A Note on Vicarious Happiness

I just wanted to share a little something about slushing. While yes, I can’t deny a little fiendish enjoyment in rejecting a truly horrible story, my absolute FAVORITE part about being a submissions editor is when I send up a story to our editor in chief and have him like it enough to buy it. I get a vicarious thrill out of being able to write back to an author and tell them, YES. You’re In.

I’m just tickled pink at the moment! ^_^

 

1,000,001… 1,000,002…

That’s the running total of how much crap I have to get done. O.O November is going to be a busy, busy-bee month, as it seems. Lots of writing stuff/lots of Apex stuff/lots of Orycon-prep to take care of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it all! It’s a ton of fun and I’m REALLY excited about getting to Orycon. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not going to be a teeny, weeny bit glad when it’s all done, successfully accomplished, and I can sleep in without feeling guilty. ^_^

My own writing went really well this last week. I got an average of 500 words done a night, no matter how late I was out. Before bed: 500 words. And they’re not horrible words (I think)! I’ve been really focusing on taking my time and choosing my sentences carefully. So far, at least to my own eyes, it’s paying off. The novel is moving ahead bit by bit (and I’m actually liking what I have), and I think I’ve finally found the voice for it (I hope). This month’s short story (“The Last Prince of the Sea”) is also moving along, paragraph by paragraph, scene by scene. This new technique of composing fiction is pretty grueling, but so far I’m pretty pleased with the results–it’s not that different from the way I write Thief Dilemma, either, but as you know, it does slow me down a lot.

I’m finding one of my biggest challenges when it comes to writing (or anything creative, for that matter) is battling my own tendency to hit a point of boredom that then makes me try to speed up and “just finish”. That’s very, very bad for me, I’ve found. I get really sloppy, really cheap (in terms of imagination), and ultimately, I end up with a snarled, tangled mess that will take more work to clean up than it would have taken me to write it properly in the first place. So I’m trying this later option, now, and keeping my impatient side at bay. Not always easy, but I’m trying.

Going to try to get my writing done for this weekend tonight while Andy takes his second practice MCAT. That way I can focus on Orycon/Apex submissions stuff all day tomorrow. Last weekend I got a lot of work done, so I’m hoping to feel at least that productive this weekend too!

(Here’s hoping…)

 

The Price of Running a Free Magazine

Apex’s Editor-in-Chief has posted a proposal on the Apex blog about the challenges of keeping a free-fiction magazine online and the obvious difficulties of funding it. There are a lot of different models on how to make enough profit to break even in this industry, particularly for web-based magazines. Orson Scott Card’s INTERGALACTIC MEDICINE SHOW posts a teaser of each story in each issue and requires purchase of the issue or a subscription  to read the rest. JIM BAEN’S UNIVERSE does the same. CLARKESWORLD MAGAZINE offers fiction for free, funding itself through its evolving Citizens sponsorship program and its annual revenues from publishing REALMS, the print anthology of its past year of fiction.

Needless to say, for a free-fiction magazine, making ends meet is a daily stress and continual challenge, and everyone needs a little help these days to get along. Jason Sizemore has really devoted himself to keeping APEX as free of charge as possible, and that’s a wonderful thing in an age of fees, surcharges, hidden taxes, and that persnickety fine print that seals the fate of your soul. So here is the article Jason Sizemore with APEX MAGAZINE posted containing his proposal to help APEX keep publishing all that lovely free fiction!

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Apex Magazine and Options

by Jason Sizemore

There’s been some debate on the series of internet tubes about workable business models for online content. Some, like Cory Doctorow, believe free is good. If you give out a quality freebie, people will shell out money for more of that product. I like to think of this as the ol’ street dealer’s trick of giving out samples of coke to get people hooked on their drug. Others have argued to me that offering content such as short stories online, you have to go to a subscription or pay-per-play system.

I can’t say either one has worked for Apex Magazine. A combination of the two has not worked. Sponsorship worked for two months before enthusiasm for it died.

I’d like to try an alternative.

I’d like to see how many fans of short fiction (and Apex Magazine) are out there that would donate $10 (or more) on a recurring, yearly basis to help pay for magazine costs. Our yearly cost is around $10,000. Doctorow was given $10,000 to write one single story. For your $10,000, you get 24 months of Apex Magazine.

If you’d like to give Apex Magazine a hand then please send me an email to jason@apexbookcompany.com. I don’t want to start collecting $10 (or more!) from people unless I know there are enough fans interested.

Please spread the word by reposting and retweeting this blog post.

