Just a quick update:

Work + Puppy is cutting into my blogging time.  I hope to get things under control in the next couple of months but I'll need to cut down my online presence two a couple posts a week.  My apologies but hopefully I'll have things of substance to keep you reading.

Well my first short story sale is available for your reading pleasure online. http://madscientistjournal.org/2012/05/therium-99/#more-148

Not a pro sale but a sale that paid real money nonetheless. I’m so proud I’m busting my buttons :)

It is NOT a serious piece.  In fact, it’s one of the few humorous stories I’ve written.  Well, it amused me and the editor, Jeremy Zimmerman. Hopefully it’ll amuse you, too.

Let me know what you think.

:)

I was reading a blog post* today that continued the pile-on of critique groups. The writer suggests that instead of a group of writers working in the same genre with similar skill levels, you should get:

A publicist

A poet

A screenwriter

An editor

And these people will become your team to kick you up into the major leagues of writing.  A ‘team of specialists’, rather than a team of peers.  He seems to suggest you should seek out specific types of people, befriend them and, well, use them. Sounds sleazy to me.

Look, I have nothing against the idea of paying someone for their help.  If you have the cash to splash on poets, screenwriters and editors, go for it. I’m sure your work will be better for it.  But here’s one of my big problems with this suggestion:

What’s in it for them?

A team of specialists sounds great but unless you’re living in certain parts of LA or Manhattan, you’re not likely to bump into these people at random.  So, you’d be seeking out people, not for mutual assistance but for how they can benefit you. How very…Hollywood.

My idea of a critique group is a bunch of people who can help each other.  Finding a group of people who are close to your level of skill, who understand the genres you write, who get along and are willing to help and commit to helping each other is difficult enough.  Sure, it would be great if your fellow writers were ALL OF THAT + publicists, screenwriters, poets, editors, journalists, etc.  But if you find a group like that, you might as well go buy lottery tickets and really cash in.

A critique group is not just a clubhouse but it’s not just mercenaries guild, either.  What you need, I think, are people who can:

Read your work and think about prior to your group meetings

Look critically at your work

Understand the genre you’re trying to sell in

Tell you if it entertains

Always tell you the truth about what does and doesn’t work

That’s hard enough. That’s good enough. That’s frelling GREAT, if you ask me.  Or any of the other Wordslingers.

*the ‘Red Pen of Doom’, http://redpenofdoom.com/2012/05/16/build-your-own-writing-monster/

Ugh.  Over a week. I don’t think I’ve gone this long without updating. My apologies.  I may need to start writing these blog posts before I leave home.  Right now Logan Tiberius is taking up a lot of my free time.  Puppies. What can you do?

I got another rejection letter for Island of Lost Gods but they editors hung on to it for a while. Another ‘almost’, that’s good. I might try Black Gate for that story and then start looking at the semi-pro market. Or maybe self-publish it.

I was reading Wool, Amazon hand the whole Omnibus on sale.  It’s good, several novellas in the same setting, often with the same characters.  I might do something similar with my Shallow Sea short stories. If I self-publish the Angel Odyssey novels, I’ll probably include a short story with each e-book.  But it’s a little early to give up on the stories.  There are still a few markets out there to ping.

My latest short story in that world, has wandered from novelette territory into Novella length.  Needless to say, that limits my markets to F&SF and maybe Tor.com.  At least the pro markets will be scarce.  I MIGHT be able to cut it down to a ‘mere’ novelette, if I can get it back down under 10k words.  Knowing me, editing it will make the thing swell up to a short novel. Heh.  I like the story, though, the characters and the world. Maybe it does belong in a novel but it does tell a concrete story.

Anyway, I’m falling behind on submissions. Tonight, I’m going to send a few more out to see what they can pick up: form rejections, kind words, maybe money and a pro sale.  Dare to dream, that’s why I do this, after all. I’m a born dreamer.

Is it a good thing or bad thing when you have to break your short story in two parts?  I’m still not sure. I still believe in the short story I wrote/am writing but it also sorta ballooned into this 10k word…thing (Novelette? Novella?). 

Honestly, I think a story is as long as it needs to be.  This one wanted to be longer.  I think its richer for the detail and length, I think the setup makes the character’s dilemma more engrossing for the reader.  I could cut the entire Ghetto sub-plot*, but I think the story and the world are better for the time spent there.

On the other hand, this could be a good lesson for me in story discipline.  Short stories do need to be short and to the point. They are supposed to be about ONE thing.  Everything that doesn’t belong to the main plot line is supposed to be trimmed away. 

I don’t know, maybe I have too many ‘darlings’ in this one.  I certainly suck at cutting down my own work.

We will see what the Wordslingers think about the first half of the story. It may be that this one needs to be trimmed and it may be that it needs to be gutted.  I hope not but I guess that’s the difference between writing for yourself and writing for a market.

*Yes, I know short stories shouldn’t have sub-plot. I guess that should have been a sign to me that the story wasn’t going to be short.

Got in an hour or so of sweet, sweet writing last night.  I went in pretty exhausted but as I lay there in the Throne of Writing (tm), a strange thing happened.  I started getting the urge to write. I guess I’ve finally programmed my subconscious enough that Throne of Writing (tm) = time to write.  Or something.

I should update my pagecount tab but I’ve been slacking there as well.  Still, I got a couple thousand words done and I think I’m at the 2/3rd point (? Maybe?).

I still don’t know if what I’m writing is simplistic crap or if it’s the best stuff I’ve written. I honestly don’t. I’m going to be leaning on the Wordslingers a lot for this story.  I like it but I’m partial.  It might be too slow, since it really is as much about the worldbuilding as it is about problem Ahmed my protagonist has.

It’s funny how you can become fond of a character.  Like Jacob in Angel Odyssey, I just like Ahmed. He’s trying so hard to be a man (even though he’s eight) and to do the right thing.  Even though he’s scared, even though he’s hurt. I hope that’s all coming through. I guess I’ll see next week.

Hopefully I’ll finish the story off tonight and then I can get busy sending a bunch of stories out. I’ve been slacking there, too. I think I only have three stories awaiting rejection right now.  Then I have Smooth Vengeance to work on and the edit and submission for feedback for Mageborn Mechanic…

Ah well. Good stuff.