Write1Sub1 Week 9

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On to week 9. This week is supposed to be my steampunk series, but I’ve had to adjust my ambition. Triangulation slush reading is taking too much time.

Saturday: For Week 9  I’ve chosen to target a flash fiction prompt contest at Shock Totem. It’s a very well respected market and I do like my flash prompts.

WHAT WE WANT:

Fiction: We consider original, unpublished stories within the confines of dark fantasy and horror—mystery, suspense, supernatural, morbid humor, fantasy, etc. Stories must have a clear horror element. We’re looking for short stories up to 5,000 words (firm).

Nonfiction: We want journalism, well-researched and emotionally compelling nonfiction about real horrors—disease, poverty, addiction, etc. We will also consider work on other, relative subjects within the confines of dark fantasy and horror.

Flash Fiction: We interested in tightly woven flash fiction, 1,000 words or less.

Microfiction: To avoid blank pages in future issues, we’re now looking for very short flash pieces, 200 words or less.

WHAT WE DO NOT WANT:We’re not interested in hard science fiction, epic fantasy (swords and sorcery), splatterporn (blood and guts and little more), or clichéd plots. Clichéd themes are okay. We don’t mind stories about zombies or serial killers or vampires, but please make the overall piece unique. If the plot has been worked to death we will likely not consider it, no matter how well it is written. No fan fiction.

Sunday: Triangulation Slushython

Monday: Triangulation Slushython. I sent a few stories off to market (after some minor edits)

Tuesday: Triangulation Slushython, plus moderating duties at Show Me Your Lits. I did write my weekly stories (“A Bird in the Hand” and “The Bones of the Founders”).

Wednesday: I didn’t get much done today, unfortunately. I did come up with an interesting short story idea, but not for this week, alas. I plan to write my Shock Totem flash draft tomorrow.

Thursday: A relatively unproductive day. I stared at the Shock Totem prompt for a while and talked over several ideas with Sue. I do have a good one in mind, but need to get these characters more firmly entrenched in my psyche. Then I’ll need that damned first sentence to get me going.

Friday: I helped Sue work through her current story this morning. That’s getting close now. The rest of the day has been Triangulation slush and some Show Me Your Lits reading.

Saturday:

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Write1Sub1 Week 8

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Week 8 already? Wow. This week is literary for me.  I still have stories to finish from prior weeks’ goals, but I have been generating at least one brand new story each week and at least 2-3 submissions, so I’m not going to beat myself up. We’ll see if taking that added pressure off helps my daily production. As long as I DO finish these stories I begin, I’ll be  content.

Saturday: For Week 8  I’ve chosen to target a local literary journal called Jenny. It’s put out by Youngstown State University. I’m not sure what story I’ll write, but I want to include a rustbelt angle. Loss, repurposing, rebirth, etc.. The impact of the loss of a way of life on the human psyche or the effect of the slow process of rebirth on human hope.

Jenny will publish short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and interviews with artists and writers. We hope to bring together writers and artists both from the local region as well as the wider world, connecting our stories with yours, yours with ours here in America’s heartland and America’s rustbelt. Submissions do not have to be set in Youngstown, or in rustbelt or postindustrial settings at all, though we do encourage writing and art that speaks to that experience.

Jenny will appear twice a year, in late fall and spring. We will be publishing 5-7 pieces of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry per genre, per issue.

We ask that prose not exceed 7,000 words (preferably 5000 or under), and that poetry submissions not exceed 5 pages (or 5 poems).

Sunday: We were away most of today. A reading at Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh for the Triangulation series and my nephew’s tenth (!) birthday bowling party. It was closer to dodge ball than bowling at times, but a lot of fun.

Monday: Finished Chapter 7 of the fantasy novel. I also worked on an edits of a couple of previous stories, with hopes of getting at least one of them subbed this week. Received a rejection from OSC Intergalactic Medicine Show. I have reader comments for that story and will edit it this week as well.