Jason Sizemore
editor-in-chief

 

ORYCON NEWS

So it’s now official: I’ll be on two panels at this year’s Orycon at the Doubletree in Portland! I’ll be on the panel “Drowning in Slush”, with fellow Apex editor Deb Taber, as well as editors Colleen Anderson (ABERRANT DREAMS and CHIZINE), Camille Alexa (ABYSS & APEX MAGAZINE), and Lou Anders ([TOO MUCH TO LIST!] and ORYCON EDITING GUEST OF HONOR). Then immediately after that, I’m on the panel “How to Prepare a Manuscript” with Edd Vick, Rhea Rose, and Elizabeth Engstrom (whose book, WHEN DARKNESS LOVES US, Apex has just reprinted!).

Then after that, I’m half of a writer’s workshop duo with Nina Kiriki Hoffman (She’s won a STOKER and a NEBULA, and I’ve got a YEAR’S BEST FANTASY & HORROR volume with one of her stories in it!)! O.O

It’s an action/awesome-packed weekend! ^_^

I’m not going to lie, I’m quite a bit (read: F#!$!ing) nervous about all this. I am (as some of you know) a convirgin, besides a relatively new entrant into the editing world, and therefore have no idea what to expect from all this. I plan on doing a lot of research about the “dos” and “don’ts” of panelling (and attending Edd Vick’s panel on “How to be a Panelist”!), and I hope my fellow panelists will give me some good advice so I don’t make a fool out of myself! Still, I’m really excited, too! Like 80% excited, 20% nervous.

Or… more like 60% excited, 40% nervous… maybe reversed? O.O

So if you’re in the PDX area Nov. 26th-28th, stop by and say “hi!” Or stop by and give me chocolate, and rub me on the back while I sit rocking in a corner by myself, and just tell me it’s going to be okay. >.O

 

SLUSH LESSON #4: Editing

SLUSH LESSON #4: ERR: Why Edditing is Imortant,

Sometimes I think the same people who don’t read guidelines are the same people who blatantly cast off the most rudimentary of writing basics. Time after time, I get submissions in the slush that look like the first whipped-out draft of a story. They’re riddled with grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, even on the first page, in the first paragraph, even in the very first sentence. It’s appalling to pick up a story, when you’re committing your time to reading it and give it serious consideration for the publication you work for, and to see that the author himself hasn’t even bothered to read through his own work to make sure it shines. It’s a little insulting, and it’s a waste of an editor’s time.

The writer in me finds it even more revolting, because when I submit a manuscript, I’m always filled with righteous terror that I’ll miss a comma or leave in a sentence one of my readers put in to point out a weak point in the story (which, sadly, I’ve done much, much too recently—and yes, I’m ashamed of myself). I can’t even imagine submitting something that isn’t up to manuscript standards, especially on the first three pages, without a severe nervous reaction.

Strangely, it’s common enough that on one of our Apex form rejections we actually have a check-off spot for it. So does Asimov’s, I believe, on their form letter. The thought of submitting to a pro-paying magazine without bothering to edit! I don’t know if it’s innocent ignorance or outright hubris.

But one thing I have learned from this, since this is something I knew even before slushing (though seeing how often others commit this offense has been shocking), is that your story won’t be rejected for one or two glitches. Even some of the best stories we’ve had submitted to us contain a few errors. It’s not a big deal. If the story is good, a missed period or a duplicated word can be overlooked. It’s pretty common knowledge that even when you go through a manuscript with a fine-toothed, multi-reader’d comb, things slip through (see said reader-comment left in, above).

However, this doesn’t mean you should blatantly leave in errors if you see them. Editor’s are patient, but they’re not that patient. A few isolated errors in an otherwise really well written story is no big deal; a fistful in even a tolerable story could mean the difference between a yay or a nay.

 

SLUSH LESSON #3: Surprise Endings

SLUSH LESSON #3: Surprise!: The good idea is at the end!

It was one of the first lessons I learned when I started slushing for APEX last year: surprise endings don’t work. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good O. Henry story—in fact, I’ve got a book gift certificate I might just spend on a collection of them—but O. Henry is I think one of the few authors who can really pull off that style of insane twist at the end. And even then, it’s not a total shock: he’d been hinting about it the whole time. The whole story is about that twist ending. It’s not isolated by itself.

