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Dani79

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I've got a little board next to my writing space with "Don't write off ideas" pinned to it. If you're always telling yourself your ideas are stupid, your subconscious will take the hint and stop giving them to you.

ETA: And I would totally read a version of LOTR with gorillas, cyborgs, and shotguns in it. :D
 
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Hapax Legomenon

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I've got a little board next to my writing space with "Don't write off ideas" pinned to it. If you're always telling yourself your ideas are stupid, your subconscious will take the hint and stop giving them to you.

I don't know if I can scare them away. It's been like seven years of stupid ideas and they still come after me in droves.

I also think I have this problem where I write vignettes when I mean to write something else.
 
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zanzjan

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I also think I have this problem where I write vignettes when I mean to write something else.

Heh. I write 20k+ stories when I want to write flash.

Although I've had a hard time writing since I broke my leg. You'd think all that time spent sitting around would be good for getting words down, but not so much. Someone wave their sparkly-magic inspiration wand in my direction, would you?
 

fihr

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Heh. I write 20k+ stories when I want to write flash.

Although I've had a hard time writing since I broke my leg. You'd think all that time spent sitting around would be good for getting words down, but not so much. Someone wave their sparkly-magic inspiration wand in my direction, would you?

Sorry to hear about your leg, Zanzjan.

I've also been writing longer stories when I originally set out to write flash. That's why I decided to let my latest story run. It's now novella length. Good practice for me at starting to grapple with longer stuff.

I am torn though, because I love writing short stories. They're a great size to actually finish, and I can fit them in around my other family commitments. I like that I can read them in one sitting and see them as a whole.

As for "stupid ideas" - I agree with what Aggy said before.

I never know if one of my ideas is any good. I often think a story is terrible as I'm writing it - and I try to block that out of my head and just finish it. Then leave it a while, and decide whether to polish after coming back with fresh eyes and hopefully better judgement.

But I think you've got a better chance of selling if the concept is original or you've got an original take on it. Which means taking a risk that it's a rotten idea, because you're not writing a cliche that's been done before.
 

alexshvartsman

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I have the opposite problem. My short stories want to be flash. My novels want to be short stories. And both usually get their way :)
 

Melinda Moore

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Sorry about your leg Zanzan. Oddly the story I'm currently working on has a protagonist who breaks her leg skiing. Except I haven't written at all this week. Zero words down, zero new stories, zero notifications from editors. Sunday I can start again!
 

Tamlyn

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I had nothing else on Wednesday so I tried to make it a pure writing day. I managed about 5300 words (hand-written) then typed them up. It felt good until I realised I spent about six hours of the day on it (not straight) - admittedly I'm still not well and I had to break for blehness a couple of times, plus I have an awkward typing setup... but that wouldn't have made that huge a difference. I don't know how people regularly do 5k to 10k a day! Perhaps it would have been less exhausting if I was completely healthy.

Well, it was still good for me anyway. Now I'm back to my minimum words for a bit while I try to fix more stories. I really would like to break this whole rejected habit - though I'm still sticking to pro/semi-pro markets. I'm not quite desperate enough to sub to, oh, I don't know, my old school newsletter just to see my name in print again.

Sorry to hear about your leg, zanzjan. And Alex, your writing might get its own way... but its working for it.
 

StormChild

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Sorry to hear that your leg is still giving you trouble, Zanzjan. It's hateful how things like that come out of nowhere and derail all the best plans.

Tamlyn, like you I'm persisting with the pro and semi-pro markets even though it's tempting to think about those token pay ones for the ego stroke. Currently I'm holding off my ego with a big stick.

Melinda, I hate those no-work weeks, they give me that slithery, guilty feeling that beats me back to the keyboard. Right now I'm talking to you guys instead of working on the final draft I've been avoiding for days. I had this at the end of the last draft too -- my brain thinks it's done with this story and wants to play with something else.
 

