Living the Fictional Dream

A few weeks ago, I came across an anthology listing for which one of my stories was perfect (the concept was fairly unique). The only catch — apparently they did not take reprints. Though, the guidelines were a little confusing — nothing about reprints either way was listed on the page for that anthology, but on a different page all together. So, I decided to query, just in case.

Later that same day, I got a reply that said they did not accept reprints. A bummer, sure, but understandable. Then, a few weeks later, I got another message inviting me to send my story in for consideration!

I still don’t know if they will like my story, but they obviously decided they liked the sentence description of it in my query enough to look at it. That’s something!

The lesson I learned — if in doubt, go ahead and query. The worst they can say is no, and you never know if something good will come out of it.

There has been a lot of talking in the writers’ corner of the blog-o-sphere lately about professional markets, professional rates, and whether it’s worth it for a writer to send his or her stories out to lower paying markets.

Some editors have said it’s not worth it to target for-the-love markets just to get a credit in your cover letter, because no credits are better than meaningless credits.

Personally, I’m not so sure about that. Time and time again, I’ve seen writers that I know get that first credit and, after that, the acceptances start flying in (at least in comparison to before that first credit).

It happened to me that way, too. I spent 10 months submitting story after story, all of which were flat out rejected. Finally, in November of 2007, my story was accepted into Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic.

Then, after I started sending out stories with that forthcoming publication in my cover letter, I got several more stories accepted in quick succession (A Thousand Faces and Every Day Fiction were the next two acceptances, though it took longer for my stories to appear in some markets than others.)

Maybe it is not the credit, but some kind of critical mass. Maybe the reason the first acceptance comes is because the writer has finally reached a publishable point in their growth as a writer. I wouldn’t disbelieve that notion.

Then again, maybe there is something about that first credit that marks you as serious about the work, even if it is just in an editor’s subconscious. Or maybe it’s a combination of the two.

Either way, I know that I’m happy to have credits with smaller ‘zines on my cover letter, and I think that I’ve learned a lot from the markets I’ve been published in. I’ve learned about relating to editors, editing my work, proofs, and standing up for my story when there are technical difficulties. In addition to all that, I’ve gotten to see my stories in print (both electronic and hard copy), and I’ve made writer friends who have taught me a lot in their own ways.

Over all, I’m happy. Sure, larger paychecks would be nice, but I never believed I would earn money doing this, so I’ve never been overly concerned about that.

The key, I think, to keep moving forward with your writing career is not to stay on the lower levels for too long. I do think you hit what you aim for, and the better paying markets are the ones with the most readers and the ones with the most prestige (which, to me, are more important than money). If you never aim for those markets, you can never be published there.

To quote one of my favorite movies, “Your odds go up when you file an application.”

As soon as I had a few small credits under my belt, I started targeting the larger professional markets with my stories. I still haven’t cracked one, but I continue to hope. And my rejections for some of them (as I mentioned in a previous entry) have gotten a little more personal, so I think I’m making progress.

If I were giving advice to a new writer starting out, I would say aim as high as you want. But, if the pro markets reject you at first, target some of the smaller ones until you get that first credit or two. Learn how things work. Earn a publishing credit or two. But never stop aiming high. If you only tarket token and for-the-love markets, that’s the only place you’ll ever be published. If you aim higher and you work on honing your craft, I think you have as good a shot as anyone else at getting there.

My writing group had its annual planning meeting earlier this week. This meeting is when we select what projects and activities we want to pursue during the year ahead. Most of the time, it’s the usual stuff — crits, meetings, write-ins, the prompts contest… This year, we decided to add something new to the mix.

In lieu of our usual themed short story collection challenge (which was cancelled for lack of participation this year), we are going to try to work on writing stories for and submitting stories to the professional markets.

I’m really excited about the idea. I’ve been sending stories to some of the professional markets for a while now. I got a couple of personal rejections with compliments of my writing style from one market in that category (well, it’s a pro market if your story is under a certain word count… so it’s not one of the big three or anything), which was thrilling to me, but all the others have been the typical form rejections. It would be awesome if I could finally break into one of the bigger markets.

Not that I don’t love all of the smaller ‘zines that I’ve been a part of. I love each and every one of them. I’m grateful that they published my stories, and I’m happy to have been a part of them. The ones that have print versions, too, are in a special place on my bookshelf.

But, wouldn’t it be awesome to get both the larger paycheck and the larger readership that comes along with publishing in a professional market?

