Speculations on Writing Speculative Fiction

Realms of Fantasy to End its Long Publishing Run

2011-11-12T09:33:00.009-07:00

I just ran across the sad news in Duotrope the other day that ROF is, again, going to cease publication. After a long and successful run under Shawna McCarthy the publication was closing its doors a year ago but was saved at the eleventh hour when a new editing team bought the magazine. The new owners are now announcing that the October 2011 issue will be their last due to financial difficulties.

It's a shame that economic conditions are closing book stores, changing the publishing world, and killing off good magazines. In the past two months, I've heard of three magazines that I liked which are going under: Realms of Fantasy, The Absent Willow Review and Enchanted Conversation. The Absent Willow Review was the first magazine to publish one of my stories, and about two months ago they also announced, with great regret, that they were no longer able to continue. Sad, as they were such a great venue for new talent. Enchanted Conversation tried to revive the fairy tale tradition, which I thought was wonderful, but they only lasted a year.

Economic hard times have hit many of us and I can be as bad as the next person about not contributing money just for the sake of donating, but these magazines being forced to shut down is a strong reminder that the result of withholding financial support may be that we lose some things we enjoy. Duotrope is an amazing and free resource for writers, one I use constantly, but this past October they reached their greatest shortfall in operating costs in more than two years. This month to date they are reporting 68% short and a year to date shortfall of 51%. Critters Workshop is another free service to writers that runs entirely on donations and the dedication of 'the captain' of that organization, Andrew Burt. I'm sure there are many more publishers and organizations out there that need the help of their readers and users to survive this downturn. For the things out there that have given us entertainment or support in the past, it's good to remember that they need our support now in return.

Setting Tone

2011-11-10T09:32:00.007-07:00

I'm currently writing a new novel, and have been working hard at pushing myself both to write faster than usual, and (my perpetual goal) to make it the best thing I've written so far.

I've been thinking a lot about tone lately because when I'm actively writing a novel, I try to read (ie: listen to) really well-written novels. I either re-read specific books or choose new books from critics 'best of' lists, award-winners from previous years, favorite authors, etc., to help inspire me to strive for the same level of skill in my own writing. I also tend to pick novels that have a similar tone to what I'm writing, to help keep me on track - strange and unpredictable (current WIP), lyrical, dark, complex and political, noir, and so on. As I listen to these great novels, I take note of the things that most impress me, whether it's Gregory Maguire's beautiful use of language, Neil Gaiman's ability to always take me somewhere I wasn't expecting, or George R. R. Martin's depth of characterization.

It's strange but, for me, the tone, even once I define it, remains a fairly abstract thing - a sense of what I want my book to be - but it very much guides my planning and, later, my writing. It's the same as if someone asked me to define what my life has been like; I doubt I could put it into adequate words, yet I have a 'feeling' that I associate with the experience as a whole. In the same way, I 'feel' my protagonist's life and emotions, and that, in turn, guides my how I write their story. For example, I already have a concept for a new project, but all I know about it so far is that it would be a contemporary fantasy, gritty and noir, and that the films Sin City Memento and Constantine keep coming to mind. Not sure where it's going to go from there but there'll be time to think about that later. For now, it's back to work on the current WIP.

"The Unseen Truths" Published in ASIM

2011-09-28T19:49:00.006-06:00

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine has just published issue 52. It is now a quarterly magazine and this quarter it's a whopping 172 pages, with 19 fiction stories plus other features. I'm happy to say that my short story "The Unseen Truths" was one of the fiction pieces chosen for this issue. I was also pleased that my story was one of four that received an accompanying illustration. The illustration was done by Kathleen Jennings, who also was a contributing author in this issue with her own story (talented lady!). Kathleen and ASIM gave me permission to post the illustration here.
Another fun thing - my friend Peter Cooper also has his story "Zombie Dreams" in this issue as well.

ASIM is a great speculative fiction magazine, now in its 10th year of publication. Check them out on their website - a link is posted above.

