Short story, Next Novel and Updates, Oh my!

I'm still working on rewriting the short story for the experiment but I'll probably be done today and submit the story to another zine. Necrotic Tissue is next on my list. We'll see how that goes.

I'm getting closer to being finished editing and polishing the manuscript for my next novel and hope to start sending out query letters by the end of May. Ooh, I can't wait. Although on one hand, I am a tad nervous about offering this manuscript for the mass-market, as in traditional publishing. On the other hand, I'm actually quite excited. This will be a whole new level for me and my writing. But after non-traditionally publishing a couple of novels and short stories, I just feel ready. I'm going for it :D

It occured to me this morning that it completely slipped my mind to post a quote on my website from the Bitten by Books review of Eden Fell. *slaps forehead* So I'll get on that today.

Busy bee, me.

Alas, Arkham Tales, I hardly knew thee

This is a continuation of my short story experiment. The How to Publish a Short Story.

I just received an email from the editor of Arkham Tales. They are currently experiencing a high volume of submissions and didn't feel they could accept my short story. Because of the high volume and the fact they can only accept a max of 12 stories per issue, they have to be very selective. Having worked in publishing, I completely understand.

I thanked the editor for his response and because he encouraged submitting more work in the future, I asked for the criteria for accepting a story. Hopefully I'll hear back soon. It would give me a lot to learn from.

To be honest, I don't feel rejected. And I'm actually disappointed I don't feel that way, haha. I mean, I'm glad he didn't say the story was horrible and don't ever contact us again, or anything like that. It was a nice enough email and quite professional. I have no problems with that. It just comes with the territory.

And to be more honest, to me, the fact they responded even though the story was not accepted, appears very professional. Lack of any contact whatsoever is a sign of unprofessionalism. Oh, I know  some would argue with that, but this is based on my own experience working with both professionals and non-professionals.

So, moving on with the experiment. I'm now looking into other zines for horror stories. The next one on my list specifies in their submission guidelines that 1st person POV is not readily accepted. I find that very interesting considering my story is in 1st person and I can't help but wonder if it's possible that was a strike against the story. I'm just theorizing of course, just guessing.

I'm currently writing another version of the story in 3rd person POV in order to continue submitting. It's a lesson learned for me. For the future, I think I'll write at least two versions of a story, tailored per zine, and hopefully increase my chances of acceptance.

In conclusion, I'm not giving up and will keep trying :)

I have a new goal

Recently, authors at Damnation Books have been given the opportunity to maybe of their work reviewed in Morpheus Tales, a UK zine. I submitted Eden Fell and I'm just waiting to hear back.

I was checking out the website and liked what I saw in their publications. And more importantly, I was reminded of the short story I planned to write for November (which I'm still working on). Their guidelines state a max of 3000 words. To be honest, I had been feeling like I set the standard too high for this short story, making it a goal of 6000 words. It really is a short story.

So this is my new goal since I have been having more luck with UK zines for some reason.

Goal: Finish short story with a max of 3000 words.

I already have a decent amount written. Hopefully it won't take long. It would be a nice Christmas present to myself.

How to Publish a Short Story - Day 4

*yawns*

Saturday morning. I'm long overdue for an update... so here's an update ;)

After doing some research, talking to people and looking at pictures... I was still iffy. So I asked a friend for a second opinion. I find it very useful to have at least a few friends I can trust with these things. It does no good if I go around blabbing to everyone, "I have this story, I like the idea a lot, but I'm not sure about a few things." Because frankly, everyone is a critic and too many aren't very good at it. I have no idea why constructive criticism is such a foreign concept to some people. That type of know-it-all attitude is such a downer.

I digress.

I have my second opinion now and I'm feeling much more sure about this story. At this point, I could do more research but sometimes it gets to a point where that's just overkill. It's time to just sit down and write. We'll see how this goes.

Wish me luck!

How to Publish a Short Story - Day 3

I've been sufficiently distracted by everything that needed to be done for my website. Switching to a new webhost took a bit more effort that I planned. But! It's all up and running now, with an SSL sertificate and everything. I'm very happy with my decision to go with this webhost :)

Now, back to the story!

Day 3

I'm now at the research phase. Fortunately, I've been to northern California a number of times. In regards to setting and overall atmosphere, I find northern CA isn't much different than southern BC. In fact, they even have the same type of trees!

Which leads me to the main thing I need to research in order to get started. It will be very important to describe redwood trees in this story. Some of you might be thinking at this point, wait! Lightbulbs, redwood trees, horror story... WTF?

I know, it seems all scattered and unrelated. For now. I'll have to ask everyone to just trust me on this one :)

Now, if anyone has stories involving northern California, feel free to post away :)

How to Publish a Short Story - Day 2

Day 2, 6pm

After getting a lot of work and chores done, then finishing dinner, I'm finally sitting down to work on this. The main thing for me is to create the atmosphere, or setting if you will. The most important scene takes place in a small town tavern. So I went hunting through Google images for inspiration. Of course, I've always had a specific image in mind and didn't expect to find the exact same thing, but a little inspiration always helps.

And... holy crap I found the EXACT image! I kid you not. The photo below is precisely what I've always envisioned.

I love those light bulbs, this is perfect. The light bulbs will be very important in the story. Trust me on that one.

Okay, now that I have the perfect image in mind, I can get to work on research. Since this will be highly fictionalized, I wouldn't need to do that much research. But still, I like things to be as plausible as possible. Plus, I've traveled through northern California so I can use a lot from memory.

I like doing research. I'm a dork, I freely admit it *grins*

How to Publish a Short Story - Day 1

As per my announcement in October, I'm devoting the month of November to writing and reworking a short story. Everyone is invited to interact while I'm on this journey.


DAY 1 – November 1st, 7pm

I have done absolutely nothing today. I'm still recovering from Halloween :-D

So, let's at least get organized.

Short Story – Insert Clever Working Title Here

Characters

Protagonist: Male, 20 years old

Antagonist: His parents (they're not what they seem)

Secondary characters: His girlfriend, two siblings, bar patrons

Genre: Horror

Sub-genres/themes: Post-apocalypse, mystery, paranormal

Tense and perspective: First POV, past tense

Setting: Northern California, mainly small towns, pit stops

Overall feel: Fire (This is probably something that won't make sense to anyone but me, I just like to keep in mind some kind of overall feel to the story).

Goal: Complete short story by the end of November, minimum 6000 words

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All right, there we have it, the bare skeleton for the story and all I need to get started. Often I don't need much and I already have more than enough.

Let's get these typing fingers started. I'll post my progress tomorrow. Wish me luck!