Write 1 Sub 1

The February Fahrenheit Awards

2012-02-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

The second month of Write1Sub1 2012 is over! Are YOU a "February Fahrenheit" winner?

At the end of each month, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge: weekly or monthly. This month, everyone who has done so receives the February Fahrenheit Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451).

So if you've met your W1S1 writing goals during February, add your name and blog URL to the linky widget below. And if you've had something W1S1-related published this month that you're particularly proud of, add its title and URL to the widget as well. We'll be sure to check it out!

Write1Sub1 Week #8/Month #2 Check-In

2012-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's the end of W1S1 Week #8 and Month #2!

How's it been for you? Have you managed to write what you wanted or has real life intervened? Here's your chance to tell us about it, whether you're a weekly, monthly or something in between W1S1er.

If you've managed to write and submit a story/poem, let us know. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you to the Write1Sub1 Hall of Fame. But if your muse has gone off-planet and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets that put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

W1S1 Interview: Verity Linden of Curiosity Quills

2012-02-22T02:00:00.001-08:00

Today, W1S1 is delighted to have an interview with Verity Linden of Curiosity Quills. Verity talks about their upcoming Creature Feature anthology as well as other CQ projects of interest to W1S1ers.

Q. Can you tell us about the Creature Feature anthology and the sort of thing you are looking for?

A. Creature Feature is something a bit unusual, both in the breadth of what we are accepting, and in its purpose. We are looking for a very wide range of submissions; visual, in the form of photography, photomanipulation, art in traditional and digital media, in addition to written submissions of short fiction and poetry in any and all genres. The only restrictions are on tone and theme. As this is an all-ages anthology, we're keeping away from graphic blood, gore, sex and cussing, as well as the darkest of the hopeless ruined dystopias. Thematically, we want the anthology to explore the relationship we have with the myriad of other creatures that inhabit this world – both the ones we know about, and the ones we don’t. These creatures can be real or mythical, allies or predators, so long as they interact with either people or man-made factors.

The purpose of the anthology ties in with the theme - what makes Creature Feature a bit different, is the profits will be donated to an animal charity, nominated by the contributors, voted for by the readers. Every submission will represent an animal shelter or charity, and once the anthology is published, readers will have two months to vote on their favourite written and favourite visual submission, with the profits split between the winner from each.

The usual restrictions on reprints, length, format etc are explained in more detail on the submission page at http://curiosityquills.com/call-for-submissions-creature-feature-anthology/.

Q. There's a lot more to Curiosity Quills than just this anthology: can you tell us more about yourselves? Are there other opportunites open to Write1Sub1ers?

A. Curiosity Quills is a two-pronged site. The community site posts articles about writing technique, social media use, publicising your book and any number of other topics useful to authors, as well as humour feature columns by the likes of CatFoodBreath and Paranormalady, and short stories. We're always open for pitches for quality content for the community site.

The other side is Curiosity Quills Press, which focuses on speculative and paranormal fiction, though with at least one piece of literary fiction in the pipeline the options are always open. Although not announced yet (hush, I told you nothing) there is an anthology of dark short fiction planned for later in the year, so that's one to keep an eye out for.

Submissions for any of these areas should be sent to editor@curiosityquills.com

Q. Do you see any common problems with the submissions you receive? Is there anything in a story you really look out for? Any tips to potential contributors?

A. The most common problems? Not reading the submissions guidelines (too long, too short, sent in PDF format) and missing deadlines (a wonderful submission the day after we've finished putting the anthology together is, frankly, an almost inevitable annoyance). As for tips beyond that? For site submissions, have a good read of the Curiosity Quills site before pitching us, so you know how your idea might fit in. For Creature Feature, submissions that make us stop and think about the relationship / interaction between the human and animal element of the story and what impacts they might have on each other are likely to stick out, bit first and foremost, be creative and give us something we haven't seen before!

Thanks, Linden! If you're interested in submitting to Curiosity Quills, the general guidelines are here.

Write1Sub1 Week #7 Check-In

2012-02-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's the end of W1S1 Week #7!

How's the week been for you? Have you managed to write your stories or has real life gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write and submit a story/poem, let us know. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you to the Write1Sub1 Hall of Fame. But if your muse has gone AWOL and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets that put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Bradbury Bytes

2012-02-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

...You are, in effect, dropping stones down a well. Every time you hear an echo from your subconscious, you know yourself a little better. A small echo may start an idea. A big echo may result in a story... (Ray Bradbury, from The Writer's Archive 4/2008)

You just never know, do you? A scrap of dialogue that floats over from the next table in the restaurant where you're eating lunch. A quick glance that catches the sun glistening on the ripples of a lake where a duck just flew away. The sharp chemical scent that assaults you as you walk past the nail salon in the mall.

Two writers, two artists, will catch that same conversation, will see that sunlight, will smell the nail salon but maybe only one of them will hear that echo, will heed it and turn it into a poem. Or maybe they both will hear that echo but where one will turn it into a modern sculpture, the other will write a children's book.

It's about learning to listen for that echo, for what speaks directly to us, and how to give it shape and form and meaning for the rest of the world.

Write1Sub1 Week #6 Check-In

2012-02-12T02:00:00.000-08:00

It's the end of W1S1 Week #6!

How's the week been for you? Have you managed to follow your dreams or has real life gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write and submit a story/poem, let us know. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you to the Write1Sub1 Hall of Fame. But if your muse has gone AWOL and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets that put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Publisher Interview : Electric Spec

2012-02-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

David E. Hughes, one of the editors of shockingly good speculative magazine Electric Spec kindly agreed to talk to Write1Sub1. Here's what David had to say:

Q. Can you tell us a little about Electric Spec and the sort of thing you aim to publish?

A. Electric Spec is an on-line 'zine that has been around for six years now. We publish quarterly, and pay a flat rate of $20 per story. Each issue also includes original artwork on the cover, for which we also pay artists $20. All of our stories fall into the broad categories of science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre. In addition to stories, we also include interview with established authors, a movie column, and an "editors corner" with fiction or op-ed from one of the editors.

Q. What are the top two or three things you look for in a submission - or do you just know a good story when you see it?

A. We like our stories to be engaging from the very beginning. In the on-line world, distraction is just a click away. If we don't see something that draws us in right away, such a clear conflict, a unique character, an original world, or a stand-out voice, the story is unlikely to make the cut. As for the rest of the story, we like plots with action. Stories that are mostly dialogue or flashback are usually not engaging enough for us. Finally, we like the ending to make sense in the context of the story. It does not have to be brilliant or twist-y, be we like to have a sense that the author has sufficiently tied things up.

Q. What sorts of things put you off the submissions you receive? Are there any common mistakes people should be careful to avoid?

A. In our blog, we have lots of posts where we've tried to capture common mistakes that can result in stories going in the reject pile. I think it is a good resources for newer writers who are just getting into the short story business. Overall, we've been impressed with the high-quality submissions we've been getting lately, very few of which fall neatly into the "common mistakes" category. Writers should keep in mind that the competition out there is really tough. We get several hundred submissions for each issue, including stories from professional, multi-published writers. For stories that make the final round but do not make the final cut, we often find ourselves wishing the author had a critique group or beta readers. While we are willing to work with the author in terms of tightening a story or correcting one or two minor flaws, sometimes good stories have a problem too big to fix through editing. For those, if a good critique group had looked at the story with a critical eye, the problem would likely have been caught and corrected before getting to us.

Q. The Electric Spec blog offers invaluable advice on the the fiction writing process as well as great insight into what's going on behind the scenes at the magazine. How important do you think this sort of community engagement with writers is?

A. We love being part of the writing community. All three of the Electric Spec editors are also writers, so we know what authors are going through. In addition to our blog, we offer workshops and participate in panel discussions at local conferences and cons.

