!

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 5 Comments

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.

Heading back to the real world

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

I feel a little like Dorothy climbing in the balloon to go back to Kansas. The Writers of the Future workshop was amazing! Pro authors, people wanting my autograph, people buying my book, a free hotel, writers to talk to about writing, food, events, a massive awards show,- Hollywood Blvd…and tomorrow I have to wake up and teach. Not sure how I’m going to do that.

I prolonged my unreality just a little longer by upgrading my first flight to first class. In the end it only cost $50 extra, so I’d say it’s worth it. DirecTV, a couple free drinks (a something-and-Coke), a hot towel, good service…and tomorrow I have to wake up and teach. (Notice a pattern?)

I think a bigger piece of me has become a writer than when I left. I can’t wait to share some stories and revelations, but I’m typing all this on my Android phone.

My sardine-class fligh leaves in an hour. That will start the real world coming back to me. More posts soon.

Oh, and all you WotF 26 attendees lurking out there, say hi. I miss you all already.

Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself…

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

Wow, yesterday was huge on this blog.  I don’t recall ever receiving so many hits or so many comments.  I feel like a celebrity.  I know I’m not, but I feel like one.  I’m sure the curiosity over the new WotF stud (term used very loosely) will die down quickly.  I’m sure Laurie’s getting more of this than I am.  Lael would be getting a lot of attention, too, if anyone knew how to find him.

But with the incoming swarm, I decided I should offer a little more content than “me, me, me.”  I do that from time to time.  I should update my “useful posts” links so people know that.  Anyway, I decided — upon seeing it mentioned in blogs and message boards elsewhere — to comment on the perceived weakness of leaving stories unfinished.

Heinlein’s second rule of writing is to finish what you write.  Who am I to argue with Heinlein?  He’s Heinlein, for crying out loud.  So I won’t argue, rather offer my interpretation.  My slow, erosion-like interpretation.

I’ve discovered recently that I am susceptible to writer’s block.  I think I catch it from my students, though theirs seems to be a plague-caliber strain of homework block.  They need to vaccinate for this.  When it catches me, it usually means there’s something wrong with the story I’m trying to write and my subconscious writer is acting like a seeing eye dog and saving me from venturing further into danger.  (I’ve commented on specific cases in earlier posts.)  Those kinds of blocks are good for me.  They’re pains to get past, but they are good.  It suggests I’m an even better writer than I think I am (and with the swelled head I’ve gotten from WotF, that’s saying something).

For example, I intended my WotF story, “Poison Inside the Walls” to end with my protagonist making a huge discovery about the nature of her alien enemies and gain enlightenment and return home to try changing her society.  I kept stalling in the process.  It was a beautiful story idea, but it wasn’t the story I was writing.  The story wasn’t about the aliens, it was about the protagonist and her family.  Spending  four to five thousand words on the aliens at this point (which was what it was becoming) was going to rob the story of its power and bore whatever readers had been interested enough in the story to get that far.  So I set it aside while I stewed on it, eventually isolating the protag and letting the alien inspire her ultimate decisions.

Stewing on a story is like letting the dishes soak in the sink, it can soften things up but don’t leave it too long or it rusts.  I probably have a rusted story or two that have been stewing way too long.  I have others getting close.  I have a story on the complacency of religion that needs something I can’t quite place…maybe a stronger speculative aspect to suit my taste.  I have another that I’ve painted with too much culture and not enough theme, to the point that I’m having trouble recalling the theme.  (Maybe I’ll do a post on my definition of “theme” sometime soon.)  One of my most promising novels (yes, I have a half dozen brewing…shame on me) stalled out because I got to part of the story I didn’t really care about.  So why write that part?  Well, it’s an important part of the coming-of-age story; I just need to find a way to make me care about it.

So yes, it is important to finish a story.  If it ain’t finished, it ain’t a story.  If you have no stories, you ain’t a writer.  But it doesn’t have to get finished right away if you’re willing to return to it with fresh eyes later, be it a week or a month later.  It works for me, so far.  In the interest of full disclosure, I hate this system.  I want to be able to start the story, work on the story, finish the story, then move on to the next.  So far, my process doesn’t work that way.  I’m hoping the crucible of Clarion will help me with this.  But for now, I’m slowly cranking out stories I’m proud of, one postponement at at time.

