In September of 2007, I started this blog
with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how
little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak
at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the
writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran,
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together they
write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors, publishers,
columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough publications
now that I can share some of the things I did “right” and I’m busy sharing that
with you.
While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make
enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the professional
writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write.
When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point
where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above
will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales.
Faulkner
once wrote, “The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.” And Tea
Obreht thought that “The best fiction stays with you and changes you.” These are
my goals…
As you can see
above, it took me two years to sell this story. I think there were several
reasons, but let’s start with my summer vacation in August of 2018…
Yeah, seems
unlikely, I know. So, let’s go even farther back in time to here:
This illustration
was for John Brunner’s March 1973 short story, “Who Steals My Purse”. It’s
about repurposing IBMs to drop tools, seeds, and other necessities onto an unnamed
(read “Viet Nam”) southeast Asian country fighting a US/Soviet Union-backed
war. Brunner looked at the effect of a massive humanitarian effort on the “little
guy”. It was not nice…
My son, daughter-in-law,
and grandkids took me all over South Korea, visiting dozens of museums and
battlefield memorials, and history displays. I absorbed it and when I returned,
decided to set up a series of stories about the future of the South Korean
space program. The first story I sold was “Kamsahamnida, America”. (I’ll
details the writing and selling of that one sometime in the future.) When I returned
from South Korea, I did a huge amount reading about South and North Korea and
their relationship with each other.
I read Brunner’s
story, took notes, and then began the story that started as “What the Cockroach
Said”, integrating a new technology of paper robots (https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/02/army-has-made-robot-cockroach/125766/)
and an message to a North Korean woman in a work camp whose father had
displeased the ruler of the Hermit Kingdom. It began:
“Baek Pi Ji-woo stepped
from railroad tie to railroad tie, bundled in her well-worn, quilted Russian jacket,
and heavy boots with hard soles. Frigid winds lashed around her. Pausing, she
looked up to the distant, pine wrapped, snow blown mountains. She could turn off
the rail, walk away, to disappear into the forest. She would tire eventually, lie
down, fall asleep in the snow, and never wake.
“Exiled because
her father had been executed, a fierce tiger to the end, proud to plot the
overthrow of the dictator Kim Jong-Un.”
When she returns
to her apartment, she finds a cockroach that speaks to her in too-formal Korean
with a southern accent. Shortly, she’s visited by a Russian gecko, then a
Chinese wasp. All offer her enticements to either carry a message, rebel
against the Kim Dynasty, or resist revolution, and maintain the status quo. Of
course, the main character does what she wants to: follow in the steps of her
father.
I thought the
idea was interesting and I’d never seen it in my reading, so the writing went
smoothly (I wrote it in he middle of a Minnesota winter; the Korean peninsula
experiences similar weather as we are on the 45th Parallel and
Pyongyang is on the 35th…) and I polished it and sent it to a
magazine known for taking chances – The Magazine of Fantasy & Science
Fiction. It was bounced by CC Finaly, but with “…it didn’t win me…” which is,
to all who know these kinds of things, one step below acceptance!
That’s why when I
sent it to Clarkesworld…and Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, Asimov’s,
Compelling SF, Apex, If This Goes On Anthology, Metaphorosis, Deep Magic,
Diabolical Plots, and Uncanny…I was startled that it didn’t sell; not because I’m
such a great writer but because it was about something we typically don’t talk
about: What do Koreans think about the war – which they refer to as 625 (South)
and The Patriot’s War (North)? It was ABSOLUTELY a proxy war – followed the spectacularly
unsuccessful Vietnam War…
I’ve made another
attempt to look at the Reunification of the Koreas – and bluntly state why the
world would view that as a negative – in another story that’s out on submission
to ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact. In that story, one of the characters briefly
notes, “‘I can easily name governments that would like to see your homeland one
united slag heap.’ Thatcher lifted her very large, paw-like hand and flexed
each claw out, counting, ‘Taiwan, Japan, Cuba, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Canada,
India, Australia, America, Mexico, Peru, Chile, and New Zealand – oh, and the
ones scattered in the deeps like Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, the Philippines,
and Indonesia all have reason to fear a united Korea. It would mean economic ruin
for the rest of the world. 625…’”
So, when this
story finally found a home in an odd little magazine, I was thrilled.
What went right?
First I wrote fast and I wrote according to the brilliant observations of Lisa
Cron, which she shared in her book, WIRED FOR STORY. (I also did a series of
posts you can read if you click on CRON AND KOREA to the right there under
Labels.)
Second, I was persistent.
I can’t say this is my strong suit, but I really believed that this story had something
to say.
Third, I really
believed that this story had something to say. I should add here that maybe the
very fact that I was trying to say something, albeit with less skill, put off
editors. I don’t know. There’s a lot I need to learn still about trying to “say
things” with my writing.
But, I’ll leave
that for a future post.
References: The
MOST popular SF magazines -- https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2020/01/27/science-fiction-and-fantasy-magazines-in-2020-readership-is-healthy-but-revenues-arent/#7517e2a94ef3
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