So to recap the first post, World Fantasy 2010: The Aftermath , WFC is awesome. But there is more…

Sure you get to meet and rub elbows with legends of the fantasy and science fiction field, but the friends and contacts you make at WFC are priceless–especially the friends.

The hotel bar was where most of this happened, but also in the dealers room, the panels, and the various publisher parties that took place on the “party floor” of the hotel. I made new friends in every corner of the convention and some just by luck.

The best times I had at WFC were hanging out with a group of guys and dolls and going from the hotel bar to “the party floor” and back down to the hotel bar. We cracked jokes, engaged in what I’m sure was brilliant conversation, drank, and laughed. A few others drifted in and out of the group all night long and some kept coming back for more punishment, or out of morbid curiosity as to what would happen or be said next. I won’t name any names here, but I think everyone involved knows who they are and the good times we had at World Fantasy Convention.

I had always heard that the WFC crowd could party, but they certainly proved it to me. But you know what? It was never obnoxious, or to the point where it disgusted you. For a group of people who had been drinking–a lot, we were pretty well behaved.

Sunday morning at WFC felt rushed for me, but that was because I had to leave early before the banquet and before the awards ceremony. Next year I hope to stay the entire time.

The last part of WFC remained with me through today, and that is the inevitable convention crud. Oh, and lack of sleep and trying to catch back up on that. Anyway, a great convention that I highly recommend for writers, fans, or anyone with an interest in writing, publishing, fantasy or science fiction. The price of admission is cheap compared to what you will bring away from it. The biggest piece of advice I can give regarding WFC is to not be shy, try to mingle and get outside your comfort zone just a little.

I attended my first World Fantasy Convention, and now, after a day or so to ponder the event, I believe I’m finally ready to share my experiences. For those not in the know, World Fantasy Convention is not a Dungeons & Dragons type event where everyone dresses up and there are tons and tons of fans (which is what many at my day job believe–and let them believe that and remain ignorant, it works better for me anyway). WFC is a professional event where publishers, editors, writers, and yes, some fans (but isn’t everyone who attends this a fan in some way?) attend to go to panels, talk business, listen to readings, network and hang out at the hotel bar.

I went to World Fantasy with super low expectations regarding chances to pitch my book to editors and literary agents. My goal was to simply meet a lot of people (which I did) and also to listen and learn (which I did as well). My goals were met and exceeded–far exceeded.

I’m going to illustrate how crazy and wonderful World Fantasy can be, and yes, there will be some name dropping here, but it just proves how amazing the experience can be. My first night at WFC and I’m sitting at the bar next to Ted Chiang, a few seats down I see John Scalzi chatting and laughing with a few people (one of which I thought to myself “boy, he looks like a dick”, but he proved to be one of the coolest people I met, and we ended up hanging out for most of the convention). I look over again at the Scalzi group, and Joe Haldeman has joined in. Then a very nice woman I met brought me into her circle of friends and during our conversation, Paolo Bacigalupi joins in for a good fifteen minutes–this is all in the first night of the convention and I’m sure I’m leaving out a ton of names!

Fast forward to the second day: I attended a panel on why fantasy has so few guns. The panel was very interesting, and some comments I made during the panel brought me some interesting conversation and opportunities. I managed to speak with a literary agent for close to an hour and a half, during which time he gave me his business card and said we’d be sure to talk soon. Another point I’ll make about WFC. Bringing a wingman is important, but I had no wingman–at first. So…

I met a kindred spirit who had brought along one of his best friends. Together, they made perfect wingmen. For instance–I’m trying to speak with the literary agent and up walks this joker who had just eaten his breakfast IN FRONT OF THE PANEL and made entirely too much noise. He attempts to hijack the conversation and ruin my pitch attempt to the agent. But–my newly found wingmen understand what is going on and pull the clown away before he did any damage or scared off the literary agent!