That’s not what I’m seeing in the slush, and it’s not what I’m seeing when I write a surprise ending. What I see is this: the entire first half to first two-thirds of a story is just build-up to the “Ah ha!” moment at the end. This seems particularly prevalent in amateur science fiction, and I’ve seen it more than once in my own attempts at the genre. The problem is that, ultimately, the “Ah ha!” moment at the end is the strongest part of the story. It’s the idea that should have been explored throughout the manuscript, not tucked away at the end.

I can only speak from my own experience on why writers do this, but for me, I think it’s pretty obvious: I’m scared of my own idea. I write surprise endings because I’m intimidated by the idea I’m trying to work with. Either I don’t know how to explore the idea, or I subconsciously don’t feel like I could do it justice: whatever the case, it’s usually because the idea intimidates me.

And judging from the manuscripts I’ve read which have these kinds of “tuck the good idea away at the end” endings, I think that may be the case with a lot of writers. Because their “surprise” ideas are good, even really good, but the rest of the story is just a weak, cardboard prop to get you to the ending. That’s not a story. It’s boring to read, because when I get to the end—if I get to the end, because unfortunately these beginnings tend to defeat themselves–my first reaction is usually “why didn’t they focus on this?!”

So I’m starting to recognize these “surprise endings” in my own writing. They still slip out from time to time, but now I’m starting to get tougher on my revisions: if it’s a surprise ending, cut out everything that comes before it, and dive head-first into the meaty part. It may be hard, it may be scary, but in the end, it’ll make the best story.

 

SLUSH LESSONS: What? Where am I?

I’ve seen it over and over again, not only in my own stories, but in the slush pile: the tale begins as the main character wakes up. Be it in bed, in a suspended-animation tube, in a hospital, in a dark room—wherever—these beginnings are always the same. I know other editors who hate these beginnings with a passion, and I’m starting to see why.

Beginnings are hard, at least for me. Before I find that right voice, or POV, writing the beginning of a story can feel more like trying to slip into a pair of jeans that are too snug, too big, or too orange. Wake-up beginnings are a safe way to start a story because the author gets to wiggle around a bit before really getting to the meat. The character needs to look around (“Where is this story taking place?”), think about their situation (“Why am I telling this story?”/”How am I going to hook the reader?”), and then—usually—remember who they are (“Who is my character?”). It’s a who-what-when-where-why kind of beginning: all the info laid out at your feet.

But when I say “safe”, I mean that these beginnings are safe for the writer. It’s an easy place to start, and a lot of writers do it. Heck, I do it! But it’s a crutch. The stories that tend to stand out in the slush pile are ones in which we step mid-breath into an already unfolding scene. It doesn’t have to be high-action; it can be mid-conversation in a drawing room, so long as it’s interesting conversation. A beginning that steps unapologetically into the middle of things screams confidence and pre-thought: the author knows their world and what is happening so well that they don’t need to break it down for you the way wake-up beginnings do. Their world already exists, things are already happening and have been happening for years: you’re the one just stepping into it now.

And that’s not to say that wake-up beginnings can’t work. I’ve read a few that have worked brilliantly. Just remember, they’re very common, they’re fairly simple to write, and lots of other authors use them. Why not go back to that story you’ve got with the wake-up beginning and try something a little more daring?

(Note: I realize I’m using “their”, “they”, etc. as a word to replace “he” or “she” when referring to the anonymous “author”. I don’t care. Choosing either “he” or “she” annoys me, and for this, as a blog, I’m going to write it how I like. So there! XP)

 

SLUSH LESSONS: Introduction

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been playing around with an odd idea. Some of you may have read the first SLUSH LESSON (9/6/09) about an element of cover letters. Some of you may have even read the original SLUSH LESSON article I wrote for the APEX blog.

Here’s the situation: As an amateur writer myself, I’ve learned a lot just by reading slush. There are times when the lesson is obvious (“Ever heard of capitalization?”), and other times when it’s not (“Oh, crap. I do this, too, don’t I?”). I was chatting with my wonderful mother the other day, and she recommended that I start jotting down some of the things I’ve picked up. It’s all useful information, after all.

I thought about that, and then decided to up it one more: if I was going to benefit from what I was learning, why shouldn’t others? Back before I worked for APEX, I would have loved to know some of this stuff. The editing side of publishing can be so elusive and mysterious, so subjective and intangible from the writer’s side. It really does seem sometimes like you’re shooting in the dark. And when so often rejections come as form letters, it can be hard to even know what K.O.’d a story you thought was great.