Tuesday: I did my moderator gig today at Show Me Your Lits. It’s quite a bit of work, but certainly I get a lot out of my participation and should be willing to give something back. I wrote two literary flashes as well and am proud of them both for different reasons. Neither has the rustbelt theme I wanted. Just couldn’t get that to kick in with the prompts available.

Wednesday: Today was a great day, with an acceptance arriving from Daily Science Fiction and my flash, “Clockwork Clef” appearing at Eschatology. I’d been in a bit of a slump, so this really helps. On the writing front, I came up with a new literary story that includes a rustbelt theme and Youngstown setting.  I also decided to pare the Fantasy back to two viewpoints and greatly streamline the plot. It feels like the right decision for my current level of competence. I also worked through a critique for a story subbed to Triangulation. Good story that needs some reining in in places and dramatization in others. I suspect we’ll purchase it for the anthology if revision goes well.

Thursday: My, but the days fly by. I subbed stories today and worked through a couple of small revisions, but nothing major. The two literary flashes I wrote this week are getting good feedback.

Friday: Today, at long last, I worked through the story critique. Also had a couple of twitter fictions accepted at trapeze magazine and a couple by Cuento magazine. Tonight, I’ve been submitting flash stories to various markets, trying to keep my sub count above 20.

Saturday:

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Write1Sub1 Week 7

Week 7 begins in a mild depression. I think this is mostly a result of disappointment in myself for not working harder these last few weeks. I have so many projects hanging over me. Rather than diffusing my effort, this should inspire me to be more efficient with my time. I’m floundering, for sure.

Saturday: For Week 7  I’ve chosen to go into my really ancient story files and re-approach a character I wrote about some twenty years ago. I still recall him and I don’t quite know why. The story was not terribly memorable.  For the market, I’m targeting one of the Holy Grails of my journey: Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

In general, we’re looking for “character oriented” stories, those in which the characters, rather than the science, provide the main focus for the reader’s interest. Serious, thoughtful, yet accessible fiction will constitute the majority of our purchases, but there’s always room for the humorous as well. Borderline fantasy is fine, but no Sword & Sorcery, please. Neither are we interested in explicit sex or violence. A good overview would be to consider that all fiction is written to examine or illuminate some aspect of human existence, but that in science fiction the backdrop you work against is the size of the Universe.

Sunday: I worked primarily on last week’s story. Still no ending.

Monday: I talked about my story idea for this week with Sue and she had a good tweak that pulled my thoughts on it into a neat line and turned it from Dark Fantasy to SF, which I much prefer. This has real potential if I can summon the skill to write it well. I don’t actually think it’s a one week story, so my goal will be to get the bones of it onto the page this week.

Tuesday: I wrote my literary fiction for the week and worked through some Triangulation slush.

Wednesday: Today I plotted the first half of the story and worked through major setting and character details. Turns out the only thing I’ll keep from the original story is the character that initially interested me. NOTHING else is the same. I suspect that’s a good sign.

Thursday: Happy to report I sat at the keyboard this morning and banged away for a good 3-4 hours. Churned out 8 pages single-spaced background notes for this week’s story and finally got through chapter 6 of the fantasy rewrite. Tonight I did my first open mic reading in Youngstown (at least of my own work). Glad to say the microfictions got a nice reaction, with one person seeking me out later to say how much he liked them. That felt good, but to tell the truth I didn’t get a buzz from the stage stuff. I like listening to others, but all that attention does nothing much for me. I must be strange that way. Sue, on the other hand, eats it up (she’s great up there on stage). Her satiric poems had the crowd rolling in the aisles.

Friday: I worked for 3-4 hours again today, mostly on the fantasy novel. I also wrote a new literary flash (200 words). I’ve got a sense of the Asimov’s story, but not that crucial first sentence. I subbed a story to Allegory, and several micros to literary markets this week, so I’m technically on tack for W1S1.

Saturday: I wrote flash fiction and worked through edits of a story from earlier in the week. I also worked on Triangulation submissions lest I fall too far behind.

