A Bit More About Process

I’m not a seat of the pants kind of writer, even when it comes to short stories.  Now, mind you, I don’t outline for short stories (though I might jot down notes or lines that come to me).  I definitely know where something is going when I sit down to write it.  I do change my mind and write something else to make things make more sense when I have to.  I imagine, however, that anyone watching my short story writing process would think I’m doing it on the fly.

This is because I write short stories in one or two sittings and hardly ever have notes (I usually do research as it comes up, thank you Google).

My short stories don’t start on the page.  They start in my head and sometimes have a very long gestation period.  Novels are the same way, though I tend to write up more notes when thinking about novels due to the sheer amount of stuff going on in my head when it comes to bigger projects.

First, there’s the spark.  Whatever set off my mind with a “hey, this could be a good story”.  From the spark I start to think about what it needs to fill it out, to bring it from cool character/idea/image/line of dialog etc… into being a full story/populated world.  From there I decide if the idea is going to need a novel length to fill it out (ignoring here, for the moment, that one of the most common coments I get on my short stories is “hey, this would make an awesome novel” sigh) or if I can turn it into something shorter.  Frankly, I prefer short stories because I like to just sit down and finish things.  Also, rewriting fifteen pages is far easier than rewriting 300.

But my point is that I spend a great deal of time thinking about everything before it ever sees the page.  I run through potential scenes, characters, what would or would not work in the particular world I’m inventing and why, and other useful questions like that.  I sometimes even start composing in my head and run through different POVs and tenses to feel where I want to start a story.

And then there are the times that I call my version of Writer’s Block.  I never run out of ideas, ever.  However, I occasionally get stalled out because my brain won’t stop with the thinking and focus on something long enough for me to just write something.  It’s why I haven’t been sleeping lately, and why I’ve done nothing but revise things for a few weeks now.  Too many bloody ideas.

So I’m going to have to force-march my brain for now, I think.  No starting or thinking about anything new before I’ve finished the following:

Sparks (fantasy short story), Prince Called Courage (fantasy novella), final edit of Monsters (fantasy short story), two thesis short stories (prewriting for my thesis novel), Chwedl draft (fantasy novel) and the rewrite of Casimir Hypogean (science fiction thriller novel).  The ambitious part of me says I can totally do this by September.  Suuure.

I’m going to do the short stories first, mainly becaues that means I’ll have eight or nine short stories out making the submission rounds while I hunker down to finish the novels.  I want to be done with this all by September since starting my thesis novel early wouldn’t be a bad idea.  Fortunately, ideas are imploding my brains but good when it comes to that novel, so at least it won’t be stalled due to lack of my head working on it.  Which is different from Casimir Hypogean, the bane of my existence.  I’m going to look at it as a learning experience and force myself to finish the rewrite.  If I never touch it again after that, so be it, but I’ve come too far to give up now.  It’ll take about 6-7 weeks of hard work to complete at this point.  I can do it.

Another Tiny Update

Rejection number 10 (form letter) came in yesterday.  Time to send that story out somewhere else.

On the “dancing, not quite from rooftops” level of awesome, I queried about another story that had been in the ether fora  couple months and found that they’re holding it for consideration/second opinions.  I’m going to interpret this is a win, even if they don’t take the story.  It means I’m getting past the first glance, which is a mark of improvement.  Go me.

I have an edit of that story also, so I responded thanking them for letting me know where I stood and offered up the edit if they’d like to see it.  I like both versions (one is cleaner since more eyes went over it) but who knows what they’ll want? Anyway, I’m psyched that I’m at least being considered.

Meanwhile, I’m working on the novella which will never sell.  Seriously, who buys fantasy novellas?  I’m going to try to keep it under 17k words so I can at least enter it in the ‘Writers of the Future’ contest.  I just finished Ken Rand’s (may he RIP) “Ten Percent Solution” and intend to put his ideas into practice to reduce the draft of the novella to as short as I can get it without hurting the story.

Then I need to type up Sparks and finish it.  I know where the story is going now, and the logistics of the fort.  All that I need to do is add some kick ass fighting and I’ll have story.  I really like the concept, but I’m not too sure I can write good fights.  I think I’ll enlist my husband to help me keep things realistic while still awesome.  There’s always a balance in fight scenes between cinematic kick-ass and “he did what with that sword?”

After Sparks and A Prince Called Courage are finished, I swear I’m going back to Chwedl.  I haven’t added a single new word to the novel in months (though I did do a bit of editing of the first 60k words).  Time to finish that baby so I can move on to finishing my Albetross (ie Casimir Hypogean).

All right.  Back to work on Novella that Won’t Sell.

Erractic, Why Yes!

For all that I update this erratically, I seem to be getting about 6 views a day.  Crazy!  I suppose I should write more here or something.