So I’m going to attempt to write a continuing number of SLUSH LESSONS. I’ll be keeping them short (no more than 400 words tops, preferably 250), and they’ll be focused on only one issue at a time (when I can manage it). I’d like to write one to two a week–I’ve got a growing list of topics–but it may take me a little while to make it firm. For now, I’ll shoot to post one SLUSH LESSON per week, on Sunday, since all the webcomics usually take Sunday off, and therefore there’s nothing else to mindlessly check the interwebs for! ^_-

And we’ll just see how it goes. I know it’s way too early for this, but if you’re a writer and have a specific question you’d like to know the answer to about submitting, I’d be happy to focus a SLUSH LESSON on answering submission editor questions, provided I have a useful answer. If you do have a question, just post it here in a comment, and I’ll address it as soon as I can. If you’d prefer to use some other method of contact, you can find my email on the “contact” page.

Second SLUSH LESSON will go up this afternoon. ^_^

 

Slush Lessons: Cover Letters 101 – Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot

There are plenty of instructions on how to write a cover letter, but one of the issues I occasionally see is rarely addressed: don’t down-talk yourself (or your story) in a cover letter. From the editor’s seat, if you don’t believe in yourself, why should I? And yet from time to time I see this self-depreciation pop up.

As a writer and a submitter, I’ve often been tempted—out of what I like to think is humility—to down-talk myself. But thankfully, I usually recognize this impulse and stop it before I get carried away. It can’t help your case if the first thing an editor sees is “this story probably isn’t very good” or “you probably won’t want to accept this, but”.

So, for the story’s sake, I’ve learned:

DON’T tell an editor how many times the story has been rejected so far. (That means their publication wasn’t the top of your list, and that you think they publish stuff other people don’t want to pay for.)

DON’T tell an editor how many revisions or drafts this story has been through. (One, it doesn’t matter if you just printed it off or you’ve gone over it for thirty years trying to decide if that comma really should be there; as far as the editor cares, it was perfect the first draft you hammered out. Two, it means the story wasn’t great and has required a lot of work; you don’t want an editor thinking about how much more work it may need.)

DON’T say anything about yourself or the story which involves “I haven’t”, “I’m not”, “this isn’t”, or “you probably won’t.” (Don’t tell an editor what his or her opinion will be, and let them assume you’re a pro.)

….

Note: I’ve also learned that none of these things will get you rejected; after all, the story must stand on its own. But it will likely get you an email (at least if you submit it to me) that suggests you avoid the self-doubt in your cover letter.

 

Interview with Fantastical Visions Editor William H. Horner!

It’s been a busy couple months, what with the release of FANTASTICAL VISIONS IV and the upcoming releases of BLOOD & DEVOTION and VISIONS: SHORT FANTASY & SF from Fantasist Enterprises, but I finally caught up with editor-in-chief William H. Horner.

Me: When you began the Fantastical Visions series, what was the one thing you wanted to accomplish through it? What about now, four books in?

William Horner: I started the FV Short Story Contest in order to give beginning authors an opportunity to place a nice feather in their caps. I still see it as a market for young authors, even though several authors have gone on to exciting careers in writing and still come back and sell stories to me for the FV series. I also see Fantastical Visions as a market in which authors can place unusual fantasy stories that might not sell elsewhere.

In the dedication of Fantastical Visions IV, you dedicate the book to “The First Writes”. What are the First Writes?

The First Writes is a writing critique group that I started in the summer of 2008. We hover around 8-12 members who write in a variety of genres (though there’s a definite SpecFic lean). We meet at the Borders Books & Music in Wilmington. DE. The name comes from Delaware being the First State, and it’s a play on words, considering that authors usually sell 1^st Rights. My fiancée, Michelle, actually came up with the name.

When you select stories for the Fantastical Visions series, what attributes in a story catch your attention and what attributes completely turn you away from reading?

It’s the same for any project I am acquiring for, from themed anthologies, to comic books and novels. The story and characters must be compelling, intriguing, and hold my interest. While polished prose and beautiful writing certainly help, I do feel that the “story” is the most important factor and the hardest thing to “correct” if there is a problem.

I have very little patience for info-dumps, especially at the beginning of a story. If something compelling isn’t happening on that first page, I’ll give you a few more paragraphs to grab me, but I’m not going to wade through boring accounts of some unknown character’s past. I think I’m still rather generous in that sense. I know a lot of editors who will drop a manuscript if the very first sentence is not compelling. I have a feeling that I’ll get tougher as I get older and start to feel that there’s less and less time for all of the projects I want complete.

What is the most challenging aspect of putting together an anthology with a wide range of authors?

