Coloring Outside the Lines

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Genre writers tend to stay within the boundaries of our own ghetto. We envy writers like Jonathan Lethem and Michael Chabon who sometimes publish in places like Asimov’s or get nominated for Hugo awards, but who also show up in New Yorker and on nomination lists for “mainstream” literary awards.

 

The stories I write definitely have “fantastic” or “speculative” elements, and I’m sure most publications outside the genre have problems with any story that includes impossible elements in a realistic setting, or takes place in the future. Most, but not all. I want to challenge myself to write stories that succeed on both levels, and occasionally test the waters outside the SF/F/H community. This is partly a desire to see what might happen — who knows, I might encounter a receptive editor in one of these places — but my biggest reason is that I want to challenge myself to reach beyond the models and modes of fantastic fiction.

 

Most recently I’ve submitted a story to Glimmer Train (a large-ish mainstream literary mag, for those of you unfamiliar with it) for one of their contests, and I think I’ll try to do this sort of thing once in a while. I’ll keep shooting for F&SF, Asimov’s, Clarkesworld and the rest too, but I like the challenge of writing something compelling enough on the level of character, story and language to satisfy an editor not predisposed to a story containing a mermaid, an elder god, or a lunar colony. Whether or not I end up in magazines you can find at the corner newsstand (which doesn’t carry any of the little genre digests any more, let alone Interzone or Cemetary Dance), it can only help me become a better writer.

 

Scribophile Follow-Up

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Just a quick follow-up to yesterday’s post about Scribophile. Yesterday evening I posted part one of my story “An Experiment in Dreaming” and in the first 24 hours received three lengthy, detailed critiques. On Scribophile, a new member’s first post is “spotlighted” so this will probably not be typical. Once a posting receives three crits, it drops off the new member spotlight (though it’s still eligible to make it to the main spotlight, via some kind of queue, or other spotlights such as the “good critiquer” spotlight, another way Scribophile gives incentive for people to give good critiques).

I wrote a second critique today, and haven’t heard back from the writer of either story I critique. I tend to pull no punches in my crits, though I always try to be 100% constructive. Most people like that, some people get hurt feelings. Either way is OK with me. If I hurt someone’s feelings with an honest, well-intentioned crit, I won’t bother them again. Most people see it for what it is, which is an honest, good-faith expenditure of my own time and mental energy to help them make their story better and more publisher, and possibly also to teach them something about how their writing is received by an objective observer.

I posted the second half of the same story earlier today and haven’t received any critiques yet, because it’s not going to go on the new member spotlight (because it’s not my first post), and it’s not yet eligible for the main spotlight (not sure yet how long that normally takes). It could end up in the “good critiquer” spotlight before it makes the main spotlight, if I attain that status. I know I was yesterday’s overall top critiquer (measured purely by length of critique in terms of word count) so maybe I will attain some kind of overall “good critiquer” recognition. Who knows, not counting on it.

One of my FB friends with whom I’d shared complaints about The Cult forums also signed up at Scribophile so we’ll see if his experience is positive as well.

Lastly regarding yesterday’s snark about people on The Cult emulating Chuck Palahniuk, writing gimmicky attempts at “transgressive” fiction, I thought I’d make perfectly clear that I don’t consider Palahniuk himself a gimmicky writer. I think he’s a very strong stylist, a great storyteller, and the essays of writing instruction he posted for members on The Cult were really fresh and informative. The problem is the many youngsters misundertanding what Chuck is all about, focusing on the rough edges and harsh details while they miss the heart of what he’s doing. I remain a big fan of Chuck P.

Online Critique Community at Scribophile.com

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Ever since I took part in the online writing workshop at The Cult forums (offshoot of chuckpalahniuk.net) with Craig Clevenger, I’ve been participating in the main workshop area on that site. I encountered a few good writers and a handful of people willing to write good critiques, and started to believe this mght be a nice way of getting a bit of extra perspective on a few of my “trouble” stories. More and more, though, people on The Cult gravitate toward writing and critiquing only flash fiction, usually trying too hard to be edgy or transgressive in a Palahniuk-ian way. So more and more, I drift away, and don’t bother posting critiques there, because the “tit for tat” thing just isn’t happening there. The last story I posted only received a single, brief, moderately helpful critique in the first month it was up there. Post a 600 word piece about lighting your girlfriend on fire, though, and you’ll get fifteen critiques in two or three days.