Q. How do you see magazines and publishing generally evolving?

A. It has been interesting to watch the fiction market over the past several years. Very few print magazines have been able to survive, and even on-line zines that pay "professional rates" rarely last. Nevertheless, the demand for speculative fiction venues remains high--among readers and authors alike. Increasingly, the challenge is identifying quality markets. With the exception of a few stand-outs, pay rate no longer correlates to the quality of the magazine. While pay may be one factor, I think longevity is going to become increasingly important. In addition, magazines where the editors truly engage their authors rather that just posting will rise to the top. From the magazine's perspective, the challenge is finding the time and motivation to do all of this. For example, Electric Spec would love to find a way to pay authors more, but we do not have a revenue source that would allow us to do that. These days, the key is marketing and publicity. We'd love to partner with a larger publisher to create a more sustainable model at some point in the future.

Thanks, David! If you're interested in submitting to this fine magazine, detailed guidelines are here.

Write1Sub1 Week #5 Check-In

2012-02-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

It's the end of W1S1 Week #5!

How's the week been for you? Have you managed to stick to the plan or has real life gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write and submit a story/poem, let us know. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you to the Write1Sub1 Hall of Fame. But if your muse has gone AWOL and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets that put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Publishing Your Own Short Story Collection?

2012-02-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

If you've been brilliant and lucky enough to have a bunch of short stories published, the question eventually arises as to what do do with them all afterwards. There are always markets that will accept reprints, of course, and even some that only accept reprints. But another option is to collect the stories together yourself and publish them as a collection. Apart from any additional money you might make, it's good to know that your stories are out there rather than languishing unseen on your hard disk or in your drawer.

These days, indie publishing is pretty easy to do. There are various routes to take but the most obvious is to epublish for the the Kindle via Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Whatever you think about Amazon's growing dominance in the book world but the fact remains that's where the action is.

There are whole books (presumably ebooks) that could be written about how best to publish via KDP. If there's interest, I might write some more detailed posts about what I've learned, having been through the process a few times. But here are a few pointers and suggestions:

Edit well. If your stories have been previously published there's a good chance they'll already be well-polished. Even so, edit each one again before you self-publish. Get others to beta-read if you can. In my experience, this is the most time-consuming part of the whole process, but it's always effort worth making.
Don't just save your Word documents as HTML and publish them. KDP books are in HTML (i.e. web page) format, but resist the temptation to rely on your word processor's save as routines. Word (and other word processors in my experience) have the habit of generating vastly bloated and overcomplicated HTML. Have you ever read an ebook where the text suddenly goes all big or weird? I know I have. In my experience, the best approach is to go back to basics and hand-craft your HTML in a text editor such as Notepad. This may sound time-consuming but it needn't be. I've knocked together a simple Word macro that formats my story text as HTML (adding <p> tags etc.), then I just copy and paste from Word into Notepad.
As should be obvious from (2), it's woth getting to grips with a bit of HTML. This needn't be complicated for a book that is basically just text. You need maybe ten different HTML tags to do everything you need.
While you're finding out about HTML, look at CSS (cascading style sheets) too. This is just a way of easily controlling the format of your book. Basically, the HTML should contain just the text, while the way the text is presented (font sizes, indentations etc) should be controlled by CSS. The wonder of this is that, by changing one entry in a CSS "style", you instantly change everything using that style. So, if you decide all your story titles are too small, you don't need to go and edit each one. You just need to tweak the style you're using for your headings. Again, in my experience, you don't need very complicated CSS. For the books I've published on KDP, I've found 20-30 different CSS styles gives me everything I need.
I use Amazon's own Mobipocket software to build the files that Amazon KDP requires. Something like this can take a lot of pain out of the process. Basically I hand-craft my HTML files then use Mobipocket to build everything into one big file for upload. The software lets you specify the cover art, blurb etc. and takes care of putting it all together. Mobipocket is by no means perfect (if you can get it to generate a two-level table of contents you're a better homo sapiens than I am) but if you can put up with its idiosyncracies, it's pretty good. Although, if anyone knows of anything better ...
Create good cover art. For someone as artistically challenged as myself, this seemed like an insurmountable problem at first. It really isn't. My approach is to buy a stock image that suits what I need, then crop as required and add lettering. Good quality images can be had for a few dollars/pounds/whatevers from web sites out there. My first attempts were a bit rubbish but, again, it's worth finding out a little about editing graphics if you're not familiar with that. A few months ago I had no idea what the "layers" were in my graphic application. Now I love them!
Once you've put everything together, test it all looks right before going live. You can use a Kindle or just the free Kindle app for your PC. Remember, the great thing about this whole approach is that you can change stuff. If you spot a typo on the last page you don't have to pulp 10,000 books. You just edit and upload a new version ...
Market and publicize! This is the hardest part for me. Easy to go too far and annoy everyone you know, tempting not to bother and wait for the world to spot your genius spontaneously. There's a happy medium. My approach is to let people know I've got something out and hope they'll be interested and maybe even write reviews or tell others. You may have a better approach. Word-of-mouth publicity is certainly invaluable. Remember that, while marketing and platform-building can and does pay off, it can also be time-consuming and you're supposed to be writing! It's a matter of finding what's right for you.

Did I miss anything? Like I say, you could write a book going into all this in detail. The best advice I can offer is to just try it. Experiment, see how it looks and find help on the internet (e.g. here!) if you hit a problem.

It's fun, really. Just don't let it distract you from the actual writing ...

The January Juggernaut Awards

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

The first month of Write1Sub1 RELOADED is over. One month down, eleven to go!

Are YOU a "January Juggernaut" winner?

At the end of each month, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge: weekly or monthly.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the January Juggernaut Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's similiarly titled story, Juggernaut).

So if you've met your W1S1 writing goals during January, add your name and blog URL to the linky widget below.

And if you've had something W1S1-related published this month that you're particularly proud of, add its title and URL to the widget as well. We'll be sure to check it out!

BLOGFEST RULES: Visit all of the participants above and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month. Then visit their published works, and leave a comment if possible. Well done, everyone!

Write1Sub1 Week #4/Month #1 Check-In

2012-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2012 Week 4 is here!

How's it been for you? Has it been The Cat's Pajamas? Or do you empathize with The Dragon Who Ate His Tail?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yahoo! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets who put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them in the comments.

Interview with Debrin Case of An Honest Lie

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

In our latest interview with the editors/publishers of fine short story venues, here is Write1Sub1's conversation with Debrin Case, publisher of the An Honest Lie anthologies.

W1S1: You're currently accepting submissions for Volume 4 of An Honest Lie. Can you tell us a little about the sorts of story you are looking for?

First and foremost, we (myself and the staff of Open Heart Publishing) are looking for stories that we believe fit underneath the masthead "An Honest Lie" and this year's theme "Petulant Parables". These tales are between 3,000 and 4,000 words, and can fit within just about any genre of fiction one could imagine, the most important aspect of the pieces in question shouldn't be about what kind of written work it is (other than a well written piece), but does it fit within the paradigm of this year's anthology and do we (again, myself and the staff of O.H.P.) believe the author has more to say.

Our call for submissions hasn't changed much in the past four years so I'll just repeat it here

We are accepting submissions in the areas of fiction, well written misadventures from real life, and blatant lies that are fun and entertaining.

We’re looking for …

… the ironies in life
… the serendipity of it all
… the epitome of adventure
… the power of imperviousness
… the pull of naivety
… the view from a different angle
… the mix of mood, moment, and movement
… the wretched truth
… a clever lie
… the humor inside
… the mockery of it all

We’re looking for the perspective. The subject is up to you.
(Please keep it clean. No political commentaries, testimonials, religious manifestos, or poetry)

Being involved with An Honest Lie is more than a standard submission process, it is in fact a long term contest. The yearly prize is nothing other than a book deal with our publishing company. This is the first part, submitting your story in the hopes of winning one of the available slots for the yearly anthology contest. That part is rough enough with fierce competition (Our first year had over 5,000 entries, Year two just over 4,000 entries, and for our last volume we were well over 7,000 entries). After making our selection based not only on the stories themselves, but also on the gestalt of the book the next step in the contest takes place through the year where we determine who is the most popular author from each collection via sales and a free voting portal (this year's voting portal can be found at http://debrincase.com/ahlvol3).

