What You'd Call "Guidelines"

I've mentioned before that I really enjoyed the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Much more than I liked any of the later three movies, though each of them had their own individual moments which were enjoyable. Part of that may have been the fact that it was unexpectedly entertaining. Come on, a movie based on a theme park ride? It sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.
But I also think that one thing that was present in large doses in the first movie and got kind of lost in the later movies was a sense of fun and whimsy. The first one never really felt too serious, the latter ones did and their attempts at being fun sometimes felt forced in a way that the first movie's humor rarely did.

I'm not really looking to talk about fun in stories today, though that certainly would be a good topic. But I was thinking about guidelines and that word makes me think of Geoffrey Rush's character Barbossa bantering with Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann. At one point, she appeals to his honor as a pirate and the rules of the Pirate Code. But Barbossa points out that not only is she not a pirate and therefore not entitled to the protections of the Code but that the Code is also really more of "guidelines" than actual rules.

Well, that attitude might work if you're captaining the Black Pearl. But it's not a good one to take if you're a writer looking to submit your fiction to a publisher. They may call their guidelines "guidelines" but if you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot, then it's best to treat them like hard and fast rules.

Using Index Cards To Plan Short Fiction Submissions

I've talked before in posts like my "Life of a Story" post about using Duotrope to research markets and track submissions. I've always handled sending a story out to market in what seems like a somewhat time-intensive manner. When a story is rejected or is going out for the first time, I run a Duotrope search, go through the list of possible markets (excluding ones I already have a story out to) and then submit the story. This can be very quick or somewhat tedious. And I ended up looking at a lot of the same markets' information repeatedly.

Recently I've started doing a bit of pre-planning around my submission. I think that this will help me save a bit of time on resubmissions in the future. Here's what I've done.

DIY: Cover Art - Creating My Own eBook, Part Two

Last Monday, I gave an overview of the process I used when creating my first eBook. One of the things that I said I'd go into more detail about at a later date was the creation of the cover art.

Everything I've read about the publication and marketing of eBooks over the last several months has suggested that one of the most important aspects of the whole process is having appropriate cover art. You want cover art that fits the genre/feel you intend for your book to have and you want to produce that cover art on a budget which fits your overall sales expectations for your book. There's obviously a quality factor, too, but that is both somewhat subjective and is dependent to a certain extent on the budget. Another important thing is for it to look good when seen in a thumbnail view.

Sunday Links & the Week in #storyeachnight : April 29, 2012 Edition

It's been a strangely low-key weekend here so far, despite the fact that I spent hours yesterday writing. I know it's most likely the calm before a storm, but it's still been nice to feel even vaguely relaxed the last 36 or so hours.

I've continued to keep up with #storyeachnight. Here are this week's entries:

4/22 - "Scout" by Bud Sparhawk from the 6/12 ASIMOV'S. A fallen soldier re-enters the fight in a different role.
4/23 - "Crooks" by Paul Carlson from the 6/12 ANALOG.
4/24 - "You've Ruined This For Me" by Ewan C. Forbes from DAILY SCIENCE FICTION.
4/25 - "Dolly at the End of the World" by Amanda C. Davis from DAILY SCIENCE FICTION. Great voice & characters.
4/26 - "Moving Night" by Nancy Holder from 100 HAIR-RAISING LITTLE HORROR STORIES. A young boy's night terrors & more
4/27 - "The Other Graces" by Alice Sola Kim from THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2011. Great voice and interesting character-building. I loved the story up until near the end when it started to lose me.

4/28 - "The Old Genius" by Nikolai Leskov from THE ENCHANTED WANDERER AND OTHER STORIES. A short crime story about how a wealthy man who refused to pay his debts was forced to recompense a trusting old woman.

