Tag: Writers of the Future

A Brief Book Blog Post

April 6th, 2020

So a big drumroll please, because tomorrow, Writers of the Future Vol. 36 is released!

And somehow I made it onto the advanced reader list for one of the biggest science fiction and fantasy anthologies of the year.

One does not turn down that opportunity, however madcap the schedule. So in between the usual life stuff, I’ve been spending my week with more friendly neighborhood automatons, time travelers with vicious intent, and fluffy deaths than usual.

By slightly, at least.

For those of you not familiar with the science fiction and fantasy writing contest world, please feel free to check out the official Writers of the Future blog and be amazed…

I’m planning on a blog post ranting about each of the stories in at least a little detail (without spoilers), but it doesn’t look like that will happen tonight…somebody has a paper to write, even if all the goblins of a greenwood are sitting in a line on her desk, eating crumpets and drinking tea.

And since I’ve been most politely forbidden from sharing any of the other awesome artwork included in the volume until the release, do please take an extra minute to notice the cover art at the beginning of the post. It’s just a sample of the glorious color and loveliness inside.

So happy early birthday to the book!

More to come soon!

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Overthinking Fantasy

March 27th, 2020

After submitting a short story, I usually go through a couple days of an emotional slump. I’ve never figured out if this is because of the stress I don’t realize I’m putting on myself in submitting work, the weird sleep habits of peak writing time at 1:00 a.m., or just because I’m lonely for the characters I’ve declared “finished for a time.”

Probably the last one.

Whatever the cause, the best way out is usually to read. Not read anything, but read something really good. Something I can fall in love with. Get my head out of my personal writing clouds and into someone else’s.

So I read myself a bedtime story. Something not too long, but deep enough to grab my attention and cheer me up.

What book did I choose for this challenge? The L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume IX.

That’s right, the 1993 anthology. A book that had to go through two owners, a local bookstore, and then the Epic Library Sale before getting to me. A paperback with a life long and full enough that its pages are a light shade of brown.

I cracked it open. Read the first four lines of Elizabeth E. Wein’s story “Fire.” I knew I was in for a treat just from that. But the whole thing…

…was quite frankly gorgeous.

Try a story about the captive son of King Arthur with perfect detail and research. Emotionally charged.

And drop-dead simple.

No kidding–when I write, I feel as if I have five plot points buzzing around my head like demented sugar plum sprites all the time. Sometimes I barely remember all the threads.

Not her story. It was just beautiful.

And without a single drop of a real magic system.

This was perhaps the most shocking part. I spent enough time frankly stalking the coordinating judge’s website of writing tips, and one thing was made abundantly clear:

If there is no magic, it’s not fantasy. Go write somewhere else.

Except for Elizabeth E. Wein, apparently. To be fair, she really didn’t fall into the other category of “badly researched historical fiction.” Nobody reading it could say that.

So?

Maybe I’ve been overthinking all this writing again. Maybe the only rule really is write. Write the best story, and let everything else work itself out.

Maybe it’s not as hard to make words fly as I would think.
Submitting (Another) Short Story

March 25th, 2020

Spent the dawning weeks of spring typing like a madwoman (yes, between 11:00 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. for the most part, really don’t try that at home). The result? One completed science fiction short story ready for submission to the internationally renowned and equally terrifying Writers of the Future contest.

Probably.

Current track record with this contest?

Outright Rejected Stories: 3

Honorable Mention: 1

Silver Honorable Mention: 1

Opportunities Remaining: unlimited.

I don’t give up easily. But because my stories are usually part of something much, much larger, I’ve got a lot of allusions and backstory stored in my head nobody reading it knows.

It makes it difficult at times to know a good story from a bad one. That and the usual lack of sleep.

Deep fears about this story: It’s too long, it’s too confusing, the sci-fi aspect is too soft, I’m literally just hitting all the tropes of the genre and still running, I have successfully created the first viable work that is 98% backstory, 2% action, and the last story I submitted was rejected anyway, so they’re probably not going to like this one any better–chocolate, please?

In other words, I’m feeling about like usual.

What I did rediscover this time around is that I’m probably going to be a very good novelist. This short story is drawn from a small part of my 2019 NaNoWriMo project. So all I really had to do was tighten up the writing, finish the ending, fill in some plot holes, and cut it down to a whopping 17,000 words. Easy, right?

Nooooooo.

I cut so many things out! I had 17,000 words and it wasn’t nearly enough space. Best friend’s love interest? Almost entirely deleted. Dramatic sequence at final conflict? Forget it. Every scene longer than a page? Squished into two paragraphs. The opening sneeze? Vanished entirely.

I yearn for the day I am an established author and can gleefully move on to novels as expansive as I like.

On the other hand…

Maybe this is a good one. Maybe my characters’ voices are as strong as I think they are. Maybe they’ll sing out over the rest and make it one worth remembering.

Maybe it’s a story that will make the reader fall in love.

We’ll see.

Just as soon as I get myself to hit submit.
Pitchapalooza!/Writing Update

March 14th, 2020

Today was the day!

Twenty books randomly chosen from National November Writing Month participants were pitched to The Book Doctors. In a live video stream, those twenty lucky pitches are reviewed, and two of those have a chance to be sent to an official publisher.

Was I ready for this?

Was I waiting two hours early for the video to go live?

Erm…yeah. Actually, probably earlier than that.

Did the pitch for my messy little collection of fantasy short stories get randomly picked for review?

Well…no. Not this time. That’s how random odds go.

(small sigh).

But I did get to enjoy the reaction of someone else whose pitch got picked in live chat (congratulations, everybody!). The critiques offered were useful for everyone, regardless of whose pitch it was–and the Book Doctors were very sensitive and kind about all the books.

And if we’re totally honest…I wasn’t super worried about it. The pitch was something I sent off for fun.

Because if it had actually won, right now I’d be staring at the bare bone structure I dared to call a novel and start charging into the battlefield of editing with the war cry of not ready not ready not ready!

Wasn’t time for that book yet. Especially since my attention writing-wise is elsewhere aat the moment. And that’s just fine.

What am I doing now?

Writing. Scribbling away at my 410,000 word work-in-progress. Sometimes feeling like I’m actually making progress. Waiting for my Writers of the Future results to come this month. Feeling like a lazy cat curled up in my reading nook.

It’s not a bad way to spend a day.

Happy reading (and writing) all!

Tag: Writers of the Future

A Brief Book Blog Post

Overthinking Fantasy

Submitting (Another) Short Story

Pitchapalooza!/Writing Update