W1S1: What are the top two or three things you look for in a submission - or do you just know a good story when you see it?

Did they follow the guidelines? Does the piece grab my attention? Is it well written? Did they follow ALL of the Guidelines?

I have rejected good stories because the author did not follow guidelines. If a person follows the guidelines we have established that they show themselves to be professional and leads us to believe that they will be a person who will be easier to work with when the task of editing comes around. Yes, I do believe I can spot a good story when I see it, but also note that the process of selecting the stories for An Honest Lie doesn't just fall on my shoulders, it is a group effort (and sometimes a group battle) to decide which pieces fit together best.

W1S1: What sorts of things put you off the submissions you receive? Are there any common mistakes people should be careful to avoid?

*Produces proverbial soapbox from within the folds of his corduroy jacket, and climbs its massive height to stand atop and denounce the travesties committed by submitters. *

1. Guidelines are listed to help you and the publishing house mutually, do not ignore them. If you see a minimum word count listed at 5,000 words don't send a piece of 4,000 words. If the maximum word count is listed at 8,000 words don't send 16,000 words.

2. Gud Speling is emportent, and grahmer ain't nothing to laugh at. Use spell check for the love of whatever god (or lack thereof) you may (or may not) worship. Spell check is not perfect so go out and get one of those dictionary thingies... and while you are at it grab a thesaurus too.

3. Pay attention to the market you are sending your submission to, If you wrote a fantabulous piece of fiction about the origins of oral sex, don't send it to the Abstinence Quarterly.

As far as An Honest Lie is concerned, please refrain from sending us your personal religious conversion stories, political tirades, poetry or travel journals. They just don't fit within our publishing paradigm.

4. Don't send us previously published works, even if it was self published or web published.

5. Don't send us fully illustrated PDFs, or pieces sent in any other format other than what we ask for (currently it is .doc .docx and .odf formats only).

6. Don't send more than two pieces for consideration unless we ask you for more.

7. Don't try to show how smart you are by picking $20.00 words when a $2.00 word will work just fine. You are trying to engage an audience not make them feel stupid.

and finally 8. Don't pander to us by including the masthead name or the year's theme in your story to be cute, it isn't... it's not even original.

W1S1: How do you see the publishing scene evolving?

The publishing world is evolving at an amazing rate, and it is beautiful. Literacy is becoming commonplace across the world, and communication is expanding and growing astronomically!

We live in very exciting times and I see a future filled with words, and pages and books and volumes of literary masterpieces and blunders all along the way.

Print books, E-books, E-paper, flash fiction, blogs, web novels, magazines, zines, pamphlets, e-zines, mind implants, movies, independent movies, holgraphic films, publishers, independent publishers, story tellers sitting around campfires. Through speculative and already known vehicles the story flourishes. The story will continue and we get to see how it changes and grows and becomes more radiant each and every day in whatever form it decides to transmute itself into next.

W1S1: Our thanks to Debrin for his responses. If you're interested in submitting to An Honest Lie, the guidelines are here.

Write1Sub1 Week #3 Check-In

2012-01-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2012 Week 3 is here!

How's it been for you? Have you been writing Quicker Than The Eye can behold? Or have you been Driving Blind?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yahoo! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Hall of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets who put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them in the comments.

Bradbury Bytes

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

QUANTITY PRODUCES QUALITY.

IF YOU ONLY WRITE A FEW THINGS, YOU'RE DOOMED.

(Ray Bradbury)

This pretty much sums up Write 1 Sub 1, doesn't it? The more you write, the more you learn - about what works and what doesn't, about story arcs and character development and the rhythm of language. So, whether you choose to do the weekly version or the monthly version this 2012, you are challenging yourself - not only to get the words down and out into the world but also to become a better writer. Now, that's a New Year's resolution to be proud of.

Write1Sub1 Week #2 Check-In

2012-01-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2012 Week 2 is here!

How's it been for you? Have words promised to Sing The Body Electric? Or has it been The Day It Rained Forever?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yahoo! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets who put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them in the comments.

Hacked

2012-01-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

Please disregard the last post that appeared briefly on our site. My Google account has apparently been hacked. I've been traveling the past few days using free airport WiFi with my iPad, and I must not have been careful enough while entering passwords. Next order of business: change them all.

On a brighter note, I was able to attend an iPad conference near Santa Cruz, California, at a school where every student is issued his/her own iPad, and classes are conducted with nearly full implementation. It was like stepping into the future, only the future is now.

Hopefully none of those youngsters will find themselves hacked at any point in the near future. It's definitely not a good feeling.

Anyhow, onward and upward, y'all. I look forward to seeing all of our check-ins tomorrow!

Milo

Interview with Jonathan Laden of Daily Science Fiction

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Daily Science Fiction is an online publication specializing in science fiction in all its forms. Recently, DSF became a qualifying Science Fiction Writers Association market. Today, we're honored to have editor Jonathan Laden with us for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Daily Science Fiction?

I, Jonathan, spend more time as first reader than anything else. Michele makes most final decisions. I get much of the glory because I then manage all of the communictaions, contracts, proofs, answering five questions from writing clubs, etc. Nope, you can't speak to Michele. She isn't available at this time.

W1S1: Understood! So what are the top three things you look for in a story?

1. Good writing: I don't think we're a literary venue but we're reputed to be on the literary end of the SF spectrum because we try to see even great ideas conveyed well.

2. Engaging and worthwhile reads. Yes, absolutely, this is a nebulous concept. We get many stories that are worthy of publication. The ones we take are the ones we find the most interesting, that stick with us for some reason, the ones that feel to us that they matter.

3. Short short fiction: We're publishing five days a week, 260 or so times a year. About half of those stories are flash, less than 1,000 words. Another 50 or so will be short short fiction, 1,000-2,500 words. We can "only" publish 52 full length short stories each year. This may be related to why we're a market of such interest to W1S1; you can't write novellas every week. If you can, more power to you! I don't know how to measure, but I believe Daily Science Fiction publishes the most--and the best--science fiction flash in the galaxy.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

If we told you the secret word, we'd have to change it, wouldn't we?

W1S1: I guess so! What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to Daily Science Fiction this year?

We'd love to see more well-done alternate history flash. But for the most part we are agnostic on topic or theme. We endeavor to publish great science fiction (By which we mean scifi, fantasy, slipstream, et al.).

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

Heh. We thought launching Daily Science Fiction was our way to change the publishing industry. As quotable people have said, First be the change you want to see from the world.

W1S1: Thanks, Jonathan!

So for all of you Write1Sub1ers out there who just might have a story to submit, go check out Daily Science Fiction's submission guidelines here.

Write1Sub1 Week #1 Check-In

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2012 Week 1 is here!

How's it been for you? Have stories blossomed like Golden Apples of the Sun? Or have you been wallowing in A Graveyard for Lunatics?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yahoo! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Hall of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

As a new feature for 2012, remember to note your paid publications ($) for our Published Work$ page. While W1S1 continues to encourage all avenues for publication, we want to especially highlight those stories/markets who put food on a writer's table.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them in the comments.

Interview with Paul Genesse of The Crimson Pact

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

In our latest interview with the editors/publishers of fine short story venues, here is Write1Sub1's conversation with Paul Genesse, editor of the Crimson Pact anthologies.

W1S1: Can you tell us a little about the Crimson Pact universe and the sort of story you are currently looking for?

The Crimson Pact is an anthology series that will have at least six titles, volume 1 and 2 are out now as of December 2011. You can get them as trade paperbacks or as eBooks for all eReaders. The deadline for submissions of flash and short fiction for volume 3 is February 1, 2012.

