Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I always knew I wanted to be a writer. My mom was my schools librarian
so al of that was thrusted in front of me at an early age. Then, I
decided I wanted to be an actress, did that for a long time, then a
dancer, did that for a while, then be in a band, did that for a while,
then film , there's only so much you can do with super8, and now I'm
back to writing because I think that's what I'm best at, though the
others are fun. Wow. It seems that I've always picked the
"unconventional" career paths. Which I suppose is why I work in a
Tavern. I never have any problem putting food on the table though. Free
food everyday. 

Dan- I'm glad that you're not still a minister. 
  

    
Okay. I have a question for any writers out there. This may sound
dumb. Actually, it is dumb, but I can't seem to grasp it. One of my
stories just got turned down from a fantasy mag (dammit.) They said
that my story was "Interesting but not the kind of Fantasy genre they
are looking for." Now, I know what genre means, but, what does it mean
in this context? Are they politely saying that I suck or is there
something about genre that I don't understand? Sorry. I don't even know
if this question makes sense.... 
  

    
Really, it depends on the magazine.  Magazines tend to publish the kind of
thing they publish, and the only way to know that for sure is to read the
magazine.  If they say it's not the _kind_ of fantasy story they're looking
for, they aren't saying anything one way or another about how good a story
it is.

When Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine was still extant, for example,
they published a fairly narrow range of fantasy: mostly sword and sorcery
with female leads.  Send them a modern-day Twilight Zone sort of story, and
it might be brilliant, and it would be fantasy, but they wouldn't be
interested.  (There used to be a Twilight Zone magazine, for that matter,
which was an obvious market for modern-day TZ types of fantasy stories, but
would have no interest at all in a story about a female wizard-warrior
errant.)

All it means is that you may need to read the magazine more to gauge the
range of kinds of stories they'll seriously consider.
  

    
Martha- Thank you. It all makes more sense now. I do read sample
copies of some of the mags I submit to, but I don't want to write
stories like the others. I want to stand out from the rest somehow. I
guess I assumed they wanted that too. I don't mind compromising, but
the probelm is, I don't know where my stories would fit in. I don't
know anything about writing sword and sorcery. I guess I could write
about vampires but...jeebs. Ah well. If marketing fiction were easy,
then everyone would do it and that would take away the fun of being
published. So, I'll just keep looking. Perhaps I'll find someone drunk
enough to publish me. Someday. Someday....
  

    
Personally I think it is well not to try to do pastiches of what's already
being published.  And there will always be a sui generis writer who somehow
manages to publish things completely unlike anything else anyone is doing.
(That's pretty hard to do, but a noble goal.)

You're not looking for a magazine that publishes things _exactly_ like what
you write, but publishes at least some things--I don't know how to put it--
that your story would be comfortable next to.

The most obvious magazine that comes to mind with the widest brief for
different kinds of fantasy would be The Magazine of Fantasy and Science
Fiction.  A story that was sword & sorcery or about vampires would actually
have something of an uphill battle there, though even one of those could fly
if the editor thought it had literary merit.  At that magazine, it's pretty
much about whether you're to the editor's taste or not.
  

    
        Last annoying "Martha Soukup poem" reference: I've found it's
pleasantly unnerving when declaimed loudly in a Monty Python Angry
Scotsman voice. (Think Tim from Holy Grail)  Half the fun is rolling
all the R's unnecessarily.
  

    
Rolled R's are always unnecessary.
  

    
But somehow James managed not to muddle it as badly when he played it
up with mock-brit accent and rolled R's... hmmm.

Mimi - One running loose in the apartment, 2 that are being given to a
friend in a day or two, then 4 caged pets (the loose one, assuming
it's female, it pet #5). Once they're all caught and given away as is
planned, I'm probably getting two rats as well. :)

Dan - Intoxicated readings of *any*thing is good and fun, as long as
you don't get too intoxicated. Then you get too distracted and don't
care to try to read it right. Just buzzy enough to slip and slide over
the words. :P

As for ending up where I am now... I was broke, I applied everywhere
creative that looked interesting and offered employee discounts, I was
only hired at one place (apparently only for my looks <insert rabid
growling here>), and I'm still there. Trust me, it's no where I want to
stay long term. But when I get there (wherever it is), I'll let you
know how I got there. 

squeaks, who must get back to decorating her room so it looks less
like Starry Night and more like a planetarium... without the planets
  

    
btw, Neil - Nice picture up at the ag.com site. When do we get the
story? <polite grin>

and Dan - Nice meeting you. Sorry I seemed startled, messy day at
work.

squeaks, who hopes the neighbors don't mind the staple gun.
  

