The W1S1 Check-in and Chill Lounge and Bar

It seems like the literary markets don't really let you know what they think of your story at all until after a decision has been made. Though, I wish they did. I've tried to write some genre, mainly to fit in with the people here since it seems like most of the short story writers on AW work on genre stuff. But I never got any mid-way notifications. To be fair, I'm not really a genre writer and those stories where I attempted to write a genre story were not that great.

Some of the big literary markets don't take sim subs. I've tried them a few times, waiting several months for a form rejection. It's just kind of hard to think anyone's first publication in going to be the New Yorker or some place like that. When I send out to places like that, I tend to forget about them. The places I feel I have a better shot at are the ones I stalk on duotrope. But it's kind of the same thing. Usually a form-letter rejection after months of waiting. It's just having a story at multiple places means there's still hope for that piece. Like I mentioned, I've got a few out that are not sim subs. I hope my confidence that those stories truly fit these places doesn't turn into a harder hit if they get rejected. For now, I am in that blissful stage where I feel like something good could come of these submissions.

The best part is that I can and will always write new stories, and they can't all get rejected, right? When I was meeting with one of my thesis advisors he said that he was surprised that a few of them hadn't been picked up, especially one of them that he really liked. Well, that particular story has probably brought in around 15 to 20 rejections. Another story he liked was so new I hadn't sent it anywhere. But it was really nice to hear that he sees these stories being published in some of the same places he publishes. And he's really, really great. He also loves the idea that I try to write a new story every week and send it out.

Seriously, what we're all doing here with W1S1 shows dedication. I stopped for awhile. I was still writing, but it was taking me longer to finish a story than it needed to, and those stories were coming out rougher and needing a lot of work. W1S1 kind of creates this groove for me. Do you guys find that a W1S1 schedule actually helps you write better? It does for me at least.

April short story complete and going to beta readers - and it's only the 15th! Now, back to the novel.

Eliza C said:

April short story complete and going to beta readers - and it's only the 15th! Now, back to the novel.

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Me too! I even got mine back from my beta this afternoon and the final edit's been done. I *just* pressed Submit to F&SF to begin its rounds.

My W1S1 style is getting cramped a bit by all these tiny submission windows. I've got a story out 34 days at SH that I don't have high hopes for, and I think it might be perfect for Mothership Zeta... but the one-week MZ window is open and I don't have the R from SH yet.

Another story that isn't quite as good a fit for MZ just got freed up, but if I sub it and then the other one comes free, I have to hope MZ turns it around the R in like two days so I can sub the other one, and given their turnaround times that's actually a possibility...GAH WHAT DO I DO.

Peace
Ty

Ty Schalter said:

GAH WHAT DO I DO.

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Hold off on subbing the free piece anywhere for a few days, then you have something to submit if SH doesn't send you an R in time? You can submit the free piece to a different market right after that if you do get the SH R.

I got a new short completed! 2 weeks since the last one, and now I have a chance at getting caught up to my goal set last year to get me to 15 pieces complete. Although, I have to be careful that I'm not writing these shorts just to procrastinate research for my novel.

I stayed up all night writing a new story. I think I love it, but that might change after I get some much needed sleep.

CharlyT said:

I got a new short completed! 2 weeks since the last one, and now I have a chance at getting caught up to my goal set last year to get me to 15 pieces complete. Although, I have to be careful that I'm not writing these shorts just to procrastinate research for my novel.

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And another one done! This makes two in two weeks. :O That's a first for me, especially considering the hours I put into research over the last week. It's amazing what can be accomplished when a person's Netflix watch list gets empty...

It's a great feeling, isn't it, Charly? I finished one this past week, too, although I knew going into it that it's a really strange story that will be a hard sell. Sometimes you just have to go where your keyboard takes you.

Alex Shvartsman (Editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects series) just posted a guide to writing short story cover letters on his blog.

Anyone else chilling out at Compelling Science Fiction? The Grinder is reporting a longest wait of 40 days, despite mine being at 41; I can't tell if I'm under consideration or they're just falling behind. I did notice they struck through their four-week waiting time and scribbled in a due-to-so-many-submissions-expect-more-like-six-weeks apology.

...the site looks a lot nicer than when I subbed, though, so I'm encouraged that they'll be a cool market going forward.

Peace
Ty

Ty Schalter said:

My W1S1 style is getting cramped a bit by all these tiny submission windows. I've got a story out 34 days at SH that I don't have high hopes for, and I think it might be perfect for Mothership Zeta... but the one-week MZ window is open and I don't have the R from SH yet.

Another story that isn't quite as good a fit for MZ just got freed up, but if I sub it and then the other one comes free, I have to hope MZ turns it around the R in like two days so I can sub the other one, and given their turnaround times that's actually a possibility...GAH WHAT DO I DO.

Peace
Ty

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I hate it when I miss the window for submissions at the places I want to send my stuff to. I've gotten lucky enough to get stories sent a bunch of places right before they closed submissions. Now, if only I was lucky enough to publish...

CharlyT said:

And another one done! This makes two in two weeks. :O That's a first for me, especially considering the hours I put into research over the last week. It's amazing what can be accomplished when a person's Netflix watch list gets empty...

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Sounds like you're on a roll. I love it when I get in that groove.

DetectiveFork said:

It's a great feeling, isn't it, Charly? I finished one this past week, too, although I knew going into it that it's a really strange story that will be a hard sell. Sometimes you just have to go where your keyboard takes you.

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Yay for another story! I think every story I've ever written is a hard sell. Not necessarily because of the story. It's more my long history of rejections that has me convinced that selling short stories (or even trying to give them away) is just a very hard thing to do. But who know? Your story might find it's way to the right editor who loves it.

