Using the Programme Guide of the World
Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August 2017 (to which I will
be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on,
rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf
copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…
Clearly, I wasn’t
there, but this person was AND took notes! So, many thanks to David Alex Lamb.
His blog is here: http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2017/08/thursday-at-worldcon-75.html
Common Mistakes
from the Slushpile: Slushpile readers share their thoughts on what they have
seen in the slushpiles! Come and learn to avoid the most common mistakes when
submitting a story!
David Thomas Moore:
commissioning editor for Abaddon Books
Laura Pearlman:
author in Shimmer, Flash Fiction Online, Daily Science Fiction
David Pomerico: joined
Harper Voyager US in Spring 2014 as Editorial Director, coming from Spectra,
Del Rey, and 47North
Sam Bradbury: Science
Fiction and Fantasy Editor at Hodder & Stoughton; previously worked for Jo
Fletcher Books
Marcus Gipps: Commissioning
Editor at Gollancz
“There was a lot
on how editors and publishers deal with the slushpile (un-agented submissions),
but also a bit of advice:”
My comment – all
of these folks work with novels, so the applicability to short fiction, while
similar I’m sure, isn’t exactly what I’m about. Hence, my own comments at the
end!
1) Follow the
submission rules on the publisher website, especially with regard to the genre
or kind of submission they publish and the submission format they want (such as
submitting a Word document).
My first thought
is “duh”. Why WOULDN’T you follow an editor’s explicit guidelines? Then again,
my own small experience with reading a bit of the slushpile for a magazine
would bear CONSTANT repeating to would-be authors. The executive editor at SS
was much more forgiving of this than I was. I wanted to read the manuscripts in
any form of Word. People sent it in all sorts of formats that, when they
appeared on my computer, took the shape of all kinds of weirdness. That
automatically made it harder for the author to get past me. The story had to be
totally and awesomely “stupefying” [which means: shock, stun, astound, dumbfound, overwhelm,
stagger, amaze, astonish, take aback, take someone's breath away] as opposed to
“stupefying” [which means: stun, daze, knock unconscious, knock out, lay out,
as in the Harry Potter magic spell]. Very rarely did any stories meet the first
criterion. A truly stupefying number met the latter.
2) The first 3
pages are critical.
In a novel. In a
short story, it’s a fair approximation of an aphorism that a short story writer
has anywhere between the first sentence and the first paragraph to complete
their mission of catching a reader’s attention. Novels have between three pages
and the first chapter. After that, if you haven’t caught your reader, you’re
toast.
3) Good ideas
still require good writing.
Why does this have
to be said? Oh, that’s right, HOW many stories did I read that took a totally
cool idea and proceeded to bore the bejeebers out of me? About a third of them.
Because, quite frankly, the writing that came into SS was two thirds…frankly…awful.
“Oh, that’s
because you’re a minimum pay market! What do you expect?”
Hmmm…based on a
submissions website I use to track my own subs on, I find that the TOP paying
markets…well, let me just share this: my favorite SF market, ANALOG Science
Fiction & Fact: Acceptance rate = 3.61%. Clarkesworld (a PREMIUM market):
Acceptance rate = 1.10%. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction:
Acceptance rate = .61%. Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Acceptance Rate = 4.4%. Any
other you’d like to ask about? I can look it up and tell you. I can guarantee that
these magazines see good ideas coupled with not-so-good writing.
4) Pace and plot
have to be established in the first few pages.
Tougher to do than
it is to write. What’s pace in a story? “…determines how quickly or how slowly
the writer takes a reader through a story, explains Writer's Digest. The story
itself determines the pace of the story. It relies on the combination of mood
and emotion as these elements play out in the dialogue, setting and action.” (https://penandthepad.com/narrative-pace-3907.html).
How about plot? Most simply it’s what happens in your story. In traditional
storytelling, the plot is linear. In Speculative Fiction? Hmmm…depends on what
kind of story you’re trying to tell! Michael F. Flynn’s novel EIFELHEIM takes
place in the present and in 14th Century Germany, flipping back and
forth between the two times; though within each TIME, the story is linear.
5) Tailor your cover
letter to the publisher.
Again: “Duh.”
6) Avoid attacking
other authors.
“Double duh.” If
you go after some author (who is probably published), what’s the editor think
is going to happen if they publish you and you don’t like something that
happens? I wouldn’t say “avoid attacking authors”; I would say. “NEVER attack
authors.”
7) You don’t need
a big social media presence to submit. [“(at least to the panelists; I`ve heard
other editors say they always check social media). One contradicted an agent I
heard, saying you don’t need to compare your work to the market (the editor can
do that better).”]
This is
interesting and to tell you the truth, not something I can comment on with
surety. What I CAN say is that when I start this blog almost eight years ago, I
had roughly a thousand site visits per month. Now, taking into account the
absurd hits by spambots, I average roughly double that. Some months more, a few
less. I don’t have a huge platform, but I don’t have a novel to build a fan
base. I have short stories, an ancient (1991 publication date) collection of
children’s sermons, and a few other odds and ends. My platform pretty much
consists of my friends and curious students from Young Author’s Conferences and
my Writing to Get Published classes, and places I have taught in over the past
ten years.
That’s what I’d
say I gathered from the brief overview provided by the website
I’ve been a
Slushpile reader for several years, on-and-off, for STUPEFYING STORIES (http://stupefyingstories.com/). Here
are a couple of things I would share from that experience:
- SOMETHING has to happen in a story!
- Whatever the character was doing had to make sense.
- I have to somehow connect with a character.
- The story has to have clearly important events.
- Write a story that will “stick in my mind”.
Anything else
anyone wants to add? Otherwise, have a great day!
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