On Present Tense

2011-08-15T07:13:00.008-06:00

Present tense stories and, to a far lesser degree, second person POV are two techniques that seem to have found acceptance in recent years with editors and publishers. Said editors and publishers are normally notoriously uniform in their tastes and adherence to rules, especially for new writers, though even new talents seem to be publishing present tense stories these days.

I am going to take a stand and say that I don’t care for present tense stories. Yup, in general. Not that I don't read them, or often find the stories good, but the tense always abrades at some level.

I guess I bring this up now because I’m listening to book on CD written in present tense and it has me pondering my reticence to the style. While the book is excellent, the tense choice keeps pulling me out of the story to examine it. I find it distracting and it's made me wonder just why I find it so unnatural. I think the answer, for me, is that it is not how we speak. When I relate something to someone else, say the difficulty I had finding a parking space that morning, it’s in past tense. Yes, we possess present-tense and even future-tense language to speak about things we are doing or are going to do, but the language of stories has traditionally been that of past tense. Having said that, Flash Fiction Online last February, in their classic flash section, had an entertaining flash piece by Anton Chekov written in... you guessed it... present tense. So I guess it isn't the new fad I had thought it was. Even so, I doubt I'll be writing anything in present tense anytime soon. Then again, I've learned (over and over) never say never.

Plots and Titles and Arcs, Oh My...

2011-05-22T08:39:00.006-06:00

I've been reading “Creating Magical Words”, a collection of blog posts from the Magical Words blog organized into a book of advice on writing, specifically, writing speculative fiction. Two essays in a row were by Edmund Shubert (yet another editor who has rejected my stories). He posted one blog about titles (something that rarely comes easily for me) and another about beginning stories. On beginnings, he emphasized the need to do more than string well-written words together into a story; he wants a setup that is then developed over the course of the story. Something that sets the reader’s expectations.

The morning after reading this, I began listening to part 2 of the Writers of the Future Anthology vol 24 on CD for my morning commute. The first story, “Epiphany“ by Laura Bradley Rede, was such an excellent example of what Mr. Shubert was saying about beginnings that it really cemented what he was saying; there it was, lesson and illustration. The next day I dismantled the beginning of my work-in-progress story and changed it so that the new beginning better set up the situation of the main character, his wants and the dilemma he is presented with, all within the first page or so instead of spread out over the first few pages. Voila, feedback from my story critiquers was that the story was much improved (though I do still keep changing the title-sigh).

I think that’s part of the fun of this whole creative process, trying something new with a piece that’s not working and watching it change for the better. Writing is a constant learning process with so many elements to master - plot, arc, dialog, pacing, characters, style, world-building...not to mention marketing and publishing. No wonder it's so addictive.

'Reading' Books on CD

2011-05-09T07:08:00.004-06:00

I rarely read actual books anymore due to time constraints and a need for sleep, so for the past few years I have ‘read’ nearly all of my books on CD in the car as I drive. It has the disadvantage of cutting off the story when I cut off the engine, rather than when I want to stop, but overall it has allowed me to read one to four books a month that I otherwise would never get to.

I listened to a commentary by Orson Scott Card not too long ago (at the end of the CD of Ender’s Game) and he said that writing produced as spoken art was his preferred medium. (Makes sense - he used to be a playwright.) I tend to agree with him, and the vast majority of books I have gotten on CD have been well-read and a pleasure to listen to. I’ve posted a list in the sidebar of just a few of the books I’ve read recently on audio CD.

(Not to take anything away from helping authors sell their work, but the library system in this country is an incredible free resource for both written and recorded books. Check it out if you haven’t been to your local library lately!)

"The Unseen Truths" Accepted

2011-04-09T15:25:00.004-06:00

I just heard that my near-future science fiction story, The Unseen Truths, was accepted for publication in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine! (Yes, the magazine I slush read for, but my story had to go through the selection process anonymously, the same as all other submissions.) The story is due to be published in v52, August 2011. ASIM is a great speculative fiction magazine published in Australia and I'm thrilled to be contributing to an upcoming issue!