The Crimson Pact is a shared world, without the shared world. It all flows from the origin story, “The Failed Crusade,” which is free to read on TheCrimsonPact.com. Here’s the set up:

The moment of the demons' defeat became their greatest victory.

In the carnage after the last great battle against the demons, a doomed general discovers their hidden victory. Instead of being annihilated, unspeakable evil escaped into many unsuspecting worlds. To fight them, the men and women of the Crimson Pact must sacrifice everything—including their own lives and follow the demons.

Explore 26 stories based on the world created in “The Failed Crusade,” by Patrick M. Tracy and included in The Crimson Pact Volume 1, about the valiant men and women who refuse to let the demons win, and those unfortunate souls caught in the epic struggle raging across the multiverse.

New York Times Bestselling author and Campbell award nominee, Larry Correia, and many urban fantasy, steampunk, sci-fi, horror, and fantasy writers tell the tales in this diverse collection of short stories, flash fiction, and novellas.

So, you’ve got authors writing in their own world/universe, but the stories all blend together thematically, though we’ve got many different genres to play in. The tone has to be right, NO COMEDY, but the writers have a lot of leeway. Think about the graphic novel/movie, Constantine, or the movie Aliens, The Exorcist, The Omen, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Harder edged stuff.

I’m looking for stories set in non-U.S. settings: Europe, Southeast Asia, India, China, Australia, and in different time periods. I’ve got a lot of modern day urban fantasy set in the U.S. and two in England.

No stories with “the devil” making deals and you don’t even have to mention “The Crimson Pact” in the story or any references to that concept, just have a demon, evil spirit, something nasty, in the tale. Oblique references are best and the protagonist doesn’t have to be a member of The Crimson Pact or know someone who is.

W1S1: Are you able to list the top two or three things you look for - or do you just know a good story when you see it?

Great characterization is key for me. The tone has to be right, (read some stories in the anthologies and you’ll understand), and I’m looking for believable stories. If your plot sucks, and doesn’t make much sense, you’ve got problems. High concept pieces, where you have to do a ton of world building are a tough sell. Focus on the character, with a problem, who has a complication, and then there’s the twist. Simple, but effective.

There’s an open call for flash fiction. If you have a short story 3,000-7,000 words, and are a published writer, ask me if you can submit it. I’ll probably take a look at the first 1,000 words and I’ll see. Only the people who read this blog will even know about this offer to read short work from unpublished authors. The danger is that I get 10,000 word stories that don’t work and can’t be fixed, but I can fix 1,000 words a lot easier. Shorter pieces give you a better chance of getting published in The Crimson Pact, because I will work with you to fix four pages, but not forty.

W1S1: What sorts of things put you off the submissions you receive? Do you see the same mistakes and flaws a lot? The same familiar tropes?

COMEDY is no go. Don’t waste my time, send your story somewhere else. Format the story exactly the way I want it. If you can’t format it right, you’ve already failed the test because if you can’t follow the guidelines, or learn how to remove tabs from the MS for example, it’s a red flag that you are not someone I want to work with. I work hard and spend very long hours with writers that I select for the anthology.

The prose has to be polished as well. If you’re a total rookie with a lot of talent, I might see that and work with you, but if you’re a rookie who needs two more years of practice, I’ll let you down easy. I was there once. I know how it feels. The truth is that we’re all not ready to get published. It’s a journey and some people are further along than others. Just keep traveling down the road. Familiar tropes can work if they’re done well, but I would prefer to see different concepts, but read volume 1 and you’ll understand more of what I’m into.

W1S1: How do you see the publishing scene evolving? Will paper survive for example?

Paper is going to survive, but eBooks are going to be huge, and are getting there right now. The paradigm has shifted in the last couple of years and life is actually very good for us writer folks. Not everyone has to have a contract with a big house anymore to be successful—and defining success is changing. I want to do both, the traditional way with a house publishing my work, and I want to have side projects that are independent. If you’re already published, you can go the eBook route easier as you have credibility. If you’ve never sold anything, it’s harder for people to take you seriously, but the paradigm is shifting, and the future is very bright.

Please go to www.TheCrimsonPact.com to read the guidelines, watch story trailers, read the origin/frame story “The Failed Crusade,” and get a copy of volume 1 and volume 2. The special editions have essays from some of the writers about the process of writing their story and working with me, so you’ll know how I roll.

W1S1: Our thanks to Paul for his responses. If you're interested in submitting to The Crimson Pact, the guidelines are here.

Write1Sub1 RELOADED: Year 2 Begins

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is the start of a new beginning, folks.

For those of us who made it through W1S1 2011, we're back for more. For those of us who are climbing aboard the Write1Sub1 train for the very first time, who knows what's in store? Plenty of writing our hearts out, that's for sure. There may come rejections, and there may come acceptances, but neither will define us. We'll let our work speak for itself.

Here's to an awesome year ahead, and thank you again, Mr. Bradbury, for inspiring us!

- Milo James Fowler

Under the influence of W1S1, 2011 was my most successful year for short fiction and poetry. By a looong way. Maybe I shouldn't need a voluntary scheme to goad me along, but the fact is it helps. It really helps. There were weeks when I felt utterly uninspired but sat down and wrote anyway because I had to come up with something. And the weird thing is, that was when I produced some of my best stuff. You just have to start. You never know where it's going to take you.

- Simon Kewin

Was W1S1 2011 a success? In twenty years prior, I published three stories. In 2011, I published 35, excluding twitter fic. Twelve paid sales (five at pro rates), and a Best of Net nomination. What was different? I wrote more stories. I wrote more often. I wrote diligently. I wrote on schedule. I wrote when I didn't feel like writing. My work got better. Oh, and I submitted religiously too. That's the other half of the equation. Will this process work for you? Only one way to find out. Join us for W1S1 2012!

- Stephen V. Ramey

I didn't succeed throughout all of 2011. Yes, that's right, I failed. I signed up for the monthly challenge and missed a few due to various complications and my own procrastination. Guilty. As. Charged.

But in 2012, I plan to fail better. In fact, I'm giving myself permission to fail right now. I'm going to write, submit, lock-and-load baby, and I will eventually fail. Because I'm human. Because that's life. So long as I pick myself back up and reload, I haven't really failed. I've failed better. Will you fail better with me?

- Stephanie M. Lorée

Week #52 Check-in + The Bradbury Awards!

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

Are YOU a "December End of the Beginning" winner?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge: whether weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the December End of the Beginning Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's 1956 short story, "The End of the Beginning").

If you've met your W1S1 writing goals during the month of December, just add your name and website URL to the linky widget below. And if you've had a W1S1 work published this month that you're particularly proud of, add its title and URL to the widget as well, and we'll be sure to check it out!

BLOGFEST RULES: Visit all of the participants above and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month. Then visit their published works, and leave a comment if possible.

Oh, but we're not done yet. Nope, not by a long shot.

This is WEEK #52, folks! Can you believe it? The first year of Write1Sub1 is offically over, and that means it's time for our first-annual BRADBURY AWARDS.

Have you somehow managed to write, edit, and submit a brand-spankin' new short story every week this year? If so, you are hereby awarded with The Bradbury! Yahoo! Be sure to leave your acceptance speech in the comments below.

"If you can write one short story a week -- doesn't matter what the quality is to start, but at least you're practicing. At the end of the year, you have 52 short stories, and I defy you to write 52 bad ones. Can't be done."
- Ray Bradbury

And for those of you who have written, edited, toiled over, and finally submitted a new work of fiction every month this year, we have The Light Ray award! Way to go! Be sure to leave your acceptance speech in the comments, too.

“I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true -- hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it.” - Ray Bradbury

Let's reward ourselves today, folks. We've accomplished something extraordinary. But let's not spend too much time partying here at the finish line. We've got another marathon to run, and it starts tomorrow:

WRITE 1 SUB 1 RELOADED!