Now, here are this week's writing-related links:

DIY: Creating My Own eBook, Part One

One of the major things that has changed between the first time I explored the world of fiction publication (early 1990s) and today is the nature of self-publishing. Back then, it typically involved laying out hundreds or thousands of dollars upfront and was very much considered the last refuge of a writer who had failed to find a market. There was the occasional self-published item that went on to have some certain degree of success, particularly in niche markets, but most self-publishing left authors with boxes of unsold books in their garage or basement.

To say there has been a sea change would be an understatement. The growing acceptance of eBooks by readers has led to a whole new marketplace for digital titles. Turnaround times are miniscule, overhead is small to nonexistent. It's literally possible to take an existing work and turn it into an eBook ready for sale in an evening. In fact, that's exactly what I did one night last week with my science fiction story "Gravity's Pull" and my experience is what I'll be discussing in this series of posts.

Here are the steps I followed:

Revision Day New Words Waiver

Thursday 3/29 is the day which I've made as my "revision day", as defined in my March monthly goals.

"Have a short story revising day where I get at least three stories into a form where I am ready to send them out for beta or submission."

I'm giving myself a one day waiver from my daily writing chain. If I meet that goal, getting three stories ready to go on to their next "level", then I'll check off my "500 words" box in my chain for the day. Of course, Friday, it's right back to the new words routine but this will be a little reward for getting a lot of work done on stories which need some attention.

I'll put up a post late Thursday or on Friday to let you all know how Revising Day 1.0 goes for me. Wish me luck!

Sunday Links: February 5, 2012 Edition

Before getting to the rest of the links, I wanted to call out Rachael Harrie's post from a couple of weeks back announcing a mini-Campaign for writers starting tomorrow, February 6th. Her Fall 2011 Campaign was a big part of my own success as a writer last year, providing me with a lot of new friends in the writing/blogging world and giving me a lot of encouragement. I plan to sign up for this month's activities and I hope they're as much fun as last fall's.

Now for this week's links...

"Scene and Structure: Make Something Happen" AND "Find Your Writing Tribe" (Daniel Swensen at Surly Muse) - Normally, I only link to one post per blogger per week. But Daniel hit it out of the park with both of these, and I couldn't decide which one to pick, so I'm breaking my "rule." In the first link, Daniel reminds us to make sure that each scene has meaning and keeps the story moving forward. In the second, he talks about the importance of having fellow writers to learn from, celebrate with and, when necessary, commiserate with. Two excellent posts from a fine blogger.

"Tips for Writing a Traditional Murder Mystery" (Elizabeth Craig guest-posting on Nicole Basaraba's Uni-Verse-City) - I thought that this post made for a nice primer on writing mysteries for those who've never tackled the genre and it also provides good reminders for those who have worked with mysteries in the past.

"Craft Thursday: Stupid Writer Tricks" (Jaye Wells) - Jaye talks about several different tricks that she uses to make sentences and paragraphs keep pulling the reader along. A nice set of tips for when you're fine-tuning your prose.

"Kind is Sometimes Cruel" (KT Hanna) - KT talks about the fact that giving a writer "kind" or "pleasant" feedback not only isn't helpful, but is actively harmful. It keeps the writer from hearing what they have to hear to move forward. And it's so easy for a writer to hear someone saying "You're doing great" and believe it, even when it isn't true. (Of course, it's also easy for a writer to hear someone saying "You're doing lousy" and believe it, even when it isn't true.) The best thing you can do is find people who will give you honest (but tactful) feedback. KT talks about some of the techniques that go into this.

"The PEST Method" (Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction) - Alex talks about the four elements he takes into account when deciding where to submit his short fiction: Prestige, Exposure, Speed, and Terms. Well worth reading, especially if you're looking to submit short stories for the first time or haven't ever given much thought to how you pick where to send your stories.

Additionally, here's a recap of the posts from this week on my blog:

"Final January #writemotivation wrapup" - The #writemotivation activity for January wrapped up this week and I posted a final review of where I stood with my goals for the month. I ended things on a high note by adding 2000 words to a short story in the final two days of January.