I was procrastinating by rereading a piece I have out today and noticed a single typo I managed to miss despite several previous proof reads. This is why I shouldn't reread things until after the R. I need to drown myself in a pina colada.

Cmalone said:

I was procrastinating by rereading a piece I have out today and noticed a single typo I managed to miss despite several previous proof reads. This is why I shouldn't reread things until after the R. I need to drown myself in a pina colada.

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It happens. Having a glass of wine myself. So, cheers. I've got more than one story out that I caught typos in and/or reworked parts of after I had submitted them. But I didn't think anything was big enough to lose my place in the slush pile. Editors catch and fix typos. That's not to say I don't send out my best and most polished work, but a single typo... I'm pretty sure you're fine.

I don't know why, but sometimes I just get this urge to reread my work that's out on submission already. Every time I find something I want to change or something I think is wrong or something that is wrong. You're actually lucky if one little typo is the only thing you would change.

gettingby, I'm bringing your question over from Rejectomancy so as to not get that thread too off topic.

gettingby said:

Can I ask what you are reading where you can find interviews like that? I would be interested to read about new places that publish short stories. I have come across the occasional news about new or coming-soon markets, but it's kind of rare. Still, I feel like I am in a place where I really need to get a few credits at places people have heard of, but maybe I'm wrong. It's not working out great for me.

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The interview came later, after I subbed and was keeping an eye out for any updates or new information. But initially finding fledging markets? When I happen to come across them it's usually because I'm digging around in writing related Twitter or Tumblr tags. Sometimes I'll just sit down for a few hours and play with variations of tags that I think someone might try to advertise submission calls in. I typically begin with plain old #writing and go from there. New markets attempting to build their social media presence have to start from the bottom too, so if they're hoping to get you to submit it seems reasonable they'd use the most popular writing tags for whatever area(s) they want to publish in. But there's a lot of spam too (on top of the normal risks involved with submitting to an unknown market), so you have to be extra thorough when checking out accounts and submission calls. If I find an account that looks promising, then I look for the individual(s) in charge and see if I can find any information about their industry credentials and how/why they came to end up working on their own publications. It's an exercise in patience, but sometimes it pays off.

gettingby said:

I don't know why, but sometimes I just get this urge to reread my work that's out on submission already. Every time I find something I want to change or something I think is wrong or something that is wrong. You're actually lucky if one little typo is the only thing you would change.

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Ha, yes, that's very true. Like a lot of us, I'm pretty anal about the final draft being perfect, so I spend days going over them. The ideas might all be right in the end, but I think I become too familiar with my intent for the text itself and mentally trick myself out of seeing physical page errors unless I give myself time to get away from the piece and come back to it after I've "forgotten" how it looks. I'm honestly surprised I didn't find more than one this time around.

I never thought about looking for submission calls on social media. It looks like I might have to figure out how Twitter works. LOL.

I just sent out some snail-mail submissions. And there is no way I am going to reread my stories again right now. Polished them up over the weekend. Reread them today before sending them out. But I'm sure if I look at them again, something will be wrong. But for now, for today, I'm just going to think they are perfect and that I actually have a shot at publishing.

Hey everyone,

I've written and edited a few stories that I would like to send out, but I see that some of you have beta readers on hand for your short stories. Is that generally a good idea to have for any story you've written? Even the flash fiction stuff?

I started on a story a couple months ago. It's not quite finished yet. I had no idea where I was going to try and submit it at the time, it was just a nagging idea I wanted to get out. Now I've discovered an anthology that's taking subs for exactly the theme my story is on, so I just have to finish up the conclusion, polish it up, and submit. I'm pretty excited. It's not all that often a dead perfect market coincides with a story I'm already nearly done with.

Hi Gena!

I don't always use beta readers. Sometimes I'm fairly confident of the story working pretty well without that, so I save asking anyone to read for when I have a story that I think has real potential, especially if I'm not sure if it's working well or if I'm struggling with some aspect of it.

Actually I make Mr. JJ read pretty much everything. Since we're married I don't worry about impeding on his time so much, and I like to get a second pair of eyes on things. He's not really a writer, though, so his crits are usually limited to a broad idea of whether it's clear enough and basically working.

JJ Litke said:

Actually I make Mr. JJ read pretty much everything.

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Co-sign everything JJ said. The first piece I solicited several beta readers for was one I thought had a ton of potential (and I wasn't sure I'd realized the potential).

I made a couple of minor changes, plus one big-ish one, based on their feedback, and subbed it to F&SF. Charlie Finlay specifically cited the big-ish change I made as the story's biggest weakness, and that was the end of me using a lot of betas.

I also have Mrs. Ty read everything; like Mr. JJ she's not a writer, but a wise reader with a strong sense of what's working and what's not. I think that's more valuable feedback than getting a close read from another author who may or may not understand your style/vision and may or may not know what makes a story more viable/sellable/sexy/good.

Thanks,
Ty

Ty Schalter said:

I made a couple of minor changes, plus one big-ish one, based on their feedback, and subbed it to F&SF. Charlie Finlay specifically cited the big-ish change I made as the story's biggest weakness, and that was the end of me using a lot of betas.

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Yeah, betas can really be a mixed blessing. As a beta reader, you have to remove own preferences for how a story should go versus what the writer is trying to do with it. It's a really tough skill, not sure I have it down yet.

Anyone else end up going to the Grinder (or Duotrope) a LOT more when their work suddenly reaches that point where people who submitted at the same time as you are getting rejections, but you haven't yet....

...and then you get a rejection one day later than the average most of the time. Or the average rejection time goes up and up the closer you get to it.

I don't know why I do it, it's not actually going to change anything. It's a bit like when you're desperate to be pregnant and keep doing tests, but it doesn't matter how many you do, it won't have any affect on the outcome.

Thanks JJ and Ty!