Tips: so you’d like to submit a story to an anthology

Posted on March 23, 2009

Greetings!

As you know, I post tips here on a variety of things related to writing, whether craft or the business of publishing. Today I’ll be talking about the business end of things; specifically, submitting a short story to an anthology.

Wanna know more? Keep on readin’!

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Say what? Writing tips for (hopefully good) dialogue

Posted on March 14, 2009

All right, friends! So let’s do some more “how to write” kinds of things. Or rather (and hopefully), how to maybe write better. We’ve already discussed POV (point-of-view) and headhopping and why it might be important to stick to one POV at a time (that is, one POV per book/chapter/scene). If you missed that discussion, go here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

The thing about the craft of writing is that different elements tend to intertwine with each other. Today, we’ll be working with dialogue, and as you’ll see, effective dialogue relies, to an extent, on consistent, focused POV. Why? Think about it. If you’re consistent with one POV, then one character per book/chapter/scene is the focal point of a scene and a reader doesn’t have to worry about getting jerked into another character’s head in that same scene. If you’re headhopping (refer to Part 2 of POV above), then you have to keep a reader from getting confused during dialogue, which means you as a writer will probably have to resort to stilted, awkward dialogue constructions like constantly using names in dialogue, even if there are, say, only two people in the room.

Want to know more? Cool. Click on!

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Confident writers vs. delusional writers

Posted on March 6, 2009

Got this link off Kelley Eskridge’s blog. She’s a fabulous writer, up for a Nebula this year, so I hope you check her stuff out. Anyway, JA Konrath has this to say about the differences between confident and delusional writers.

I tend to agree. But I also think that writers in general (like artists in other media) have to have a wild/weird/masochistic streak. Which doesn’t necessarily make them delusional. Still, writing is a strange life, and those who don’t do it or who pursue other artistic lifeways have a difficult time understanding the drive/need. For those of us who do write, Konrath might be saying something to you.

Happy weekend, all!

Nice review of “State of Denial”

Posted on March 4, 2009

At Just About Write, which is a really cool site for readers and writers of lesfic and women’s fiction. Writing tips, author interviews, and book reviews. Oh, and calls for submissions and all kinds of groovy stuff like that.

Here’s the link to go to book reviews. Scroll down to “State” (unless you want to read the other ones, too, which is fine n’ dandy!).

Thanks for reading!

Call for Submissions: Pirates! YAAAARGH!

Posted on March 1, 2009

Greetings, all–

My colleague, R. G. Emanuelle, and I are editing an anthology of short stories whose focus is women pirates. Here’s the official call:

Call for Submissions

Skulls and Crossbones

A collection of short stories that features women pirates in any setting, any time period.

Editors: Andi Marquette and R. G. Emanuelle.
Publisher: Mindancer Press (Bedazzled Ink), print and ebook editions

Stipulations:
No longer than 7000 words; no shorter than 4000 words
Will consider original and previously published stories.
$35 per story, paid after contract is signed. Story rights revert back to authors 18 months after date of publication. Each contributor will receive one print copy as well as one ebook copy of the anthology.

GLBTQ/heterosexual characters are welcome BUT EACH STORY MUST FEATURE A WOMAN PIRATE, either as the main character or the focus of the story (e.g. another sailor on the ship who hates the woman pirate and through his/her eyes, we observe the woman pirate). Again, the main character or the focus of the story MUST BE A WOMAN PIRATE. We will consider main characters that identify as transgendered (male to female), but that identity must figure prominently in the story as a driving force and/or something that speaks to the character’s experience as a woman pirate.

Extra caveat: The focus of the story cannot be a romantic hook-up/sex/erotica. Sex, eroticism, and romance may be part of the story (as long as they fit within the story’s overall plot), but they cannot be the reason for the story or the driving force of the story. We want stories that feature adventure, intrigue, antiheroines/heroines, battles (epic, personal, or small-scale), something to be accomplished/overcome, vengeance, trickery, thievery, and/or assorted banditry and outlaw behavior.

Absolutely NO stories that feature acts of pedophilia, incest, bestiality, or rape.

Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2009
Final selections will be made by October 1, 2009, with publication tentatively slated for January 2010

To submit your story, send as an email attachment in RTF format, double-spaced to pirateanthology AT gmail DOT com. Please include your name, pen name (if applicable), mailing address, email address, story title, and word count on the first page of your submission.

You can also go to Mindancer Press (Bedazzled Ink) to see the official call. Click here.

If you have questions, drop us a line at pirateanthology AT gmail DOT com.

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