Semi-Finalist…Again

Posted on July 18, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

The official results for the second quarter of the Writers of the Future contest were posted today.  My entry earned a Semi-finalist nod. 

For those not familiar with the contest, Writers of the Future is the largest writing contest for amateur, speculative fiction writers.  While no official information on the number of entrants is provided, it’s widely believed that the contest received 1,000+ entries per quarter.  From these, eight Finalists are selected for judging by professional writers.  The stories that didn’t quite make it as Finalists are Semi-finalists, etc. down through Silver Honorable Mentions and then Honorable Mentions.  So my story was in the top 20 entries out of a 1,000+. 

That’s is a great finish, but I must admit I’m a little jaded.  This the second time I’ve earned a semi-finalist result, to go along with a non-winning Finalist and a Silver Honorable Mention.  While earning a Semi-finalist nod is a nice accomplishment, ultimately it’s still a rejection. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t enter anything into the current quarter.  I sold the story I intended to enter (“Thief of Futures”), and had nothing suitable to submit at the deadline.  Depending on the way things go with the other submissions I have making the rounds, I may not get another chance—I might disqualify myself before I have a chance to enter again.  That would actually be a good thing.

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Mr. Ramey’s Monumental Undertaking

Posted on July 17, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

One of the most common complaints—maybe “laments” is a better word—of new writers is the lack of feedback from editors.  Stories often get rejected with form letters that contain no stated reason.  Personally, I don’t think it’s an editor’s job to give feedback on the stories they reject; they’ve got enough to do already.  In the few cases where I have gotten feedback from an editor, I’ve always appreciated it (and sometime even heeded it). 

This is why I find it particular interesting to read Steve V. Ramey’s blog.  Mr. Ramey is co-editor of ParsecInk’s “Triangulation: Last Contact Anthology”, and from December 2010 until June 2011,  he provided his editorial assessment for every story received for the anthology (all done anonymously).  That’s a monumental undertaking.  So while the text of the stories is not provided, it’s possible to see Mr. Ramey’s thought process as he sorts through hundreds of submissions, examining characters, pacing, conflict, speculative idea, etc.  For any writer, especially a new writer, it’s a must read.  I can’t thank Mr. Ramey enough for providing this perspective on writing that writers rarely get.

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Disqualification is My Goal

Posted on July 15, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

It’s not often I hope to get disqualified from something, but that’s exactly what I’d like to do for the Writers of the Future Contest.  This contest is open only to “amateur” writers and the two ways to get permanently disqualified are to: (1) win the contest or (2) publish enough in pro markets. 

I’ve been entering the contest for several years and learned about a week ago that my most recent entry earned a semi-finalist nod.  Of the seven stories I’ve entered into Writers of the Future, I’ve gotten close four times (Finalist once, Semi-finalist twice, and Silver Honorable Mention once), but I’ve never placed or made it into the anthology.  I’m running out of chances to win because I’ve now had two short story sales to qualifying professional markets (Asimov’s Science Fiction and Lightspeed Magazine) and another to a market that should become a qualifying market soon (Daily Science Fiction).  That means my next qualifying sale likely ends my chances with Writers of the Future.  Not that “proing out” would be a bad thing—consistently selling stories to pro markets is my goal after all—but winning the Writers of the Future contest comes with perks most writers will never experience in their careers.

Who knows when that disqualifying pro sale will happen—maybe it’s on an editor’s desk right now.  I certainly won’t complain if it comes soon.  I might even get lucky and “double” disqualify myself, because winning the contest also counts as a qualifying sale.

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Asimov’s Galleys

Posted on July 14, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

Last night I received galley proofs from the Managing Editor at Asimov’s for my story “Observations on a Clock.”  This is the first time I’ve actually gotten galleys to review for one of my stories (I have gotten galleys for non-fiction articles).  I’ve been reading Asimov’s for years, so seeing my story laid out in the format of the magazine was incredibly exciting and fulfilling.  Hopefully this won’t be the only time that happens.  I guess I better get reviewing—Asimov’s has requested a quick turnaround….

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Inspiration: “The Fine Art of Surfacing”

Posted on July 12, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

I often get asked by friends and family where I get story ideas.  I usually find that no single thing inspires a complete story, but often a significant piece of the story can be traced to a specific thing, place, or event.

OG’s Speculative Fiction published my story “The Fine Art of Surfacing” in their May 2010 issue.  I wrote this story a long time ago, and “rediscovered” it sometime in 2008 when I was reviewing my “trunk” stories to see if any had promise.  The original version of “The Fine Art of Surfacing” had several fatal flaws in it, but I also thought it had some very good stuff, so I rewrote it and manged to find it a nice home, thanks to editor Seth Crossman over at OG’s.

“The Fine Art of Surfacing” was one of those stories inspired by a title, in this case from an 80s album by the Boomtown Rats (one of my favorite bands).  I thought the title was catchy and had multiple interpretations.   While I think the band may have originally meant the title to be about coming up from below or surfacing (the cover of my vinyl album had a surfacing swimmer on it), I took the title to mean something entirely different.  “Surfacing” in my story became about building facades, and every character in this story is engaged in some type of “surfacing,” both in their professional and personal lives.  That theme came to me very early, and formed the backbone of this piece.