    
Neil - I just checked out the AG site.. Congrats on the Ellison
quote!! Stories like that are just serving to make me (and I'm sure all
of us) more and more rabid to get our hands on the thing!! 

Erynn - I'm glad I'm not a minister any more too... *grin*
I'm *so* sorry to hear about the story not getting picked up. I hope
that it finds a home somewhere.

Michelle - Sorry it was such a messy day at work. I promise to give
you more accurate forwarning should I find myself in your neck of the
woods again before the book signings. I tend to forget that dropping in
unexpectedly works better with people who actually *know* me.

Funny how that works.

Dan
  

    
Neil- Yes! Tell us the story now:) {a polite grin just like
Michelle's}

Dan- It's alright. I'm getting pretty used to being rejected. Sort of.


Martha- Oddly enough I had a dream recently that my newest story
(currently on my hard drive as Schitzo.wpd and still untitled.) got
published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. At first I
was thinking that it would be aiming too high for this early in my
career (or lack thereof) but I think I'm going to go for it. It's not
like I have anything to lose. 
  What do you think, Dan? You read, like, a third of it, I think.
  But I understand what you're saying, Martha, about finding something
that my stories would be comforatable next to. 
   One of the problems I run into when is , well, some editors have
said that my stories aren't "fast enough". I read some of the stories
that were published and MAN! It's BOOM BOOM BOOM all the way till the
end. In the first paragraph they're killing people. The formula
everyone was using reminded me of new Hollywood movies. I don't think
my stories are boring at all, but I like to stop and smell the roses
occasionally so that you can actually care about the character. I tried
to cut out some stuff and make it "faster" but then it wasn't a story
at all. It was jibberish. I know that not all editors are like that. I
just thought stories were supposed to be "anti-hollywood" in the sense
that it dosen't have to be all BOOM BOOM BOOM. It weirded me out for
some reason that  a lot of people expect you to use that formula. But
your stories give me hope because they're very intense, but they're
not, um, "New-Hollywood-action-movies" I get to know your characters.
I'm babbling. I'll stop now. 
  

    
Erynn--yes, I've read a few things lately that have been extremely
fast paced.  Just shows what a short attention span we have as a whole.
 I think its depressing.  Then again, I have trouble reading very slow
stuff too.  (Thinking of the entire chapter devoted to walking a
couple hundred feet in _The Scarlet Letter_)

Angelina.
  

    
Erynn -- when you write a short story, it can be wise to write as if
you are paying the magazine by the word rather than the other way
round.

In a novel there is plenty of room to have characters stop and sniff
flowers; in a short story the flower-sniffing had better tell us
something important about the person, or be important to what is going
to happen, or both.

Short stories are short things. Plot in them is character, character
is plot, and nothing should be wasted. (Look at Heinlein's ALL YOU
ZOMBIES..., or Shirley Jackson's The Lottery as perfect examples.)

I've noticed over the last few years that short stories tend to bloat,
and I think it's something to do with the mechanics of writing on
computer. People don't pick eithers and ors. They put in both options.

And that's not about speed of event: it's about not wasting a word.

Genre-wise, don't worry about trying to write like other people. Write
like you -- and there's a lot of writing you'll be doing before you
find out who you are or what you sound like. Other people are
interchangeable. You are unique.

Really, there are no rules -- other than keeping the interest of the
reader, keeping the reader turning the pages, and making sure your
reader feels satisfied at the end.
  

    
Off to the UK for a few days tomorrow to listen to some good music.
Back on Wednesday. Will probably keep posting from my travels (have
just managed -- finally -- to install a working modem that should get
me online from the UK).
  

    <scribbled by theboojum>
  

    
Neil-- May I have your permission to take some of that writing advice
and post it on my classroom wall?

Also-- what music?
  

    
Neil - Excellent advice. It looks like I'm not getting cast in the
show I was hoping to do this summer, so I'll be spending time
writing... I'll be keeping your words in mind.

Erynn - I haven't yet had a chance to read Schitzo2 yet... but I'll
let you know my thoughts as soon as I do. (maybe later today?)
  

    
I agree with Neil: you should write what you really want to write; there's
no point in writing any other way.  Only a fool writes for money, whatever
Johnson said; or at least, if money's all you're writing for, there are
better and more reliable ways to make it than writing fiction.

Once you've written the story, you need to figure out where to market it,
which is an entirely different matter.  So don't read the magazines trying
to figure out what to write.  Read the magazines trying to figure out where
you have the best chance of placing what you've written.  And understand
that it's still a crapshoot even so, but at least you can maximize your odds
by examining the markets.
  