One of the writers I encountered on The Cult who seemed on the same wavelength as me suggested Scribophile so I’ve signed up for an account there. I gave some consideration to trying Critters or OWW, but they both seemed less active, from what I was able to see. Scribophile is a much busier community, at the very least, and there’s a cross-section of more and less experienced writers, and people doing all different kinds of genres and styles, even a few people posting scripts and poetry. The system by which points are earned for critiques seems to reward more sincere, in-depth appraisals and suggestions, though of course it’s really the length of the critique that is being rewarded so I suppose some people might end up gaming the system by posting extremely wordy stream-of-consciousness crits. Haven’t seen that yet, though.

I’ve only posted a single critique (very long, but completely sincere and well-intentioned), and half of one story. It costs the same number of “karma points” to post a short story as a longer story, but I figured I’d have a better chance of having my  5,000 word story (the same one that only garnered a single critique on The Cult) if I split it in half. That way people who hate reading longer chunks of text can eat it in smaller bites, and receive more karma points as a reward for reading two separate stories. We’ll see how this goes.

The story I’ve posted is actually one of my earlier stories, a science fiction piece about a prison on the moon and a prisoner who is given an experimental treatment in an attempt to rehabilitate him. It’s a ‘broken’ story, and I know what’s wrong with it: the protagonist is in prison, and it’s difficult to give him an active role in either his treatment or his progress toward trying to get out of prison. Prisoners are by definition restricted as to how much autonomy they have, so the character ends up being more passive than I’d like, sort of accepting what treatments are offered to him and only barely taking action to drive the process forward. I’ve been looking at this thing too closely for too long, and can’t really see my way out of it, at this point. I’m sure if someone else posted this story with different names and in a different setting, I’d zoom right in on what this other writer needed to do in order to punch up the protagonist-ish-ness of the characater and give him a way of needing something, wanting something, and pursuing it over all kinds of obstacles. It’s so much easier to see what needs to be done with some other person’s stupid, faulty idea.

If anybody reading this is looking for a new critique community to check out, I’d at least tentatively recommend Scribophile.com. People there seem friendly and involved, and the system seems well-designed to make sure story submissions of every type receive at least a few critiques. There are all kinds of social networking aspects to create additional opportunities for people who are friendly, good at networking, or who give good critiques.

The most-viewed post ever on this blog

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I keep two versions of the same blog on WordPress and Livejournal. Only rarely do I post something to one, but not both.

I noticed something in the WordPress “stats” today that I found interesting. By far the most-viewed posting in the history of this blog (not just at first, when I posted it, but on an ongoing basis) is my “SF Academy 1” post, or https://griffinwords.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/sf-academy-01-ringworld-by-larry-niven/

In it, I rather harshly criticized one of the beloved, classic works of 1970s SF. I feel a little bad for the negativity, especially as I doubted anybody would ever read the post. There must be a link to my post on Ringworld-is-Sooo-Overrated.com or something.

I stand by my appraisal of the prose shortcomings of that novel, and my puzzlement that the book is held in such high regard.

Publication Day: Remodel With Swan Parts

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My story “Remodel With Swan Parts” is live today at Electric Spec!

Links:

Remodel With Swan Parts

May 2011 issue “Letter From the Editors” including summaries of contents

Of my story, they say:

And for those of you who are wondering just how far the trend of botox and boob jobs will go, check out “Remodel with Swan Parts” by Michael Griffin. Safe to say, the trend ain’t pretty.

I’ll have more comments, notes and celebration to offer soon, but wanted to get the links up.

That good news I mentioned

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I recently mentioned that I had received good news about my writing, but that I’d wait to post the specifics until it was more definite. Since then I’ve received and approved the edited proof of my story, and it’s going to be published at the end of May.

The venue is Electric Spec, a fairly established (in its sixth year) online science fiction, fantasy and horror periodical. My story isn’t online yet but you’ll be able to see it at http://www.electricspec.com/ — of course I’ll post a more direct link once it’s available.