Aislinn

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I had nothing else on Wednesday so I tried to make it a pure writing day. I managed about 5300 words (hand-written) then typed them up. It felt good until I realised I spent about six hours of the day on it (not straight) - admittedly I'm still not well and I had to break for blehness a couple of times, plus I have an awkward typing setup... but that wouldn't have made that huge a difference. I don't know how people regularly do 5k to 10k a day! Perhaps it would have been less exhausting if I was completely healthy.

That sounds like an amazingly productive day to me. My fastest writing is 1k words per hour, and I think that's pretty good - it would take me twice as long if I wrote longhand and then typed it up. You must be a really fast typist!
 

Aggy B.

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Got about 1.1k written yesterday in between work on the legal stuff. (Good news is we've got our water back on. Took a court order to make it happen, but after seven weeks of no running water in the house it's finally back on.)

With the words from yesterday the novel-ish grew past 37k. Going to try and get a few more chunks knocked out today and then I'll only have two major sequences left.

Aggy, hooray for basic necessities
 

Melinda Moore

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@ Tamlyn I think that's a really productive day! My word count per hour depends on what I'm writing. Sometimes a flash fiction takes me all day while a can knock out a few chapters in a day.

@ Stormchild: I knew this week was coming so I feel no guilt :) Only StreSS :) Can't wait till tomorrow.

@ Aggy: Glad you have water! I can't imagine. I hope everything else is cleared up.

Re token markets: I haven't found those easy to get into. It took me eleven tries to get into The Colored Lens. I know people use the top down method, but I do tend to look at this career like a performing arts career: I'm at the garage band/ off off off Broadway level now hoping to keep working and get my big break.
 

Batspan

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Good going Dani & Tamlyn!

Good thoughts to everyone, whether you're having a hot writing week or not.

Zanzjan -- Sparkly magic wand at you. The Snowflake Guy's newsletter kicked me into that 500-words + a day marathon. I don't have a link handy, but his website's easy to find through a search.

I'm just beginning to look at the second draft of the Gothic horror novel.

Continuing market research, planning ahead for where all the new stories will go once they're polished.
 

alexshvartsman

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Re token markets: I haven't found those easy to get into. It took me eleven tries to get into The Colored Lens. I know people use the top down method, but I do tend to look at this career like a performing arts career: I'm at the garage band/ off off off Broadway level now hoping to keep working and get my big break.

I disagree with this comparison. Fiction isn't like that at all.

Once you are skilled enough to write a competent story (and you are), it's just a matter of the submission finding an editor who will fall in love with it. That editor might be in charge of a token market, or of a pro market.

A garage band can start out performing their song at small gigs and then work their way up to performing that song at better and better venues. But, once you sell the story, you won't generally get the opportunity to try selling it again to a *better* market. So there's no reason not to start at or near the top before working your way to the token markets.

Sure, you can always write *another* story to submit, but the truth is none of us write consistent quality work. Some of our stories are better than others. And you don't want a story that might turn out to be your masterpiece that's capable of getting nominated for awards to languish at a token market and miss all those opportunities because you didn't feel confident enough to send it to the likes of Asimov's or Clarkesworld.
 

Melinda Moore

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Re Alex:

I was perhaps misleading. I do submit to pro markets, but my stories never land there. So right now my stories land off off Broadway productions. My point, I think, is I find no shame in it :) Work is work.
 

fihr

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Once you are skilled enough to write a competent story (and you are), it's just a matter of the submission finding an editor who will fall in love with it. That editor might be in charge of a token market, or of a pro market.

I love this. It's a good thing to remember.

[from Melinda:] My point, I think, is I find no shame in it

I agree. Rejections are not shameful, in fact they show you're getting your work out there, which 90% of writers don't do. I am far more thick-skinned now about rejections than I was to start with, because they're just part of the process. Just need to write more work so I can get a few more rejections!
 

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I finally made the switch from Duotrope to the Grinder! Paying six dollars a month for Duotrope was pretty silly but I kept procrastinating making the switch. I feel so free.
 

Batspan

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Congrats, Gnome!