"Using a Routine" - Inspired by a blog post by Eric J. Krause I talked about writing routines and what they can do for you.

I appreciate you stopping by to check out the links. Are there any writing-related articles/blog posts you've read this week which really inspired you?

Emily Casey Interview

Emily Casey recently released her debut novel, The Fairy Tale Trap. It's the first in a projected series featuring Ivy Thorn. Emily's doing a blog tour along with the release of the book and I'm pleased to be able to present an interview with her as part of the tour.

Michael Haynes: From looking at your website, I see that The Fairy Tale Trap is the first novel you've released. You mention some other works including one that's in "a drawer somewhere" -- is this the first novel that you have written to completion?
Emily Casey: The Fairy Tale Trap is the fourth book I've completed. The earlier books were the practice I needed to find my writing voice and style, and learn a few things about the craft. "The drawer somewhere" is a folder on my computer of old fiction. :)

There ARE Wrong Ways

So, I had reason to be thinking about parenting this afternoon and how lots of people handle different parenting situations in different ways and that lots of times it's hard to objectively say that there's one right way. But that's not the same as saying that there's no such thing as a wrong way. Reasonable people can differ on something like exactly what age it's OK to let a child walk half a block down a quiet suburban street to a friend's house. (And, in fact, it would be hard to argue that there was an exact age that you could say for this for all kids. Some kids might be ready to do this at age Y, others at age Y+2.)

But, if you're still walking your child down to their friend's house five houses down and they're sixteen years old and there isn't some major mitigating factor, you're probably being overprotective, right? Similarly, if you've got a four year old, letting them go scampering along a busy thoroughfare unprotected is also probably not such a hot idea.

Just because there isn't one right answer does not mean that there are no wrong answers. And -- OK, you probably saw where I was going here -- this applies to writing, too.

There are all sorts of things in writing where there isn't a definitive right way. Some people are fine as "pantsers" (writing without much planning in advance) others are fine as "plotters." Some other people can work either way with ease.

But there are things that you can do as a writer where you really are "doing it wrong" -- ignoring the guidelines for submission to a publisher, for one thing. Blatantly ripping off another story, even if it's not to the level of plagiarism, it might be hard to sell something too much like another novel and might disappoint readers. (And, yes, I know that there are some people who've made quite the career off of treading a fine line there...)

There are other, subtler, things that you can do wrong. Doubting your work to the extent that you don't even try submitting it. Ignoring a pattern of comments in critiques on your work. Etc.

Remembering that there isn't one single correct way to go about writing is important. But don't let that philosophy turn into one that justifies any type of behavior. There may be more than one right way, there often is. But there are also wrong ways.

A Juggling Act

Today handling my writing has felt like a real juggling act. I felt this way a bit once before, back around late-September, early-October. In brief, I’ve got so many short stories out on submission and so many new ones that I’m working on that my head is spinning. I had to sit down at one point and make myself some notes on what I was working on and prioritize things. Even after that, I felt like I was looking at quite a lot of things that were high priority!

I generally follow the dictum of “start at the top, work your way down” and also try to avoid having stories sitting around unsubmitted for any serious length of time. I’ve got 27 stories out on submission right now. That feels like a lot, to me. At least at the moment, it does. It also means that when I get a rejection in, it can be a bit of a struggle to find a market that I don’t already have something out to which would be appropriate for the story and which I want to submit to.

This led to me needing to do something embarrassing today.

Why So Few Short Mystery Fiction Markets?

Yesterday I mentioned that I had ended up doing a bit of freewriting to start my "Write 1/Sub 1" story for last week. The path that led me there actually involved realizing I had a bit of a roadblock on the "Sub 1" side of things for the story I had started earlier in the week. That roadblock was that it was a mystery short story and, while there are literally dozens of markets which pay Pro or Semi-Pro rates for speculative fiction short stories, there is a relative dearth of markets for mystery short fiction. And the places I'd submit that particular story first all have one of my stories under consideration already. So, I set that aside for the moment, started on my freewriting, and came up with a new story. All's well that ends well.