W1S1 Year1 in Review

2011-12-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes.

When Simon, Steve, and I started Write1Sub1 to follow in the footsteps of legendary author Ray Bradbury, we had high hopes for ourselves and for every participant willing to take this challenge head on. But did we expect over 40 participants to have more than 500 poems and stories published by over 140 markets? Wow. I need to read those numbers again!

Write1Sub1 works. It's gotten us to submit fresh material in a timely fashion, to write stories that might not have been written otherwise, and it's forced us out of our comfort zones into new habits of consistent writing, editing, and submitting. And here's something pretty cool: 9 of our participants saw their flash fiction featured this week in a special "Spotlight on Write1Sub1" in Apollo's Lyre. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury, for inspiring us.

What's ahead? There will be a few changes around here, but otherwise it'll be the same challenge in 2012 with Weekly and Monthly participant levels, and you can look forward to the same community spirit W1S1 has come to be known for. We're all in this together, and it's never too late to join!

As for the changes:

Starting in January, the Halls of Fame will become the Hall of Fame. We'll no longer list the markets accepting participants' work. (Curious about where we've sold our stories? Check out our websites!)
The Hall of Fame will list participants whose work has been accepted, and each participant will start out at zero. Whether we're 2011 veterans or 2012 virgins, we start at the same level.
Only acceptances of 2012 work will be included in the Hall of Fame. Acceptances of 2011 poems/stories will not count (as part of the level playing field in 2012).
We've added a special page for paid sales: Published Work$. All acceptances will be included in the Hall of Fame, but Published Work$ will highlight participants who have earned money for their W1S1 efforts, whether it's been enough to buy a burrito or pay the mortgage. In the Weekly Check-in on Sundays, participants can state whether our acceptances are paid sales, and we'll be added to the Published Work$ page once the link to our online/print story is available.
Many of us are working on novels in addition to our short fiction, and we'll be sharing about our progress in the Weekly Check-ins. But remember that Write1Sub1 is all about our short fiction, first and foremost.
And lastly but not leastly, there will be a Write1Sub1 Anthology in the works next year. Ain't that cool? So stay tuned for details!

We're almost there, folks. The finish line for Write1Sub1 2011 is just a few days away. Keep up the good work, and let's spread the word:

Write1Sub1 RELOADED is right around the corner!

Write1Sub1 Week #51 Weigh-in

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2011 Week 51 is here!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly(or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yahoo! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them.

** And a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! **

Interview with Christine Lajoie Golden of Golden Visions Magazine

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Golden Visions Magazine is an online and print publication specializing in science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy and mild horror. We're honored to have editor Christine Lajoie Golden with us today for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Golden Visions Magazine?

Well, let me start off by saying that I started this little family run magazine because there seemed to be so few places willing to look at material by unknown writers. By this I mean all the big publishing houses want you to send in a physical manuscript (and with the spacing requests, etc.-- this meant tons of paper and ink), and a SASE (which is not a big expenditure) and you never knew if someone really read your material, or just skimmed a few paragraphs and tossed you in the 'slush pile'. Other sites either didn't pay anything, or had such a long response time that it seemed like you were waiting forever, and mostly for that dreaded rejection note...and they don't have the time or inclination to tell you 'why' they didn't accept your work.

Here, while we do reject 50-75 % of the material that we get, we try to offer some constructive criticism about why we weren't inclined to take a story...and yes, I've rejected several 'amazing' stories just because they weren't what we publish, which might be either genre based, or because the language was a bit iffy and the story was one that belonged to a more 'adult' site. We can't do that we every single submission, although we did at the beginning (because we had the time to do it then and subs were slower in getting to us). We try to read the entire story, but I must confess that I have had a few that were just so bad (and by bad I mean poorly written) that I just couldn't get past the first few lines. (that's when I skim and see if it gets better later on...it rarely does.)

My role initially is pretty much doing everything...from reading each story, contacting authors with either suggestions or accepting or rejecting their sub, sending out contracts, doing the layout of the issue (both online and in print) helping proof the issues, paying the authors and mailing out magazines (when print issues were ordered) or sending out pdf copies when requested. Since we put out a quarterly publication in both print and online, and since both contained completely different stories, this was a lot of work. There's more, but I won't bore you with exact details.

I've since been fortunate to have an assistant who does the majority of the reading and even contacts the authors for me. Now I do the layout for the print issue, some artwork (oh yeah, I do a lot of that too, when I don't have something from a 'real' artist) and all the grunt work that comes with trying to put out a magazine. My husband does some reading for the contests, and makes several great suggestions for print issue, as well as paying all the bills that never seem to come out of the red. We do get some paying ads that help offset the costs, but we want to put out a magazine that folks can read, not an ad filled issue with a few stories tucked in for good measure. I have a Copy Editor that catches all the things that I miss (and at times that can be quite a lot), but basically it's just the four (sometimes five) of us that do what is needed to put out our quarterly offerings.

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

I like character driven stories...if an author creates a character(s) that I either love, hate, or can see come to life in the story, then I'm more forgiving if the story is slow to progress, or the plot is weak...but first and foremost I need to 'feel' something for the characters. A half-way believable plot (okay, now you're laughing...sci-fi and fantasy are the crux of our mags, so what do I mean by believable?)...but it's all in the way that the author presents the story. If it's written in a way that makes me forget that what they are writing about is impossible (at least according to the laws of physics and biology) then I'm a sucker for it. So I guess what I'm saying is that strong characters, a real plot and smooth writing style are the three things that I look for.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

Read the gall-darned submission guidelines! You wouldn't believe the stuff we get because folks don't take the time to read them! I specifically put that I DO NOT want stories about zombies because:

1. I'm not a fan of those stories

2. Very few folks seem to be able to write them well (I'm sick of reading gore about dismemberment and blood)

3. I haven't found one that has a decent character driven story...heck, everyone I got made me cringe and reach for the delete button and a brown bag

While we accept only about 25-50% of the material we get, we try to explain why we didn't accept a story. The major reason for the majority of rejections is lack of a real plot...yeah, it's missing...MIA. Sometimes a story has a potentially interesting character, one that can pull a reader in...but it goes nowhere. NADA. John woke up, had breakfast, went to work, came home, and went to bed....so...who cares about that? Even if John is really an alien in human skin and lives in a rat infested basement eating wiggly things and flossing with electrical wire, unless he does SOMETHING, then the story has no plot. And with no plot...you don't have a story. You have an idea...an outline... a hint of a story...but you don't have a story.

If I see a story that has potential, but just isn't there yet, I'll suggest to the author that joining a critique group is helpful. After all, I am one person with specific tastes...and in a crit group you get lots of unique and different feedback. (some helpful...some not so much)

W1S1: What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to Golden Visions Magazine this year?

Right now we are closed to regular subs, but our contest section is open. Lots of times they are theme based...but this one only has a picture to offer inspiration. To be perfectly honest, very little out there is fresh or new...writing is just about inventing a better mousetrap. In writing, the mouse is the reader and the author is the trap...so the author must offer his best 'cheese' in order to catch the editors attention.

W1S1: Thanks, Christine!

So for all of you Write1Sub1ers out there who just might have a story to submit, go check out Golden Visions Magazine's contest guidelines here.

Write1Sub1 Week #50 Weigh-in

2011-12-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2011 Week 50 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed Quicker than the Eye, or has A Sound of Thunder gotten in the way?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly(or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them.

*Be sure to post the new W1S1 RELOADED graphic on your blog, Facebook, Google+, etc. to start spreading the word: We're going full-steam ahead into 2012!

**And be sure to check out the W1S1 Swag Store (all $ goes to Cafe Press; we don't make a single cent). It will be closing its virtual doors this week, so stop by and reward yourself with a mug or T-shirt!

Bradbury Bytes

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

QUANTITY PRODUCES QUALITY.