Later that same day I’m hanging out with my new friends and Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press. Bill says he has to leave and have dinner with Mike Resnick and his wife, but then asks us if we want to come along. Uh, yes? Dinner was hilarious as Mike and his wife recounted stories from his early days of writing. All I can say is that the experience was unbelievable.

And just think–this is all during the first day and a half of the convention! I think I’ll split this post and talk about the rest of the craziness in the aftermath part 2.

I will be attending my first World Fantasy Convention this weekend and I’m very excited about the opportunities the con presents. I’ve gone over the list of attendees and it’s very impressive, almost enough to make one act like a fanboy/girl. Luckily, I’m not prone to being a fanboy.

What do I expect from the convention?

1) Well, the list of panels is also very impressive and it seems as if I’ll be spending a lot of time with those. I’m trying not to think about the person who will no doubt be annoying everybody else at these panels. But, despite any annoyances, I know I’ll learn a lot from the panels. These sound good to me as well as a host of others: “The Tension Between Art & Commerce” and “Continued Viability of Epic Fantasy.”

2) I want to make contacts. I’ll pitch my work to editors and agents if it feels right, but I’m not going to push it. I’d really just like to get to know people in the industry, and who knows, if they think I’m interesting maybe an agent will want me to send them some of my work, or offer representation, or maybe an editor will want me to send them something.

3) I want to have a good time. It’d be really easy to turn this into a stressful event, but like I wrote above, I’m not there to push or peddle anything. I’m looking forward to hanging around other writers and sharing conversation and drinks.

I hope to make some new friends and contacts at World Fantasy, so what am I prepping? Nothing really, just myself and my expectations. I also figure the con is a good impetus for me to blog a little more and if I manage to have time perhaps give a small daily update while I’m there. We’ll see though, I’m not always great at updating the blog!

Well, since I’ve written so much about short stories on this blog I decided it was time to submit them. Over the course of a year while revising the novel, I wrote 3 short stories and 2 novelettes. A decent amount of writing I suppose. I’ve also started a few other short stories and wrote a fair amount of a science fiction novel. I decided to put the science fiction novel on hold and just finish the fantasy novel.

Since the short stories/novelettes are complete I recently started to submit them. So, right now I have stories submitted to: Asimov’s, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Writers of the Future. The fifth story will soon be submitted as well, I’m just not sure yet. But if/when the others come back accepted or rejected I’ll just shoot them out to another publication.

An acceptance, of course, would be great. However, rejection is something I’m not afraid to receive and I know I can learn something. Now, if I just get straight rejections with zero feedback I know I have some serious work to do. Will I revise those stories? I’m not sure. Maybe after letting them sit a while I’ll see obvious reasons for the rejections. What I’d hope for in a rejection would be just a hint of what didn’t work. A personal note in a rejection letter is something to celebrate I think, as it is a step in the right direction. I viewed my Honorable Mention in Writers of the Future in this way–a step in the process, but a good step.

So, at least getting rejection letters means I’ve been submitting, and the only way to get published is to submit. I could mess around with the stories endlessly and never submit, and then of course I’d never get rejected or published. Do I feel like I need to be published? No, I still enjoy writing and it’s a major part of my life, however, it’d be nice to be published. And I’m in no hurry really, I have a lot of patience and tenacity. Perhaps one day my understanding and execution of the craft will be enough to break through.

Yes, I’ve been writing and editing a few short stories again. I’ve been trying to piece together the novel and get it to a point where I think I can pitch it to agents and editors at World Fantasy this year, but I needed a break. And what do I do when I need a break? I write and edit short stories.

I was very happy to receive an Honorable Mention for the 2nd quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. Honorable Mention may not seem like much, but considering the amount of entries they receive, it’s affirmation that I’m heading in the right direction. I think the story I submitted for the 3rd quarter is stronger, and I’ll be surprised if I don’t get at least Honorable Mention for that one. Then again, it’s hard to judge your own work. I mean, without actually getting professional feedback in the form of red marks or comments on your manuscript, the only way to learn is to read and write. And keep repeating the process.

