Back to the Writing Board...

Today I re-organized myself, and my stories. Once you have a certain amount, they start to go missing. I did, in fact, completely lose two stories - very good ones - and I'm not sure rewriting them will bring their wonder back for me.

We had a training about OneNote at work the other day, and our trainer listed all sorts of possibilities - keeping all your training documents in one place, lists of cleanup activities, meeting notes - all worthy and very nice uses for OneNote.

None of those uses were on my mind. I was already creating a notebook filled with stories at different levels of completion, lists of my editing and writing processes, character sketches, web stories of interesting and quirky things I could write into my stories...

It was a thing of beauty.

When I put my existing stories in OneNote, all my ducks in a row, I was dismayed.

Here I'd thought I had a good 17 stories on my way to my first 52 stories.

I had a total of 10 stories, not all of them even finished.

So I'm turning myself about, hokey-pokey style, and getting back to work.

Did an autopsy on a new story today, and ready to rework story #1, but for what market? It won't fit either of the last two markets I've checked out, but maybe Fantasy&Science Fiction? They like funny character-oriented stories, and this one's a lightly amusing fantasy. Beef up the characters, and it could work. Basically, they take anything that's science fiction or fantasy, up to 25,000 words, which is a nice, open amount most of my stories fit into. They could become a regular place for submitting.

I'm a finisher. Keep telling myself that. A finisher. So easy to think I'm writing, when I'm really not. Don't fall into that trap (note to self).

I'm aiming to finish this rewrite by next Friday, May 5th, and have it ready to go, in whatever condition it's in. It might need more editing, but I'm not hanging onto it longer than that. Whatever condition it's in, out it goes.

Out they all go. Too many baby birds in the nest.

When the Story Dies...

Feeling a little reflective today. Got a project that might be on the verge of expiring, despite my best efforts.

I could feel sad about it, but I've gotten better at telling when it's just no use, and it's not going to get better. So I can let it go, and be grateful for the lessons learned.


This one taught me a lot of important lessons...they all do really...so I'm glad it came into my life, even for the short time it was there.

And if somehow I do detect a heartbeat still there, I'll keep trying. But there's so many other stories calling to me...

A Little Help From My Friends, and My Undying Love for Ratings Systems

Finding places to submit to is a challenge. As a young neophyte, I bought the Writer's Digest Bible of all magazines possible to submit to (what I thought at the time), and then spent the year I should have been writing getting analysis paralysis instead, never coming to a decision, and ultimately wasting my $50 I spent on a very large pile of paper to recycle.

This time, I'm not doing that. Starting now with free resources scrounged on the Internet, and working my way up.

My fellow forum members pointed out a couple of new sources to check out in future: www.ralan.com and Submissions Grinder and also DuoTrope, should I ever make enough money to spend some back.

Thanks, guys.

The SFF Chronicles website has been terrific in helping me find my way back to writing again, and feel much less lonely in my chosen obsessions.

Anyway, now that the housekeeping's done, I'm reviewing Escape Pod, and figuring out which story to send. If it's read, it'll have to sound good out loud. Hmmmm...

The staff bios are cool...always a good sign.

The stories have ratings on them...also a good sign in my book. Call it a quirk, but I hate being shocked by something I wasn't prepared to stumble across. I get enough of that in life; don't need it from my entertainment.

The first story on their Best of page, "Imperial", their very first podcast, has an R-rating for "profanity, sexual content, politics, and sarcasm".

Not sarcasm! Oh nooooooo! And I did appreciate them screening for 'politics' - bleah!

Episode 105, called "Impossible Dreams", actually appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction before getting pod-casted here, and is rated G, for 'excessive movie trivia, some of it true'.

Love!

If you'll excuse me, I have a little more research to do...now where's my headphones? :-)

Editing with Theme, and Clearing Remaining Public School Pain

The best thing that can happen is for the theme to be nice and clear from the beginning..." - Paddy Chayefsky

I'm back in public school again, in English class.

My teacher, Ms. Whateverhernamewas, is standing over me.

"What is the theme of the story we're reading?"

Who knows? What's a theme? If it's not a theme park, I don't know. I don't really care. All I care about is where the cute boys are at, and how can I stare at them for the next 30 minutes without being noticed.

But now, back to today, my hormone-induced lack of foresight is coming back to bite me.

Because now, as an adult, I need to know about themes. Because I'm writing them.

My first-draft writing is something of an unconscious process. Pulling out what I see in my mind and putting it down on paper or screen so it doesn't get away from me.

Now it's time to edit the thing. I look at it, and think, "What is the theme?

Heck, I don't even know. And I'm the one who wrote it!!!

Aesop on my Shoulder Makes Me Happy...

If we travel back to Aesop's fables, the theme is easy to find. He gives it to you, at the end of each fable. He's like an obliging teacher, who feels sorry for our struggles, and hands it right to us so we don't have to think too hard. And sad to say, it made me lazy.

