- Joined
- Jun 3, 2005
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 4
Here's my life story. The very short version. I have loved - LOVED - fiction since I was a little boy. I have read it, writen it, and lived in it. Three weeks ago I finished at University, and I now look forward to struggling financially as I get screwed by the declining economy (in which young people no longer get a pension in Britain... thanks Tony), and trying my best to become a successful fiction writer.
As far as short fiction is concerned, I admire Robert E. Howard more than anyone. He wrote long, complicated stories. He spared no expense on theme. A dark poetry lingered in the subcurrent of his words. His average short story was a good 20,000 words long.
I don't want to write like him. He isn't the only writer I admire, and I only wish to write like myself. The trouble is, I take one look at the market now and choke. Editors seem only to be interested in stories that are under 5,000 words, and the best paying magazines seem only interested stories in the first person, which in my opinion can be as restraining as it can be effective.
Don't get me wrong. I'm going to try anyway. I was just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. Is there any decent market for short fiction of the kind of length that used to be popular? What happened to pulp fiction? That's where fiction writers used to start. Are there any magazines that a newbie could get published in that would actually pay something? I don't have any credentials yet, but my stories mean the world to me. They are good. I WILL succeed eventually. At present, I am not emotionally prepared to give my stories to a magazine that won't pay me. I'm even less prepared to sell them to a magazine that will pay peanuts, because I'd find that even more insulting. Do I just need to swallow my pride and realise that peanuts may not pay the rent, but at least you can eat them?
I'm just looking for a few words of advice. If the advice is just to quit my belly aching and buy chest of drawers for my rejection letters, so be it. I mostly wonder if there are any 'middle of the road' magazines that will pay decently, and not expect me to be Salman Rushdie or Tony Morrison. The real question: where can I get credentials without a slap in the face?
As far as short fiction is concerned, I admire Robert E. Howard more than anyone. He wrote long, complicated stories. He spared no expense on theme. A dark poetry lingered in the subcurrent of his words. His average short story was a good 20,000 words long.
I don't want to write like him. He isn't the only writer I admire, and I only wish to write like myself. The trouble is, I take one look at the market now and choke. Editors seem only to be interested in stories that are under 5,000 words, and the best paying magazines seem only interested stories in the first person, which in my opinion can be as restraining as it can be effective.
Don't get me wrong. I'm going to try anyway. I was just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. Is there any decent market for short fiction of the kind of length that used to be popular? What happened to pulp fiction? That's where fiction writers used to start. Are there any magazines that a newbie could get published in that would actually pay something? I don't have any credentials yet, but my stories mean the world to me. They are good. I WILL succeed eventually. At present, I am not emotionally prepared to give my stories to a magazine that won't pay me. I'm even less prepared to sell them to a magazine that will pay peanuts, because I'd find that even more insulting. Do I just need to swallow my pride and realise that peanuts may not pay the rent, but at least you can eat them?
I'm just looking for a few words of advice. If the advice is just to quit my belly aching and buy chest of drawers for my rejection letters, so be it. I mostly wonder if there are any 'middle of the road' magazines that will pay decently, and not expect me to be Salman Rushdie or Tony Morrison. The real question: where can I get credentials without a slap in the face?
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