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Writerly Ways
Feb. 19th, 2023 09:57 pmI finished my solarpunk story. No idea if I can get it betaed in time but it's done and I'm sending in something. Also tonight is the last night to get something up for bid on ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomtrumpshate You know I don't like complaining to mods who do all this work for very little return but man that google form doesn't allow for much. Tell us what you're offering. I couldn't even put in what I would for your normal DW exchange. That bothered me but I'm not sure I should say anything, probably not.
So here is my thoughts for the week: writing small. I'm not talking about ficlets and flash fic. I'm talking in scope. I'm facing a book I won in a Goodreads giveaway that I regret asking for because it's nearly 500 pages long (so I guess I'm talking length too, ha). The reason it's so long is the scope of the book. It's not atypical of fantasy and SF to have huge scope, world affecting magic, wars, etc. The older I get, the less I care about this. The aforementioned book is one just such book, diasporas, religious wars, territorial wars etc and it's just sigh. I really don't want to read this (I won this in return for a review so I think I need to read it to be fair).
I would love to see more small scale fantasy/SF stories. I know they're out there. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree has been touted as one (On my tbr pile also if you know any rec away). I think this desire for smaller scope has pushed me toward reading mostly mysteries again and some UF. SF/F which used to make up much of my reading has fallen to like a half dozen books or so a year.
A good example of it is Stiefvater's Raven series. The original series is a small scope, mostly just affecting the kids. The follow up is much bigger, world wide effects and my interest fell but also so did some of the writing. It is hard to write those big scale books, so much world building, so many ways to drag, so many ways to go wrong.
The whole idea of a small scope intrigues me. I want to see more of it. I want it to be marketable. I want to write more of it. How do you feel about it?
Open Calls
Last Girls Club Summer Issue 2023 the theme is reparations
Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror Pays well only open to queer authors
Tower Magazine February Window
Short Story Substack March 2023 Window
Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores March 2023 (Early Listing)
The Ocotillo Review: Now Seeking Submissions
Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Authors this February
From Around the Web
When’s the best time to publish your book? Now!
How Your Cover Speaks Volumes This is important and yet so often OUT of our control. I was sitting at a talk at a con with an author with a major house complaining that they kept insisting on cats on her cozy covers because 'animals sell more books.' but there is no animals in the book and she felt it a trick on the audience. We've all seen self pub covers that are super cringeworthy (and some that aren't self pubbed). Wish there was an easy answer here (that said I was lucky with my covers)
Platform: Writing Newsletters Honestly I wish I knew if these help. Some I know swear it works. Personally I delete 90% of the newsletters I get unread. One of the marketers with one of the pubs I use has stopped with the blog blitzes why? not stated but I'm assuming it wasn't working.
Querying & Submitting in 2023: Q&A with Jeff Herman
The Influence Character: One Of The Most Important Roles
Originality.AI Launches A Free Text Comparison Tool To Detect Plagiarism
Love Is In The Air As Tor Launches A New Imprint Titled Bramble
The Spooky Six with Willow Croft and Tenacity Plys
Traditional or Self Publishing – That is the Question
How To Get People To Your Book Signing
Common-sense Tips To Get People To Your Book Signing
How To Get Book Reviews
From Betty
Hack Your Brain For More Energy and Focus In Writing
TEN TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS
Desire, Goals, Motivations, and Needs in Storytelling
How To Write A Book Review In 5 Easy Steps
The Business Skill I Wish I Could Grant to All Writers
Genre Tips: How to Write Romance
Plotting With Post-it Notes
How to Find Your Readers
How to Create an Elemental Magic System
Five Ways to Include Dreams in Your Plot
Six Bad Arguments Against Social Justice in Speculative Fiction
Six Habits That Sabotage Audio Stories Hey this might explain the dialogue tag thing about not having them!
Judging What Information Your Story Needs
Fear Thesaurus Entry: Sex
Slay Your Bloated Word Count.
Don’t dribble out morsels of information within a scene
fandomtrumpshate You know I don't like complaining to mods who do all this work for very little return but man that google form doesn't allow for much. Tell us what you're offering. I couldn't even put in what I would for your normal DW exchange. That bothered me but I'm not sure I should say anything, probably not.So here is my thoughts for the week: writing small. I'm not talking about ficlets and flash fic. I'm talking in scope. I'm facing a book I won in a Goodreads giveaway that I regret asking for because it's nearly 500 pages long (so I guess I'm talking length too, ha). The reason it's so long is the scope of the book. It's not atypical of fantasy and SF to have huge scope, world affecting magic, wars, etc. The older I get, the less I care about this. The aforementioned book is one just such book, diasporas, religious wars, territorial wars etc and it's just sigh. I really don't want to read this (I won this in return for a review so I think I need to read it to be fair).
I would love to see more small scale fantasy/SF stories. I know they're out there. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree has been touted as one (On my tbr pile also if you know any rec away). I think this desire for smaller scope has pushed me toward reading mostly mysteries again and some UF. SF/F which used to make up much of my reading has fallen to like a half dozen books or so a year.
A good example of it is Stiefvater's Raven series. The original series is a small scope, mostly just affecting the kids. The follow up is much bigger, world wide effects and my interest fell but also so did some of the writing. It is hard to write those big scale books, so much world building, so many ways to drag, so many ways to go wrong.
The whole idea of a small scope intrigues me. I want to see more of it. I want it to be marketable. I want to write more of it. How do you feel about it?
Open Calls
Last Girls Club Summer Issue 2023 the theme is reparations
Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror Pays well only open to queer authors
Tower Magazine February Window
Short Story Substack March 2023 Window
Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores March 2023 (Early Listing)
The Ocotillo Review: Now Seeking Submissions
Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Authors this February
From Around the Web
When’s the best time to publish your book? Now!
How Your Cover Speaks Volumes This is important and yet so often OUT of our control. I was sitting at a talk at a con with an author with a major house complaining that they kept insisting on cats on her cozy covers because 'animals sell more books.' but there is no animals in the book and she felt it a trick on the audience. We've all seen self pub covers that are super cringeworthy (and some that aren't self pubbed). Wish there was an easy answer here (that said I was lucky with my covers)
Platform: Writing Newsletters Honestly I wish I knew if these help. Some I know swear it works. Personally I delete 90% of the newsletters I get unread. One of the marketers with one of the pubs I use has stopped with the blog blitzes why? not stated but I'm assuming it wasn't working.
Querying & Submitting in 2023: Q&A with Jeff Herman
The Influence Character: One Of The Most Important Roles
Originality.AI Launches A Free Text Comparison Tool To Detect Plagiarism
Love Is In The Air As Tor Launches A New Imprint Titled Bramble
The Spooky Six with Willow Croft and Tenacity Plys
Traditional or Self Publishing – That is the Question
How To Get People To Your Book Signing
Common-sense Tips To Get People To Your Book Signing
How To Get Book Reviews
From Betty
Hack Your Brain For More Energy and Focus In Writing
TEN TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS
Desire, Goals, Motivations, and Needs in Storytelling
How To Write A Book Review In 5 Easy Steps
The Business Skill I Wish I Could Grant to All Writers
Genre Tips: How to Write Romance
Plotting With Post-it Notes
How to Find Your Readers
How to Create an Elemental Magic System
Five Ways to Include Dreams in Your Plot
Six Bad Arguments Against Social Justice in Speculative Fiction
Six Habits That Sabotage Audio Stories Hey this might explain the dialogue tag thing about not having them!
Judging What Information Your Story Needs
Fear Thesaurus Entry: Sex
Slay Your Bloated Word Count.
Don’t dribble out morsels of information within a scene
