24 April 2010

Where I am in my writing

When I graduated from SHU, almost a year ago, I was really hyped up on doing all the right things, taking all the right steps and getting my writing career off the ground. So I made a little list, and it looked a little like this:

Write short stories and submit them (read: get published)
Make a website
Make a reading/writing blog
Read a lot, classics, genre criticism, fantasy simultaneously
Rewrite novel
Fix synopsis
Get an agent

These items are generally arranged in the order that I would ideally complete them, but I didn’t expect it to necessarily to go as planned.

And this are the writing related things I’ve done since I graduated June 2009:
Created a website
Created a reading/writing blog… but it’s really boring
Written 3.5 stories
submitted 2 of those stories, both rejected
read 4 fantasy novels
read 1 folk tale collection
0 literary
Made a list of agents to submit my novel to
Critiqued a lot of other people’s work

Not too bad right? I’ve at least attempted to do most of the things on my list…Well, Yoda said “do or do not, there is no try.” So, I’m going to get a little more focused “doing” now.

What I need to do this summer:

Read more…learn to speed read?
Revise both rejected stories and re-submit
Finish partial story and submit
Rewrite novel and submit to agents


So hopefully with this spelled out right here, I can keep myself on track and get a foothold in my writing.


Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

thoughts on a rejection

I just received another story rejection. So that makes 2. I’m not suffering madly here, though I did go through the standard rejection blues for a while. So yes, that means I didn’t “just” get the rejection but it was recent, okay?

I waited a few weeks to let the story and the rejection get out of my head before posting this for a reason. I want to get further away from the story and see if I could tell why it got rejected-the editor (John Joseph Adams) didn’t give any explanation.

So in looked back on this tale, Trials of the Night, I think that despite the fact I really love this story, were I an editor I would not have chosen to purchase this story either.

To be up front, my story has a few things wrong with it that I let myself ignore when I submitted it: The imagery isn’t as strong as it could be. The plot is a little out of whack. Pace and description aren’t helping each other. And the structure is not optimal.

So why’d I let myself submit this? There was a deadline, and I hadn’t planned ahead enough for it. I didn’t even have another person read the story.

So why didn’t I just say “no way! This doesn’t have a chance?” I really love the story, and it is good, it just really needs more work. And if I didn’t submit it, then I would never know if it might have sold.

What is writing if not just one long learning experience?

So now I have this story out to a friend for some critiquing. I’m interested in seeing if he has the same problems with it that I think I do.


Currently Reading:Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

19 April 2010

The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford

I’ve just completed Patrick Ford’s The Mabinogi, a translation of medieval Welsh folk tales and mythological cycle. Reading this book lets me tick off one more on my list of reading to catch up on non-Greek mythology. I can say, with some embarrassment, that I have never heard of any element of these stories before, so when someone in my office glanced at the title of the book I was reading and commented, “obscure Welsh literature, great,” I felt a little absolved.

When I was just getting into the book, I was a little disappointed in the story telling. The story arcs rambled, and changed seemingly without explanation. Story lines ranged far beyond the interest point. And the laundry lists of heraldic titles and accomplishments; tasks and quests made for really dull reading. There was practically NO SHOWING. But that is what was recorded in the original manuscripts, which were written down by someone who heard someone else tell the oral story. Would the people back then simply “understand” all the tactile imagery that was possible when the characters go riding across the land? Had they done it all themselves, in an uneventful journey? The author of this book could only decipher what his modern day learnings let him to reach back and translate the Mabinogi.

The author, Patrick K. Ford is the Margaret Brooks Robinson Research Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Needless to say he wrote this book with academic interests and not story telling in mind. Despite being very sparse, with little imagery and barely three dimensional characters the stories serve to give us 21st century denizens a peek into the ways of old cultures. However I can see how each of these 6 – 40 page stories could be turned into a rich novel, however dark.

These tales aren’t for the weak-of-stomach. From crushing skulls barehanded, stealing, rape, murder, torture to animal cruelty they show the worst of human nature. They show what people do to get what they want: woman, money, power, land, respect, honor and revenge. And sometimes people do terrible things to breach hindrances.

My favorite story was that of “Manawydan son of Llŷr.” Even though this story is rangy, and the events a little jerky we see magic, trouble, rescue, punishment by social decree and then the wrongs are righted. I just love happy endings; well I like it more when the jerks who were wrong get what’s coming. Mainly I like the story line where a group of people are displaced from their own land and must wander to find a new place, yet no matter how hard they work, they cannot find a place they fit in. And after some time they return home and break their curse. I like this because they didn’t give up. They didn’t sit idly waiting to find a way. Even when they weren’t trying to break the curse, they were working hard, trying to get by because they had to.

That's it for now. Maybe someday I'll come back to these tales for story fodder, or for further study.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

01 April 2010

another sub

I made the deadline for John Joseph Adams anthology, Way of the Wizard. I submitted my story Trials of the Night, no it's not a vampire story.

It comes in very close to a 5000 word count. I wrote most of it in one day. The first bit came over the course of the week. The very final wrap up came the day after I wrote the end of the beginning, the middle and the beginning of the end.

The words kept coming and I kept driving the characters along their arcs. I had 2 subplots and a main plot. For a short story I think I did pretty well. In fact, my short story crafting has come a long way. I'll take this moment to be a little proud of myself.

I think it was a really great draft, which I then moved to revise immediately. I didn't get to let anyone else read it first, or even let it sit for a couple days as I would have liked. I wound up working on this story pretty much right up to last minute. I guess I didn't remember from college how much I hate doing that. From now on, I'm going to ah, try to get a jump on things and not wait for panic to hunt my muse down. Sit down and crank it out. Plan everything before I dive into the words. This phrase witch has learned. I'll say that much.

I have a new problem word, "now." It seems that I've gotten over some of my past ones such as "felt" and "looked."

Maybe I'll get a chance to finish those books down there...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 1
Agent: 0