I wrote a horror flash this morning. This one ran only a few words over the target of 1k, easy to fix in the next draft.

I'm switching to Bradbury's Rx of one story a week so I can apply the rest of my fiction time to the novel. Realized I couldn't go cold-turkey from writing shorts. Got one submission out last night so I'm back up to 12. Checked for more markets yesterday.

I keep reading what the top venues publish and I'm continuing with the top-down approach, except for when a semi-pro call grabs me just right.
 
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StormChild

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right now my stories land off off Broadway productions. My point, I think, is I find no shame in it :) Work is work.

I didn't intend to imply shame, Melinda. What I meant with my comment ties in exactly with what you said -- work is work.

I don't want to give my work away for free, not even to prestigious token or for-the-exposure markets. This is obviously a personal decision, but for me if I'd prefer to keep plugging at the pro and semi-pro markets even if they're not buying yet.

In my professional career we were told that we should never volunteer in the field after we qualify, because we devalue the professional product by giving it away for free. I approach writing with the same attitude.
 

Melinda Moore

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Well, I do wish I made as much at token markets as I did playing in bars.
 

Batspan

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Issues about work and money are personal and may change over time. In college I published in lit journals that didn't pay. I also made my first non-fiction sales for more than I make now, and my first pro fiction sale. Now I wish all the market sites would put token and "for exposure" listings on a separate page where I wouldn't have to wade through them ever again. Yet I remember how cool it was to first make it into print, so I'm still happy for someone making appearances in venues that pay little or nothing.

I posted this in Rejectomancy weeks ago, yet there are new people around and questions about how long to shop a story crop up -- so here's a post that shares Twitter responses, primarily from genre writers who publish regularly, on the most Rs it took to get a sale.

There are cases where stories rejected by token and semi-pro venues went on to a pro sale. The range is 6 subs to more than 40 subs to get a sale.

Right now I find the comments on dry spells heartening. It's been so long since the last sale I'm having to force myself to stay process-focused.
http://amandacdavis.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/wounds-on-our-fronts-failure-and-success/
 

Gnome

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Issues about work and money are personal and may change over time. In college I published in lit journals that didn't pay. I also made my first non-fiction sales for more than I make now, and my first pro fiction sale. Now I wish all the market sites would put token and "for exposure" listings on a separate page where I wouldn't have to wade through them ever again. Yet I remember how cool it was to first make it into print, so I'm still happy for someone making appearances in venues that pay little or nothing.

I posted this in Rejectomancy weeks ago, yet there are new people around and questions about how long to shop a story crop up -- so here's a post that shares Twitter responses, primarily from genre writers who publish regularly, on the most Rs it took to get a sale.

There are cases where stories rejected by token and semi-pro venues went on to a pro sale. The range is 6 subs to more than 40 subs to get a sale.

Right now I find the comments on dry spells heartening. It's been so long since the last sale I'm having to force myself to stay process-focused.
http://amandacdavis.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/wounds-on-our-fronts-failure-and-success/

Thanks for sharing that link. It makes me feel like less of a loser. :)
 

V1c

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It really is about editorial fit, whether that be at BIG TIME MAG or really cool Semi or wherever. Of course we all want to expose our (literary) children to a big big audience, so we decide where we will be happy they reside. Sometimes for me if I really like teh venture I don't care as much about pay (like Goreyesque, which is just cool). But to each their own.

And I had a story take over three years to find a home. It ended up at a nice dream pro magazine after being rejected by many that others would categorize as semi or token.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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I'll have to keep this in mind and not be afraid of sending to lots and lots of places...

Anyway, I wrote about 500 words of a short story that I have no idea where it's going.

I'm just kind of... upset, I guess, because whenever I read short stories they just seem so unlike anything I ever write, so that kind of quashes any hope I have of getting anything accepted anywhere.
 
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StormChild

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Excellent link, thanks, Batspan.

Hapax, that's an issue for me also. I seem to write in the style some of the golden agers, or like Barry Longyear; I suspect I'm out of step with today's market.
 
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