Sci-fi, fantasy, and everything in-between
Archive for February, 2010
Of novels, short stories, and pascalines
Feb 24th
Not too long ago, I found myself writing a zombie horror story. Not my usual thing, but a great deal of fun. That story is done, and sitting in my rewrite queue, growing rancid and moldy — like its subject matter. I’ll take it out, cut off the bad bits, polish the good ones, and send it out after I feel like enough time has passed.
Most of the writing I’ve been doing for the last few weeks has been of that nature, rewriting stories that are complete but need work. At the end of the month, I plan to submit a few of those to short story markets prior to the big novel push.
But right at this moment, I’m working on a pre-Victorian science fantasy story. It’s got Renaissance-era cybermancy, mystical pascalines, heroic aethernauts and… Well gee, it’s an awful lot of fun writing it. And somewhere down the line, the world its set in might have room for a novel. That would be nice.
Cold in Florida? Global warming must be fake!
Feb 19th
Seriously, I see that sentiment popping up all over the place, due to the recent unseasonable snow storms that have crisscrossed the United States, especially in places that aren’t accustomed to major winter weather, like Arizona and Florida.
Snowfall, the sentiment goes, means that the globe isn’t warming. See this editorial from the editorially bankrupt Washington Times for a prime example.
Now, this is stupid. Why it’s stupid ought to be self-evident, but here it is: The climate is more complex than your freezer. An individual unseasonable cold spot doesn’t mean the rest of the planet isn’t warmer on average. Or to put it in even more blunt terms, the snow outside your door doesn’t mean people in Rio de Janiero aren’t roasting. To death.
America is not the world. More importantly, your experiences do not define the world.
But perhaps talking about climate complexity in global terms doesn’t get through to the deniers for precisely that reason: They can only understand what they can directly tie to their own experiences. So perhaps instead of talking directly about the science behind anthropogenic climate change or pointing out the fallacy of using a regional cold snap to “debunk” global warming, we should talk about how the frost on the grass outside is caused by the warmer weather.
Wait… what?
Bear with me. It’s not a perfect analogy to the complexity of the global climate by any means, but it’s a small enough and simple enough weather event to explain in ways that even those who actively loath science will be able to understand.
In my neck of the woods, it’s been cloudy and gray for weeks, but that’s coming to an end. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and there’s not a cloud in the sky today. The next 24 hours will be warmer on average than the previous 24 hours, and the previous 24 hours were warmer than the ones preceding them. On average.
Tonight, long after sunset, the fact that it’s still February will set in. Without cloud cover to keep the relatively short day’s heat in, the warmth that has accrued will be dissipated in winds from the north. For a short time, it will be cold. Probably cold enough that tomorrow morning, I will find frost on the ground like I did this morning. In other words, the factors that have led to an overall warming trend will also be responsible for a transient, regional cooling, one that wouldn’t happen without that warming trend.
Sound familiar?
So the next time you’re tempted to look at the snow on your doorstep as proof that global warming is a hoax, try to remember the last time a lack of cloud cover gave you a clear, warm day followed by a brisk, cool night. Maybe, just maybe, that unseasonable snow came your way because of factors that are making the world hotter overall. Maybe the climate really is more complex than your freezer.
Calling all tax experts
Feb 15th
Does anyone know where I might find a good list of tax deductions for writers living in the United States? I know a lot of expenses can be deducted, and since this year I’m going to be so heavily focused on novel editing and writing, I figured I should go all the way pro and try to make writing a full-time business, but I’m not really sure where to start in the tax department. I already know about the basics, like the cost of printing and postage, and business meals, but I’d like to graduate to Super Elite Writing Taxation Expert Hyper Force. Especially if it comes with an awesome costume.
February goals update
Feb 14th
Egads, I had no idea what a mess some of those “almost finished” stories actually are. I think I’ll probably end up with no more than 16 or 17 stories in the mail by the end of the month. But it’s all well and good. I’m really pleased with some of my edits, especially the rewrite I’m doing of a rather tragic necromancer story.
Speaking of fantasy stories and tropes, I’m embracing fantasy more and more lately. I’ve always thought of myself more as a science fiction writer, but if the muse is filling my head with magic, who am I to argue?
All this is leading up to March, wherein I will begin my descent into novelist madness. By the end of the year, I will have an 80,000 word novel. It will be fully edited. I will submit it to an agent.
Obviously, I’ve lost my goddamn mind.