The story is called “Remodel With Swan Parts.” It’s near-future science fiction set in a very changed Seattle, after a point when Seattle has shifted away culturally from the rest of the country. It’s one of my favorite examples of my own work, and I think represented a sort of watershed for me last year when I really started to “get” the kind of rich and vivid detail needed to bring a story to life. When I finished it, my wife Lena asserted with absolute certainty that it would be my first story to be published.

I won’t give away anything else about the story yet, but of course I’ll mention it again here by the time it’s available to read. I’m hard at work creating new stories and making them as wonderful as I can, so other editors will choose to convey them into the world. I hope to have more such announcements in the future.

First Publication, Coming Soon

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I’ve just received some very good writing-related news.

Every writer understands the giant gulf between the way published and unpublished writers are perceived. Of course, writers write, and that doesn’t change just because they’re published. Publication indicates a change in how the writer is received by the world, not in what the writer does. Still, it’s hard not to feel changed by the news that somebody wants to publish something you’ve written.

I’ll hold off naming the story and the venue until the contract has been signed by both parties, but I feel very relieved. I’ve heard of writers laboring for many years before their first acceptance, and I can only guess how frustrating it would be to face many times more rejections than I’ve had to face before that first break. I’ve only been back at it for about eighteen months, but writing is something I worked at consistently all through my twenties, and for another stretch in my mid-teens, so I feel like I’ve paid my dues.

Someone To Say No

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Every creative person needs someone in a position to tell them when what they’re doing isn’t working.

Even artists at the top of their game sometimes create substandard work. Some even go completely off the rails, get too big for their britches, snort too much coke. Even the giant bestseller of our era Stephen King needed an editor at various points in his history to say “Maybe you need to take another run at this.” To support my assertion I offer you The Tommyknockers.

That’s the problem I have with electronic self-publishing, or its equivalent in music, the download-only mp3 release. There’s nobody to say “No, not good enough.” There’s no incentive to hold back from releasing every last rough-draft that would be better discarded.

The internet’s overflowing with debate about self-publishing, particularly of the electronic variety. When self-publishing meant paying thousands of dollars to print up a handful of trade paperbacks, few enough people did it that there wasn’t much debate. That financial barrier to entry kept self-publishing a sort of odd little curiosity off in the corner of the publishing world. Now every other writer’s experimenting with putting old out-of-print novels up on Amazon’s store in Kindle format, or at least putting up a 99-cent short story or two. Even relatively well-known writers are doing it. I don’t have much of a problem with established writers self-publishing in this way, but I do think the complete removal of any “quality control” barriers may be problematic.

It’s already caused a huge problem in the music world. Even ten years ago, listeners could keep track of most of the new stuff coming out in their genres of choice. Now there are thousands of new releases per year in even the narrowest niche genres, and while the “big name” artists still sell more than the little guys, those big names also sell a quarter or less of what they used to. Dilution isn’t a good thing for the people who are serious about what they do. I suppose it can be a good thing for the consumer, if more choice is always a good thing (and I’d argue it isn’t)

Every artist needs someone in a position to tell them: “No.”

Somewhere Between No and Yes

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Last October I mentioned being somewhat encouraged that two of my stories had been “short listed” by magazine editors. Even then I knew that “you made the final cut” is not the same as “we’re going to publish your story,” but I figured my chances were pretty good that one or the other would break through. For at least four months I heard nothing more from either editor.

Finally one of them let me know he’d decided to decline the story. I didn’t have hard feelings, because he’d suggested some rewrites to the story which I feel improved it, so even though he ended up not taking the story I feel at least I came away with a better story.

Last month I was about to query the other editor because five months had passed with no word, and the magazine’s web site had not been updated at all in that time. I had a bad feeling, not so much about my story’s chances, but with the magazine’s future, and before I got around to querying I learned the place was shutting down and all stories held for consideration were released.

So, lesson learned. Two stories shortlisted resulted in one delayed rejection, one dead magazine, and zero publications.

Yesterday I received a note from another editor informing me that my submission has been shortlisted and the editors will be voting on which stories to take for their next issue within 3-4 weeks. I’d be more excited or encouraged if I hadn’t just had the experiences just mentioned, but still, this is better than a rejection. I’m trying to figure out where to locate this on the psychological scale between absolute no and absolute yes. Somewhere right in the middle, I guess. Fingers crossed.