Following the rules of story arc, the writing of a story goes through the same conflicts (loss of inspiration, technical glitches, losing the file) and builds to a climax and resolution. The climax is: the story’s finished–or at least as finished as it’s ever going to be. You’ve twiddled with it enough already; leave it alone and move on. Which brings us to the resolution.
That means submission first of all. And submission on the dark side is complete masochism and while I may have dabbled in that, I’m not a diehard fan.
Not in the mood today to rant about the submission process; it is what it is and them’s in control are the same them’s who make the rules and that’s all there is to it. But a point must be made here: you can’t blame all your rejections on lack of MFA, agent connections, or the crappy direction fiction’s taking. You have to face facts eventually and the fact is simply that no one wants to publish your work. Fact #2: If it was really really good, someone will publish it.
Which brings me to the alternative ending of the self publishing route. And here, I’ve been thinking about it again because of the hypertext nature of what I’ve been doing lately and for some reason I looked at it differently because of that nature of medium. But you know what? It still comes down to the same thing for me–if no one else thinks its good enough to publish, then most likely it really isn’t and why on earth do I want to embarrass myself and spend money to do so?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
I hope you got that out of your system. Now try again.
Possibly include a Mac-induced, hot-streaming YouTube video link to catch wayward readers unawares. Dan Simmons says that’s the ticket.
You’re right, Mark, I’m in the valley of despair right now on writing and feelin’ worse as time goes on. Mainly because I’ve just jumped in joyously and foolishly again. Bad timing on my part as usual.
Creativity is like herpes. Some people test negative. Those who test positive don’t have breakouts all the time. Ya dig?
Wait a moment, you’ve never sent me a story you’ve written!
Uh, thanks Carolyn. Usually I really like your imagery…
You’re too busy to read. There are a couple of shorties on the CW weblog that are quick reading and very very recent. Someday I’ll send you the Gazpacho story.
So I’m not the only one who has requested “the major work” and been denied 😛
Just out of curiosity: have you ever submitted to agents? I think the magazine route is (and has been for years) far too oversaturated. I am not in the least surprised that you have been repeatedly denied there. Even after I got my professional creds for top niche trades, I still got rejected by more mainstream publications. That doesn’t mean a writer sucks, it means that the line is too long and writers need to try a different door.