Some nice nuggets in this amongst the welcome wise-assery. Your suggestion to print out a piece to do at least one editing pass on paper is a good one, especially for the many Screen Babies who have it hammered into their heads not to "waste paper." Those trees are dead anyway. Once I get a "finished" draft I print it out and have at it. Helps to see how crappy it is and how much work is left.
And yes, final lines and how you wrap things up can put your work over the top. Short stories especially are all about the ending.
This was all great. Thanks so much. Yeah, sunsets and dysentery, the whole death thing, or just the idea that whatever we're writing about, it's a story about not dying. My big thing is the rejection anxiety. This was well done, thorough, much needed, and hugely appreciated.
Thank you. And I know, it's tough. I have found that by submitting to a lot of places per piece, rejections sting a bit less. But when I submit one piece to one or two places the rejection compounds because I feel like I'm doomed to take that piece back into the cycle again
This whole course has been so great. I've joked about the swearing and the spreadsheets, and it's true, I do love them, but really, you folks are creating something special here. Thank you so much.
From what I'm reading in the comments, I realize I have no idea how to work with an editor: where to find them? (ok, now I have ONE place), what are reasonable rates? How to assess if we're working well together (too nice might be a bad sign, if it's not going well, am I being defensive/difficult or is it not the right editor for me?...). So that might be an idea for a future lesson?
I have a "go limp" policy with editors. Basically, I take whatever they say without thinking defensively about my work, consider it, and then take or leave things. That was a big thing I learned. That just because an editor says something doesn't mean you have to change it. It's more of a relationship.
"So far in this course, I’ve beaten that horse to death, learned how to do CPR on a horse, performed said CPR until said horse sprung back to life, then beat it to death again. So, let’s give it some peace.
This was super useful. Alot of tricks I was using without really realizing but helps to have more framing so I can do them more intentionally.
Gentle note that cluster b disorders have some of the highest stigma and it leads to trauma and not getting care. Most folks don't know that sociopath is pulled from ASPD (anti social personality disorder) which is a long pathologies way of folks typically w a ton of trauma trying to survive in a system trying to kill them and typically everything they do including things we do all the time being read as dangerous, whether it is or not. We can make funny insulting jokes w out ableist language
Thank you for pointing this out. I admit, I hadn't thought of it, but when you put it this way I totally understand and will be more careful in the future.
I followed your advice and submitted a back-filed short story (after more editing) to a genre specific publication. Today they asked for my photo to go with it. Proves your point(s), aye?! ...And thank you for all the things I have learnt and re-learned.
Great piece with some very good points. As a slush pile reader, I've learned that the ending has to do something. Either an arc has to close, or a cycle has to renew, or something has to be decided. There has to be some thing that creates a sense of movement/progress/closure/renewal/newfound xyz. It's hard to describe it, but when you read many, many stories, one gets a sense for it. It happens emotionally, I guess, when your read and read and you come to the end. This doesn't mean things have to be resolved, neat, done. But if they are not, we need to understand, does the character know they are not, decide it's this way, unhappy/happy things are not resolved, etc. (This unresolved-ness is intentional, known, pointed.) This is not something anyone told me, like, "endings have to be like this," but I see now that stories that do this do better in the slush pile. Of course, there are stories that don't and do well, too; like everything else creative, there are always exceptions. But the exceptions have to work really well in some other way. As for grammar and punctuation, I recently heard at a prestigious workshop from a published author that "slush pile readers look for any reason to reject your work," and that getting punctuation wrong, say, for dialog tags, will get your piece rejected right away. Bullshit! Yes, many, many punctuation errors can distract reading and make your story less than what it is. BUT, two things that can help: 1) be consistent, so your punctuation/grammar choices look intentional. If you don't know the right way, nobody taught you, or you cannot be bothered, fine, but do be consistent within that piece. If things are inconsistent, it adds to the "sloppy" feeling, makes it seem like the writer didn't care about the story. 2) buy/make coffee/lunch for that very nit-picky friend who has great attention to detail in exchange for a grammar/punctuation read/skim. Let them question your choices, and if you want, look it up online or ask a librarian (these two may not be available to everyone, unfortunately!)
