Submissions: how to, tracking them, etiquette, types (flash to novel)
Agents: researching and querying them
Conventions: why go, what to do to make the most of them, top cons
Workshops: why do (or not), how to make the most of them, top ones
Blogging & websites: why, BRIEF discussion of mechanics
Publications to follow
Networking
SFWA and other professional organizations
Writing groups
Resources
Keeping yourself motivated
So here’s my question. I’ll be glancing back at this list when thinking about future blog posts and drawing from it as well as from what I’m experiencing in my own writing. What would -you- like to see?
What would I have given for a class like this in college. I had to spend the following decade learning all this stuff on my own. There’s just so much! I feel like I’m still learning the basics in some of these areas.
What would I like to see?
-Agents: Are They Really Necessary? Why or Why Not?
-Networking: The Best Free Avenues to Network and Advertise One’s Writing (I suppose Facebook and Twitter are a given, but there must be others that don’t sap all one’s writing time)
Networking fits in well because I teach my blogging class, which talks about a lot of that, the next two Saturdays.
Agents – I can say some stuff, and I’ve got one, sure, but I’ve yet to sell a book through her, so I may not be the best qualified to talk about that, heh. I’ll see what I can do. 😉
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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Work in Progress, Plus an Exhortation About the Write-a-thon
I've been jotting down notes for these pieces in a wonderful notebook made of black paper I found at the University Bookstore. Anything looks more profound written in silver ink.As many of you know, I am working on a Big Fat Fantasy Trilogy and chunks of it have become my write-a-thon goal. I hope to have a complete rough draft by the end of July and am well on track for that. Interspersed in the narrative are little set pieces. I thought I’d share a recent one and mention that if you support me in the Clarion West Write-a-thon, you will get at least two more of these AND the first three chapters of the book over the course of the Write-a-thon, even for the smallest of donations. Only people supporting me in the Write-a-thon will see these pieces before publication.
If you donate, shoot me an e-mail or drop a comment here and I will make sure you are on the mailing list for the next one.
From Pamphlet series #3 of A Visitor’s Guide to Tabat, published by Spinner Press.
While in Tabat, you’ll want to try the drink it’s famous for: chal. Salty fish and seaweed are mixed with strong black tea in what is admittedly an acquired taste for many. The drink supplies the city dwellers with energy and places to exchange thoughts and news. Many chal houses pride themselves on the antiquity of their brews, which may be years, decades, or in at least one case, centuries old.
The Dancing Cup: Located at the edge of Salt and the Serpentine, the Cup hosts students from the nearby College of Mages. Go here to catch a glimpse of them showing off new spells and minor magics, particularly in the open air of the back courtyard. Their house chal is over a hundred years old, but they offer many variants, including cider and other fruit drinks. Open all hours.
Two chal shops near Tabat’s Arena are renowned: the Blade’s Savor and Berto’s. Fierce rivalry between the two often leads to savings for customers willing to switch allegiance. Both shops frequently sponsor Gladiators, many of which will be spotted drinking and telling stories in one or the other. Bella Kanto and the majority of the Brides of Steel school can be found in Berto’s. These are the only shops you’ll find open during Tabat’s Games. Open all hours.
The Salty Purse, situated a block from the docks on Trade Way, claims a chal of over 200 years provenance, and serves only that, along with ship’s hardbread, doing a hearty business in the former, if not the latte. Open all hours.
In Tabat’s small theater district, the Fuchsia and Heron is favored by actors and wealthy theater goers. The most expensive shop in the city, it subsidizes actors’ tabs and even pays a few to patronize it, ensuring a steady flow of Tabat’s most glittering figures. Open from the last afternoon bell till the last night bell only.
A Smorgasbord of Speculative Fiction: August 16, 2013, 8 pm, at the Wayward Coffeehouse
On August 16, 2013, at 8 p.m., Seattle’s Wayward Coffeehouse (6417 N. Roosevelt WAY NE, #104, Seattle, WA) will host a reading of four of the area’s notable speculative fiction writers. Ted Kosmatka, J.M. Sidorova, Django Wexler, and Cat Rambo will read from new and forthcoming work.
The four readers share something beyond a love of speculative fiction — they are all represented by the same agent, Seth Fishman of the Gernert Company. After meeting during the Locus Awards recently hosted in Seattle, the four joined forces for a joint reading at the Wayward Coffeehouse. Their work ranges from epic fantasy to hard SF.
About the readers:
Ted Kosmatka‘s work has been reprinted in nine Year’s Best anthologies, translated into a dozen languages, and performed on stage in Indiana and New Work. He’s been nominated for both the Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and is co-winner of the 2010 Asimov’s Readers’ Choice Award. His novel The Games was nominated for a Locus Award for Best First Novel. He grew up in Chesterton, Indiana and now works as a video game writer.
Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in Redmond, Washington. Her 200+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. Her short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” from her story collection Near + Far (Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee. Her editorship of Fantasy Magazine earned her a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2012.
J.M. Sidorova is a fiction writer and a biomedical scientist at the University of Washington. She is a graduate of the Clarion West workshop for writers of speculative fiction. Her science fiction and fantasy short stories appeared in Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, and other venues. Her debut novel The Age of Ice (Scribner/Simon & Schuster) has just arrived at bookstores.
Django Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the University and artificial intelligence. Eventually he migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering mountain of books. His latest book is the first of an epic fantasy quintet, The Thousand Names.
3 Responses
What would I have given for a class like this in college. I had to spend the following decade learning all this stuff on my own. There’s just so much! I feel like I’m still learning the basics in some of these areas.
What would I like to see?
-Agents: Are They Really Necessary? Why or Why Not?
-Networking: The Best Free Avenues to Network and Advertise One’s Writing (I suppose Facebook and Twitter are a given, but there must be others that don’t sap all one’s writing time)
Anyway, thanks!
Networking fits in well because I teach my blogging class, which talks about a lot of that, the next two Saturdays.
Agents – I can say some stuff, and I’ve got one, sure, but I’ve yet to sell a book through her, so I may not be the best qualified to talk about that, heh. I’ll see what I can do. 😉
That class sounds amazing! Lucky students 🙂
I’d definitely love to hear your thoughts on networking and querying, as well as working at the sentence level and ways to revise/rewrite.