Second Place, Baby!

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 8 Comments

It’s official, I have a professional fiction sale.  Better than a sale, a win.  Writers of the Future XXVI, fourth quarter, second place.  (Oddly that sounds less impressive than it should.)  My story will be in a book in bookstores.  A book people will buy and read.  I get an all expense paid trip to California for a week long workshop and award ceremony.  My story will be illustrated by one of the talented winning artists.  How cool is that?  How cool is all of it?

I talked to Joni Labaqui, the contest coordinator, for about fifteen minutes.  She seems quite nice, even laughed at my jokes.  It’s not set as to when the workshop will be, but it’s a good bet I’ll have to take a week off school to attend.  No matter; I’m going to the workshop.  Meeting other winners, rubbing elbows with pros, making connections that are worth their weight in gouda…yeah, I’ll be there.

The best part of the whole thing is the sense that I am good at this writing thing.  Small press sales are nice, but I’d never sold a story somewhere that made me say, “that’s proof I have a future as a writer.”  Now I have.

Despite some suggestions that WotF’s workshop (combined with the status of the win) might be a sufficient repacement for Clarion, I am still planning to go if I’m accepted.  It has changed my mind about which to attend.  I had been heavily leaning one way (not to be revealed) if given the option, but now I think money will have more to do with the decision than anything.  CW is cheaper, but if there are scholarships to be had, I could go either way.  If things come out fairly even, I guess I resort to my old leanings.

It is eye-opening to see Clarion and Odyssey grads competing in WotF, many doing well time after time without winning.  My only workshops have been the online variety.  My winner, “Poison Inside the Walls”, was workshopped at SFF OWW as well as Baen’s Bar.  I have no MFA…no formal writing training at all.  I do have a decade of experience with token sales along the way (starting with the ProMartian turned Sam’s Dot Publishing zine, _The Fifth Di…_), a masters in math (which I don’t think came into play in the story), a bookcase shelf full of writing and science books, a deep vocabulary, a pretty solid mastery of punctuation and grammar, a solid if smallish list of SF readings, and enough humility to accept constructive criticism.  Oh, and the drive to keep doing this for a decade.

Winning WotF can be done.  It takes time and work, but the odds are a lot better than the lottery and the sense of accomplishment is much greater.  I’ve never been the guy that wins things.  This is a huge boon for me.  I just hope I can build off it.  I refuse to let this be the pinnacle of my career.

Snow waits for no man

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

Another couple days out of school (the today that is ending and the tomorrow about to begin, it being after 11PM and all).  How much writing have I clocked this week?  100 words?  Maybe 200?  Honestly the count may be negative since I’ve been removing cancerous cliches from my latest endeavor.

But I have some energy now and most of my best work comes in the wee hours (at least I believe that in those wee hours).  When I get done here, I intend to power through to the next good part and build some steam.  My afternoon/evening is still booked with some training tomorrow (free laptop, baby!) but morning and early afternoon are free enough to squeeze out some words whenever my daughter is reasonably distracted (which happened seldom today, so I have that much excuse).

I’ve been trolling Icerocket for other people’s comments on Clarion/Clarion West.  It’s interesting what I find.  Apparently Clarion is a computer language or something and I get mostly drivel about that, but what real hits I get run the gamut from “I’m pretty sure I’ll get in” to “is it even worth my effort”.  I fear I would likely fall on the arrogant side of this, though my close shave with CW last year is at least some sort of pedigree, as is my WotF finalist I used to apply (more on that below).  Still, I don’t feel confident at all.  I screwed up my application length — even the format — for CW.  I had to cut 500 words from my story to submit to Clarion, 500 words that were mostly character-building or fleshed out the milieu (a word I’m trying to use more often), so maybe I stripped the story of some of its strengths and/or charm…and it was still a nibble above the word count.  (As if that story could be called “charming” at all.)  And the second Clarion story was a bit experimental in form, only an HM from WotF, and really represented my abilities from years ago, when I wrote the first draft without the Multiple Sclerosis angle.