IF YOU ONLY WRITE A FEW THINGS,

YOU'RE DOOMED.

(Ray Bradbury)

For me, it's usually the fifth time I rework a line or the third time I poke at an idea or the seventh (okay, seventeenth!) draft where I hit gold, where I come upon the "quality."

We all know the saying "practice makes perfect," right? Well, I've learned there's no such thing as perfect; there is, however, better. And, as W1S1 2011 comes to a close, I know for a fact that my writing has gotten better. It took writing more to get to writing better. And a huge part of that is due to W1S1.

Has your writing improved this year? Has your confidence in your writing grown? What, if anything, will you do differently for W1S1 2012?

Write1Sub1 Week #49 Weigh-in

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

The end of W1S1 2011 Week 49 is here!

How's it been for you? Have the words soared like The Flying Machine, or has The Dragon gotten in the way?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly(or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them.

**And be sure to post the new W1S1 RELOADED graphic on your blog, Facebook, Google+, etc. to start spreading the word: We're going full-steam ahead into 2012!

W1S1 Karaoke: Jeff Chapman, Monthly Participant

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

So where do story ideas come from?

I used to think they arrived from somewhere out of the ether. They landed on the doorstep of my receptive mind unannounced. Some came in and stayed awhile. Others I politely ushered out. Fortunately, ideas arrived frequently enough and I wrote slowly enough that I always had a backlog of story ideas plus the notebooks of stories that I had abandoned but planned to finish at a later time. Then came the Write 1 Sub 1 challenge. I was hesitant even to sign up for the monthly challenge. Could I really churn out twelve stories in a year? I didn't even have twelve ideas.

Exercise is good for you, even if it hurts a bit, so I signed up for Write 1 Sub 1 monthly. Okay, I'll admit I cheated a little on the first month. I had already started the story for January months earlier. As of mid-October, I'm nearing completion of twelve stories. The discipline the monthly deadlines imposed has helped, but only three of those twelve stories are drawn from my original backlog of ideas and abandoned tales. I've learned how to actively develop stories rather than waiting for them to fall from the sky. I've learned that the best place to spark inspiration, is to scratch that pen against paper.

When I was in college and taking some creative writing courses, I lived in abject terror that an instructor would give out writing assignments that required writing a story or an exercise based on a prompt from the instructor. You can't write fiction on demand, I told myself, at least not great fiction. Artists don't work that way. Looking back, I wish I had received one of those write on demand assignments. I think it would have done my story-telling skills a world of good.

I needed story ideas for Write 1 Sub 1. Enter the themed anthology market. I never payed much attention to these because I didn't have stories that fit the themes, but I wanted to publish more stories in print and meet my Write 1 Sub 1 requirements, so I took the plunge, came up for air and started swimming. I've developed one sure-fire method for creating stories based on a prompt or theme. Start with a classic story or poem (you know the plot is sound or it wouldn't be a classic), impose your own setting and populate it with your own characters. Focus on the broad outline of the original plot, not the details, so there will be plenty of room for your improvisations. As the modifications pile up and the characters drive the story in new directions, you will likely finish with a story that bears little or no resemblance to the classic tale from which you started. Imagine the countless articles that future literary critics will churn out as they argue over your sources.

My story "Shafts to Hell," written for a western-themed horror anthology, began with Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." I finished with the story of a crazy miner who commits some gruesome murders and sits in a jail cell, justifying his actions and pondering the relationship between Hell and gold mines while he awaits his hanging.

Jeff Chapman writes fairy tales, fantasy, and ghost stories and hearing the expression “just a fairy tale” rankles him. His works have appeared in various print anthologies and online publications. He lives with his wife and children in a house with more books than bookshelf space. To learn more, stop by his blog.

Write1Sub1 Week #48 Weigh-in

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

(Check it out: We now have our own official URL: www.write1sub1.com)

The end of W1S1 2011 Week 48 is already upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words been hotter than Fahrenheit 451, or has The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms gotten in the way?

Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly(or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

The November Powerhouse Awards

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Are YOU a "November Powerhouse" winner?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge: whether weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the November Powerhouse Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story, "Powerhouse").

So if you've met your W1S1 writing goals during the month of November, just add your name and blog URL to the linky widget below.

And if you've had something W1S1-related published this month that you're particularly proud of, add its title and URL to the widget as well, and we'll be sure to check it out!

BLOGFEST RULES: Visit all of the participants above and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month. Then visit their published works, and leave a comment if possible. Well done, everybody!

Write1Sub1 Week #47 Check In

2011-11-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #47 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like wine or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

New Google+ Page

2011-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Write 1 Sub 1 now has a Google+ Page!

We'll be posting blog updates, news and tips, market information, deadline reminders, and other unique content to encourage more community involvement from W1S1 participants. Make sure to Circle us and join the conversation. This blog is still our main home, and our most extensive content will be posted here. But G+ is an alternative place where we can lament and motivate one another. Where the blog is about information, G+ is more about discussion.

From all of us at W1S1, we hope you'll join us.

Bradbury Bytes

2011-11-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

Read poetry every day of your life. Poetry is good because it flexes muscles you don't use often enough. Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition. It keeps you aware of your nose, your eye, your ear, your tongue, your hand . . .What poetry? Any poetry that makes your hair stand up along your arms. Don't force yourself too hard. Take it easy . . .You say you don't understand Dylan Thomas? Yes, but your ganglion does, and your secret wits, and all your unborn children. Read him, as you can read a horse with your eyes, set free and charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day. (Ray Bradbury, The Writer Archive, April 2008)

That last part reads like pure poetry to me. It rings with some deep-rooted, ancient truth of what it means to be connected to and by and with words, whether it's poetry or lyrics or personal essays or stories. It's that connection that makes the hair stand up along our arms, on the back of our necks. I hope we've all experienced that moment at some point. I felt it as I read the last two lines of this quote. I want my own writing to do that. We all want our writing to do that. And, if we haven't achieved that already, we will. We will.

Write1Sub1 Week #46 Check In

2011-11-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #46 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like wine or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Interview with Camille Gooderham Campbell of Every Day Fiction

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

We always like to feature editors of fine short story venues here at Write1Sub1, just in case you're looking for a great market to feature your work. Today, we're honored to welcome Camille Gooderham Campbell of Every Day Fiction for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Every Day Fiction?

Well, I do a bit of everything, but in terms of our editorial structure I have the final say on acceptance – so while some stories get rejected without my ever seeing them, at this point I am the only one who sends out acceptances. I also manage our editorial team’s recruitment and training (with assistance from my lovely editors J.C. Towler and Carol Clark). Then there’s correspondence and author payments, which duties I share with webmaster Steven Smethurst, and since we don’t currently have a copyeditor, I do the copyediting chores too. I also coordinate our print anthologies.

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

First of all, competent prose is an absolute requirement – no amount of revision or editorial intervention is going to help if the prose itself is a problem. I’m not referring to occasional typos or awkward phrases, of course, as those can slip past anyone’s guard, but the prose overall needs to be both grammatically acceptable and appropriate to flash fiction (usually sparse and clean or lyrical and poetic or a combination of the two). That’s not to say lovely prose alone can make up for deficiencies of plot and character, but when someone can write well, most other problems are potentially fixable through revisions, so it’s a good place to start.

The next thing I look for is a story arc, or at least the suggestion of one. Part of the charm of flash fiction is that the story arc can be implied, hinted at or sketched in – readers don’t need every detail filled in and spelled out – but it is important to be able to make an educated guess at the basic plot elements.

Finally, I like to take something away from the story, to be able to identify an underlying theme or purpose to the story, whether it’s a just good laugh or a deep concept that sticks in my mind all day. I don’t tend to find pieces satisfying if I’m left wondering what the point of it all was (and why the author bothered to write something that seemed to say nothing). That said, I don’t enjoy stories where the moral is too much on the nose either; I don’t need to be hit over the head with it.

