WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

Look at it this way: you need two things to be a writer--rejections and acceptances. You've got the rejection now, so you're halfway there, right? Right! Matt, if you're telling me it's supposed to be a 1:1 ratio I've got a huge pile of acceptances headed my way. Aaaaaaaaaaany minute now... Gods, i...

Look at it this way: you need two things to be a writer--rejections and acceptances. You've got the rejection now, so you're halfway there, right? Right!

(I have no time to read, I'm afraid--PodCastle is open, so I'm reading slush rather than beta atm--but I wish you the best of luck :) )

Most of my reading now is audiobooks through Audible, as I have an hour's commute each way. I'll also read on my Kindle some nights, but that tends to be short fiction magazines before sleep. Writing tends to be 2-3 hours a night on weeknights, so I guess it's about 50-50. You can't write without re...

Definitely only count as reprints. Even stories originally posted on Patreon--where they're locked away--get considered as reprints by most markets (e.g. PodCastle).

I don't think we'd ever evolve the slot for a brain chip because there'd be no evolutionary pressure to drive that change. Any change needs to be sexually advantageous in sufficient numbers over sufficient time (where both factors vary depending on the reproduction habits and lifespan of the species...

As a writer I don't reply, unless (very rarely) there's an explicit request for "please let us know if this is okay". (Not sure if I've ever actually seen it, or am imagining it.) As a slusher, I don't mind a reply, but that's because (at PodCastle) bump notices usually go out from the slu...

Well... aburt has rather overreacted to the introduction of GDPR and blanket-banned EU members from the site. I can visit, I can log in, but I can't view the queue. Which is rather unnecessary, as he clearly had consent for the basis of processing, but there it is: after five full years, I'm no long...

SMF should include contact information unless guidelines explicitly state otherwise. I know Mike Resnick for one uses that contact info. A manuscript and a cover letter do not always travel hand in hand, if an editor reads on physical copies or an eReader, for example. FWIW if I'm submitting anonymo...

The Tobias Buckell essay Sataris references above went up on Apex yesterday, and everyone should read it. It's really good & important stuff: https://www.apex-magazine.com/how-i-lea ... let-it-go/

Incidentally, on related note to all this: PodCastle opens in a week ;)

Lukewarm would be someway of saying "send in another story" evidently editors who say that mean it and aren't just being nice or polite. Hot would be a personal comment, especially if it says you were close. FWIW this is what we do at PodCastle. There are 4 tiers of rejections, available ...

. Constantly writing in my mind, rarely getting it typed up. For years that is how I wrote. I hardly ever typed out anything. A couple(literally) of times I tried I got stuck on which way the story should go, then it became too much like work. I've started thinking in Notepad for things like this--...

Got a rejection today... yet another in a long string of form rejections. I know these folks don't have time to spare for lowly folks like me, but this one tripped me up and got me in a funk all damned day. You asked for a specific style of story, I provided said story in that style (and really lik...

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice fr...

I sold a story to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction . *faints* Blogged about it here: http://www.ympang.com/i-sold-a-story-to-the-magazine-of-fantasy-and-science-fiction/ It's close to April Fool's. Wouldn't blame y'all if you didn't believe me. Blimey! F&SF is my dream market, and I'...

Thousands of examples. Ender's Game started as a short. Flowers for Algernon started as a short. Martin is just turning his Clarkesworld short Today I Am Paul into a novel. I can't think of a flash turned into a short--which arguably compete more than shorts v novels--but chances are it would take ...

Never self reject.

Spencer Ellsworth is an excellent writer and excellent person, and currently open to work: http://spencerellsworth.com/editing-proofreading-services/ (I thoroughly recommend his space opera trilogy, btw, currently A Red Peace + Shadow Sun Seven with Memory's Blade out next month. This month? Soon, a...

I mentioned being accepted into an anthology of game-tie-in fiction a few months ago and the publisher finally announced it: http://azurekeep.com/portfolio/tales-of-ruma/ Looks like Dave and I are going to be anthology buddies again. /channels Matt Dovey and celebrates success whilst stabbing malic...

I always go from the first word to the last word, without header or title, then work out how many # section breaks there are and subtract it, because I can't bring myself to be vague and approximate. But nearly every market just asks for "rounded to the nearest 100", so it doesn't really m...

Clever about the scar on your arm. Ever tell how that really happened? Now where would be the fun in that? wotf011 Plus, choke, that story was great. Tina did a wonderful job reading it. Tina is an amazing reader. She does a lot at Escape Pod, but she also has her own podcast that's just started up...

Thousands of examples. Ender's Game started as a short. Flowers for Algernon started as a short. Martin is just turning his Clarkesworld short Today I Am Paul into a novel. I can't think of a flash turned into a short--which arguably compete more than shorts v novels--but chances are it would take y...

On another note related to this thread, what do y'all do about facebook? Do you keep a separate profile for writing associates? for fans? just create a "page" for ppl to follow? I've just gained access to this incredible network of writers, but I'm not sure I want them to see my blanket F...

and I appreciate your fine notes too, sir, even if the narrative is off. ;) It's fun to hear about the experience. Anyone willing to write about it is awesome-possum in my book. :) I'll take what I can get. And photographers following your every move? Nice. Love the luggage photo too lol wotf013 Ac...

I think, to be honest, the market was flooded with retellings for a while and they've become a bit... passé. Which is not to say it can't be done, but that it needs to be more than simply retelling it with a modern setting or from another character's perspective; it works best when combined with som...

Before I made the plunge, I poked around other author websites first. Matt Dovey's uses a service called DISQUS, which seems nice. Brandon Sanderson uses a private web design company (Blue Mountain Media) as does Patrick Rothfuss (Authors on the Web), but a lot of other writers, including David Dal...

I'm for sure going to put together a bit of a diary/journal thing on the winning experience. I won't be the first to do it, but if it helps anyone it's worth it, right? Don't reckon on getting anything written up during the week, you'll be too busy! But keep notes about each day, because by the tim...

I won with magical realism, albeit in an historical setting. And speaking from a PodCastle perspective (where I slush), "speculative element in the real world" absolutely counts as fantasy for our purposes. Personally I usually find it more interesting than secondary world, especially if ...

I won with magical realism, albeit in an historical setting. And speaking from a PodCastle perspective (where I slush), "speculative element in the real world" absolutely counts as fantasy for our purposes. Personally I usually find it more interesting than secondary world, especially if t...

Two winners from the forum! Top showing :D

Congrats to you both! I'm sure you don't need telling, but start getting excited--you're going to have an amazing week :)

I think it's worth making a distinction between edits after acceptance and revise & resubmit . For the former, it's usually copy-edits IME--an editor highlighting an image they think could be clearer, or striking something they think hurts the momentum, but the story is fundamentally still the s...