I was workshopped at Norwescon, which was immensely helpful.  I spent over 5 hours revising Blade Bearer (now called The Spacer’s Blade thanks to comments about making the name less generic) and sent it off to be… rejected.  Oh well.  It was a very nice rejection, asking that I send more things but ultimately the story wasn’t a fit for them.  Time to get more ink for the printer so I can send it out to somewhere else.

My rejection count is up high enough now that I’ve had to make a speadsheet instead of just relying on notepad.  I’m at 9 rejections, four stories out for submission, and one story ready to be sent out, and two stories in various stages of revisions that will hopefully be ready for their own rejections in a week or so.

491 rejections to go.

In Life, There is no Partial Credit

I *almost* sold a story.  Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t a nice balance between rejections with comments and form letters.

On the one hand, I’m glad to know what kept the mag from buying my story.  On the other hand, it’s tough to know that one small thing (ok, a central premise of the tale which I’m not sure will ever be to that reader’s taste…) kept my story from selling.

With a little help from my friends, however, I should be able to edit and clear that up at least a bit (already started on that part, so we’ll see).

But darnit. Almost. There.

Edit to add:  I wrote and asked if they’d look at a rewrite, and they will!  So there might be hope yet.  Go go go little story.

Meanwhile, back to edits on things and stuff.  And maybe some fricken writing.  I really want to be done with this novel draft already.

But first, back to ‘research’.  Also known as reading 17 Drizzt books.  Every one of those books made the NY best seller’s list, so I’m picking them apart to see what worked.  (Or you know, devouring the silly DnD heroics like candy, which is almost the same thing).

I think my stories need more kick-ass heroes.

So, To Sum Up My Rejection Woe

Clarion West: Rejected.

Space Bones: Rejected (by CW and the place it was out for submission)

Total rejections counting CW now: 5  (four form letter, 1 personal)

It’s almost enough to make a girl start drinking again.

On the plus side, I’ve come up with a cool story to write this week and solved a problem that I was having when thinking about the world of my Giant Novel of Doom that I’m still a decade away from writing.  So at least my stupid brain goes on despite my heart trying to tell it I have no chance and will never ever amount to anything.

495 rejections left.

Writing Projects Update n Stuff

It’s been a while since I wrote up a comprehensive “what I’m doing/going to do/hate etc…” sort of progress report, so here goes!

Currently in submission process:

Space Bones, Rusalka (poem), and Delilah.

Number of rejections in 2009:   2 (1 form,  1 w/comments)

Projects I’m editing:

Delilah (though I might have worn myself out on that…)

Blade Bearer- currently waiting until it gets critiqued at NorWesCon

Monsters- need to tweak the middle and change the ending.

Novels in progress:

Chwedl- 56k words, currently working on how to solve problem of finding two matching stones on a beach.  Goal is to be done by April or so (hello/goodbye spring break!)

Casimir Hypogean- rewrite is approx 7k words now, currently on hiatus due to massive hate of this novel and stuckness with how to pull threads together.

Werewolves in Space- outlined but probably holding off until after Thesis.

War Witches- is going to be my thesis. I have basic character ideas and some plot.  Also, now I have a list of books to start reading this summer or there abouts for research since this is going to be the toughest project I’ve taken on yet between historical/cultural accuracy issues and the whole slavery thing.

Nadia’s Tale- semi-outlined (this is a sequel to Casimir Hypogean) (working title).

As yet Unamed Third Lorean novel- the final novel in the Casimir Hypogean world.  Yes, the plot of this cropped up when I realized there was no good way to end the second book without a giant war/cultural clusterdoom.

Darkside of Revenge- A novel which started as a short story idea in my head and has quickly tried to utterly dominate my thinking for the last couple of months despite being aggressively back-burnered.  I’m not even sure this story works beyond one dimension (revenge stories are awfully hard to do well), but it would mean I get to write about horses and a lot of clever murder/revenge/cool made up horse culture.  And that would be freaking awesome.  Stupid novel. Go away!  (scribbles down some more notes).

Epic Sprawling Node Novel- I think I’m about 10 years out from being sophisticated enough to write this novel. It has everything:  conspiracy, dragons, an apocalypse, angels, prophesy, demons, love, war, and pirates.

Epic Sprawling Fantasy Novel with Maps- I’m about 3 or 4 years away from being cool enough to write this.  And probably a few hundred hours of research on the cultures I want to shamelessly appropriate to make this tale of gladiators, slavery, nomadic/magical OE horse people, blood rituals, and godhood work at all properly.

Projects I’d like to start:

More flash fiction.  I think I’m going to set myself a goal of writing a decent bit of flash and editing it each month.  I suck most at dialogue and beginnings, so really, writing something super short should help me tighten up at least one of those problems.

Revive Monday short story day.  It got me Space Bones, after all, which is so far my favorite story that I’ve ever written.

I also think I should try to write some more speculative poetry, mostly for a lark because I do think it’s passing strange that I don’t really write it, oh, ever.

To sum up:  I have too much to do.  Why am I still awake?