    
Angelina-I hate it when people over describe things too. I feel like
they're insulting my imagination. I don't think I do that. Sometimes
people don't think I describe things enough....

Yeah, I would never write for money. I just want to get my name out
there, but I  know that that doesen't happen over night. I have no
delusions anymore, unfortunately. When I say "stop and smell the roses"
I don't mean that the story goes slow, I just say something about a
character; usually something about their hair or maybe flash back to
some previous event in their lives that is important to what is
happening to them now.(Like Neil did in the LA car scene with the
buildings and such in Murder Mysteries. You have to know where you
are.) Sometimes I get carried away, but I always cut out the scrud
before I submit them. On the other hand, I wrote this murder mystery
thing that was supposed to be a short story and then it ended up being,
like, 65 pages double spaced with no scrud that I know of. Not quite a
short story and not quite a novella I don't think so I guess it's not
marketable. Ah well. 
But no, I don't care about the money. I mean, I would love to be able
to actually have a writing career (like big bad Neil) That would be
great. Then, I wouldn't have to worry about having a day job and I
could write all the time and people would pay me for it. But I would
kill myself before I would write something for money purposes only. If
I cared about money, I would have gone to college and gotten a real
job.
Argh. Speaking of stories, I'm at the "hard science" part of the one
I'm on right now. I just *had* to make the protagonist an astronomer.
So I'll be spending the rest of the night reading Stephen Hawking
instead of going to the bar.... 

Dan- Don't worry about it. Take your time. You're the best sounding
board I have right now. So waiting is always worth it. 

Neil- You wouldn't happen to be plotting more of "Strange Little
Girls" with Tori would you? Better tell The Dent. {Grin}
  

    
Erynn-  I'd love to take a peek at your writings, if it's alright with
you.  Perhaps we can do a workshopping exchange?
  

    
oh geez. Sure, what the hell.
  

    
Erynn - Being a fan of a lot of classical-style literature (not that
I've read *very* much), I prefer lots of descriptions over
cut-to-the-chase, just-describe-the-necessary-action,
zip-bang-story's-over type of writing. I think there are ways of
describing a lot in a few words (thinking of the 'Zoe's dead' line in
the B-5 script), and sometimes it's necessary to stretch something out
and take your time with it. (Then there's Hawthorne... shudder...)

No, I don't know where I was really going with this. I think I'm just
trying to add to that 'do what you want to do' message and I'm keeping
my fingers crossed that you are found out by an appropriate
publication. Then I'll have to meet you someday so you can autograph
it. :)

squeaks, who plans on spending way too much money at WonderCon
tomorrow.
  

    
Hey! I like Nathaniel Hawthorne!
  

    
Email from Tona:

Angelina- Hi, I'm Tona:)  I don't think I've spoken to you before, but
when I read your post about your cat and his gift, I HAD to share my
little story with you!  I have a little Tabby that had decided to pick me
for a owner a few months ago, and of course, being the cat lover I am I
had to take care of her regardless.  So to show me her appreciation she
brought home a RABBIT!  Not a mouse, or a little critter, but a full grown
rabbit!  Not only that, but it was the way she presented the thing, nice
and smooth, spread out in front of the door so I wouldn't miss it.  I was
so shocked all I could say was,"Oh My," and point at it!  I had to get my
father to descreetly remove it so as not to offend her delicate
personality. Anyway, thought you might find that interesting:)
 
Oh, and I never made it through the first chapter of "The Scarlet Letter,"
simply because of that whole opening sequence!  And I usually try to
finish what I start!
 
Neil- I love the blurb story!  Especially about "Good Omens", it's one of
my favorites!  Are they really going to make a movie?  I'm glad Mike
decided on a college he likes! It took me seven years to decide to go to
college!  Here in Memphis there's not really too many choices unless you
go out of state, which for right now, I would rather not!
 
Erynn- Hi!  I'm Tona:)  You know, I think short stories are the hardest to
write because there is a limit to how much you can and can't put in the
story!  And some do tend to be fast paced!  Eveytime I try to write one,
it turns into a damned novel whether I like it or not.  I've basically
decided that some characters have louder voices than others and demand
more attention, while some only want to drop by for a brief, but
interesting introduction!  I have yet to meet any of those for myself just
yet.  But at least you've sent something off to get published!  I haven't
worked up the courage to do so just yet!
  

    
Tona--hehe.  That is such a cute story!  You never know what to do
when you get the presents...I usually stifle a scream (just barely),
pet my cat and thank him as calmly as I can, and then try to think of
the best way to get rid of my lovely dead present.