The best stories of all, though, make me forget all of that – forget I’m an editor – and just draw me in and grip me and make me read instead of analyzing.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

That’s really hard to say. Obviously there are some sure-fire winners that get the green light at every reading level and there’s just no question it’s a yes, and likewise some unfortunate stories that never even come close to making the cut. But for those in between…

Sometimes it’s a simple matter of spots we need to fill. The right genre, the right theme, the right bit of seasonally appropriate material might secure a spot for a story on the cusp. If I’m hunting around for two more humour pieces to fill Monday spots in an upcoming half-built calendar, say, any halfway-decent thing that makes me laugh will have a definite edge.

Sometimes it’s relative freshness – if there’s a writing prompt out there for turtles, fairy dust and a frying pan, and we suddenly get inundated with glittering fried turtles, we can only publish one or two of those at most, no matter how original and well-written they are. Long-term freshness can also be an issue when dealing with popular material such as zombies, post-apocalypse survivors, modernized Biblical figures, and unhappy people in failed or failing relationships.

And then sometimes it can be the smallest things. When a story is really truly right on the line and I’m having trouble coming to a decision, I only need a small excuse to write it off – if I know that I’m also dealing with an author with a history of ignoring guidelines and/or unprofessional correspondence, or if I see a lot of sloppy proofreading and other signs that the submission hasn’t been thoroughly polished to the best of the author’s ability, that can be enough of a negative for me. On the other hand, if the author is someone with a history of professional behaviour, who always submits his/her best work in as polished a condition as possible, I tend to be more inclined to give the piece another chance through a revision request, since I can feel confident the opportunity won’t be wasted.

W1S1: What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to Every Day Fiction this year?

What I’d really like to see is more themed submissions for holidays and occasions. I don’t know if it’s that everyone assumes the competition will be too fierce, or there’s just not a lot of interest in writing stories for a particular occasion, but we get far fewer of those targeted submissions than you’d think, and sometimes it’s a real struggle to find the right thing to place on a given day. For instance, with a month to go before we have to set our November calendar, we currently have only one Thanksgiving submission and one Remembrance Day/Veterans’ Day submission… it would be really nice to have a few more to choose from.

We’re always short of humour submissions, and speculative fiction is hard to do well at the flash fiction length so we tend to be short of it as well.

It would be nice to see more well-crafted romance submissions, and I’m always interested in historical pieces as long as they aren’t dependent on knowledge that makes them inaccessible to general readers.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

I wish that I could wave a magic wand and stop the price-race-to-the-bottom that seems to be happening with the rise of the e-book. It’s well known that no one wins a race to the bottom, and while the top sellers might be getting rich off 99-cent e-books, the smaller fish have to undercut even that to get noticed, and then it’s a quick trip to giving the book away for free just to generate some interest, and good luck even making coffee money out of it. I’m frankly surprised that the writing community as a whole hasn’t gathered together and agreed that the work of creating a novel should be worth more than a handful of pennies – to have a full-length novel sold for less than the price of a Starbucks latte devalues the novel and the effort that went into creating it. I personally don’t buy 99-cent e-books because I find it hard to believe that anything priced so low could be any good and I refuse to contribute to the race to the bottom; as a reader, I will happily buy e-books in the $4.99 - $6.99 price range, and as a publisher, I believe that same price range is a healthy one for assigning solid value to the product but keeping it reasonably affordable.

W1S1: Good points, Camille. Thanks!

So for all of you Write1Sub1ers out there who just might have a flash-sized story to submit, go check out Every Day Fiction's submission guidelines here.

Write1Sub1 Week #45 Check In

2011-11-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #45 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like wine or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Final Reminder: Apollo's Lyre, W1S1 Opportunity

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is the final reminder to get your submissions in to Apollo's Lyre for their "Spotlight On" series. Read our original interview with the editor.

Details:

"To submit, send your stories to flash1000editor@gmail.com. Put Submission: W1S1 and your last name in the subject line. I will select up to ten works to publish in the December issue. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the above address. The deadline for the December issue is November 20th. All authors will be notified by November 30th as to the final status of their story."

Make sure you read their guidelines before submitting.

Write1Sub1 Week #44 Check In

2011-11-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #44 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like wine or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Interview with Julie Ann Dawson of Bards and Sages Quarterly

2011-11-02T06:00:00.001-07:00

We always like to feature editors of fine short story venues here at Write1Sub1, just in case you're looking for a great market to feature your work. Today, we're honored to welcome Julie Ann Dawson of Bards and Sages Quarterly for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Bards and Sages?

Mom. The Quarterly is my baby. I started it in 2009 with the goal of providing a quality showcase for speculative writers. I guess I was growing frustrated with the rise of ezines that only pay in "exposure" and accept anything and everything to "support" writers. I don't see how either action supports anything other than bad writing and egos. The journal is not about generating an artificial publishing credit. People want to post their stories for free online, they don't need me to do that. So what I try to do with each issue is not just publish fiction, but to put the stories together in such a way that they compliment and feed off of each other. My hope is that my authors don't walk away thinking "Hey, I got published" but rather "WOW, look at these people I was published with!"

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

Most of what we publish is what you would call character-driven narrative. I have to care about the characters. I either need to like them enough to care what happens to them, or hate them enough to anxiously hope they get what is coming to them. The very worst thing that can happen for a story is for me to finish it and have no opinion on the characters.

The second thing is that the story needs to pass the minnow test. Gary Gygax once said that a reader will swallow a whale but choke on a minnow. Truer words have never been said when it comes to speculative fiction. Readers will buy into a story with vampires an aliens and such. But miss the little details and you lose them. It is the attention to detail that makes speculative fiction work.

Finally, one of the things I am seeing a lot of recently is writers getting too clever for their own good. I get the impression that some writers are more concerned with demonstrating how witty they are than telling a story. Using ten-dollar words when there are perfectly good 2-dollar ones, if you know what I mean. Or writing convoluted sentences that go on for an entire paragraph when two or three shorter sentences would have flowed together much better. The point of storytelling is not to demonstrate how smart you are. The point of storytelling is to tell a good story. A lot of writers forget that.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

We actually have a very specific scorecard that we use to judge stories. We look at characterization, dialogue, plot development, pacing, world-building, mood, and grammar. And then we assign each aspect a score. It isn't a hard science, but it helps us focus on what works and what doesn't with a story. A lot of times, the problems are easily corrected and we invite the author to make the changes and resubmit. About 40% of the stories we accept we rejected the first time. Ultimately, it boils down to whether or not a writer knows how to engage in the art of storytelling, and not just writing words on paper.

W1S1: What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to Bards and Sages this year?

I don't buy into the notion of "fresh" or new themes. It's been said all stories fall into a limited number of categories: man against man, man against nature, man against society, man against God, and man against himself. Whether or not the man in question is a human or a werewolf or an alien doesn't make it "fresh." I think some writers worry too much about being different and not enough about practicing their craft. They get lost in the gimmicks or fads of the day and don't pay attention to the nuances of storytelling. It is one of the reasons we have a very firm policy against hybrids or "furries". People start submitting stories about a girl who is half-cat/half-fairy who falls in love with a boy who is half-vampire/half-demon but their families keep them apart and think they are being so original, but actually all they are doing is writing a variant of Romeo and Juliet.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

The animosity coming out of some segments of the writing community worries me more than anything "the industry" is doing. If the community would spend less time slamming the Big Six and more time supporting the thousands of small presses that aren't in NYC, we'd be golden. There is this militant faction forming in writing communities that classifies all publishers as the enemy, and it is counter-productive to the industry as a whole. I was having an argument recently with some self-publishers who were starting a new ezine to "support indies." Again, like I mentioned before, one of those non-payment but think of the exposure sort of things where it accepts everything and then the contributors are expected to promote it. What about supporting the hundreds of small publications that actually pay writers? How about instead of recreating the wheel, pull your head out of the sand and take a look at some of the amazing publications that are probably going to go out of business soon because you and your ilk are more worried about generating faux publishing credits for exposure instead of buying and supporting publications from paying markets?

