May 2015 Motivation Thread

Facing said:
I'm not holding out much hope of getting into any of these anthologies, but the themes do get my mind working and deadlines keep me at the keyboard churning out new finished stories. :cool:
Click to expand...

I think writing a story for a specific market greatly enhances your chances. Some of the others probably know better, but from what I have read in various submission guidelines it seems like editors get a lot of people "trunk cleaning," and submitting pieces that barely hit the mark.
 
Last edited:
SteveW said:
I think writing a story for a specific market greatly enhances your chances. Some of the others probably know better, but from what I have read in various submission guidelines it seems like editors get a lot of people "trunk cleaning," and submitting pieces that barely hit the mark.
Click to expand...
I've read that as well. I write slowly and so often miss deadlines but I keep plugging away. I'm hoping that practice make for speedier results that require less editing. ;)
 
SteveW said:
I think writing a story for a specific market greatly enhances your chances. Some of the others probably know better, but from what I have read in various submission guidelines it seems like editors get a lot of people "trunk cleaning," and submitting pieces that barely hit the mark.
Click to expand...

Themed anthologies also don't get NEARLY enough submissions. Where a place like F&SF gets 1200 stories a month, and a smaller venue might get 500, a themed call might only get 100 stories, most of them, as someone said, not even really on-topic. Paying close attention to what the editor wants and writing directly to that is the fast-track to the shortlist, Imo.
 
Charlotte - Did you finish your story for clockwork?
 
Facing said:
Charlotte - Did you finish your story for clockwork?
Click to expand...
uuuuuhm.... not ... as .... such. I have until the 15th. o_O

It's 3850 words long right now, 2150 of which were written over the last three days. Editor says "strong preference for 5000 words" to which - BAHAHAHAHA okay *wipes tears* that's not going to happen. I don't even know what with this story right now. Am just going to keep plugging at it and see what happens.
 
I can relate. I've got less words than that for my fairy tale which is also due by the 15th. We've got eight days.

I'll kick yours if you'll kick mine. We can do this.
 
I haven't woken up early to write for the past 3 days. Yesterday I reset the alarm for my normal time an hour later and today I didn't bother changing it back to the earlier time. Totally failing this week.

Good news though, I am working my way through Halloween book 2 and I'm now into the rising action before the books climax. I still don't know enough details of that climax to say what happens, but I'm starting to figure it out.
 
RedMage said:
I haven't woken up early to write for the past 3 days. Yesterday I reset the alarm for my normal time an hour later and today I didn't bother changing it back to the earlier time. Totally failing this week.

Good news though, I am working my way through Halloween book 2 and I'm now into the rising action before the books climax. I still don't know enough details of that climax to say what happens, but I'm starting to figure it out.
Click to expand...

Hang in there man, you're doin' fine!
 
Facing said:
I can relate. I've got less words than that for my fairy tale which is also due by the 15th. We've got eight days.
Click to expand...
I'm going to see if I can write one of those this weekend. I've found some fairy tales I'd never heard of before that I can lift some concepts from and try to build a story around. Just need to make sure it doesn't turn into 'hard-core horror' :).
 
Edward M. Grant said:
I'm going to see if I can write one of those this weekend. I've found some fairy tales I'd never heard of before that I can lift some concepts from and try to build a story around. Just need to make sure it doesn't turn into 'hard-core horror' :).
Click to expand...

Many Fairy Tales ARE hard core horror under the veneer. :D :D :D
 
Edward M. Grant said:
Yeah, I know, but the anthology specifically says it won't accept 'hard-core horror' stories.
Click to expand...
I'm re-telling the Giant who had no heart but in my tale it will be a princess who will have her heart cut out on the order of dear old dad. That's pretty horrific but it's also in keeping with classic fairy tales, which they do want. I'll be glossing over the details. If you like to write horror you could be very free with your first draft, just to get the story down, and do a little sanitizing on edit.

Good luck with your entry.
 
I've been rereading my Ashwalker novel. Some good stuff, some not-so-good stuff. Because I wrote it over the course of 15 or so months, I can clearly see how my writing has changed and improved. I'm glad to have improved, but now I have to go back and revise some pretty drab prose. Silly thing to be worried about, I know.

There are also some very boring scenes in this book. I noticed that far too many of them take place in the same location, and are slightly different versions of the same thing. The good news is--after a few sleepless nights--that I came up with a fix. So I'll be working on that in the coming weeks. It's going to be an amazing book! ...Or else. :p

(Threats of bodily harm toward my own book are fine, right?)
 
I just got called into work so I won't finish the rough draft today (I need the hours) but I did manage to add 2553 words to it. I'm more than 3/4 of the way there.

Good luck to Charlotte and Edward who are up against the same deadline.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsors


We try to keep the forum as free of ads as possible, please consider supporting SFFWorld on Patreon


Your ad here.
Back
Top