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Write1Sub1 Week 6

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The Superbowl discombobulated me a bit this week, but here we go. On to week 6.

Saturday: For Week 6  I’ve chosen to write up an SF idea I’ve had in my list for a while. It started as a prompt at Liberty Hall Writers. I did a minimalist version of the idea then and hope to expand it this week. The market I’ve chosen to target is Allegory. It publishes interesting stuff, usually with a quirky bent, and they’re nice to deal with.

We’re looking for good, solid fiction. We specialize in the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror genres. We will consider other genres, such as humor or general interest, provided that the work possesses an original, “quirky” slant in the Northern Exposure, Ally McBeal vein.

Here are some basic “do’s” and “don’ts”.

DO give us strong characters and good plotting. DO put clever, but logical twists on the end of your tales. DO experiment with new ideas and unusual writing styles, but without falling into traps of contrivance and cliché.

DON’T submit any stories based on movies, television or any printed media not your own. DON’T submit reprints without including the name of the publication in which the work first appeared, along with the date of publication. DON’T send more than one story in the same submission.

Our payment rates have recently changed. We now pay a flat rate of $15 (U.S. dollars) for each story. We’ve changed this because, due to budget restrictions, we’ve been forced to turn down some longer stories that we felt had real merit.

Sunday: Life paused for the Superbowl. We went down to my brother and sis-in-law’s house. Wonderful food (too much of it), not so wonderful outcome.

Monday: I wrote my literary flashes for the week and read some more Pride and Prejudice. I must say I’m impressed with the chapter in which Lizzy changes her mind about Darcy. I love it when a character, or a real person, can let go of a deeply held belief when presented with evidence to the contrary. We seem to have such trouble doing that these days.

Tuesday: Today was given over to Triangulation. I made a dent in the slush pile, accepted one story, recommended three to other editors and rejected a bunch with comments. Tiring.

Wednesday: Every once in a while I must deal with a crisis of confidence. I’m sure most of you have the same struggle. This week has been a case in point. I chose a fairly innocuous story that I’d already roughed out, yet have been unable to sit down and finish it, mainly because every word I type feels wrong. It’s painful just to sit at the keyboard, knowing I have nothing useful to say. The interesting thing about Write1Sub1 is that it forces you to confront that head on rather than letting it totally derail you.

Thursday: More of the same, I’m afraid. I did some reading and tapped out a slightly revised version of my story for Sue to read. As anticipated it’s not nearly where it needs to be yet. She did come up with an idea that helped me visualize how to get there. Now I have to find the words to do that and the confidence to work through this. I am lazy. For me, that equates to “unwilling to embrace my passion”. Passion is energizing, but it can also be very painful to feel something intensely and struggle to bring it into the world with insufficient tools. The thing my mind refuses to understand is that I have the tools, I just need to commit myself moment by moment. Rather than focusing on failing at a thousand projects, focus on succeeding at a segment of one in this moment. If I can bring my thinking around to honestly accepting that premise, I believe the entire Write1Sub1 journey will take a different path. Rather than trying to avoid missing the deadline each week, I’ll be anxious to get going on whatever today brings. It’ll be interesting to see what my blog entries read like at the end of this year. Will I transform or will I remain stagnant as a writer?

Friday: Sue’s birthday today. We went out to eat and to an art show in Youngstown (some very interesting work). Chris Barzak bought dessert   In a strange way this “lost” day was encouraging, as was the art show. The variety of approaches and perspectives reminds me that there is room for me in this world, even if I’ll never be the most accomplished person in the room. I was also able to accept another short story for Triangulation today, which is always a bit of a lift. I did work through the first scene of the story revision as well. Two more to go.

Saturday: I polished and subbed ten micro-fictions today. I worked on this week’s story, but did not finish it. I think I’m going to have to modify the way I do this process. Having unfinished stories hanging over me seems to keep me from accomplishing much of anything else. For the coming week, I’ll start a new story and see if I can’t put the unfinished one out of my mind. I’m still writing at least one flash each week and subbing more than one story, but I’m disappointed that I’m not getting more done on longer works yet.