So no, I’m not certain I’ll make it.  If people have more reason to expect to make it than I have (they may have pro sales or better semi-pros, for instance), then more power to them and I hope I see you out west.  If they have less reason to think they’ll make it (I have no formal training, no pro sales or even especially braggable semi-pro sales, I type slow and read slower, and I went five pages over for my CW application, for goodness sake!), then there’s still reason to apply.  For instance, I know Clarion (SD) has a tiered rejection system.  (If it says you were close, you were.)  And you might just get in anyway!  It’s not a magazine, it’s a workshop.  They are looking as much at potential as they are skill.  A clever writer with an obvious flaw might be a better candidate than a pretty-good-all-around writer that doesn’t stand out anywhere.  What will that person do, increase his/her mediocrity?

This isn’t to say everyone should apply.  It’s not worth it to every Joe/Jane that wants to write.  Six weeks away from work often means quitting a job.  Six weeks away from a spouse/fiancee/boyfriend/girlfriend may mean coming home single.  Six weeks away from my daughter is going to be devastating.  If it happens, I’ll have at least one major breakdown.  It will happen.  Not to mention I’ll also be away from my wife.  And the financial cost…  How many Clarion writers actually recoup that money with writing sales?

But face it, Clarion is my American Idol.  If I can make it as a writer, this will help (not make, but help) it happen.  It will open doors whose keys I might never reach by other avenues.  So for me, it’s worth it…perhaps for the last time. Let’s just say that after 2010, I intend to have too much to leave behind for six weeks to be reasonable.  So this is my Clarion shot.  The darts are away.  I should find out where they land in the next four to six weeks.  (If anyone thinks six weeks isn’t long, send off the application and wait those six weeks to hear back.  It’s a freaking eternity!)

And I know Clarion is not the only path to Publishing Parnassus.  Writers of the Future seems to be a good train, and more evidence that four to six weeks can be interminible.  (Come on, judges, declare my victory/defeat and get on with it!)  Lots of people just keep submitting until that one sale happens.  Then it’s off to the snail races.  And if it’s not what but who, networking can be done at conventions, via blogs, through mutual friends (found at cons or blogs), or any other number of ways.  Success is out there, waiting for me.  Waiting for you.  Many roads lead ther; they all have their own toll booths.  Get your exact change ready and get driving.

Ouch…the agony of that last cliche metaphor is killing me.  Avenge me!

Redactions

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 5 Comments

I just went back through my blog and did some redactions, just to play it safe.  There was a title I don’t want associated with my name because….

…I’m a finalist for Writers of the Future!!!!!

My story, along with seven others, goes to a few big shot pro writers to be judged for the three big prizes (including inclusion in the anthology).

Too psyched to type more.  Woohoo!

And it’s off

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

No weather issues holding me back.  Found printer paper at the local Dollar General (saving me a half hour of driving).  All is well.  Got to the post office in time for today’s postmark.  All is well.  I just sit back and wait 2-4 months for my HM.  I guess it could go semi-finalist if some of my risks pay off, but I’ll be surprised.

Still hoping I’ll never have to find out.  Very proud of my Q4 story.  We’ll see.

Me in a nustshell

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

Finished!  My WotF Q1 (Writers of the Future – first quarter, for those who don’t speak the lingo) story is finished!

Well, that may be a bit strong.  Try again.

Ready!  My WotF Q1 story is ready!  Well, almost ready.  I went to print the thing and my printer was out of paper.  So I went to the paper stash and realized that the stack of paper there and the length of my manuscript were going to be very close.  I grabbed the stack anyway, then realized one of the corners was bent up.  Yes, the whole stack had bent corners.  Now it was nothing that couldn’t be dismissed as postal damage, especially if I banged up that corner of the envelope before sending it.  (Devious, aren’t I?)  But I couldn’t risk the paper jamming my printer.