Accidents happen
Feb 12th
I recently found out I accidentally submitted two different stories to the same market at the same time. Somehow I lost track of the first submission, so thought the market was free.
When I got a rejection for the first submission, the one I didn’t have a record of sending, I was mightily confused. My tracking database only showed the second submission, but here was a rejection for a story I thought I hadn’t sent at all. No biggie, I thought… I must have just put the wrong story title in my tracking database. But since I didn’t know for sure, I decided I should email the editor and ask. The first response I got seemed to validate my thinking — the editor was kind enough to double-check the story title for me. Case closed.
Then I got another email from the editor. He’d located the second story, further down in his submissions queue. Oops.
For the record, most markets want writers to send them only one story at a time, and this one was no exception. So I made a mistake, and violated their guidelines. But again, the editor was very nice. He recognized that this was obviously an accident and shrugged it off. He even went ahead and read the second story and gave it a quick critique and rejection along the way.
Moral of the story: Accidents will happen. Writers are human and make mistakes. Fortunately, editors are also human, and recognize this fact. Don’t tread in terror of a vicious, bloodthirsty editor blacklisting you and ending your career because of a simple mistake even long-time pros make.
A novel idea
Feb 5th
Hah! I pun! Am I not clever?
…
Here’s the deal: Over the last half-decade, I’ve written four novels. Not a single one of them is in any sort of publishable shape, but each has its strength, making it a candidate for The One — as in, the one I’m going to spend this year focusing on, as I mentioned here. I’m having trouble overcoming my fear of each deciding which one I should choose.
So here, in chronological order, are the pros and cons of each:
Novel #1
Pros:
- Completely finished. This one has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it’s in three solid acts.
- Consistent. It’s been edited multiple times for consistency, so there aren’t any characters in places they couldn’t be, doing things they shouldn’t do, and so on.
- Not NaNoWriMo. This is the only novel I’ve written outside of National Novel Writing Month, so it’s considerably less messy than the rest.
Cons:
- Long. Hoo-boy… This is a monster. 120,000 words. Unpublishable at that size, for the most part. I suppose I could change my name to Stephen King…
- Simplistic. I wouldn’t have said so when I wrote it, but the plot isn’t terribly complex, and frankly, it’s a little hackneyed, because…
- Old. This novel is the first piece of fiction I ever wrote. The prose is undoubtedly immature, the characters unrealistically portrayed… In short, it’ll be as messy as a NaNoWriMo novel to clean up, because of basic storytelling mechanics problems.
Novel #2
Pros:
- Completely finished. As above, this novel has a proper end.
- Well-developed world. This novel takes place in a world setting I’ve been working on for years. I’ve written several short stories that take place in it, so I know the mechanics inside and out.
- Fun. Since I know the setting well, writing in it is like wearing a comfortable old shoe, so I know I’ll enjoy working in it again.
Cons:
- Broken. This was my first NaNoWriMo novel, and I hadn’t yet gotten the flow of things when I wrote it, so there are many places where a scene will retcon things that happened before.
- Complicated. The first novel suffers from simplicity. This one goes the other way. There are many characters, intense intrigues, and complicated situations. I’m afraid of this novel. I may not be a good enough writer to work on it yet.
- Short. It came in at almost exactly 50,000 words, by skimming and summarizing things terribly. It’s an 80,000 word novel in compressed form, and rewriting it would essentially amount to writing it all over again.
Novel #3
Pros:
- Awesome idea. The idea that led to this novel gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. I would love to do it again, and do it right.
- Better prose. I’m a better writer than I was when I wrote the first two novels. There will be more I can save and reuse in this one.
- Good length. It works out to 60,000 words. I think it’ll work out to 60,000 words again if I rewrite it.
Cons:
- Bad characters. Ouch… The characters are cardboard cutouts. Reworking them into likable people looks like quite a challenge.
- Nebulous world. I never did make certain key decisions about how things work in this novel. Making those decisions now could result in large swaths of text down the drain.
- Unfinished. It didn’t end so much as stop.
Novel #4
Pros:
- Well-developed world. I did a lot of world-building prior to writing this novel, knowing I wanted a story set in it.
- Good prose. As the most recent novel I’ve written, the prose in this one is easily the strongest.
- Strong plot and characters. I did a better job laying this one out than any of the previous ones, and the characters are good, especially the protagonist.
Cons:
- Unfinished. Stopped writing. Ran out of steam. No idea how the damn thing ends.
