Author: Nat

Sep 28, 2008 by

Submissions

Asylum came back from Ballista, so I’ve sent it on to Electric Spec. I’ve also tidied up a bit of flashfic (ghost story I’ve had sitting in my ‘beginnings’ folder for so long I’d forgotten it was actually complete, albiet a very very early draft) and submitted it to Flashquake.

I’m currently working on a ‘real’ horror (no supernatural element at all!) that I might submit to Black Static when it’s done. It’s a little bit Tell-Tale Heart, but instead of beating there’s a buzzing, and our murderer isn’t imagining it. It doesn’t have a name yet, but I did have to stop what I was doing to complete an interrupted sentence (the danger of writing at work) with “cannabilistic maggots”, so I’m having fun with it.

It’s actually another plot I found in my Beginnings folder, which I was giving a clean out the other day. Most of the files in there are between five and ten years old. There’s a lot of odd romance bits, with step-brothers falling for each other and circus performers called Jelly in polygamous relationships.

But anyway, I wanted some inspiration, and there was all sorts in there. To be honest, I might as well keep a ‘concepts’ folder, because most of the ideas that come to me aren’t ready to be written yet, and it’s very obvious from the two-or-three paragraph long files that fill that folder.

A Plague of goodwill is sweeping the blogosphere! K V Taylor loves my blog!

The rules go something like this:

1) Add the logo of your award to your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3) Nominate at least seven other blogs.

4) Add links to those blogs on your blogs.

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Most of the blogs I read are personal, so I don’t quite feel comfortable nominating any of them. Those I do read, I don’t actually know the writers of very well. So I’m sort of chickening out of part five on this (and at least one blog here has mentioned they won’t be taking part in that element either).

Anyway, go read some blogs wot I luv!

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Romance novel snark. I don’t even read (much) romance, and I’m addicted.

Redlines and Deadlines
The Ellora’s Cave editors’ blog.

Women of Mystery
Collection of female mystery and crime writers.

Writer Beware Blogs
A must read for anyone trying to get published.

Dear Author
Romance reviews (most of the big blogs I read are romance based solely because of SBTB linking me to them) and a lot of interesting posts of eBooks.

Inky Circus
Inkling’s blog; hasn’t updated in a while, which makes me sad because it’s an awesome science ezine.

Cake Wrecks
It makes me laugh so hard it hurts.

Oh, and can’t fail but to point you back towards KVTaylor again!

In Writing
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Sep 13, 2008 by

Festival at the Edge

I did promise a post about this, but in the end I wrote it up in my notebook rather than here, and promptly forgot about it. Since I’ve finished that notebook and I’m working my way through it (which publication did I write that flash fic for, I wonder?) I though I ought to finally post this!

FatE was an interesitng experience. The closes thing to it that I’ve done before is Dance Camp East, which has a very different feel. At DCE tends are arranged around fires and communal cooking is encouraged, whereas due to FatE’s site fires and not allowed, and being significantly shorter there is less encouragement to get to know your neighbours. Camping on a grid system, the only people I got to know were the man who gave me a ride from the station and the other person he gave a lift to.

The ‘village’ was a separate field where the various food stalls, cider and ale tent, market stalls and central stage were. That was a nice place to hang out when there was nothing on and the food was delicious.

It was rare, actually, for there to be nothing on. Workshops and performances were well arranged, spread throughout multiple marquees across the site. I was concerned about the level of contribution that might be expected of me, but nothing was; one could easile spend the weekend floating from storyteller to storyteller. I did attend some workshops which were informal and friendly, and picked up a few strategies for learning and telling stories. I also drank quite a lot of cider and ate many friend plantains!

It was a good weekend, different to my expectations. While I would like to attend again I probably wouldn’t go alone. Most people attended in groups of families and did not socialise much outisde of that. The lack of community saddened me a little, but in terms of organisation and content FatE definitely provided.

In related news, I’m hoping to go to a couple of Sheffield’s Literary Festival’s events, if I’m not at work.

In Holidays and Courses
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Sep 7, 2008 by

submission and a website update

I’ve submitted Pluvial (elderly man finds haunted watch) to Dark Recesses, since they sent me a personal rejection for Asylum and suggested I submit something else. Considering they had Asylum so long I forgot about it last time, I’m preparing to wave goodbye to Pluvial for a while!

I’ve stumbled across The Willows, who I really wish I had something for. If I wasn’t working on another romance novella, I’d start on that now; I have two more short horrors in rough draft, but I don’t think either could be editted to fit.

I’ve updated the website too, shock horror! A short piece I wrote deliberately for it, though it’s going to end up in Word Salad and Art Chips anyway. I want to update the website with some regularly (or, at least, make sure it doesn’t leave a visiter with the impression it’s been abandoned), so I intend to write seasonal stories. The first is autumnal and – surprise surprise – it’s a horror. Inspired by Hans Belmer’s dolls, which are creepy enough on their own. And it’s a pdf, because I felt like it. I might make little annual anthologies out of them, but we’ll see.

Anyway: Porcelain

In Writing
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Aug 26, 2008 by

Competition Entry

I’ve submitted ‘Exoticism’, ‘Another Summer Day’ and ‘Unsent Letters’ to Aesthetica‘s annual competition, the latter two heavily editted compared with their appearances in the uni mag. It’s a competition that charges, but I do think that’s reasonable for a reputable competition with cash prizes. Most magazines hold competitions to raise funds, and considering the prize money (let alone the cost of producing the annual itself) they need least 1500 entries to break even.

I sent out a brief flurry of emails recently, including one about the entry requirements for this competition. Another was to Melrose Books, who advertised for submissions to an upcoming anthology in Aesthetica’s recent mag. After a week, I learned that the anthology was cancelled (though their website is still soliciting for entries), and that they’re a ‘commissioned’ publisher. You commission them to produce your books for between £4000 and £6000. As far as I can tell, that’s not unreasonable for a legitimate fee-charging publisher, which makes me wonder how anyone can afford to self-publish! Well, with any quality, anyway.

The other magazine I emailed hasn’t replied, which I shall take as a ‘no’ to my question ‘do you still exist?’

I’m still editing the selkie story, having received proof-read copies back from two out of four beta-readers. With the edits on the short stories, it’s in danger of becoming a bit of a slog, and I’m looking at it now wondering why I’ve highlighted large chunks. I’ve worked through three quarters of the suggestions now, so we’re doing alright. I just hope the other two betas don’t come up with eighty more entirely different suggestions!

It still needs a title, alas. If this blog has more readers I’d do a little competition, with one of my seal charms as a prize, but I don’t think that’s going to work!

In Writing
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Aug 11, 2008 by

Sending them out again

Having got Asylum back, I’ve dispatched it to Ballista, and Ruin has gone to Pseudopod. So many horror markets are closed to submissions at the moment, or soliciting solely for themed anthologies. I really need to do more research into mainstream markets, but I suspect ‘ghost stories with optimistically bleak endings’ are as ‘ever-so-slightly’ outside their remit as they are for traditional horror markets. I’ve completed another one, and I’ve two more in very rough form, so I need to find somewhere to send them!

(I also really need a better description than ‘optimistically bleak’. The thesaurus has failed me)

In Writing
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