I usually share the origins of a story when it's accepted, but the genesis for this story is harder to pinpoint. It was a slow process as it developed while I wrote it, but essentially it stemmed from a fascination I have with masks. The story opens with the main character donning her mask and progressed as I explored why she wore it and how society accepts or rejects her for her differences.

Better Rejections

2011-04-08T09:28:00.004-06:00

Stephen King’s non-fiction book, On Writing, is a great technical resource book for beginning writers, but it starts with a more personal take about his childhood and his own burgeoning efforts as a writer when he was young. He, like so many other authors, experienced the piles of form rejections (which he kept on a nail above his writing desk until they became too heavy for the nail and he had to use a spike). Eventually, though, the rejections began to transform into personal rejections that gave encouragement, and finally into sales of his stories.

When I began writing (over a decade ago), I was so pleased with my early efforts that I felt sure they would be published in the professional magazines I submitted them to. I was, of course, quite wrong. Like practically all other beginning authors, I quickly began amassing my pile of rejections. Years later I am, at last, finally beginning to see some sales as well as more encouragement from the pro-magazine editors. Yes, better rejections. The difference is subtle as they are, of course, still rejections, but hearing things like ‘I enjoyed your writing’, ‘intriguing story’, or even ‘please feel free to send more’ really is more encouraging than the same old form rejections, and they let me know that the editor found something of value in what I sent.

I was going through some old files recently, getting ready for a move, and found a stack of form rejections from John Joseph Adams, then the assistant editor of "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.” The rejections dated all the way back to 2002 and I found them on the same day I received a rejection from Mr. Adams, now the editor for both Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed, saying my story was nicely written , he enjoyed reading it, and hoped to see more from me. I still may not have had a story accepted by him, but at least I’m getting better rejections!

The Waiting Game

2011-03-13T12:53:00.017-06:00

I had planned to make this blog nothing but announcements about my writing - hopefully positive announcements about progress made with editors or agents - sprinkled with some commentary, like the genesis of my stories. But really, a blog is for blogging. Announcements can be pasted into the website I plan to have someday if I ever attain SFWA membership. Meanwhile, I might as well share some of my thoughts on the writing process while I wait (and wait) on subs that are out circulating. In fact, I have some thoughts on waiting...

I’m one of those instant gratification people. I’ve always been frugal and not much of a shopper, but if I see something I really want, I want it right then. I don’t like to go home and think about it for a day or two. On top of that, as I’ve posted earlier, I have a few OCD traits (as I imagine most writers do - obsessiveness seems part and parcel of the necessary elements to be a writer). These two things combined, though, make the wait for responses to submissions a kind of Sisyphean hell - especially if the response turns out to be a rejection. On the other hand, I’ve had negative responses within a day or two of submitting, which, while promptness truly is appreciated, the expediency of the reply makes me wonder if they ever even read what I sent. Recently, the inevitable finally happened. I had not one but two submissions lost in space.

The first was a short story submission to Apex. It was the story that won an honorable mention in the Writers of the Future contest, and so I had high hopes. (Okay, I always do.) Their acknowledgement of the sub said they would try to reply in 20-30 days, but I had heard they were often substantially over that. At three months I queried. I got a nice note back from an assistant there saying she would forward my query to the editor who received the story. A month later, still nothing. I wrote again saying that unless the story was under consideration, I planned to submit it elsewhere. Again a polite reply from the same woman saying again that she would try to get an answer from the editor for me. Again nothing. Five months of time with that story going nowhere. (To be fair to Apex, a submission to anyone can be lost, and they have since changed their submissions system to an online form with a submissions tracker. Some response from the editor would have been nice, though.)