So where does this leave me?  Hopefully picking up some printer paper in the morning and squeezing out a manuscript in time to hit the post office.  But the weather here is questionable at best, icy at worst, and ever since I totaled my truck in a sudden snowfall I’ve been a cowardly weather driver.  If the roads are icy in the morning, I won’t be leaving the house.  (Tennessee doesn’t clear roads very quickly.)  Push comes to shove, I could email the story to a friend that has both better weather and available paper and ask them to print and send it for me.  I bet my parents could do that.

Anyway, it hardly seems worth the effort when I look at the story.  Very experimental, formatting marks galore, creative  accents, and an ending that veers away from the action in favor of summation.  (If KD can figure out which story it is from this, well, disqualify me.)  It’s inventive, clever, and experimental, so it’s definitely not garbage, but I’m doubting it’ll score above HM.  It reminds me of my Q3 story, “Secondhand Rush”, only moreso.  On the upside, I won’t be pacing in front of my computer waiting for these results.

Thanks for taking a couple minutes to share my angst.  Night all.

WotF XXIV trends

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve been filling my commute with the sounds of the Writers of the Future vol. XXIV audiobook.  It’s my way of multitasking, catching up on reading as I drive.  Being the perpetual writer I am, I have been looking for patterns.  I was surprised by what I found.  (Keep in mind, I still have four stories left to go.)

A significant number of the stories have low-activity or even non-active protagonists.  A book (an intelligent talking compendium) is the protagonist of “Circuit”, lending its thoughts as it passes through the possession of apparently significant figures in future history.  Gina in “Hangar Queen” is a bomb that is not allowed to fly.  She has ideas, opinions, even seeks information, but she can only do so much.  The protagonist in “Snakes and Ladders” starts the story crippled by an explosion and proceeds to fade in and out of consciousness, a spectator of what occurs inside his body.  He does manage to move around a little, put out a fire, stuff like that.  “Cruciger” is a ship that ferries the last of humanity into space to build a Dyson Sphere or Ringworld.  She is more active than the others, interacting with jellyfish-like natives as she prepares to destroy their world for raw materials, but the story as a whole is very much a treatise on the pros and cons of religion and whether the ship is a better deity than God.  The teacher in “Crown of Thorns” makes reference to prior acts of futility, but mostly goes along with what she’s supposed to do (though I might have missed a bit of that one due to attention to traffic).

These stories are all, in different ways, passive.  They are all fine stories of their own right, so do not mistake me, but there’s a lot of watching and thinking that goes on.  Does KD Wentworth (WotF coordinating judge) particularly prefer stories with voyeuristic protagonists?  If she does, she’s not alone.  “Cruciger”, “Hangar Queen”, and “Circuit” were all first-place winners.  It is interesting to peek into a well-developed world, but is it not more interesting to live in that world? to interact with it?

There are plenty of active stories.  I was very fond of “A Man in the Moon”, the one finalist to round out the bake’s dozen tales.  It was by no means an action story, but the protagonist stood up for himself well.  “Epiphany” is a story chock-full of action — murder, magic, escape, sword-swallowing, and a hermaphrodite.  “Taking a Mile” was a good balance of discovery and action, the protag stepping up when necessity called.  And “Bitter Dreams” was one ugly zombie-slaying after another, perhaps a little too violent for my usual taste, but still filled with subtle character interaction and introspection.  So there is a balance.  Still, I generally consider the passive protagonist an exception, not a 50% possibility.

I agree that a good story is about characters.  That does not prohibit action from entering the equation.  Often characters are more interesting when they are acting than when they are observing.  Not always, but often.  A less-active story draws more attention to the ideas it represents.  Is that what WotF is looking for, the ideas?  Or is it just that beginning writers tend to create their finest early works when they focus on ideas without letting all that action get in the way.All these stories are quite good, and I do not intend these comments to detract from any of them.  I am just trying to analyze patterns.  These patterns may only run as deep as issue XXIV.  Further investigation is necessary before any statistical correlation is defined. I’m eager to hear other people’s opinions as well.

-Oso