What helps me with rejections is being a digital hoarder. Do I have enough lines in my spreadsheet? No? submit more. Do I have rejections this month to add to my bedpostnotchbelt thing? no? SUBMIT MOAR.
I have yet however figured out how to tell what editors want, not from the fact that I get rejected, or from reading the lit mags (which I do religiously and I think gives me an edge over say, people sending stories to poetry mags, or people not saying "SADFISH" at the end of a cover letter) but from what they choose of my work to publish.
Even though I send work that I think matches, I have just as frequently said, "Didn't see that one coming" as much as I've said, "Awww yeah, thats the one I thought would get picked."
also my acceptance rate is probably the size of a pin that maybe one angel can sit on, my rejection rate is probably a maw that could swallow the solar system. Dunno, gonna go look at my spreadsheet with my dragon goodies. brb.
I know. I am often surprised by the poems lit mags choose over ones I really like. But ever since I started using Shannan's tracker in Lesson 9 and organizing my writing more. I've had a lot more success. But especially with big mags, there are so many different reasons. The final culling for style can happen after it's been churned through a few rounds of less experienced editors. That's why I try to focus on making the story universally appealing from the get-go and have it pan out as it progresses in a certain style that might better fit a specific lit mag's style
this course was amazing! i think I've never seen a better instructor than you. ugh! i know I've told you the same thing so many times through this course but yes this course is quite remember able and helpful.
question: can I read this course again and again? will there ever be a paywall on this course?
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. And yes, this course will always remain free. We might adapt it into a book or something to see, but this version will exist forever and I'll provide some info on that in tomorrow's final post
Goes without saying, but then you did say it and that's okay too.
constructive and concise, tyty!
you're welcome!
Some nice nuggets in this amongst the welcome wise-assery. Your suggestion to print out a piece to do at least one editing pass on paper is a good one, especially for the many Screen Babies who have it hammered into their heads not to "waste paper." Those trees are dead anyway. Once I get a "finished" draft I print it out and have at it. Helps to see how crappy it is and how much work is left.
And yes, final lines and how you wrap things up can put your work over the top. Short stories especially are all about the ending.
Totally agree. I'm always so disappointed when a story fails to stick the landing
This was all great. Thanks so much. Yeah, sunsets and dysentery, the whole death thing, or just the idea that whatever we're writing about, it's a story about not dying. My big thing is the rejection anxiety. This was well done, thorough, much needed, and hugely appreciated.
Thank you. And I know, it's tough. I have found that by submitting to a lot of places per piece, rejections sting a bit less. But when I submit one piece to one or two places the rejection compounds because I feel like I'm doomed to take that piece back into the cycle again
this was immensely helpful, thank you!
Happy to hear it!
This whole course has been so great. I've joked about the swearing and the spreadsheets, and it's true, I do love them, but really, you folks are creating something special here. Thank you so much.
From what I'm reading in the comments, I realize I have no idea how to work with an editor: where to find them? (ok, now I have ONE place), what are reasonable rates? How to assess if we're working well together (too nice might be a bad sign, if it's not going well, am I being defensive/difficult or is it not the right editor for me?...). So that might be an idea for a future lesson?
Thanks again!
I have a "go limp" policy with editors. Basically, I take whatever they say without thinking defensively about my work, consider it, and then take or leave things. That was a big thing I learned. That just because an editor says something doesn't mean you have to change it. It's more of a relationship.
Great work and I love the fucking raccoons, horses & that other humor as well.
thank you! we're looking into different formats to present this course and I'm like...OK so what about the raccoons? Gotta keep the raccoons in there
Thank you so, so much for all of your work and insight throughout this course. I’ve saved every lesson and I know I’ll turn to them again and again.
I'm very happy to hear it. Hopefully soon we'll have it in a neater easiily navigated format
"So far in this course, I’ve beaten that horse to death, learned how to do CPR on a horse, performed said CPR until said horse sprung back to life, then beat it to death again. So, let’s give it some peace.
"Be free, horse. "
I LOVED this!!
haha YES! Thank you. Love when my random jokes land
This was super useful. Alot of tricks I was using without really realizing but helps to have more framing so I can do them more intentionally.