The second lost in space, I think actually worked in my favor. A well-respected agent with a good sales record requested a partial of my novel, Thiery’s Sons, after she received my query and sample pages. With some excitement at the nibble, I formatted my partial to her specs and sent it online the next day. At eight weeks, I began to wonder, but we had just come out of the holiday season, so I gave it another month and then queried. Yup. The partial had never arrived. The agent was very apologetic, asked me to send it again, and both she and another agent working with her read the partial. She ultimately decided to pass on the novel, but went on to write some personal notes below the form rejection, very flattering comments about my writing. Yes, it was still a rejection, but I think the sub being lost actually got it more specific attention than it might normally have received. I hope my name and my writing stick with her a little longer than her many other rejections as I hope to sub another book to her this year.

So the query process goes on. I have three short stories currently out and one more almost ready to go: one out 6 weeks at a magazine that normally answers in about 4 weeks, one out two weeks that I should hear on any day now, and one just sent to Writers of the Future again, which I don’t expect to hear on for at least four months.

Move over Sisyphus, I'll take that boulder for awhile.

"Greener Grass" Published

2011-01-02T15:25:00.002-07:00

"Greener Grass" has just been published in Golden Visions Magazine, Winter Issue. Golden Visions is a quarterly magazine of speculative fiction that comes out in two versions, print and online, each containing different short and flash fiction stories. "Greener Grass" is now available in the free online magazine, so please check out the new issue!

"Beyond the Gates" Published

2010-11-16T21:18:00.007-07:00

The Absent Willow Review published my fantasy story "Beyond the Gates" yesterday - a tale of a slave, his dying master and a good deed gone very bad. I don't often write in first person, but this intimate story seemed well-suited for it. The Absent Willow review has a terrific gallery of art and is a free online magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories.

Another Sale!

2010-10-06T11:58:00.006-06:00

My flash fiction story"Greener Grass" was just accepted at Golden Visions Magazine .
The story started out as a submission for an anthology on Moccus, possibly a Celtic deity, with only one known reference to him in an ancient inscription found near Langres, France. He was thought to be a psycopomp, one who leads the dead to their afterlife, and to take the form of a boar. When I had the story partially written, I realized the guidelines mandated that the story take place in the future and I had written a traditional fantasy piece. I decided to leave it as I had it and submit it elsewhere. This is the first time I have submitted to Golden Visions and the editor replied the same day with the acceptance. Wow. Best (positive) response time I've had on anything! The story will be published in the January 2011 issue.

Good News and Bad News

2010-08-23T19:48:00.033-06:00

The bad news this week was that my laptop crashed. I feel very lost without it.
The good news was that, once I finally figured out how to log in to my e-mail from another computer, I found a message waiting for me from the editor of The Absent Willow Review. He let me know that my fantasy short story, "Beyond the Gates" has been accepted for publication in the November 15th issue!

Addendum - In keeping with my newly formed tradition of posting the genesis of my stories when they are accepted, I'm going to backtrack to add this one. I remember thinking about doing this when Beyond the Gates was accepted, but decided the origins of this story were too convoluted. I have since decided to give it a try in the hopes that the process of the creation of a new story is interesting to someone besides just me.
The story of Drustan and Isolde (or Tristan and Iseulte, or one of the other variants) has captivated me ever since reading The White Raven by Diana Paxon somewhere around 25 years ago. Thinking about that story recently, I wondered what it would be like for a warrior who was thought dead to return home again. From there, I wondered what it would be like if his homeland rejected him, thinking he was a spirit. This was the story I began writing but, as usual, my characters took over and the story morphed into its final, and quite different, incarnation.

Seriously, do all writers have OCD?

2010-07-25T17:45:00.008-06:00

I live in a beautiful part of the Rocky Mountains, but the last few trips I've conceded to go on, resigning myself to losing writing time, I've taken my laptop and worked whatever hours I could, even while out in the woods. I mean really, what's wrong with this picture?
At least I did hit a major landmark last week. Almost one year to the day from starting what I knew was going to be a huge undertaking, I have finally finished the re-write of my novel. I am going through it one more time now with final edits based on comments from my group of very astute and ruthless reviewers and then it will head into the submission process - hopefully within the next month.
I hope to have some credits to attach to my query by then. I was notified last week that one of my short stories has made the short-list for an anthology coming out soon. I won't know for a couple of weeks if it gets cut or makes the anthology, but at least it made it to the short-list.
I also have a piece of flash fiction that made it past the slush stage and am waiting to hear how it does from there.
Okay, back to writing now.