I hope that I have enough time to devote to this project over the next year, because, if it succeeds, I think it would take this hobby of mine to the next level. I wonder if Daddy will be willing to take on baby duty a little more often so I have time to write between coming home from work and bedtime…

So, I have this story that I would really like to see published somewhere (of course, I’d like to see all my stories published, but I think this one is a particularly good one). The big strike against it is it’s length. I’ve cut thousands of words since my first draft and it’s where I think it needs to be to tell the story, but it’s still around 8K.

Yesterday, I actually had some time to look through open anthology markets, and I found one that seems perfect, except for one thing. The theme of my story and the theme of the anthology match. And they will look at stories up to 10K. However, the problem is the genre. They want something with a horror slant, and my story is really more urban fantasy.

Should I send it to them?

Part of me says, “Go ahead and send it. The worst they can say is no, and who knows? Maybe you’ll get lucky, and they’ll love it despite the slight difference from what they wanted.” However, the other part of me says, “Don’t even bother. It’s not what they want, so they’ll reject it right away. What’s the point in sending something out for a sure rejections and tying it up so that you can’t send it elsewhere except as a simultaneous submission?”

Eh… I guess I’ll have to think on this a little longer…

My goodness — November has been such a busy month. It is lucky I didn’t attempt NaNo, because I surely would have failed. What with the last of busy season at work, I’ve been doing well the past few weeks to take care of the baby and myself and get all that work done. Things are finally slowing down a bit, though, and I’m definitely looking forward to the long weekend.

Some people on FaceBook have been putting what they are thankful for in their status updates all month. There are so many things that I’m thankful for — the health of my little girl who was born so early and is now doing great, supportive family and friends, an understanding job, my sister’s wedding that’s coming up… I could go on and on.

But, in addition to all that real life stuff, I’m also thankful for my characters. Characters are the most important things in a story (in my opinion, anyway). A story can have a great plot, but if I don’t identify with or at least like/respect/enjoy spending time with some of the characters, I won’t enjoy either reading or writing a story.

Here are some of my favorite characters from my own stories and why I’m thankful for them:

• Caryn — She is the main character in my Y/A fantasy novel-in-progress. As far as characters go, she is the one who takes the most from me. Writing Caryn taught me that you can’t be too nice to your characters — if you don’t force your characters to go through hardships, you’ll have a very boring story.
• Sean — He is the male lead in the same novel discussed above. He was the first really flawed character I created, and I’ve learned lots about writing trying to balance his flaws with the hero he is destined to be.
• Sarah — She is the main character in my short story, “The Widow and the Stranger.” She is the first character whose first person voice came to me fully formed, which helped me better utilize that point of view (most of my stories are in third person). She also helped me realize that a plot does not have to be grand or action-packed to make a good story.
• Luke — He is a werewolf and the hero of my urban fantasy universe, the pack leader who doesn’t want to be in a pack. He featured in my story “Alpha,” and he’s the main character in another story set in that ‘verse that is making the rounds.
• Super Sonic — My very first superhero, the main character in “Zero to Clean in 10 Minutes or Less.” That little piece of flash started a whole universe, and I’m glad he finally got his happy ending.
• Daniel — He is the male lead in a Y/A novel that I wrote for NaNo a few years ago (I stalled on the revisions, so it is also still classified as “in progress”). Daniel is deaf, and trying to write him was a good way for me to stretch my writing chops by writing about someone who is not like me. I researched into deaf culture and tried to make him as real as possible.
• Viola — She is the antagonist in my short story, “The Sorcerer’s Wife.” When I wrote that story, Viola was the villain, but as I wrote, her character came to life and leapt off the page. She is the embodiment of something one of my graduate school professors said: “Everyone is the hero of his/her own life story.” Once I thought about the story from Viola’s perspective, it was a whole new ballgame.

So, those characters are some of the writing-related things that I’m thankful for this year.

What about you guys? Have you ever written a character who changed you as a writer or whom you could not live without? What writing-related things are you thankful for this year?

It’s already 11/4, and I have yet to even go to a write-in. Crazy! I’m not used to this. Not that my hours aren’t totally accounted for — the busy season at work and taking care of the little one have been fully consuming.

However, I must admit, I do miss the hustle and bustle of NaNoWriMo. There is something energizing about jumping into a novel feet first and taking off running toward the finish line. It’s hard, but it’s satisfying at the same time.

