I was commissioned to write two one-minute plays.
That requires word economy.
Hint Fiction also required maximum value from each word.
Very different writing muscles from novels, but useful ones to build.
July is a busy month.
Showing posts with label Hint Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hint Fiction. Show all posts
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Path to Publication, Part VII: Buckling Down and Working
So, as I approached the end of 2009, I had a "polished" 70K draft of Thorn of Dentonhill that I was querying. I had a rough draft of Holver Alley Crew. I still had a delusion that any given project I was working on, I would be able to finish "next month". I had now gone to the ArmadilloCon Writers' Workshop two more times, using the opening chapters of those two projects.
In 2008, the opening chapter of Thorn prompted the pro writer I worked with to tell me, "You're really close with this."
In 2009, the opening chapter of Holver Alley prompted an editor from Tor to tell me, "You have a lot of real talent." Yeah, I floated on that for a while.
Queries for Thorn were getting some hits, but nothing sticking.
And I sold a short story. A REALLY short story. Specifically, to the Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction, and my story was only 21 words long. But it was a sale, in a real book that was going to be in bookstores.
And then I got an email from the man who would, eventually, become my agent. He had read Thorn, and loved it, BUT at 70K, it was too short to sell. I needed to beef it up to the 90-100K zone. You know, novel length. Something I had missed in my process.
I wonder how many agents quickly dismissed my query letter because of the word count.
So, I dove back into Thorn.
IF I HAD SELF-PUBLISHED AT THIS POINT: It would have been a welter-weight version of Thorn, which might have gotten some attention on the Amazon self-pubbed Kindle market. But it wouldn't be the stronger, better book that sold now. And it certainly wouldn't have benefited from the editorial insight that it's getting before being released. That is a priceless benefit.
BUT DID I LEARN ANYTHING BY NOW?: You mean, besides the "novels really should be closer to 100K?" But that was crucial to learn, because I had gotten the idea in my head that 70K was good enough. Also, it taught me something crucial about editing, that it's possible to add depth without sacrificing pacing. Adding more story, muscle and bone, rather than just padding.
In 2008, the opening chapter of Thorn prompted the pro writer I worked with to tell me, "You're really close with this."
In 2009, the opening chapter of Holver Alley prompted an editor from Tor to tell me, "You have a lot of real talent." Yeah, I floated on that for a while.
Queries for Thorn were getting some hits, but nothing sticking.
And I sold a short story. A REALLY short story. Specifically, to the Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction, and my story was only 21 words long. But it was a sale, in a real book that was going to be in bookstores.
And then I got an email from the man who would, eventually, become my agent. He had read Thorn, and loved it, BUT at 70K, it was too short to sell. I needed to beef it up to the 90-100K zone. You know, novel length. Something I had missed in my process.
I wonder how many agents quickly dismissed my query letter because of the word count.
So, I dove back into Thorn.
IF I HAD SELF-PUBLISHED AT THIS POINT: It would have been a welter-weight version of Thorn, which might have gotten some attention on the Amazon self-pubbed Kindle market. But it wouldn't be the stronger, better book that sold now. And it certainly wouldn't have benefited from the editorial insight that it's getting before being released. That is a priceless benefit.
BUT DID I LEARN ANYTHING BY NOW?: You mean, besides the "novels really should be closer to 100K?" But that was crucial to learn, because I had gotten the idea in my head that 70K was good enough. Also, it taught me something crucial about editing, that it's possible to add depth without sacrificing pacing. Adding more story, muscle and bone, rather than just padding.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Long Journey of the Writer
My thirties are coming to a close, officially this Sunday. So, needless to say, I'm getting a little introspective. But when I think about what my thirties were to me, in the big picture, it was about the process of becoming a novelist.
I mean, I had been writing before that, of course. In my twenties I had written a few plays, and made several false starts on novels, done a lot of worldbuilding work... but it was all still just dabbling.
