Short story challenge and LW question

[kaiden]

Hi Steven and everybody,

I just wanted to say how much I love the sites and the Lifewriting concept. I think that the LW concept is actually very similar to what Ray Bradbury talks about in Zen and the Art of Writing but more fleshed out.

I have 3 quick questions about the challenge for Steven or anyone who might know.

1) I'm thinking of sending stories to webzines for awhile in hopes that it'll be easier to get feedback and cuz I'm still a newbie at writing. How will I know when to move on to print mags or is that more of a personal preference?

2) Alot of print magazines (Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchthingy, etc) say they can't make comments on unexcepted submissions because they're too busy. Should we ask for feedback anyway when we submit?

3) Finally, does it matter if we write stories in several different genres? I know there's alot about sticking to your genre out there today, but I don't see where it would matter at this stage of the game.

Thanks for any replies and/or advice. This forum is fantastic.

[temporus]

Kaiden,

Markets are not where you should expect to get feedback on your work. If you are not confident in your work, I would suggest a writer's group. Local, or online, where you can get critiques of your work, and you can do the same for others.

Personally, I don't believe in working your way up, but in working your way down. If you believe a story is good enough to be published, wouldn't you want the most money you can get for it? Wouldn't you want the broadest readership? And if it is good enough, wouldn't you feel cheated later to learn that a higher paying market would have bought it?

I would recommend against asking for feedback. It marks you as an amatuer, and isn't likely to get you feeback anyway. Many of the top end magazines use form rejection letters, because the volume of submissions they get are enormous. Often, its in the hundreds to near thousands of submissions per month. That slush pile is often handled by one person. Sometimes two. It's just not practical for them to do more than say yes or no.

Smaller magazines, and lower paying markets might give you more feedback. But its not a guarantee. These markets are often run as a part time job, and unlike the top markets can't support the editor as a career, so the editor has a day job as well.

I don't think sticking to a genre is necessary. I say, go for it. Try all the genres you can. The more you write, the more you learn. Variety can only help. There are many pro-level authors who write in several genres.

I wish you great luck. Perseverence. Determination.

Ed

[Steven Barnes]

Great Posts! And I stand in utter awe of Ray Bradbury. His little "Zen in the Art of Writing" has 80% of anything any literate person needs to know about writing. Or life, really.
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Start at the top. Send your stories to the very best magazines. As they get rejected, move down the list. When you have finished with print, move to the web--unless you now of websites that pay well.

Don't bother asking for comments. It won't increase your likelihood of getting them! And write in any genre you love. As long as you're connecting heart and mind, you're doing the work.

good luck!
Steve

[kaiden]

Just wanted to say thanks to temporus (Ed) and Steven for the quick responses. Work got busy so I wasn't able to do so sooner.

Also, Steven I've been working with the Hero's Journey and the Chakras in my writing and they've really opened up things. I don't know if that's the right way to put it but it's definitely a good thing.

Once again thanks to both of you.

[Steven Barnes]

Apply them both to your writing and your view of yourself and humanity. It's the fastest way to grow.

[Daniel Bayer]

Jul 28, 2007 11:03:41 GMT -5 Steven Barnes said:

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Start at the top. Send your stories to the very best magazines. As they get rejected, move down the list. When you have finished with print, move to the web--unless you now of websites that pay well.

That makes sense. I haven't been submitting. I have been lifewriting without submitting, which isn't really Lifewriting. At least not submitting has brought some things to the surface that I need to address, and I look forward to conquering them.

However, as far as the know-how side of submitting goes, I need to understand the etiquette of the short-story submission process for literary magazines. Is it okay to submit to more than one at a time? For instance if we start with some prestigious ones like the New Yorker and McSweeney's, they can take up to 9 months to respond. Do you have to send to one then wait nine months to send to the other or can you send to all the top-tier magazines at the same time? Can you submit to the Iowa Review after 6 months, because it will take them six months to reply and you will have heard from the New Yorker by then, or is that rude?

I just don't understand the etiquette of the whole process, because in Hollywood it's a shark's game of getting your projects in front of as many people as possible and hoping that they want to fight over it. That may not be the model that is followed for the literary world.

Daniel

[Steven Barnes]

Unless they specifically accept "simultaneous submissions" the rule is, generally, no. This is one of the reasons its so important to write A LOT, so that you're not burning your adrenaline worrying about the status of some particular story. Remember Bradbury's Maxim: a story a week, or every other week.
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Now, then...that said, if you wait, say, six months and haven't heard back, send them a letter informing them that if they don't correspond with you concerning that story within, say, 30 days, you will take that as a rejection and regretfully submit your story elsewhere.