My only real complaint about NaNo is that the finished product requires a lot of revision. Since novel revision is something I am particularly bad at (illustrated by the fact that even though I’ve completed several novel first drafts, I have yet to finish something that is finished enough to think about sending off to agents), NaNo isn’t quite as helpful to me as it could be. But it sure does give you a rush. And that creative rush is awesome. So is the companionship of knowing so many people are out there pulling on the universal muse at the same time.

I’m looking forward to my writing group’s NaNo write-ins. Several are coming up. We’ve got some Friday lunch write-ins scheduled, as well as a couple on Tuesday nights and Saturday brunches. We’ll see how many I can make. I do hope to get some writing done during November. Any progress would be a victory compared to my snail’s pace this year.

I hope all you Wrimos out there are doing well and that you’re still in that high of the first 10K. I wish you all plentiful word counts, and that you are spared from any carpal tunnel or eye strain issues. Keep it up!

Oh, and in other news, writing group mate Stephanie had a story up at Every Day Fiction recently. Check it out here, if you have time. It’s a short read — light and fun.

I’ve mentioned before how my writing output has severly diminished since my little girl was born last July. I don’t get down on myself about it because it’s really only to be expected. Juggling a newborn and a full-time job is CRAZY! I’m finding it difficult enough to carve two nights of the month out to attend writing group functions, much less write on my own. (Not that I’m complaining… Summerlyn is the light of my life and what she needs comes first.)

What I’m finding interesting is that, as if to compensate for this lack of writing time, my subconscious keeps hammering away at little plot bunnies. I had one pop into my head a month or two ago for a horror story (horror like scary; not horror like blood and guts gruesome). The idea started as just a single line and an image in my head. Previously, that would have been enough for me to start writing, but now I just don’t have the time to do it.

So, as if in response to this lack, my subconscious keeps turning the idea over and over, and every time it comes to my mind again, it’s a little more formed. Now I actually have two characters, a partial plot, and the ending of the story in mind (it will probably be flash or a very short story). I can actually see this story fairly vividly in my mind. Whenever I do have time to sit down and write (hopefully, during one of the November NaNo write-ins my writing group will host), the first draft of this story should come out pretty quickly!

What this has taught me is that I will always be a writer. I knew that before, but I’d never really tested it. There’s never been a time like this in my life before when I wanted to write but actually couldn’t do it for weeks and months at a time. Previously, if I wanted to write, I either sat down and did it right then or maybe only had to wait a day or two to find some time. If I wasn’t writing before, it was because I had no ideas, not because I had them but didn’t have the time.

This proves that I will always create stories, whether I get the chance to write them down or not. It’s part of my make-up… pretty much part of my very DNA. The stories are there — all I have to do is hear them out. And if the muse is strong enough and if I devote them enough thought time (even if I don’t have enough keyboard time), they will still be formed — a little more slowly, but they will eventually be there just the same.

The fact that creating stories is so natural to me that I do it even when I am not able to pursue it, is why I will always pursue this writing thing. I may never have a novel published or be able to give up my day job in favor of staying home to write (I hope that’s not the case, but one has to face up to the possibility), but I will always be a writer at heart.

I think that’s the mark of a true writer — the ones who do it because they love it; the ones who do it because they have to, because the stories will be there either way. If you go into this business to try to find fame or fortune… well, the odds are significantly stacked against you. I can’t imagine sticking with it for those reasons, because there is no guarantee. But sticking with it because the stories have to be told — that’s a writer’s heart!

This morning, when I checked my email, I found the proof for “Dinner for Three,” a story set in my superhero universe that is coming out in the next issue of A Thousand Faces.

There is something fun about looking over a proof of my very own story. It’s a little sneak peek as to what it will look like when it’s published. And a proof makes the acceptance real, at least to me. I may have had an email acceptance sitting in my inbox for the past six months, but now the story is actually here, right in front of me.

I also revised my bio, which was fun. I was able to mention my baby girl in it, which gave me a happy.

All in all, a very pleasant morning. I hope you all have some good news to brighten your day. And, hey, if you haven’t read issue 9 of ATF, click on the link above and check it out. There are some really good superhero stories in this issue, including one by my writing group mate, Stephanie.

Have you ever gotten a story idea that would be better in a different venue than your usual medium?