So, we come to 2003. Oddly enough, what flipped the switch in 2003 was NaNoWriMo. Now, as I've said before, NaNoWriMo is a great way to learn how to write a novel, but it's not a good way to get a novel written. NaNoWriMo, is, in essence, your Trunk Novel Workshop. And for me, in 2003, it was Fifty Year War. Of course, I didn't realize that at the time. One never realizes they're writing a trunk novel when they're writing it.
I "finished" Fifty Year War by the end of 2003, if you can call a 57,000 word plotless meander with no protagonist a finished novel. I kept working on drafts of it, trying to send it out, somewhat clueless to its pointlessness. Then in 2004 I tried another novel- a non-genre one called Long Night of the Pieman. This didn't really come together at all.
In 2005 I tried my first (failed) attempt at USS Banshee, which was a mess. Mostly because this attempt to write it was semi-public, in that I was posting 3-5K chunks online every week, like it was a serial. While that worked nicely on a motivational level, it again was a failure in terms of actually writing something good. Over the years, I've kept coming back to that space-opera verse, trying to find the story... and I think I finally have. But, along the way, everything except the main character and, tangentially, the name of the ship has been scuttled. It's a completely different story than the first one I was doing. And that's good, because again: plotless meander.
Also in 2005 I took my first shot at Crown of Druthal, which was, I was convinced at the time, going to be the Real Deal. I even took the fist chapter of Crown to the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop, my first time attending it. It was shredded. At the time, I was all, "What do these people know?", thinking they were fools. In retrospect, they were right on the money, but I wasn't in a place to hear that at the time.
2006 didn't see much progress in any of these projects-- all of them, as well as a few other vague ideas, didn't ever coalesce into anything. Frankly, it was a terrible year for me as a writer. Nothing was coming together. Not coincidentally, my day job at the time utterly depressed me, and my health and weight were probably at the worst in my life.
In 2007, I turned that around: I left that job, dropped 35 pounds, and put my nose to the grindstone, finishing the draft of Crown. I also came up with the initial ideas that would evolve into Thorn of Dentonhill, Holver Alley Crew, Maradaine Constabulary and Way of the Shield.
In 2008, I worked on a new draft of Crown, and started attending SlugTribe meetings, bringing chapters of Crown with me. I also wrote the first draft of Thorn, the first chapter of which I brought to ArmadilloCon. This was the year when things started coming together.
In '09, I rewrote Thorn and wrote the first draft of Holver Alley. I also started shopping Thorn to agents. Now, one thing to note: this draft of Thorn was 70,000 words long. I didn't think this was a problem, though most of my queries were getting form rejected or ignored.
But then there was one, at the end of the year-- an agent who said, in essence: I love this, but I can't sell it at this length. Rewrite it to 90K and get back to me.
So 2010 was, in no small part, about adding 20,000 words to a novel that was already pretty tight, as well as cleaning up Holver Alley to a respectable draft. I also wrote My Name Is Avenger Girl, which I sold to Paige Ewing's The Protectors, as well as selling my piece to the Hint Fiction anthology. I also started the rough draft of Maradaine Constabulary.
In 2011, that same agent who advised me on Thorn loved the re-write, and agreed to represent me. I then sent him Holver Alley as well, while getting the rough draft of Constabulary finished. I also started being on the Teacher's side of the ArmadilloCon Writers' Workshop.
Bringing us to last year. Finished Constabulary and send it to the agent. Started the rough draft of Way of the Shield. Did another round of re-writes on Thorn, Holver Alley and Constabulary by my agent's request, which also helped me strengthen the worldbuilding ties between them all. Wrote and sold Jump the Black to Rayguns Over Texas. OK, technically, the Rayguns sale came in on January 1st. Making a great start to 2013.
So where will 2013-- and with it my forties-- take me? With three novels out there shopping, and a fourth one (and fifth, really) in process... I hopeful that this year will be a Big Year for me as a writer.