But, darn... I like writing mystery fiction and this was a reminder of the difference in the market for fiction in the two genres. The discrepancy can be illustrated by looking at the lists of approved short fiction markets for the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Not only is the SFWA list nearly twice as long, but it includes a much healthier representation of open genre-specific publications while the MWA list includes a couple of closed markets and quite a few general-fiction listings. You can get a similar sense by querying the Duotrope writer's market website. Search for "Fantasy", "Pro" rate publications for "Short Stories" (excluding closed markets) and you get back 28 selections. Change "Fantasy" to "Mystery/Crime" and you get back 9. Ouch!

So, why is there this big gap between the two?

Sunday Links: October 9, 2011 Edition

We're now down to just over three weeks until NaNoWriMo starts. The NaNo site is supposed to be re-launching with an updated version tomorrow (October 10th). So once that is live, it should be worth popping over to check out the changes if you're participating this year.

I'd be interested to know what sort of prep work any of my readers who are planning to do NaNo are doing. I know that some people do absolutely no prep at all and other people have detailed outlines, character descriptions, etc. in advance. 

Now for this week's links!

Sunday Links: September 25, 2011 Edition

Summer has officially given way to Fall. The next time I put up one of these weekly link roundups it will be October! Among other things, this means that NaNoWriMo is just a little bit over a month away. I'm planning to participate this year. Any readers who are also participating this year and would like to be "Writing Buddies" on the NaNo site, let me know in the comments below.

This week in the blog world has been busy, especially with the extremely challenging 2nd challenge in Rachael Harrie's Platform-Building Writers' Campaign. If you read mine ("My Name is Imago Montoya...") and enjoyed it, I'd truly appreciate you voting for it by clicking here and "liking" entry #42. That's also where you'd go to see the complete list of entries -- there are some great ones out there, so it's worth a browse.

With that little bit of BSP out of the way, I hope you'll follow me past the jump to this week's links!

Sunday Links: September 18, 2011 Edition

Time to revisit the past week. It's seen me dive into writing a novel in addition to continuing work on my short fiction. The upcoming week has me a bit concerned. I'm on a good roll with my Seinfeld Chain (up to 17 days as of last night) but the next five days I'm going to be in training for my day job nearly 12 hours a day when you include transit time. Will I end up using a Mulligan? I hope not.

I came across some great blog posts around the internet this week, and I'm happy to present them past the jump. I hope everyone had a good week and has a great week this coming week.

Sunday Links : September 4, 2011 Edition

I don't think I've ever explicitly stated my blogging schedule in full. I post new items every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Every other week, the Wednesday post previews the new Dissecting the Short Story entry and Friday is the full dissection. Sundays I post links to new articles from the week that I found interesting and also recap the week on my blog.

Now, to the links!

Sunday Links : August 28, 2011 Edition

Another week has gone by and it's felt like a really good writing week. I've gotten some work done with new stories that I feel very pleased with. I wish there were more hours in the day, though...

Sunday is the day that I go through articles and blog posts I've read on the internet and link to ones that I found especially fun or interesting.

Today, I have one special link to present first. Rachael Harrie has kicked off her third Writers' Platform-Building Campaign. For those of us who are working to build our networks as writers this looks like a fantastic opportunity to reach out to those who share our interests and connect with them.

Now, on to the rest of the links!

Dave Zeltserman Interview

This is a real treat! After posting last week's "Dissecting the Short Story" for Dave Zeltserman's "Hostage Situation", I sent Mr. Zeltserman an email pointing him to the article and asking if he'd like to chat about the story and his writing in general.

I'm thrilled that he agreed to do so, especially since he's got a new novel (A Killer's Essence) coming out next month, and I'm sure he's got a lot on his plate.