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Write1Sub1 Week 5

Four Stories in Four Weeks (Write1Sub1)

On to week 5.

Saturday: For Week 5  I continue my steampunk series, which began with “The Glow” in week 1. This has been subbed to Fae Publishing and I’m awaiting their reply. Consequently, I’m not ready to commit to a particular market for this week.

Sunday: Once again I’m behind on my schedule. Polishing and nudging today instead of plotting for this week’s story. Fortunately I already have the core events in mind since it’s a continuation of last month’s steampunk, “The Glow”. I hope that will help as I need to get back on schedule soon.

Monday: I spent too much time today going over my story from last week. I’m just not happy with it and don’t want to leave too much to do on Saturday when I polish and sub. I’ve got a rough plot in place for this week’s story and will start that tomorrow. Wrote my literary flash tonight (1450 words) so that’s a good thing. It came out okay.

Tuesday: I don’t really want to admit this, but admitting you have a problem is half the battle, right? I keep obsessing over the ending for the story I wrote for Clarkesworld. It just doesn’t work, yet I know there’s the potential for a strong one in there somewhere. I woke up twice last night thinking of alternate ways to go, then again today when I took a break from reading slush. I was taking a bath and reading Pride and Prejudice when it suddenly came to me. It was so obvious. Now I have to write that before it fades away. This, of course, has cut into my time for this week’s story.  My respect for what Ray Bradbury did grows with every passing week.

Wednesday:I have my first scene envisioned and much of the dialogue between my MC and the woman he meets, but I’m having my usual problem sitting seat on chair and applying fingers to keypad. I settled for catching up a bit on Triangulation work tonight.

Thursday: I worked most of the day, but mainly managed to revise the story from last week (sigh). The pressure continues to build. Will I get my steampunk story rolling in time? It’s not looking good.

Friday: Where does the week go? I did a little research on reinforced concrete today and talked over my plot with Sue. Happy to report that the second steampunk story is now rolling along. I’m through the opening scene and have most of the second scene dialogue written. Here’s hoping for a productive Saturday. Not only do I have to finish this draft, I have to polish last week’s mainstream story and get it sent off. Sunday is shot since the Steelers are playing in the Super Bowl. May the spirit of Ray be with me.

Saturday: I polished up last week’s story “A Perfect Pair” and sent it off to Per Contra. I wrote through three scenes in this week’s story, but it still needs a final scene I’m afraid. I won’t count this week a loss, since I did write a short story at Show Me Your Lits; it came in second in the polling for best of the week, which was gratifying. And I did sub my story for the week, so it’s not technically a failed week. But it’s not a success either until and unless I finish the steampunk story I started. I’ll make that a priority in the coming week, along with the new story.

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Write1Sub1 Week 4

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The third week proved toughest so far. The story I had in mind just would not gel. Finally, on Saturday morning, the breakthrough that allowed me to finish a draft. Is it good? I doubt it, but it’s a story with closure and some emotional investment. This week I’m writing literary fiction. I plan to base this one on the weekly prompts at Show Me Your Lits.

Saturday: For Week 4 I chose to target Per Contra an online literary magazine that publishes very good, accessible stories. It’s listed as a professional market (>5cents/wd) on Duotrope.

We publish literary fiction (read several of our stories before sending us your work).

LENGTH

Per Contra accepts submissions of short fiction up to 3000 words. We publish both flash fiction and short stories.

ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED FICTION IN ENGLISH

We publish only work that has not been published before, either online or in print.

Yes to Work on Password Protected Sites

Material work shopped and posted in password protected sites are not considered to have been published.

No to Work Previously Posted on Blogs

Works posted on your own blog or on someone else’s blog may not be submitted: we consider them to have been published.

About Translations

Although we publish translations, at this time we can accept only original fiction in English as submissions. Do not send translations or fan fiction.

POLICY ON SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS

If this is a simultaneous submission, please let us know right away when/if it is accepted elsewhere.  You do not have to identify it as a simultaneous submission, just let us know immediately if you have to remove it from consideration. When you let us know include in the subject line:  FICTION WITHDRAWAL:  YOUR NAME:  TITLE OF STORY

POLICY ON EDITING

We may ask for some edits in stories we would like to publish.

We regret that we cannot comment on all stories.

WHAT WE PURCHASE

We purchase first rights (that is, we do not accept previously published work), right to archive, right to broadcast and to reprint in an anthology.  You retain copyright, and we ask that you acknowledge Per Contra if you reprint the work.  We are a paying market.

PERIOD OF OPEN SUBMISSIONS

Submissions will be open until March 1, 2011.

Sunday: I worked today on Triangulation submissions and watching a certain Steeler game. My plan this week is to use one of my 90 minute Show Me Your Lit prompt stories as a jumping off point for the story. I’ll read sample stories from Per Contra prior to doing my challenge story in hopes that will help me to produce an approach that will be suitable. I’ll then take that story and expand or deepen it.

Monday: I wrote my literary prompt piece tonight. It’s rough, as anticipated, but I think it will serve as a starting point for something interesting.  I imagine it will end up around 2000 words.

Tuesday: I spent much of the day learning my moderator duties over at Show Me Your Lits. Didn’t get a lot of writing done, but did talk through ideas for expanding my literary story. The bare bones are okay, but the story lacks the extra layer it needs to be substantial. It will take some fleshing out of scenes and characters, but there is a metaphor to be had here. Can I manage it in three days? Stay tuned.

Wednesday: Ouch. I’m falling behind here. The original flash is getting some good comments from fellow Show Me Your Lit folks, so I can fall back on subbing that, but I’d really rather seize the opportunity to write a more ambitious piece with this material.

Thursday: Between a writers group meeting and some moderator duties at Show Me Your Lits tonight, I’ve not gotten a single word onto the page. I have been thinking about characters at least. Will I finally manage to get this down in black and white tomorrow? I hope so.

Friday: Once again I don’t know if I’ll make it. I did get a start tonight and I think I found the voice I want, but there’s still a ways to go and the metaphor is pretty subtle, so I have to be careful to include enough to make recognizing it possible without doing it in a way that seems blunt.

Saturday: Finally got those characters talking to each other in my brain. Working on polishing my Week 3 story for submission now. I have a writers group meeting tomorrow morning, but will finish up after that. It’s not getting any easier, but I feel like a large part of the problem is in my head. Gotta crack that walnut soon.

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Write1Sub1 Week 3

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The first week was tough, the second even tougher (6500 word story). This week I’m aiming for something a little shorter, but no less challenging. My schedule calls for Horror or Mystery. I’ve decided to go with Horror and write out an idea I’ve had bouncing around in my head for months.

Saturday: For Week 3 I chose to target Clarkesworld Magazine. This is one of the most difficult markets to penetrate. That means I’ll have to work even harder on the layering of ideas, the language, and characterization.

Clarkesworld Magazine is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine that publishes short fiction, interviews, articles and audio fiction on a monthly schedule. All original fiction published in Clarkesworld is also made available in single-issue chapbooks and collected annually in the Realms trade paperback series. Our art, articles and half of our fiction are open to submissions.

Word Limit: 1000-8000 words (preferred length is 4000)
Pay Rate: 10¢ per word up to 4000 words, 5¢ per word after
Genres: Science fiction and fantasy
Language: English
Rights: We claim first world electronic rights (text and audio), first print rights (author must be willing to sign 100+ chapbooks), and non-exclusive anthology rights for Realms, the yearly Clarkesworld anthology.

Stories must be:

1. Well-written. Language is important. There is no distinction between “style” and “substance” or “story” and “writing.”
2. Convenient for on-screen reading. Very long paragraphs or typographical trickery may work against you.

Science fiction need not be “hard” SF, but rigor is appreciated. Fantasy can be folkloric, medieval, contemporary, surreal, etc. Horror can be supernatural or psychological, so long as it is frightening. There are no barriers as to levels of profanity, gore, or sexuality allowed, but high amounts of profanity, gore, and sexuality are generally used poorly. Be sure to use them well if you do use them.

Though no particular setting, theme, or plot is anathema to us, the following are likely hard sells:

• stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory
• stories in which the words “thou” or “thine” appear
• talking cats
• talking swords
• stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines
• stories where FTL travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies
• time travel too
• stories that depend on some vestigial belief in Judeo-Christian mythology in order to be frightening (i.e., Cain and Abel are vampires, the End Times are a’ comin’, Communion wine turns to Christ’s literal blood and it’s HIV positive, Satan’s gonna getcha, etc.)
• stories about rapist-murderer-cannibals
• stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).
• stories about the stuff we all read in Scientific American three months ago
• stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or the Spartacist League, etc. take over the world and either save or ruin it
• your AD&D game
• “funny” stories that depend on, or even include, puns
• sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, or lusty pirates
• zombies or zombie-wannabes
• stories originally intended for someone’s upcoming theme anthology or issue
• stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange
• stories that take place within an artsy-fartsy bohemia as written by an author who has clearly never experienced one
• your trunk stories

Sunday: I spent most of the day polishing my 7500 word story from last week. It’s set aside now for submission next Saturday. I also made notes on this week’s story.

Monday: I outlined the story, then outlined it a second time after the first one seemed too generic. The story needs to have multiple layers for Clarkesworld, yet be simple enough to tell in a fairly short word count. I worked on character background this evening. Ready to roll on scene one, I think.

Tuesday: I read through openings for stories in the first Clarkesworld anthology I found this quite intimidating. The stories tend to begin in media res, possess a literary sensibility, and ALSO manage to convey a speculative idea within the first paragraph or two. Density is important. I tried various approaches to finding such a beginning for my tale without a lot of success. Upon further think-state, I realized the reason I was having problems is that my story opening didn’t have enough depth to manage the feat suggested above. It’s too linear in concept. I can’t really get all media res on it’s ass until it has an ass worthy of such an approach. Back to the drawing board for now. I did write three literary flashes, however. (750, 250, 100 words)

Wednesday: More of the same. I have a new inciting incident that does offer a media res potential, and I’ve deepened my view of the protagonist and the story situation. The climax and resolution can remain as I had it. I just have to get there via a somewhat different path. I tried a couple more openings. Not quite, but closer.

Thursday: I found my opening at last (I think). The rest of the plot fell into place as well. Simple enough to keep under 4000 words or so and layered enough to read deeper than that. Now it’s a matter of writing it effectively. I’m less confident of that, but tomorrow is the last day of the week. I’m determined to get a draft laid down.

Friday: Started the day with good intentions. Sat down and started into the second scene with some momentum, then promptly lost it. The scene seemed boring and headed in the wrong direction so I stopped writing and tried to get a grasp on things. I don’t know the characters well enough, don’t know the world well enough, don’t even know if my climax is a climax. To complicate matters, I feel like I’m falling behind on several fronts and yet can’t get myself to work on any of them. Something has to give if I’m going to make it through this year. I have got to stop procrastinating and get on with it. I guess you would call today a reality check. Will I persevere? It’s not looking likely, but I’m at least sitting at the keyboard typing words onto the page tonight. Tune in tomorrow.

Saturday: Well, I very nearly gave up. I mean I already wrote 3 literary flashes this week, so it wouldn’t technically be a failed week, but it just didn’t sit right. So, I talked to Sue about my plot problems and she said something in passing that lit the old light bulb and I was off and running again. I revised the second scene almost entirely (reversed the roles of the two characters involved), then went on to a third scene. This was enough to bring the story to closure. So, at 3500 words, I had a draft. It feels so much better than giving up.

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Write1Sub1 Week 2

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It’s hard to believe 2011 has already begun, but it has. Write1Sub1 is off to a flying start. 79 brave souls have chosen to undertake this ambitious challenge and I wish each one well. Surely there will be ups and downs for each and every one of us, and it will be those who “find a way to win” who will reach that finish line.

Saturday: For Week 2 I chose to target Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. This is a market I would very much like to break into.

We are looking for stories of any length in the genres of science fiction and fantasy.

“Science fiction” includes hard sf, sf adventure, alternate history, near-future, far-future, psi, alien, and any other kind of sf you can think of.

“Fantasy” includes heroic fantasy (based on any culture’s mythology), fairy tales, contemporary fantasy, and “horror” in the sense of supernatural suspense (not gory bloodfests, thanks).

Within these genres, we like to see well-developed milieus and believable, engaging characters. We also look for clear, unaffected writing. Asimov, Niven, Tolkien, Yolen, and Hobb are more likely to be our literary exemplars than James Joyce.

We pay 6 cents a word up to 7500 words and 5 cents a word thereafter.

The idea this week is to take a flash fiction I wrote for Liberty Hall prompt and flesh it out to a full story. It’s a fantasy that involves druid lore, which I will have to research.

Sunday: I ended up changing two scenes in my story from last week. Had an inspiration as I went to bed last night and it helped add some tension and closure to the piece, so I went ahead and took a few hours to implement it today. Writing a story a week shouldn’t mean abandoning useful revision just because another day has passed. Anyway, I also did some reading for my current story. I’ll need to do a detailed plot tomorrow. I do have a beginning and ending in mind.

Monday: I spent today reading about druids and Caesar and big tall battle horns. Fascinating stuff. I also worked on plotting my story into scenes.  I do believe I have a story worth writing. I wrote two literary flashes for my weekly prompt at Show Me Your Lits. The writing came more easily than usual.

Tuesday: I wrote the first scene. It went surprisingly well, though I’m not yet in the character’s voice. Will tackle that tomorrow. I found some more neat bits to enhance the story’s underpinnings and the climax came into focus more clearly. I should have written more words tonight. I hope this won’t put me too far behind schedule (again!). I received word tonight that my literary flash “Lovers” has been accepted by Berg Gasse 19. That makes two literary stories sold so far this year. Yay for me!

Wednesday: I wrote the second scene and started the third. As usual I have trouble getting that first sentence in place. After that it usually flows better. Once I get to dialogue it goes even faster. I should have done more today as I think this may turn out to be a 5000 word story. I have 1300 now. That leaves a lot of words for tomorrow. I watched President Obama’s speech tonight. I think he reminded a lot of folks why they voted for him. 

Thursday: I got another scene done this morning. It’s flowing pretty well, though I suspect I’m going to have to cut some words because it’s taking too long to get to the major complication.

Friday: I’m taking drastic action today. Six hours straight at the computer, writing. I’ve finished four scenes and have three to go. 3000 words today, the highest total I’ve managed in, like, forever. Still, that’s not enough. I have to finish this sucker by tomorrow and I have a lot going on. It’s looking more like 6500 words at this point. Wish me luck.

Saturday: I polished last week’s story (now entitled “The Glow”) and submitted it to Fae Publishing.  Tonight, we watched the Steelers come back to beat Baltimore. I worked on the final scene for this week’s story, but will have to finish in the morning. I certainly didn’t anticipate it turning into a 7500 word story, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

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Write1Sub1 Week 1

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It’s hard to believe 2011 has already begun, but it has. Write1Sub1 is off to a flying start. 64 brave souls have chosen to undertake this ambitious challenge and I wish each one well. Surely there will be ups and downs for each and every one of us, and it will be those who “find a way to win” who will reach that finish line.

Saturday: For Week 1 I chose to investigate a new market called FaePublishing, which seeks both short stories and novel length manuscripts for 2011. As they’re a new outfit, I’m not counting on them to deliver just yet, but I’m certainly willing to support their efforts.

Short Story Submission guidelines:

We accept short stories in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Genres, this includes all the different Sub Genres, such as Hard Sci Fi, General Sci Fi, Space Opera, Steam Punk, Time Travel, Urban Fantasy, General Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Magic Fantasy, etc…  NO Simultaneous Submissions.

What we ARE looking for:

• Quality writing
• Stories for Adults
• Active voice
• Protagonist a reader can care about
• Unpublished short story

What we are NOT looking for:

• Erotica
• Paranormal Romance
• Graphic horror
• Poetry
• Previously published short stories

We pay $0.05 per word up to maximum of 2500 words at this rate, with a minimum payment of $60.00 for shorter work.  Longer Short Stories may be submitted, but are still subject to $125.00 maximum.

The key element for me is that they’re open to steampunk, which is what I’m writing this week. Further complicating the issue is that this story is the first in a serial I hope to turn into a novel. As FaePublishing also publishes novels and seems to be looking for short stories as a method to attract readers for their novels, this seems a possible good fit.

Sunday: At my writers group meeting in Pittsburgh, I wrote three mini-scenes of mostly dialogue. These are pivotal points in the story that have been running through my head for a few days. I wanted to give them voice and see how they came out. I’m not sure I’ll use all the material, but it helped me to understand the primary characters a bit better. I also discovered that our local library has a few books on the history of Freemasonry, which plays a secondary part in my world building. I’m also interested in reading a bit more on local history in the 1890′s.  Will stop by tomorrow on our walk around town. The real challenge for this story will be to give it sufficient closure to feel complete rather than merely a part in some larger arc (which it is).

Monday: I worked on the fantasy novel this morning, then walked to the library and did a little research for this week’s story.  My ideal time line doesn’t quite jive with reality, so I think reality will have to bend a bit. Artistic license and all that. We walked up the hill past the area where the story largely takes place. Also got to browse old photos of downtown New Castle that should give me at least a vague idea of what I’m talking about when I describe the surround. Tomorrow begins the real writing.

Tuesday: Today, I read about masonry and discussed my plot with Sue. She set me straight on a couple issues. Started writing this evening. So far so good, but behind schedule as usual. On another front I finally had the breakthrough I’ve been seeking for the fantasy novel. That should break that logjam at last. Story will have four scenes. I argued for a fifth, but Sue convinced me the story will seem more self-contained without it (and it will play very well in the next story).

Wednesday: I hate when this happens, but forcing my story scene took me nowhere today. I wrote the first half twice and it still sucks. After the second time through I realized why. I don’t need the first half of the scene. What I wrote today is basically a walk through of a scene leading to the inciting incident. I’m definitely behind schedule now, but at least I’m not over budget (that’s the optimist in me speaking). Tomorrow will be better.

Thursday: I rewrote the first scene to begin later (recalling the “rule” about starting in media res at or near an inciting incident). That worked and the scene played out pretty well from there. I’m lacking some emotional connection to the protagonist, but his flaw is becoming more concrete for me, so I think that will come with a final polish. Scene two should be easier as I’ve already written dialogue for the heart of it, and scene three is the climax and should be short. I may or may not require an anticlimax.

Friday: Sue read my first scene and made comments. I reworked it and then completed the second scene this evening. I have part of the final scene in place as well, but it needs a little transitional work. I’ll have to finish that tomorrow and send the story off to market. Looks like it will come in at 4000 words or so. I don’t have a title yet. Hopefully, I’ll wake up with one.

Saturday: After comments on the second scene, I revised it to improve a secondary character’s voice and insert some tension between characters. The story came in just under 4000 words. I’ll read through it next Saturday and submit it to Fae Publishing. This week, I subbed stories to trapeze magazine and Pedastal Magazine. I also wrote two literary flash fictions.

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