Janet Fitch writes about writing dialogue: Dialogue is only for conflict. It’s like a racehorse, it can’t just carry any old thing, the pots and pans and old tires. You can’t heap all your expository business on it, the meet and greet, all that yack. It’s just for the conflict between one character and another. [...]
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Contemporaneity, in the sense of being “up with the times,” is of no value. A competent wakefulness to experience — as well as to instruction and example — is another matter. But what we call the modern world is not necessarily, and not often, the real world, and there is no virtue in being up [...]
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DDB made a comment the other day that I’ve been thinking about. In my last post, I said something about how I’d spent ~150 hours watching Lost, and DDB said something about how my comment had made him re-evaluate how he’s spending his time. I think the idea was that the notion of spending 150 [...]
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Tagged lost
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Got to cafe 5 mins before they opened, narrowly beating ‘alternative medicine’ dude who smokes like an effing chimney and who’s been stealing my spot for the last two months. Ha! Also, I’ve forgotten to update on this lately, but the tally stands at 11 total submissions of six different stories, which have resulted in [...]
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Sunday, February 28, 2010
10 Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied. From here, via Caren. I wonder if anyone who’s not trying to write would find anything of interest in this collection of shop talk. You tell me.
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Friday, February 26, 2010
I can’t remember if I’ve been numbering these things in terms of the number of times I’ve submitted, or the number of different stories that I’ve submitted. I think I’ll go with the latter, since that’s a more meaningful metric. Anyway, I’ve been trying to find a good market for “Mutter” which is one of [...]
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Monday, February 22, 2010
Just finished my first new post-contest story. One a day for almost two months and now this is an accomplishment; funny. Goes to show that streaks, competition, are about the most powerful things ever. Feels good to finish something, though. I missed it.
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
I think the Clarkesworld rejection has already spoiled me; all the other markets are estimated at a month or more before they get back to you. I’m waiting to hear from Theresa before I send Twenty Ten out again. Since turnaround times from here on out are so long I’ve got to be strategic. The [...]
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Just keeping ya’ll up to date. This one went to McSweeney’s, which is somehow even less likely to go through than the one to Clarkesworld. But I don’t care. The piece is perfect for them, and it’s good enough. And when it gets rejected, I’ll send it to someone else. Did I mention 2010 was [...]
Friday, February 19, 2010
This morning, for what is essentially the first time ever, I submitted a story. To Clarkesworld magazine, which has published some pretty compelling work in the past. Spar, by Kij Johnson, I liked particularly. [Mom: don't read it.] The rejection rate is crazy high, and even though I feel my story is very strong it [...]