So what would Aesop say is the theme of this story I'm writing? I want Aesop whispering in my ear, so I don't have to figure this out on my own. Where is he when I need him?

The Moral of the Story

Authors don't just tell a story. They transmit a message. From the most brilliant to the most inane story, there's something theme-y in every one of them.

I want to know my theme, so I can shape my lump of words into something unified that makes sense, that echoes and reverberates with Truth, like the stories I love reading.

So I've got to find what I 'think' is the theme (with my inner teenager groaning the whole way - I hate English class!) and then make sure nothing goes in my story that doesn't hang somehow on some aspect of that same idea.

And then, suddenly, it changes...which I hope doesn't happen. Hopefully I've planned the story far enough ahead that I've got it, and it's set and planted and growing as it should...

But the subconscious has its own mystic workings, doesn't it? So anything could happen mid-way.

So, to any future students who have to figure out the theme of my story for some essay or paper due way too soon, you have my sympathies. I was right in there with you, but the theme is good to know. You get better grades, and I get better editing capabilities.

If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know the theme either, so whatever you think it is, you're probably right.

Another one bites the dust...and another one gone and another one gone...

While I'm waiting to hear back on my first submission, I'm charging on.

Checking out new markets and mostly striking out.

The free list I found on the Internet has a lot of old and broken links. Lots of dead magazines. Lots and lots of other magazines that are either choking on too many stories, or out on hiatus, too out-there for me, or otherwise not accepting new stories.

But I've found another one that's viable - Escape Pod.

Actually, it's more a podcast than a magazine, so I'll have to read it aloud before submitting. If I can't read it, no one else could. It's an SFWA-qualifying market, but if they don't pay at least 3 cents a word, I can't get in. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, that is...for anyone not familiar with that illustrious group.


It's my ambition to join them one day.One day, when people actually pay money for my work.

And what a wonderful day that will be...

First Submission (Gulp!) Away!

I sent off my first submission today, with only a touch of hyperventilation. A new story I wrote specifically for AntipodeanSF's guidelines. Time for a celebration dance! Bigbang! :-)

I hadn't really wanted to do that (write something specifically for a market - feels 'hack-y'), but truthfully I don't know yet what's the best way to get stuff published. When I don't know, I go into battering-ram mode, and hit at it until something works.

What else am I gonna do?

My other story was too long, and the story I'm editing is also too long for their consideration. Why send a story I know they'll reject? That doesn't seem like it really counts for my purposes here.

Is that being a hack? Making an effort to fit the material to the market?

I don't know. That's what this whole experiment is about - to gain the experience I lack.

And so, for submitting, I am a success!

And I got a polite response from the editor to 'wait and see'. Get this -

Hi Dianna,
Just a short note to say that your submission arrived here at AntipodeanSF safely and has been added to my reading queue. I will get back to you about it as soon as I can.
Ooroo for now,
Ion.

I had to look up 'ooroo', which sort of means 'goodbye' in Australian. And I Googled Ion the editor, who looks like a hippie version of Gandalf.

So my baby's in good, polite, nerdy hands. :-)

I've already decided that, when the rejections come in, I'll celebrate those with some sort of power blog or quote here, to keep my spirits up. I'm also NOT to rewrite anything unless an editor asks me to, otherwise I'll second-guess myself and rewrite the poor thing to pieces.

Also, if and when I get accepted, that's a serious celebration - like, a badge of honor. So I have this sweater that I'm going to sew a button on for every story accepted, and wear it like a general dresses up in all his or her stripes and medals. I need something substantial to look at and remind myself that I did accomplish something special.

Looking forward to it!

Short Story Review of "A Chip in Time" by Gary Dean, and Micro-Movie Review of "Passengers"

By some strange serendipitous chance, hubby and I just saw the movie, "Passengers" last weekend, a movie about long-distance time travel.

And then I read, "A Chip in Time", also a story about long-distance time travel at Antipodean SF, and I couldn't help but draw the parallel between the two stories.

If you watch the movie, you may find yourself disappointed. While they did a great job with characters and story, there were scientific story holes big enough to drive a train through, not to mention some sticky icky moral issues, that unfortunately did tend to knock you out of the 'dream' from time to time. Family viewers take note - there's some stray nudity and an uncomfortable sex scene or two, but the sex at least is easily skipped if you prefer.

I did like it overall though - the actors did very well, in particular Michael Sheen as Andrew, the android bartender. You Twilight fans should recognize him at once, or turn in your very old and worn Twilight cards and Team Volturi T-shirts.

"A Chip in Time", a short story by Gary Dean, was, in comparison, much shorter, and even manages to close a hole or two left open by the movie, with a laugh-out-loud twist at the end. Very worth the quick read.

If you like the one, you'll probably like the other, I think.