Tired of Editing

I think the subject says it all.   I’m sick of editing things.  I haven’t actually written anything wholly new for a few weeks now, though I think being sick/in hospital combined with trying to keep up with submissions and school work is partially a good excuse.

Edited Delilah today, so whenever it gets rejected I’ll at least have a new better faster stronger draft to send out.  I actually kind of hope it does get rejected, because I like this version better.  I figure best case senario though, they buy the story and I can offer them this draft as a “hey! this is like totally way better, want this version?”  since the draft isn’t that different from the original.  I removed a couple scenes and added a couple, so the length is about the same and I think the character development/motivation is hopefully more clear now as well.

I really should edit Blade Bearer, but I think I’ll wait on that until the peeps at NorWesCon tear into it.   I’m being workshopped by such awesome pros as Cat Rambo, Lizzy Shannon, Brenda Cooper, and Jeff Carlson.  It’s pretty darn cool they’re giving time out to do critiques, as much as I’m super nervous that I’ll get the nice version of “don’t quit your day job” (and then have to explain I already quit my day job…).

This week though I think I’ll start writing again, new stuff.  I’d like to have a rough draft of Chwedl by April.  Spring break is coming up (I think I’m done with class in about a week from Wed) and that should give me plenty of time to finish up whatever I don’t get to in the next two weeks.  15k words a week should do it.  I’m not sure how Aine is going to solve the problem in front of her, but I’m sure something will come out while I’m writing (and if my solution sucks, it would be a fairly easy rewrite given the structure).

They’ve started calling people about Clarion West.  No word yet either way for me.  I’m trying to just keep my head down and work and not stress over whether or not I got in, but damn it’s hard.  I really like the story I submitted, but I can see where it might get a mixed reception, so we’ll see.  Hopefully they’ll think I have promise and give me a shot.  I think it would be an amazing experience, at the least, and a step I’m ready for.  I’m keeping my game face (mostly) on and thinking “next year!” if I don’t make it this one.  But I really want to make it this year.  The line up this year looks amazing. (Ok, it pretty much always does every year, but still…)

No word on Space Bones or Delilah either.  I hate wait.

498 To Go

Another rejection, this time with comments. Which is helpful and painful both.  Apparently the reader didn’t get through the first two pages (ouch) and thought the story had no hook and that I was “trying too hard”.  Not entirely sure what to do about the trying too hard bit, but I guess I can revisit the beginning paragraphs and see if the action can’t move a little more quickly.

So, another round of editing and then I’ll figure out the next place to send this one.

Still waiting for Space Bones, Delilah, and to hear about Clarion.

I hate wait.

Submission Frenzy

I did some editing on Delilah (alas, not before I sent my class the wrong version, whoops) and on Blade Bearer.

Being impatient about Space Bones’ fate, I decided to submit the other two stories out into the world.  That way I can hang out and be impatient about multiple things which is far superior from awaiting the fate of one thing, no?

I guess once I’d popped my rejection cherry, so to speak, it is easier the second time.  I think I sent the stories to markets that will like them, but there’s no real way to know until and unless I get a response.

I did get a nice personal note from the editor of my college lit zine rejecting the two poems I sent them.  Apparently they almost decided to publish one of them but couldn’t get a consensus on it.  At least it was a personal rejection note and not a form letter (or the vast nothing I got last time I submitted to a college lit mag).

I’m somewhat disturbed by the hugely posititve response to my work that my workshop is giving me.  I mean, I’m glad they’re liking spec fic, don’t get me wrong.  However, I’m plagued as always by fears that I’ll never be good enough and the dischord between what people say about my writing and what I think about it is annoying.  I did, however, sell a copy of “Snow Crash”, in a way since one guy went out and immediately bought it due to liking my work.  I’m pretty happy about that.  (I am not, in any way, comparing my work to that book, just so ya’ll know).

I think it’s just going to be double hard for me not to take rejection personally and clam all up inside and stop submitting anywhere.  I know I need to be in the mindset of “sweet! 402 left to go”, but it’s easier thought than felt.

I think the cure for this is writing more stuff.  I think that’s likely the cure for a lot of things.  I should bring back short story Monday.

Casimir What?

My writing class workshopped the first three chapters of Casimir Hypogean and I’m a bit surprised by the response.  It was generally liked, a few even liked it better than Space Bones (the short story I had them read last time they workshopped me).  The criticism I got was fairly mild stuff compared to the huge problems I thought they might find and all generally really helpful for showing me how to tweak things.

But the important thing was that a class of about 12 people, in which only 2 others even have read spec fic, everyone liked the characters, liked the setting, and wanted to read more.

Plus between my two pieces now I think I’ve got at least one convert since people are now asking for book suggestions if they want to start reading science fiction.  That right there is a huge win.

Of course, Universe, if you are listening, getting into Clarion (even though with my sudden hospital bills I probably can’t afford to go) and getting Space Bones published would be a big win too.  You know. If you’re bored, Universe.

Back to working on Prince Called Courage.  I’m about half done with the novella, I think.

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