Anyone else write magical realist/surrealist/fabulist/spec fic stuff?

[Writer'sBlockBuster]

Or, I should say, anyone else write and publish this stuff?

I have a bunch of stories that are fundamentally literary but have elements of magical realism or speculative fiction or whatever thrown in, and it's so hard to find markets that accept this work. So many markets are either straight literary (realism only) or true sci-fi/fantasy, and my stories are definitely not sci-fi. I spent all of today searching for markets for one of these stories, and I think I found two in all that time! It's incredibly frustrating! Add to this the fact that my current story is on the long side (slightly over 7,000 words), and I'm rapidly seeing my prospects dwindle.

Anyone encounter similar problems with this kind of crossover work?

[sunandshadow]

I think surrealism is interesting but I haven't tried to publish any, sorry. Let me know if you find a market that wants erotic surrealism or surreal erotica though.

[Writer'sBlockBuster]

That I don't think I've ever seen. But if I do, you'll be the first to know.

[Gillian]

I do. In my experience large presses say "Love it, but not sure it quite fits what we do", but small presses deal better. Alas, my own small press is leaning towards historical fiction now and my second book will be my last there, so I'm out there looking, too. If you need someone to share ideas and experiences with, give me a hoy.

[LaceWing]

http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/periphery.html

Notice the author's names at the bottom of the page. Maybe you can locate them on the web to ask questions of them.

Good luck.

[JenNipps]

Or, I should say, anyone else write and publish this stuff?

WBB, have you looked at the Science Fiction/Fantasy (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=39) board here? I think you've received some good responses here, but I also think you'll get more there.

I'll copy this thread over so you don't have to repost the whole thing.

[Scarlett_156]

My main character Nemali Winston Villareal (I've posted excerpts from a story and my nanowrimo novel on this board) is a practicing magician and occultist. But she has to live in the real world-- most of the stuff I write about her has to do with real-life stuff. In my story "the Victim" she uses magic and the other character makes fun of her afterwards, saying "that sounded stupid" and so on. That's pretty much how it is.

[triceretops]

Do you remeber Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond? Even Outer Limits? That is the type of stuff I write, and it is such a broad area of genre fiction that it refuses to be named, other than fantasy. It's surreal fiction. Of course these tales lend themselves better to short stories. But I would love to take this peculiar genre of writing to novel length works. Yet I can imagine an editor or agent saying, "Now just where am I going to place this? How can I define this?"

Tri

[Writer'sBlockBuster]

Thanks for all the good ideas, everyone. As background, I'm trying to place three short stories. One is magic realist, one is surreal, and one might be categorized as speculative. However, they're all definitely literary in style.

Gillian - Thanks, I'll do that. I'd love to talk with someone who writes similar stuff. :)

LaceWing - Thank you. That was a good idea, and I'll look into it.

Jen - I actually posted here because I didn't think the stories would be classified as sci-fi or fantasy, at least not by the magazines that usually publish that genre.

Scarlett - This interests me because I'm planning a novel in which a main character is involved in the occult. In my case, though, I'll be presenting the magic as an unknown factor, something that is unexplained and unprovable and therefore may or may not be real. I'll try to find the samples you posted on the board.

Tri - I hear ya! Have you had much luck finding homes for your short stories? Do they usually end up in the lit mags or in more genre-oriented publications?

I_Shrugged - You're right, Duotrope is a great resource, and I did find a few markets there. The problem I've been having, though, is that it's hard to find markets that accept both literary and speculative material. My stories are not genre-oriented enough to be accepted in most of the sci-fi/fantasy mags. But then a lot of lit mags are unfavorably disposed toward them because they're not realist. And even though a lot of lit mags say they consider this type of work, in reality they publish very little of it.

I guess what I'm wondering is: Can anyone recommend some literary magazines that they know accept a fair amount of work with a nonrealist bent?

[pdr]

Writing Studios section and enter the Short Fiction thread you will find a 'sticky' at the top which is a superb collection of Markets lists. There are many opportunities for what you write there.

[Writer'sBlockBuster]

Thanks for the tip!

[Allie]

My novel falls under speculative fiction too. I wanted something that would be mainstream but that incorporate the themes I was going for. I ended up with a specuative fiction, action/adventure book written in a romance style. Yeah, it needs help. Good luck.