Cross your fingers.
I mean, I had been writing before that, of course. In my twenties I had written a few plays, and made several false starts on novels, done a lot of worldbuilding work... but it was all still just dabbling.
So, we come to 2003. Oddly enough, what flipped the switch in 2003 was NaNoWriMo. Now, as I've said before, NaNoWriMo is a great way to learn how to write a novel, but it's not a good way to get a novel written. NaNoWriMo, is, in essence, your Trunk Novel Workshop. And for me, in 2003, it was Fifty Year War. Of course, I didn't realize that at the time. One never realizes they're writing a trunk novel when they're writing it.
I "finished" Fifty Year War by the end of 2003, if you can call a 57,000 word plotless meander with no protagonist a finished novel. I kept working on drafts of it, trying to send it out, somewhat clueless to its pointlessness. Then in 2004 I tried another novel- a non-genre one called Long Night of the Pieman. This didn't really come together at all.
In 2005 I tried my first (failed) attempt at USS Banshee, which was a mess. Mostly because this attempt to write it was semi-public, in that I was posting 3-5K chunks online every week, like it was a serial. While that worked nicely on a motivational level, it again was a failure in terms of actually writing something good. Over the years, I've kept coming back to that space-opera verse, trying to find the story... and I think I finally have. But, along the way, everything except the main character and, tangentially, the name of the ship has been scuttled. It's a completely different story than the first one I was doing. And that's good, because again: plotless meander.
Also in 2005 I took my first shot at Crown of Druthal, which was, I was convinced at the time, going to be the Real Deal. I even took the fist chapter of Crown to the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop, my first time attending it. It was shredded. At the time, I was all, "What do these people know?", thinking they were fools. In retrospect, they were right on the money, but I wasn't in a place to hear that at the time.
2006 didn't see much progress in any of these projects-- all of them, as well as a few other vague ideas, didn't ever coalesce into anything. Frankly, it was a terrible year for me as a writer. Nothing was coming together. Not coincidentally, my day job at the time utterly depressed me, and my health and weight were probably at the worst in my life.
In 2007, I turned that around: I left that job, dropped 35 pounds, and put my nose to the grindstone, finishing the draft of Crown. I also came up with the initial ideas that would evolve into Thorn of Dentonhill, Holver Alley Crew, Maradaine Constabulary and Way of the Shield.
In 2008, I worked on a new draft of Crown, and started attending SlugTribe meetings, bringing chapters of Crown with me. I also wrote the first draft of Thorn, the first chapter of which I brought to ArmadilloCon. This was the year when things started coming together.
In '09, I rewrote Thorn and wrote the first draft of Holver Alley. I also started shopping Thorn to agents. Now, one thing to note: this draft of Thorn was 70,000 words long. I didn't think this was a problem, though most of my queries were getting form rejected or ignored.
But then there was one, at the end of the year-- an agent who said, in essence: I love this, but I can't sell it at this length. Rewrite it to 90K and get back to me.
So 2010 was, in no small part, about adding 20,000 words to a novel that was already pretty tight, as well as cleaning up Holver Alley to a respectable draft. I also wrote My Name Is Avenger Girl, which I sold to Paige Ewing's The Protectors, as well as selling my piece to the Hint Fiction anthology. I also started the rough draft of Maradaine Constabulary.
In 2011, that same agent who advised me on Thorn loved the re-write, and agreed to represent me. I then sent him Holver Alley as well, while getting the rough draft of Constabulary finished. I also started being on the Teacher's side of the ArmadilloCon Writers' Workshop.
Bringing us to last year. Finished Constabulary and send it to the agent. Started the rough draft of Way of the Shield. Did another round of re-writes on Thorn, Holver Alley and Constabulary by my agent's request, which also helped me strengthen the worldbuilding ties between them all. Wrote and sold Jump the Black to Rayguns Over Texas. OK, technically, the Rayguns sale came in on January 1st. Making a great start to 2013.