So, the story I received an Honorable Mention got revised and submitted to Asimov’s. I probably won’t revise the story anymore, but keep submitting to other magazines, that is, unless I get feedback of some sort. I also submitted a different story to Fantasy & Science Fiction. And tonight I finished revising another short story. It’s science fiction, but more Bradbury like. Now, I’m not saying I write like Bradbury–no one does. It’s reminiscent of Bradbury.

I have a couple of other short stories that are ready for revision, but I think I need to get back to revising the novel–World Fantasy is right around the corner!

It’s been how many months since I posted? Hmm, yes, since February and my nice, long unplanned snow vacation from the day job. Pure bliss that was. The day job has really sucked the life out of me the past few months and I’m afraid it also sapped my writing a little as well. And then a couple of great writing moments happened for me:

I had a short story (novelette really) receive Honorable Mention at the Writers of the Future Contest for the 3rd 2nd quarter, and I just got back from David Farland’s Professional Writers Workshop in Dallas, Texas. I met many wonderful people and had a great time–and learned a great deal!

I’ll write more on my experiences during the workshop this week. But now it’s back to the manuscript and major overhauling/revisions.

So, I live in the D.C. area and love life at the moment. Why? Well, it’s the snow. Sure, it’s a lot of snow, and I’m sure at one point growing up in northern NJ, I’ve seen this much, but for D.C. and northern Virginia this is a lot. Why is this snow making me happy? Friday they let us go from work four hours early, and I haven’t been back to work since. They keep canceling work, and I keep getting paid for it!

I’ve used the time off wisely of course, and put a lot of energy into outlining and beginning to write a science fiction novel, as well as revising and editing a short story I’ve let rest for awhile. The problem is that I’m getting used to this and would love to be able to wake up each day, get ready, and head downstairs to write for a few hours. I could hit the gym, run a few errands, then spend the afternoon writing and revising. I probably won’t see that kind of schedule until I can retire from my job, but I can dream, and for the time being, I can live with it while the snow keeps cooperating!

Yes, I’ve been focused on writing short stories much of the past six months. Oh, I’ve had quite a few great ideas for novel length stories, but I’ve become fascinated with short stories. Why? Well, because it seems many science fiction and fantasy writers break into the business on short stories. And anyone who is interested in attending certain workshops (Clarion, Clarion West, Odyssey, Orson Scott Card’s Writing Class & Literary Boot Camp, etc.) as I am, short stories are what is needed to get into them.

I’m hoping to attend one of those workshops in the near future, but this year I’ll probably have to just try for the week long Orson Scott Card workshop. Maybe next year I’ll have enough time off saved up to go to the six week Clarion workshop. Of course, I’d have to be accepted to these workshops, so I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m hoping my writing is decent enough, or has at least improved enough by application time to be accepted!

I was never attracted to short stories growing up. Maybe I was one of the few who didn’t have a short attention span and preferred novels. <shrug> Now though, I see the merit in pursuing this form of story. So, I’ve submitted a story to the Writers of the Future Contest and as I mentioned in a previous post didn’t even receive an honorable mention. I’ve re-examined the story and identified why a reader may not have wanted to go beyond the first couple of pages. Heck, maybe not even the first page. I’ve fixed those problems, but before I was able to identify them, I had ordered a couple of books that really helped me.

I was excited when Creating Short Fiction, by Damon Knight, Storyteller, by Kate Wilhelm, and Reading Like A Writer, by Francine Prose showed up on my doorstep. Knight and Wilhelm helped to found the Clarion workshop, so I was very interested in what they had to say. After reading their books I knew exactly what was wrong with my short story and have a much improved opening and complete story.

After having written a couple of novel length stories, tackling my first short story was difficult, and forced me to write more efficiently. I believe the short story is much more difficult to get right than a novel. In a novel, the writer has time to let things develop over the course of many chapters, and indulge in minor characters and side plots. In a short story there is little or no room for any of that.