When I write, it’s short stories or novels, definitely prose. I wrote a screenplay once for a class during graduate school, and it was fun, but it’s not my usual thing. But every once in a while, I will get this “brilliant” idea that wouldn’t work well as prose, but would look great on screen.

I’ve had a plot bunny floating around for a year or so for a romantic comedy. The idea would be crap as a novel, but as a 2-hour movie, I think it would be great. It could star John Cusak and Amy Adams and pull the audience in with quick scenes and witty banter.

Too bad screen writing is such a crazy business. My understanding is that you can’t really break into it unless you’re in Hollywood and have an agent to book you pitch sessions with studios. And, also, probably more importantly, as I learned back in graduate school, writing screen plays is not really my thing. I’m not good at cut scenes, transitions, or even the really strict format that you have to use.

Also, I think horror is a really challenging genre to write. Not gross-out horror, but suspense. A lot of my favorite suspense and horror stories take place on the screen, where you have music and visuals to get that creepy feeling across.

Now, I’m not saying that horror can only be written for screen. The best sellers of Stephen King would prove me wrong there. But I guess writing horror is just not something I’m talented at. I can see this idea that I have for a scary story, but I don’t know how to write it as prose. It needs to have shadows that the watcher can see in the background and ample opportunity for the evil supernatural creatures to pop up for a big scare. It would make a great episode of a show like Supernatural.

The easy answer to this conundrum would be for me to try my hand at writing for the screen sometime. It might not go anywhere, but one never knows. And maybe while writing the screenplay, I would realize that I could actually write the story in prose instead and have my first best seller ready to go (yeah, right!).

If I had the time, I think I might do that. It would definitely be a stretch for me writing-wise. Maybe I could even do Script Frenzy, which is put on by the people behind NaNoWriMo. Sadly, the time for something like that will be a long time coming, though. If I have any writing time these days, it’s gotta be devoted to all of my regular writing. I don’t have enough time for that right now, much less random experiments.

However, it is fun to think about. And it is interesting when my brain decides to take a flight of fancy and go off in a new direction. I look forward to the day when I can follow that direction for a while and see where it leads.

Have any of the rest of y’all out there (oh, my dozen blog readers!) ever tried your hand at something really different from your normal style? Do you ever get the wild hair to write screenplays or poetry or just something entirely different from your writing bread and butter?

Poor little girl! She had to come with Mommy to the write-in last night. Poor Hubby was supposd to keep her, but he was not feeling well at all. I tried to find sitters, but to no avail. So, with me she came.

Bundled up in a car seat — not her favorite thing. Normally, she falls asleep in the car, but this time, not so much. She dozed on and off long enough for me to have dinner with Steph and Dauna and have some writing-type discussions (my favorite was a writing topic related to meatloaf… but I think you had to be there).

Then, just as I got out my laptop to, I’d hoped, finally finish revising the flash piece that my writing group critted for me back in August, I heard fussing. The baby wanted her own dinner (or is that second dinner, since she’d eaten less than 3 hours before?). For the first time since she was born, Mommy realized she’d forgotten to pack the bottle in the diaper bag. Luckily, home is only a 5 minute drive from the restaurant where we’d set up shop. Sadly, that meant I had to leave, writing undone.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my baby girl very much, and I will give up whatever I need to so that I can give her what she needs. But, selfishly, doing so last night was really hard.

When the baby first came along, it was full immersion and totally overwhelming. There was so much to do with the baby and she was so new that I didn’t want to do anything else but be with her. And it took a while to get used to having her, especially since she didn’t come home from the NICU for 3.5 weeks (she was a preemie).

These days, while the addition of the full-time job makes things more complicated, the baby care is getting more routine. Taking two or three hours off a couple of evenings a month seems a lot more doable than it did when she was so new and fragile.

Now, I’m really starting to miss writing. My fingers ache for the keyboard, and plot bunnies and characters are nibbling at my brain. Too bad there is never any time to give them attention!

Last night, I was so desperate, I tried to do some writing during my 4 a.m. pumping session (thanks to her time in the NICU, our little one spurns the breast, which means there are both pumping and feeding steps to do multiple times a day). Sadly, writing when I’m sleep deprived and dealing with baby care is not my best work.

Here’s hoping that next time (which will be the writing group’s NaNo planning meeting and kick-off party), babysitters will come through and I can have a tad of uninterrupted me time. I think my muse might rejoice if it happens… assuming she doesn’t leave me for more active environs in the mean time.