- Complicated. Again, I’m not sure I’m a good enough writer to fix the problems and tie everything together, even if I do figure out an end.
- Controversial themes. This is by no means an adults-only novel, but there are issues of sex and sexuality in it that might make it a non-starter even after I’ve polished the heck out of it. I’m not at all sure that’s a landmine I’m ready to step on.
Of course, all this leads me to option #5… Write a new goddamn novel and throw these ones in the rubbish bin.
Well anyway, I’m open to suggestions.
Time for some rejectomancy
Feb 4th
With all the submissions I’ve been making, at least a few (read: all) of them will come back as rejections. I’ve already racked up quite a few, and I thought I’d analyze them a little here. Don’t worry, I’ll be filing off all the serial numbers and identifying marks.
Rejection #1:
Dear Damon,
Thanks for submitting this story, but I’m going to pass on it. It’s nicely written
and I enjoyed reading it, but overall it didn’t quite win me over, I’m afraid. Best
of luck to you placing this one elsewhere, and thanks again for sending it my way. I
hope you’ll try us again with something else.
Sincerely,
[Editor]
I love these rejections. The editor clearly read the story, and even liked it. While this is still definitely a form letter, I interpret it as the one for stories that almost make the cut. There are all kinds of reasons a story might not cross the finish line — it doesn’t fit thematically with any upcoming issues, there were too many other good stories in the running, and so on. But the story is a good one. A very heartening rejection for a writer.
Rejection #2:
Thanks very much for sending this story to [Magazine].
Unfortunately, it’s not quite right for us. [Identifiable story locale] are a more
[time period] setting element than we’re looking for.
I appreciate your interest in our magazine. Please feel free to submit
again.
Regards,
[Editor]
Oops. I misjudged this market’s guidelines and sent them a story that didn’t quite fit the theme of their magazine. I need to read a few more stories they’ve published and get a better feel for them. However, there’s a lot of hope here, too. They encourage more submissions, which means they weren’t immediately horrified by my atrocious writing or the inclusion of tribble-porn (kidding), so after I’ve reset my barometer on what they want, I should comb through my submissions queue and send them something else.
Rejection #3:
Dear Damon,
Thank you for the opportunity to read [Story]. Unfortunately, your
story isn’t quite what we’re looking for right now. Each month, we receive hundreds
of submissions and while I may like many of them, I can only publish [some of them].
[Identifiable information redacted]. I appreciate your interest in [magazine] and hope that you’ll keep us in mind in the future.
Take care,
[Editor]
This one is definitely a form letter, but my rejectomancy senses indicate it’s the one reserved for stories they actually liked. It’s hard to say, though. The phrase “while I may like many of them” could be taken to include mine… Or it could be a way of side-stepping the question of whether they liked mine personally. For the sake of ego gratification, I choose to believe the former. I believe I’m justified in that choice, because once again, they encourage me to submit more stories in the future.
So there you have it. Three rejections I’ve received within the last month, all generally positive. I forgot how much I enjoyed receiving them during last year’s dry spell; they’re proof I’m a working writer.
January goal wrapup, February goals, and looking ahead
Feb 1st
So January is done, and I feel very much like I kicked its ass. Sure, I didn’t manage the 25 story submissions I hoped for, but that was largely because I managed to get everything worth circulating back in the mail. For those keeping track at home, that’s 15 stories total, with something like half of them edited (or re-edited) and pulled out of submissions purgatory.
Yes, I feel like a writer again.
I have some new goals in mind for February. I’m going to maintain my short story circulation, obviously, and I’m going to take any remaining stories that require only light edits and get them polished for submission. I figure I should end February with 20 stories out, assuming none of them sell. I’d be happy to fail at this goal for a reason like that.
Another business-related goal: Get my financial tracking in order. Writers — if they’re trying to make a profession of it — can deduct a lot of writing-related expenses on their taxes, but only if they know what writing-related expenses they’ve had. I need a simple application I can enter such expenses with, preferably on my Android-powered mobile phone. I don’t need a full-fledged financial app, just something I can make quick, easy line entries in. I’ll be researching that myself, but I’m happy to take recommendations.
Finally, it’s high time I became a novelist. This month, when all my short stories are in order, I’m going to figure out which of the four novels I’ve written is actually good enough to bother rewriting. For the rest of the year, that novel will be my writing focus. You read it here first… I will query my first agent by December 31st, 2010.
Aw yeah.
