Humble Pie

[raefinlay]

I've been devouring stories at SciFiction and Strange Horizons the last few days. My obnoxiously analytical brain has poke-poke-poked at them, determining why they work, contrasting them with my stories that assuredly do not.

Here are the areas where I am lacking:



1. Prose. Yep, it comes right down to the fact that my writing is just not there yet. Descriptions, dialog, cadence, originality of phrasing... I can tell within the first two paragraphs of a story why it captured the attention of a slush reader. Which, I guess, is a good thing. It would be worse, I suppose, if I didn't "get it."

2. Trends. Alas, my writing style and subject matter just aren't "in." I'm not arrogant enough to think I would squeak by if my writing espoused the current spec fic party line; surely were my prose at the pro level, I'd still manage a sale or two. Still, I can't escape the fact that a huge majority of published fantasy takes place in the here and now, on Earth (usually the good 'ol US of A) and spouts some kind of existential philosophy. Having a Christian worldview could send me flying back to 4 The Lurve. Unless my writing is spectacular. And since I can't ask someone to embrace my philosophy anymore than they can ask me to embrace theirs, then so be it. I'll just have to write better.

3. Economy. In the stories I like the best, there are no superfluous characters, no introductory setting paragraphs (or if there are, it is merely illusion and they come full circle in the end, showing that the author did, indeed, have a reason to write them), no extraneous dialog. I guess this could fall under the "prose" category, but it feels like something else. It feels different to read an economical story. It feels like I'm reading a "story" rather than an author's self-indulgent experiment. I've seen arrogant waxing...I got plenty of it reading college textbooks with page-long sentences. Long-windedness in fiction is rarely arrogance, I know. Usually, like me, an author is just finding her word legs and doesn't trust herself to just say what she means. Even understanding this, I tend to write around things, over-explaining, compounding unnecessary words, bludgeoning my reader with my purpose. It's not arrogance; it's neo-writer-itis. But when I read that stuff, it feels like arrogance. Note to self.



It's discouraging. I read these fabulous, fabulous stories and think...my writing will never be that good! But at least I see the distance between here and there. The solution to every problem in life begins with identification of the problem.

Problem identified. Now, onward toward my million-words-o-crap goal...

Comments

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

This is similar to a reason (one of many) behind why I stopped writing short stories and started to concentrate on novels. Not that my novel writing is all that mind you¹ but I can see a world of difference between my novel writing and my short story writing. There's an intangible quality that separates them.

I don't know -- maybe it's easier for me to write a 100K novel about a dancer facing a demon king than it is to write a 2K short story about a teenage girl in feudal Japan. I have a clearer focus in my novels than I do in my short stories, which is really bad because you don't have room to be unfocused in a short story. And the more I've struggled to get that focus in my short story, the more--erm--mechanical and cold my writing becomes. I don't know how to qualify it. My writing just feels colder when I force it to be a certain way rather than letting it do its own thing.

God, I'm so lame.

[greenlight711.livejournal.com]

I agree with all three points. I, too, have been doing some reading (although not as much as I like). The trends point feels particularly strong and relevant to me. Isn't anyone sick of modern-day fantasy stories? Isn't there a market for "other" fantasy at all? Perhaps it will come full circle, perhaps it will not.

[britzkrieg.livejournal.com]

Alas, my writing style and subject matter just aren't "in."

You cannot conclude this from reading two markets -- and online ones at that. Write what you love, and that will show, positively. Dark fantasy seems to be having its day -- which is bad news for me -- but there are many different kinds of paying markets out there.

Long-windedness in fiction is rarely arrogance, I know. Usually, like me, an author is just finding her word legs and doesn't trust herself to just say what she means.

Are you talking about me? *puts up dukes*

[britzkrieg.livejournal.com]

Maybe the very fact that there are so many modern fantasies out there means that chances may be better for selling something that isn't.

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it will come full circle, perhaps it will not.

Things always come full circle. The market comes and goes in cycles. It's just that sometimes that cycle can take a loooooooong time.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

And the more I've struggled to get that focus in my short story, the more--erm--mechanical and cold my writing becomes.

YES!!! I have a short story that I fear will never be published for this exact reason. I'm happy with the concept, but it's been "tightened" so much that it's lifeless. Aaargh.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

You cannot conclude this from reading two markets.

True. In fact, both my fantasy stories are at Realms right now because they seem open to a little otherworldliness.

And no, I'm not talking about you! *puts up dukes anyway, just for fun*

Sorry I haven't gotten to the new and improved Genescape yet. Soon!

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have a problem with over-editing my short stories and sometimes I worry I'll do that with my novels. D:

[britzkrieg.livejournal.com]

both my fantasy stories are at Realms right now because they seem open to a little otherworldliness.

eugie's sales to that market would seem to indicate that.

Sorry I haven't gotten to the new and improved Genescape yet.

No! Stay away! It needs to be improved again! *shoos you*

Besides, I need to get back to Eliza's Belly. I'm so behind on crits. :-(

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Isn't anyone sick of modern-day fantasy stories?

*raises hand*

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

:P

[greenlight711.livejournal.com]

Of course, I just wrote one. Oops. :)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I'm working on too. *hypocrite*

[greenlight711.livejournal.com]

We're such slaves to the trends!!! *flogs self*

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

I think you write great novels. I enjoy getting your telltales. If you leave me hanging in yet another novel, midway through no less, however, you will be in big trouble.

:)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Thx, u!

FYI: I've decided not to give up on Unmagicked. I have two as-yet-unposted chapters.

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

Dude!!!! I'm so excited. Sweetness! I got an email from David the other day that he also wasn't giving up on his novel. He just hadn't written in awhile. Now I see Heather's LJ saying she is inspired to write more of Diviner Triad.

Yes!!! There is hope for Christo yet. He needs to be inspired by his compatriot novels to move forward. He needs to see Rae's characters getting written about so he can get pissed and start prodding me. Mentally saying: "Damn it all!!! Are you going to let her finish and not finish *my* story? Are you going to let Khatire and the rest be known throughout the world when Christo is just an obscurity of your own mind?"

*laughing like a maniac*

*is happy*

:D

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

I think I just needed a break. I'm too new at this...I keep second guessing myself, doubting my instincts, seeing first draft-itis and worrying that sucking is forever when it doesn't have to be... I think we're all experiencing a lot of the same stuff!

Dude, we are ALL going to finish.
*makes blood pact*
*determined*

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I think I was getting depressed an emotional. These are the people who I considered my peers in writing the first draft to my novel:

Jodi
Heather
Rae
David

I'm sure there are others out there, but I can't think of them. Most importantly all were stories with traditional elements. A magical world unlike our own/etc. We were all working on our first draft of our first novel. Naturally Jodes finished and left the struggling group of three. And then you, David, and Heather all started to have major questions of the feasibility of your novels (which were so close to my own inner doubts, if that makes any sense). And I just got depressed. I know it is illogical. I know that the state of someone else's novel shouldn't impact how I felt about my own. But it did?

I'm just an idiot...

:)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Yes, we kinda all fed off each other, didn't we? The Universal Doubt Demon struck!

*stomps UDD*
*buries remains of UDD*

*also an idiot*

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Naturally Jodes finished and left the struggling group of three.

*gigglesnort*

I just have all the time in the world to write. And, you know. Barfing words on the page. *blink*

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Yes, we kinda all fed off each other, didn't we?

*feeds off raerae*

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

*vomits*