This story took nearly twenty-years to write and publish, but I’m happy I stuck with it.  If you read it, I hope you enjoyed it.  If you’ve had a chance to read it, drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Publish or Perish

Posted on July 11, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

Publishing stories is a multi-step process.  While I’m sure many people have different versions of this process, I break it down into three steps: (1) write the story, (2) finish the story, and (3) submit the story. 

If a breakdown occurs in any of the steps, a story never gets published.  If I don’t publish, then I will never make it as a professional writer, which is my long-term goal.  In the sciences (my day job), this is referred to as “publishing or perishing.”  For professional writers, “publish or perish” is tattooed on the forehead.

When I developed my writing goals for this year, I took each of these three steps into account.  I set a daily word target to give me a goal for writing stories.  I set a target number of finished, submittable stories.  Finally, I set a target number of submissions and/or sales.

I set a modest target of forty submission for this calendar year.  That’s less than a submission a week, or if I meet my story-writing goals of ten finished stories, an average of four submissions per story.  Of course, the number of submissions is directly related to the number of stories in circulation.  Selling a story quickly reduces the number of possible submissions, so I also set a goal for sales—sales are my end target, after all.  I chose what I thought was a fairly ambitious target of four story sales.

Since January 1, I’ve made thirty-two submission and three story sales.  My three sales have been to good pro markets that I doubted I would break into, so in some ways, I feel like I have already exceeded this goal.  But I won’t let myself get complacent—I want to shatter this goal and set a high bar for next year.

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The Power of Data

Posted on July 9, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

As a scientist, which is my day job, I am always amazed at the power of data to tell me something I didn’t know about the world.  When I examined the traffic data for this website yesterday, I noticed a spike on July 7th—”spike,” being a relative term here.  Checking the origin of that traffic, I found visitors from Lightspeed Magazine.  At first I thought they had posted my story, “Thief of Futures,” but when I popped over there to check it out, I found only my author bio.

You’d think I would be a little disappointed, but I wasn’t.  When I checked the list of authors, I shared a page with Connie Willis, David Brin, and Ian MacDonald, three of my favorite spec-fic writers and all contributers to Lightspeed Magazine.  I don’t know if it will stay like that, but it would bre great if it did.  A day later, I still grin like the Cheshire Cat when I think about it.  Thank you, data.

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Release of IN SITU Delayed

Posted on July 8, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

Originally slated to hit book stores today, I’ve learned that Dagan Books has decided to delay the release of the IN SITU anthology.  According the publisher Carrie Cuinn, the book isn’t quite ready yet.  While disappointing, it’s not necessarily bad news.  I’d rather wait and have a high-quality book released than to rush something substandard to the shelves.  So the world will need to wait a little longer to read my story “Hoodoo.”  Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

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Travel Magician

Posted on July 8, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

Living on an island in the Pacific Ocean means traveling frequently by airplane.  To do that, you increasingly need to be a magician.  Not the type that wears a suit and pulls rabbits out of a hat—although that might be helpful with plane delays—but the type that squeezes his entire body into a half-meter square box that dangles from a wire over Time Square for endless hours.

I just finished a twenty-hour trek, that included over twelve hours jammed into a little box reffered to by the industry as an airplane seat.  Sure I could have spent several hundred additional dollars for a few more centimeters of leg room, but I’m not sure it would have helped.  Coupled with the fact that American (the country, not the company) airlines no longer provide any complimentary comforts—seriously, 7$ for the previledge to use one of those pillows that a lapdog would find small—air travel has become increasingly unpleasant and frustrating over the last decade.  I understand the need for profitability to stay in business, but at some point, customer service should outweigh what increasingly looks like greedy nickel-and-diming by the industry.

Living where I do, I have few options to air travel, so I think I should enroll in some serious yoga classes to prepare for my next trip.  Maybe then I’ll be to walk down the gangway at the end of my travels, instead hobbling off like I’m thirty years older than I really am.  Hmm….an even better idea would be to figure out how to magically teleport myself to my final destination with a wave of a wand.  Anyone know a talented magician?

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Fiction and Advertising

Posted on July 6, 2011 by D. Thomas Minton

Tracie McBride, a fellow member of the Hopefull Monsters writing group, posted a fascinating blog entry about lies and advertising.  She elegantly ties pending legislation in Australia that would to limit the way cigarettes can be packaged back to fiction writing.

I’ve never been a big fan of product packaging.  I find much of the packaging in the U.S. to be misleading, especially food packaging.  I agree with Tracie that it might be nice to do away with the “lies”, even if it makes things in the grocery store less interesting.  Maybe I’m one of the few who think that way, but I’m more interested in making an educated decision about a product than trying to sort through the litany of non-sense that appears on most commercial products.

I particularly like the way Tracie brings this discussion back to fiction.  As a fiction writer, I sell lies.  I invent people, places, and events; then I sprinkle in bits of reality to confuse the reader about what is real and what isn’t and try get them believe the whole package.  Yet as Tracie so astutely points out, writers admit up front that we deal in lies.  The name of the job itself says it all: fiction writer.  Maybe product packages need to have this disclaimer printed on them in large letters: “This package is a work of fiction.”

If you haven’t already, I recommend you check out Tracie’s blog, not mention her extensive body of published fiction—it’s good stuff, even if it’s full of lies.

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