So where will 2013-- and with it my forties-- take me? With three novels out there shopping, and a fourth one (and fifth, really) in process... I hopeful that this year will be a Big Year for me as a writer.
Cross your fingers.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
A less binary look at Genre Fiction Quality
Earlier this week, Strange Horizons reviewed Michael J. Sullivan's Thief of Swords, in which the reviewer finds the book quite wanting. Her review is pointed and barbed, though entertainingly so. It's the kind of negative review that, I have to admit, I enjoy reading. It is scathing, but it makes its points and backs them up with examples. I've not read Sullivan's work yet, so I cannot comment on the review's accuracy (or, more accurately, how my opinion would differ from the reviewer's), but my gut tells me that I would probably agree with her.* Especially with her point of incorrect usage of Shakespearian style English, where it appears the author had a character speak with "thou", "methink" and "would'st" without much regard to how the grammar of Early Modern English actually works. But that's neither here nor there.
What is here and there is the bit of online firestorm this review sparked. The reviewer was accused of being "mean" and "unprofessional". There was speculation of her motivation in writing a review, even to the point of wondering why Strange Horizons should even publish a review of this book. (This puzzles me, since reviewing genre lit, movies and television is pretty much what Strange Horizons does.) But one of the recurrent points that really jumped out at me was the accusation that the reviewer was too "literary minded", and thus she couldn't appreciate what Thief of Swords is supposed to be: a fun, pulpy romp. The term "ivory tower" is even bandied about.
Now, I'll admit I have read some Strange Horizon reviews with an air of haughtiness to them, but on the whole, even when I don't agree, I find them intelligent and well-thought, showing me a perspective I hadn't considered. But I won't get into that. I won't even get into the personal attacks made on the reviewer and her motivations for writing it, which had some uncomfortable hints of misogyny to them. Rather, I'd like to address the notion that a genre novel can be excused of being well-written if it's a fun, pulpy romp.
The underlying idea here is that there's only one axis to look at: at one end of the line, you have more literary genre novels (let's put, say, Michael Chabon's Cavalier and Clay as an example), and at the other hand you have the pulpy genre novels. The false argument is that someone who likes books at one end of the line simply can't appreciate books at the other for what they are. There's no looking at the perpendicular axis of skill and craft: how well-written or poorly-written the books are, be they literary or pulp.
To take my analogy to food, it's not just a choice of haute cuisine or burgers and fries. Haute cuisine can be a truly well-crafted, elegant dish whose flavors you savor for years to come, or it can be a busy, over-dressed plate whose presentation is designed to cover the fact that the food itself is nothing special. Burgers and fries can be McDonalds Value Meal, or it can a fresh-ground, fire-grilled grass-fed beef patty served with hand-cut fries. Skill and craft matter, and I see no value in excusing sloppy writing and poor research under the banner of, "It's just supposed to be pulpy fun!"
In other news, since we're speaking of reviews, I found** this review of Hint Fiction which specifically mentions (and praises) my story. So that's pretty cool.
---
*- Strange Horizons, I discovered, also had a review of my current read, Douglas Hulick's Among Thieves, and while I haven't finished, I'm finding that I am so far agreeing with the negative points the reviewer raised.
**- Yes, I was Googling my own name. Like you don't.
What is here and there is the bit of online firestorm this review sparked. The reviewer was accused of being "mean" and "unprofessional". There was speculation of her motivation in writing a review, even to the point of wondering why Strange Horizons should even publish a review of this book. (This puzzles me, since reviewing genre lit, movies and television is pretty much what Strange Horizons does.) But one of the recurrent points that really jumped out at me was the accusation that the reviewer was too "literary minded", and thus she couldn't appreciate what Thief of Swords is supposed to be: a fun, pulpy romp. The term "ivory tower" is even bandied about.