Honorable Mention

2010-03-14T11:59:00.004-06:00

My story "The Unseen Truths" was submitted to the Writers of the Future contest for the 1st quarter of 2010. It's the first time I've entered the contest and I found out yesterday the story took an honorable mention. K D Wentworth even put a personal note on the cover sheet that the story was "intriguing." Considering the number of entries that contest receives from all around the world, I'm flattered by the award. However, honorable mentions don't get published, so... back to the submission process.

On the ASIM crew

2010-03-10T20:17:00.003-07:00

I just heard the good news that I have gotten a gig as a slush reader for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine! I was recommended recently by someone at the magazine who is familiar with both my writing and my critiquing and I was just contacted with an invitation to join. Waiting for my first slush to arrive and looking forward to being a part of the ASIM crew.

How it all started...

2010-02-25T20:02:00.008-07:00

I have been writing for about a decade now. I seem to have no other creative talents - no singing voice to speak of, no interest in a musical instrument, no drawing or painting ability at all, and yet, the writing bug bit hard. I have always enjoyed writing but first tried my hand at speculative fiction by deciding to write a book and jumping in with 10,000 words in the first week. I'm not saying it was a good 10,000 words, but it was a start in the right direction and I have never looked back.

If writing is a genetic trait, then my mother's family has it. My grandfather loved to write and won an award for an early tome (a huge novel on India, written in very Victorian English). He wrote for the rest of his life hoping to duplicate the success, but was never published again. My aunt wrote two or three novels (I believe she had one published and self-published another – quite scandalous one – in her early 90’s). My mother also has enjoyed writing, and at 92 is currently submitting a book of short stories about the many dogs she has had over her life. My brother has had the most success in the family. Years ago, he had a very technical book on electronics published that no one in the family could understand. After that, he had 3 travel books published, one on scuba diving and two on Colorado. Recently he has been getting about one book a year published in an Old West history series. He has also tried his hand at fiction in his preferred genre, mystery. I found a web site that lists some of his publications at Amazon, however he DID NOT write the book on communism or (thankfully) the reference book on enemas.

I enjoyed writing in college but didn’t have time to think much about it again until a couple of decades later when I had a sudden, overwhelming desire to write fiction. I guess it is 'in the blood' and so I have given in. After a lifetime of reading little but speculative fiction, I surrendered myself to spending all my free time in front of my computer in the pursuit of creating my own speculative worlds.

When I began my first novel, I semi-stalked a local historical fiction writer who was generous enough to look at my fledgling attempts, point out where I was going right and where I was going wrong, and give me the best writing advice I have received to date – to paraphrase – ‘Get thee to a workshop.’ And I did. I joined a 10-week online workshop, finding out after the fact that most of the participants were writing mystery, some of whom just didn’t get fantasy. The basics are the basics though, and I received enough good criticism there to set me on the right track. After that, I pursued writing as a craft more than a hobby, subscribing to Writer’s Digest, buying up books on dialog, characters and viewpoint, how to get published, etc and attending my first writing workshop. My favorite books about the art of writing so far have been Stephen King’s “On Writing”, Donald Maass’s “Writing the Breakout Novel”, Orson Scott Card’s “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy” and, of course, the grammar bible “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White. All of these books are still within easy reach of me as I write this.

My writing stalled for a few years as my work schedule took over again, but I never set it completely aside as I had done after college. My muse whispered to me at intervals and I would look at the novel and tinker with a re-write or spend a few weeks here and there on a new short story. Finally, I worked a job for a few years that gave me winters off and the time to sink my teeth into writing again. I generated some fresh short stories, finally began a thorough re-write of the novel, and have started work on a new novel. I also never forgot the good advice I received from that author and have been an ongoing member and regular participant in the Online Writing Workshop for Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror. I have, at last, gotten serious about getting published.

We’ll see what happens from here…