Michael Haynes: How did the idea for "Hostage Situation" come to you? Was it one of those "Hey, what if a werewolf happened to become a bank robbery hostage?" type of things or did it develop in a different manner?
Dave Zeltserman: Pretty much that. The idea that popped into my head was what if a guy who is going to turn into a werewolf is stuck in a hostage situation and is desperate to get out so he doesn’t kill the other hostages.

MH: Was the story essentially fully formed in your mind before you started writing it or did you start with the basic idea and see where it took you?
DZ: Fully formed.

MH: Is that typical of your short story writing process?
DZ: Yes. Every story and novel I’ve written is fully formed in my mind before I start writing. "A Hostage Situation" was short enough where I didn’t have to write an outline, but I usually have a detailed outline before I start writing.

MH: In my write-up about this story, I noted that the "Lawrence Talbot" name was a really big clue. Did you have any reservations about using that name, and possibly giving the game away too quickly for some readers?
DZ: Nope. I figured it would be a fun story for any movie buff who recognized the name, although I only used Talbot once in the story so I wouldn’t beat people over the head with it.

MH: I didn't notice any out-and-out misdirection in the story, such as giving the reader a false clue to another possible explanation. Did you consider inserting anything like that?
DZ: Nope. I never add any intentional misdirection in any of my works. I believe in having my stories and my character’s behavior and reactions have a strong sense of truth to them. For a story to be ultimately satisfying you need that level of honesty, and the twists need to be natural.

MH: The goal of the "Dissecting the Short Story" series is to help other writers see what worked for stories accepted for a "big" digest magazine. Are there any specific tips you'd like to share with writers who enjoy working in the short form and are looking to improve their craft?
DZ: I thinking you’re going about this the right way, which is reading and understanding the markets that you want to sell to. Beyond that, reading the best short stories in the genre you want to write. For sci-fi/speculative fiction, that would be writers like Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury, for crime, you want to read and study all of Hammett’s Continental Op stories.

MH: "Hostage Situation" is a crime/horror crossover. Looking at your other publications, it seems that you've written some other genre-blending fiction, including your upcoming novel A Killer's Essence which your website describes as a "crime novel with supernatural element." Is this something you set out consciously to do or did you just sort of stumble into it?
DZ: I’m not concerned with writing formulaic genre pieces, but instead in writing the stories and novels I want to write. Because of that my writing tends to be all over the place, from lighthearted + charming mysteries with my Julius Katz stories to intensely dark  + brutal crime noir, like with my novel, Pariah. I don’t bother with genre boundaries. My novel, Blood Crimes, for example, is a mix of noir and horror — think vampires in a Sin City world. My novel, The Caretaker of Lorne Field, which was shortlisted by the ALA for best horror novel of 2010, confounded editors, because on the one hand it’s quiet horror, and on the other it’s a parable. Same with A Killer’s Essence, which is just so different than the typical crime novel. Fortunately, there are still a few publishers (not many) willing to publish works that are different from the norm.

MH: Is there anything else you'd like to share with my readers?
DZ: I’ve gotten to know both Janet Hutchings and Linda Landrigan, editors of Ellery Queen [Mystery Magazine] and Alfred Hitchcock [Mystery Magazine], respectively, and both of them are just great, and very fair in evaluating every story that’s submitted. If you ever think that Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock are closed clubs, they’re not. Both Janet and Linda are looking for the best stories they can find to publish. So while the competition is fierce, every writer has a fair shot in getting published by them. You’re going about this the right way — first understanding the market and the editor’s tastes before submitting, but also just make sure to send them your very best. And if you get a rejection with a personal note, that means you’re close, and make sure your next submission is even better.

MH: Thanks for sharing your time and your experience. It's been great talking with you!

Sunday Links : August 21, 2011 Edition

It's Sunday again!  I hope that everyone is feeling good about their last week of writing. If you're not, though, it's a new week and you can start with a mental clean slate!

Sunday also means that it's link day on my blog. Here are several links to articles I've read in the last week that I thought others might enjoy or learn from: