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Editing and Reading Observations… Part 6…
Kris and I Have Fun Brainstorming… These days it is usually over lunch, working out stuff we need to talk about in a workshop. (We never talk about our own writing… just never… she has no idea what I am working on and I have no idea what she is working on… You all should protect your own writing in the same way.) But we do talk a lot about publishing and teaching, all the time actually. Tonight I was sitting here at my business computer, getting ready to work on a publishing product when Kris walked by and mentioned the series of Editing and Observations I have been doing.…
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Editing and Reading Observations… Part 5…
Kris Gave Me This One… And I noticed it right off the last few nights of reading after she mentioned it. This one is a little more advanced than just needing to add depth or pacing or information flow. This one is “Why should the reader care?” Be honest with yourself. You have read or started to read a book or story and just shrugged. and put the book down. And the best sign of this problem is that the reader can’t remember anything that happened in the story just shortly before. The reader just doesn’t care. The writing might be fine, good depth fine pacing and so on. But…
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Introduction to A Class About Learning…
A FIFTY YEAR PERSPECTIVE OF LEARNING… As I said last night, this year marks 50 years since I sold my first two short stories (and started selling a lot of poetry as well.) Over those 50 years, I was stunningly lucky to have some amazing mentors (who also became friends.) Jack Williamson, Damon Knight, Kate Wilhelm, Algis Budrys, Harlan Ellison, Frederick Pohl, Julius Schwartz, and others. As I said, stunningly lucky. So I figured that since I am still around after 50 years of selling fiction and they all told me a lot of great stuff, I am going to do a nine-week class talking about and telling stories about…
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Lifetime Sale and New Class
All Lifetime Subscriptions Half Off… Just through the end of January. Only lifetime subscriptions. Not any of the bundles or anything else. Just the five lifetime subscriptions, because I got a few questions about them. Use the code: LIFETIMESALE At half price, they are very good deals, especially the Lifetime Everything. And if you have another lifetime subscription, I can take a little more off that Everything price. Write me for details. Fun New Class… This year marks 50 years since I sold my first two short stories (and started selling a lot of poetry as well.) Over those 50 years, I was stunningly lucky to have some amazing mentors…
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Editing and Reading Observations… Part 4…
Back Reading Stories Again… A lot of the same things I already mentioned. No real depth (setting) gets me to stop reading fairly quickly. Going on and on and on without ever getting to a story (walking to a story) makes me read more than I want to, but I never get to the story or the ending. So I saw more of the same stuff I saw in the first three posts on this topic. But tonight (from a couple of stories) I got something new for this reading. Stories started with great depth, great character voice, and both had fun ideas that could work for Pulphouse. I was…
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Editing and Reading Observations… Part 3…
I Got Surprised… Really surprised, to be honest. You see, every writer who sent me stories for each month this fall is a Pulphouse Fiction Magazine subscriber. Just to send in stories you had to have backed the Pulphouse Kickstarter campaign. Now, I grant you, there is no way to figure out what kind of story I might buy because I pride myself on making sure that no story in Pulphouse is like any other story. You never know what you are going to get in topic and genre from story to story. And I love to be surprised on topics just like my readers. But one thing is for…
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Editing and Reading Observations… Part Two…
Editors Are Super Readers… Our job as editors is to try to figure out which stories the readers of our publications will like. But if you are putting your stories up indie and not many are selling, you might want to pay attention to some of these points I am making from an editor perspective. I find it fascinating how many writers have no understanding of the advanced levels of craft in fiction writing. They often think that major bestsellers who sell hundreds of thousands of copies of every book are just marketed better, or lucky, when actually those writers have learned the craft of grabbing and holding readers. But…
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Editing Observations…
Just a Few Things I Wish I Had Known… At the moment, I am reading a lot of stories for Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Pulphouse is never open for submissions, but these were rewards in the Pulphouse Kickstarter. Backers could write a story to a different topic, one per month. I had planned to read them as I went along, but running too fast in a 5K fun run and a crash and burn and then a new shoulder set back my reading. And since I like to give as personal a comment as I can on each story, I had to wait until I could once again type with both…
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My Writing Off to Slow Start…
Real Slow, But That’s All Right… I got started on the first few days of the new year on a new novel, even though it was a rough start putting the world back in my head. And Mary Jo, the main character. I was barely typing with two hands and the PT was knocking me down. Energy still fairly low overall as I continue to recover. And I took stock and realized after two months mostly gone how far behind I was on recording some workshops, and on reading for Pulphouse. And other things. So I just sort of decided I wouldn’t push the writing for a few weeks. I…
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Reading Stories
Not Doing Much Writing Yet… Typical slow start to my year. Only years I didn’t have a slow start were years I ramped up for two weeks in December. No idea why. Always seems logical at the time. But I am getting a lot of reading of Pulphouse stories done. I want to have them all done before this HEARTS COLLIDE Kickstarter finishes because I hope we hit a few stretch goals and I have more stories to read for Pulphouse. (see stretch goals in the campaign) And yes, I am finding some stories to buy from the reading. Here is how my enjoyment levels and frustration go with the…