Gentle note that cluster b disorders have some of the highest stigma and it leads to trauma and not getting care. Most folks don't know that sociopath is pulled from ASPD (anti social personality disorder) which is a long pathologies way of folks typically w a ton of trauma trying to survive in a system trying to kill them and typically everything they do including things we do all the time being read as dangerous, whether it is or not. We can make funny insulting jokes w out ableist language
Thank you for pointing this out. I admit, I hadn't thought of it, but when you put it this way I totally understand and will be more careful in the future.
you pulled me along with the funniest stuff- I might have actually learned something along the way!
Yay! That was my hope. I think a bit of levity and humor makes learning anything much more fun
I followed your advice and submitted a back-filed short story (after more editing) to a genre specific publication. Today they asked for my photo to go with it. Proves your point(s), aye?! ...And thank you for all the things I have learnt and re-learned.
I am very glad this all helped. A lot of lessons learned the hard way for me
“Don’t make your main character a writer. It’s like sending editors a dick pic” — i’m fucking dead
Great piece with some very good points. As a slush pile reader, I've learned that the ending has to do something. Either an arc has to close, or a cycle has to renew, or something has to be decided. There has to be some thing that creates a sense of movement/progress/closure/renewal/newfound xyz. It's hard to describe it, but when you read many, many stories, one gets a sense for it. It happens emotionally, I guess, when your read and read and you come to the end. This doesn't mean things have to be resolved, neat, done. But if they are not, we need to understand, does the character know they are not, decide it's this way, unhappy/happy things are not resolved, etc. (This unresolved-ness is intentional, known, pointed.) This is not something anyone told me, like, "endings have to be like this," but I see now that stories that do this do better in the slush pile. Of course, there are stories that don't and do well, too; like everything else creative, there are always exceptions. But the exceptions have to work really well in some other way. As for grammar and punctuation, I recently heard at a prestigious workshop from a published author that "slush pile readers look for any reason to reject your work," and that getting punctuation wrong, say, for dialog tags, will get your piece rejected right away. Bullshit! Yes, many, many punctuation errors can distract reading and make your story less than what it is. BUT, two things that can help: 1) be consistent, so your punctuation/grammar choices look intentional. If you don't know the right way, nobody taught you, or you cannot be bothered, fine, but do be consistent within that piece. If things are inconsistent, it adds to the "sloppy" feeling, makes it seem like the writer didn't care about the story. 2) buy/make coffee/lunch for that very nit-picky friend who has great attention to detail in exchange for a grammar/punctuation read/skim. Let them question your choices, and if you want, look it up online or ask a librarian (these two may not be available to everyone, unfortunately!)
Oooooo that is such good advice about making sure the punctuation is consistent. So spot on, thank you. I'm filing that away in my brain
What helps me with rejections is being a digital hoarder. Do I have enough lines in my spreadsheet? No? submit more. Do I have rejections this month to add to my bedpostnotchbelt thing? no? SUBMIT MOAR.
I have yet however figured out how to tell what editors want, not from the fact that I get rejected, or from reading the lit mags (which I do religiously and I think gives me an edge over say, people sending stories to poetry mags, or people not saying "SADFISH" at the end of a cover letter) but from what they choose of my work to publish.
Even though I send work that I think matches, I have just as frequently said, "Didn't see that one coming" as much as I've said, "Awww yeah, thats the one I thought would get picked."
also my acceptance rate is probably the size of a pin that maybe one angel can sit on, my rejection rate is probably a maw that could swallow the solar system. Dunno, gonna go look at my spreadsheet with my dragon goodies. brb.
I know. I am often surprised by the poems lit mags choose over ones I really like. But ever since I started using Shannan's tracker in Lesson 9 and organizing my writing more. I've had a lot more success. But especially with big mags, there are so many different reasons. The final culling for style can happen after it's been churned through a few rounds of less experienced editors. That's why I try to focus on making the story universally appealing from the get-go and have it pan out as it progresses in a certain style that might better fit a specific lit mag's style
this course was amazing! i think I've never seen a better instructor than you. ugh! i know I've told you the same thing so many times through this course but yes this course is quite remember able and helpful.
question: can I read this course again and again? will there ever be a paywall on this course?
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. And yes, this course will always remain free. We might adapt it into a book or something to see, but this version will exist forever and I'll provide some info on that in tomorrow's final post