Now, I'll admit I have read some Strange Horizon reviews with an air of haughtiness to them, but on the whole, even when I don't agree, I find them intelligent and well-thought, showing me a perspective I hadn't considered. But I won't get into that. I won't even get into the personal attacks made on the reviewer and her motivations for writing it, which had some uncomfortable hints of misogyny to them. Rather, I'd like to address the notion that a genre novel can be excused of being well-written if it's a fun, pulpy romp.
The underlying idea here is that there's only one axis to look at: at one end of the line, you have more literary genre novels (let's put, say, Michael Chabon's Cavalier and Clay as an example), and at the other hand you have the pulpy genre novels. The false argument is that someone who likes books at one end of the line simply can't appreciate books at the other for what they are. There's no looking at the perpendicular axis of skill and craft: how well-written or poorly-written the books are, be they literary or pulp.
To take my analogy to food, it's not just a choice of haute cuisine or burgers and fries. Haute cuisine can be a truly well-crafted, elegant dish whose flavors you savor for years to come, or it can be a busy, over-dressed plate whose presentation is designed to cover the fact that the food itself is nothing special. Burgers and fries can be McDonalds Value Meal, or it can a fresh-ground, fire-grilled grass-fed beef patty served with hand-cut fries. Skill and craft matter, and I see no value in excusing sloppy writing and poor research under the banner of, "It's just supposed to be pulpy fun!"
In other news, since we're speaking of reviews, I found** this review of Hint Fiction which specifically mentions (and praises) my story. So that's pretty cool.
---
*- Strange Horizons, I discovered, also had a review of my current read, Douglas Hulick's Among Thieves, and while I haven't finished, I'm finding that I am so far agreeing with the negative points the reviewer raised.
**- Yes, I was Googling my own name. Like you don't.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Hint Fiction
Hint Fiction (aka the Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction) is now out, and it has so far gotten pretty good press and publicity, including The New Yorker and NPR. There has been, of course, some degree of negative reviews. This is to be expected. Most of these challenge the notion that hyper-short fiction-- like Hint Fiction's 25-words-or-less rule-- has any real value at all. Of course, I disagree with this notion, and not just out of my own self-interest with regard to Hint Fiction.
I think my main contention is the idea that hyper-short fiction is somehow a symptom of the modern twittering-and-texting short-attention-span society. I agree that has created a platform that allowed hyper-short fiction to thrive, but I disagree that the stories that emerge from it are somehow weaker for it. Most of the Hint Fiction stories in the anthology are fantastic examples of tight, focused writing. These aren't just a couple strong sentences; they're sucker-punches of prose. I'm actually quite astounded to be included amongst them.
Check out Hint Fiction on Amazon.
I think my main contention is the idea that hyper-short fiction is somehow a symptom of the modern twittering-and-texting short-attention-span society. I agree that has created a platform that allowed hyper-short fiction to thrive, but I disagree that the stories that emerge from it are somehow weaker for it. Most of the Hint Fiction stories in the anthology are fantastic examples of tight, focused writing. These aren't just a couple strong sentences; they're sucker-punches of prose. I'm actually quite astounded to be included amongst them.
Check out Hint Fiction on Amazon.
Monday, April 5, 2010
The New Plan
About six months ago, I announced I would attempt something crazy. Namely, that I would write three rough drafts of three novels in six months. Those six months ended last Wednesday, and I did not meet that goal. It was an unreasonable goal, after all.
I did meet other goals, like doing another re-write of Thorn of Dentonhill, and finishing a rough draft of the script for Triple Cross.
So, what's next? For one, I want to finish the rough draft of Maradaine Constabulary. My goal for that is May 15th. To that end, I've come up with a new writing plan:
No Sleep Until 1000.
It's very simple. Every day, I write a thousand words. If I write more, great, but every day, it's got to be a thousand. That's for just MCI. Plus I need to work the second draft of Holver Alley Crew. And a short story for an anthology.
In other news: Hint Fiction now has a cover.
Now back to writing.
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