Well, off to read a little Stephen Baxter, Manifold Time, before I hit the hay.

I’ve been concentrating on short stories lately. While my experience writing in that form is limited, I’m finding it difficult to embrace. It has it’s advantages–a complete story in basically what would be the chapter of a novel–there are more that I’ll mention, but there are also disadvantages to the form as well.

Advantages:  Learning economy of words–short of poetry, I can’t think of a better way to learn to be succinct and get the most across in the shortest amount of words. Also, the aforementioned complete story in the space of maybe 5k words. The short story doesn’t allow boredom. One can simply finish a story and move on to a nice new shiny idea and then another, and another. The blood, sweat, and tears just isn’t there in a short story as it is in a novel.  Just the sheer number of words the novel requires makes the short story very satisfying to get ideas out.

Disadvantages:  Developing multiple characters and stretching out. There are times I just want to keep going on a certain topic, and then I realize I need to keep it going or the short story will turn into a novelette, and morph into a novella, or novel. I love to write from multiple POVs, meaning: I like to have multiple POV characters and write chapters based on their POV. Similar to George R R Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series, but of course I could only hope to write half as well as GRRM.

On the surface, it may seem there are more advantages to the Short Story, but the chance to fully develop characters and be able to live with them for thousands and thousands of words in a novel is very appealing to me. I find it very hard to get in the mind of a character in a short story, and maybe I’m just missing the point in that form. I’ve read that in Science Fiction short stories it’s more the gimmick that the story evolves from, and in the end the character learns something meaningful. I know that is a simplification, but I’m just too lazy to quote from the actual text.

Well, I’m going to keep plugging away on the short stories. I do feel they are a great way to break into writing–at least into Science Fiction and Fantasy. On a related note, I got notification back from the Writers of the Future Contest that I did not win, and in fact, I didn’t even place in the competition. The good news is that I submitted the first short story I had ever written and the coordinating judge for the contest, K.D. Wentworth (a past winner and published writer of fantasy and sci-fi) submitted stories five (5) times before she won. So, I don’t feel bad, I’m still learning and with each story I can only get better.

So for now, I’m busy writing short stories, and revising the ones I’ve finished. I still need to finish revisions on my novel Progeny, which I’m becoming more excited about revisiting.

I’ve become fascinated (after writing some sci-fi short stories) with writing a Science Fiction novel. I’ve been tossing some ideas around in my head, but decided I needed to re-educate myself on modern physics. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve taken a college level physics class and I’m quite sure there have been major advances since then….

For some light reading I chose Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku. Very easy read so far, it’s definitely written for the layman, and at times I find myself wanting a little more number crunching and pure science. Overall I’d recommend the book if you are at all interested in cosmology but are afraid to pick up a book on it for fear it will be over your head.

Alistair

What began as a short story quickly morphed into a novelette. I finished the first draft of the story today with close to 13k words. The revision process will begin tomorrow and I hope to have it mailed out to the Writers of the Future contest by the December 31st deadline.

I began research for the story right around Thanksgiving, so the entire process for the first draft took almost a month. Not bad, but I should have been able to hit those 13k words much sooner. The revision process at least should be easier since I think the opening will need the most change in order to have it mesh with the events occurring at the end.

I’m a bit of a pantster. Oh, I have a pretty good idea of where the story is headed, but a lot of what happens comes to me as I write. I’m not by any means an outliner. I feel too constrained by it, but I can see the merit in using an outline as well. I had a few ideas for the ending of the story, but it came to me today while I showered (the ideas always come when I’m not in a position to do anything about them, like when I am jogging or working out). I couldn’t get out of the shower fast enough and down to the computer to begin putting down the ideas. Once I started on the end, the final 2.5k words were easy.

Anyway, I’m excited to be done with the first draft and look forward to this story joining my last one as entries into the Writers of the Future contest.

Alistair