There are many challenges that come up along the way. When selecting stories for an anthology, there is a particular art to finding stories that play nice together and create a cohesive mood and feel for the book. I think it’s easier with the themed anthologies. It’s also harder to sell the FV books for this reason. They are too hard to classify.

A related problem comes up when editing. Despite the desire to have a cohesive feel and identity for the book as a whole, one must be able to switch stylistic gears and treat each story as its own work of art.

Being an editor takes up a great deal of energy and time. How do you balance being the editor of FE and making time for your own writing projects?

To be honest, I don’t usually have time to work on my own writing. FE projects have a way of consuming most of my time and creative energy. I have not put much of either into my own writing for several years, and part of me does regret that. I’ve been toying with several ideas for novels and a handful of short stories over the past year or so, and I really want to force myself to make time for them. I love FE. I love editing and mentoring authors, but I don’t want to look back and regret having thrown away my own writing career.

Fantasist Enterprises has gone specifically along the book-route of small press, not diverging off into a magazine or ezine presence as many small press do. Have you found this a better/safer business approach for FE?

I’m not sure if it’s better or safer, but I wanted to focus on books because they tend to be more enduring. Don’t get me wrong, I keep every back issue of the various magazines that I read (storage is going to be an issue!), but magazines don’t lend themselves to sticking around.

There are pluses and minuses to both business models. With ’zines you can sell advertising space in order to offset your costs. I’ve certainly considered moving the Fantastical Visions series in that direction at some point, but I’m not sure we’re prepared to take on ’zine publishing since a regular schedule is imperative to successfully publishing them. At this point, we just don’t have the staff to take on something like that.

Fantasist Enterprises just passed its ten-year anniversary (congratulations!). Where do you see FE at its twentieth anniversary?

I certainly have a number of plans and hopes, but it’s hard to say with any certainty where we will be in another 10 years. I certainly hope that we’re putting out several more titles a year, and that we’ve continued to produce music releases. I’d like to get our comic book line off the ground and maybe start on motion picture and video game projects. I dream big.

And then there are all of these new media projects that I’ve been thinking about. Mobile applications and Web 2.0 games. Publishers and authors are going to have to embrace these new technologies in order to remain relevant and to continue earning paychecks.

What other projects should readers be on the look-out for from Fantasist Enterprises?

Blood and Devotion: Epic Tales of Fantasy should be coming out in a matter of weeks. Visions: Short Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lawrence C. Connolly’s first collection of short fiction will be releasing on September 29^th and late this year we will be publishing an anthology entitled: The Stories in Between with Greg Schauer the owner of Between Books, an independent book store in Claymont, DE.

Next year’s anthologies include Fantastical Visions V, Paper Blossoms, Sharpened Steel, and Blood & Devotion II. 2010 will also see the release of Lawrence C. Connolly’s Vipers, his follow-up to 2008’s multi-award nominated novel, Veins.

What is the single most-important (an arbitrary question, indeed!) piece of advice you think every beginning writer needs to hear?

I’ve had the benefit of receiving a lot of good advice over the years, and I hope I’ve given a lot of it as well. I’d say if I had to distill that wisdom down to one tidbit, I’d say this: pay attention to those who have gone before you. Read a lot. Read with a critical mind. Pay attention to what works and what does not. Learn your genre from reading the masters.

When you are at conferences or reading a book on writing, listen to all of the advice. Process it. Understand it. Then apply what works for you. If something really does not work for your story, discard that particular wisdom for the moment. Just because a “rule” works in one case, doesn’t mean it will work in others.

Will you be making any public appearances over the next few months? If so, where?

We were just at Gen Con in Indianapolis, and next month I’ll be teaching a class on Creating Effective Dialogue at the NJ Writer’s Society Conference on September 12^th in Atlantic City. We might have a presence at Philcon this year, but we haven’t confirmed.

I plan to be busier with conventions next year, especially with World Fantasy being relatively close to home.

Besides editing for FE, and writing, what else do you like to do when you get a moment’s free time?

Free time. . . . What’s that?

I have trained in Tai Chi and Haidong Gumdo, a Korean sword art, but I haven’t been able to attend classes in a few months, which pains me greatly. I also enjoy music and at one point, several years ago, worked on starting a band. I content myself with the all-too rare chance to sing karaoke.

I try to see the occasional movie with my fiancée, when we’re not making plans for our wedding, but we always seem to be working these days. Other than that, we planted a garden this summer, and I’m looking forward to learning more about growing our own food.

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You can find out more about Fantasist Enterprises and its upcoming releases here!