W1S1: Great points, Julie. We do need to support each other. Thanks!

So for all of you Write1Sub1ers out there who just might have a story to submit, go check out Bards and Sages' submission guidelines here. And if you'd like to receive a FREE PDF copy of each issue when it's available, go here to sign up for their free newsletter.

Write1Sub1 Week #43 Check In

2011-10-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #43 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like wine or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

It's The "October Country" Award!

2011-10-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Are YOU an "October Country" winner?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge : whether weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the October Country Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's first collection of short stories).

So if you've met your W1S1 writing goals during the month of October, just add your name and blog URL to the linky widget below.

And if you've had something W1S1-related published this month that you're particularly proud of, add its title and URL to the widget as well, and we'll be sure to check it out!

Write1Sub1 Week #42 Check In

2011-10-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #42 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like the laughter of children or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Bradbury Bytes

2011-10-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

AND THEY WERE ALL, WHEN THEIR SOULS GREW WARM, POETS...I WANTED TO SHOW WHAT WE ALL HAVE IN US, THAT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE,

AND SO FEW OF US BOTHER TO NOTICE.

WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHERE I GET MY IDEAS, I LAUGH. HOW STRANGE - WE'RE SO BUSY LOOKING OUT, TO FIND WAYS AND MEANS, WE

FORGET TO LOOK IN.

(Ray Bradbury, The Writer Archive 4/2008)

It might be an incident, an image outside of us that whets our imagination's appetite but the real hunger for story, the hunger to tell a story, happens inside of us. How many of us turn to books and articles about the craft, search for ways to beat writer's block, hunt inspiration down so we can trap it, cage it, maybe stuff it and mount it on the wall so it's always there, always ours? That's not to say that we can't look for guidance other places but the real answers, the inspiration, the storyteller, the poet are already within us. We just have to look.

Write1Sub1 Week #41 Check In

2011-10-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #41 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words streamed like skylark song or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something-in-between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them ...

Interview with Angela Roberts of The Gloaming Magazine

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

We always like to feature editors of fine short story venues here at Write1Sub1, just in case you are looking for a great market to feature your work. Today, we're honored to welcome Angela Roberts of The Gloaming Magazine for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at The Gloaming Magazine?

We often wear several hats at The Gloaming. As managing editor, I not only participate in choosing content, but also handle most of the day-to-day administrative tasks. So, I’m sending out emails, making payments, preparing contracts, working out new marketing materials, etc. I’m also the webmaster, so I’m in charge of the website; I write a lot of the content, do a lot of the coding, and put together the online issue. And, of course, I write for the magazine; the blogs, interviews, a story or two.

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

I think everyone’s looking for the same thing even if they word it differently. Editor Gabrielle Harbowy, who I interviewed for the magazine last April, puts it quite well: “A good story well told.” What that boils down to is: an engaging character (not necessarily good or evil, but someone who the reader can invest in), a plot (you’d be surprised how often there isn’t one), and what I can only describe as “efficiency”. It’s not the best word for it, but descriptive all the same. Short fiction is a difficult genre because of the need for an economy of language. You need to be able to tell a complete story in a small space. And as writers, we often want to say a lot and we use ten words where five would have been better, and we really need to learn restraint. Some of that is our jobs as editors, to rein you in (or rather, to help you find that right balance) but I will really pay attention to a story where there’s evidence that an author has already been thinking about that.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

We’re really quite democratic. Lately, submissions go through sort of a two-round process: we three readers divide the submissions up, choose a top ten, read each other’s choices, narrow it down, then haggle a little until we have a lineup we can all agree on. We’ve been working together for a while, so it’s not difficult for us to find common ground.

Obviously, what gets you through the first round is largely satisfying the three points I already mentioned. There are very practical reasons that someone’s text might be rejected also; a failure to follow the guidelines (we get a few every period), or something is not our genre or not even speculative fiction. Every writer should take some time and do a little homework before submitting their work; if you don’t, you’re not just wasting the editor’s time, you’re wasting your own. Also, if a text is so full of typos that it’s obvious that you didn’t check it before sending it out (and that’s by eye, not just spell-check), it’s out no matter how good it is. If I’m constantly distracted by typos, I’ll never know, will I?

The rest is a little more subjective. We won’t reject a story just because it needs some work. If there’s a great idea, and we can pinpoint what needs to be fixed and we think it can be done in the time required, more often we’ll take it. We’ve been through the creative writing system. We know what it’s like.

So, what really makes the difference? There are a lot of talented writers out there with great ideas. The people who make it, who get their work published, are the ones who do their homework, who are diligent in their work, and who are persistent.

W1S1: What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to The Gloaming Magazine this year?

I would love to see more fantasy. It’s my genre and we never get enough of it. Steampunk’s also something I’ve been getting into recently. I’d love to publish a good Steampunk story. We don’t really do theme issues; instead we sort of ‘find’ a theme later when we look at our choices. But I think it’s something we’d like to do in the future.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

I think as a Canadian independent publisher, I have certain frustrations with the industry. I wish that sellers were more receptive to independents. Here, we have one chain that dominates a large portion of the market, and getting into their stores is extremely difficult. There are online sellers, of course, but that presents another problem; the services that they offer to independent publishers are all based in the US. Only Amazon even deals with Canadians. I’d prefer not to be bogged down in administrative red tape; that’s not what I started the magazine for. But you can’t escape it. It’s certainly partly why we’ve been so delayed getting eBook sales going.

So, I think if I could change anything, it would be to have the Canadian publishing industry catch up a bit. Someone with the ability and the know-how could do quite well, I think, providing efficient and inexpensive eBook services to Canadian small and independent presses and magazines. If there is something out there, and I just haven’t found it in hours of searching, then a) they need to improve their search ranking, and b) somebody tell me!

Thanks for the interview! Readers can read the magazine at our site and keep up with updates at our Facebook page or on Twitter.

W1S1: Thanks, Angela!

So for all of you Write1Sub1ers out there who just might have a story to submit, go check out The Gloaming Magazine's submission guidelines here. And if you'd like to check out the stories in their most recent issue, go here.

Write1Sub1 Week #40 Check In

2011-10-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #40 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like mountain streams or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something in between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yay! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Reminder: Apollo's Lyre, W1S1 Opportunity

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

In September, we brought to you an interview with Apollo's Lyre. Don't forget that W1S1 members have been offered the additional opportunity to submit to the "Spotlight On" series.

Details from the Editor:
"To submit, send your stories to flash1000editor@gmail.com. Put Submission: W1S1 and your last name in the subject line. I will select up to ten works to publish in the December issue. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the above address. The deadline for the December issue is November 20th. All authors will be notified by November 30th as to the final status of their story."

Make sure you read their guidelines before submitting.

Some of our W1S1 participants have already received acceptances from Apollo's Lyre! Don't let this opportunity pass you by. Get your submission out before November 20th and take part in the challenge!

Write1Sub1 Week #39 Check In

2011-10-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Write1Sub1 2011 week #39 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like honeyed wine or has it been a week from hell? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or a monthly or a something in between W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yay! If you've had something accepted or published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Halls of Fame. But if stuff has interfered with your writing and every reply has been a rejection, let us know that too so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

September "Pillar of Fire" Award

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Are YOU a "Pillar of Fire"?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge — either weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the September Pillar of Fire Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's collection of plays, of course).

So if you've met your W1S1 writing goals during the month of September, just add your name and blog URL to the "magical" widget below.

And if you've had something W1S1-related published this month that you're particularly proud of, add its title and URL to the widget as well, and we'll be sure to check it out!

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #38

2011-09-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 38 is here!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Bradbury Bytes

2011-09-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

WE KNOW HOW FRESH AND ORIGINAL IS EACH MAN, EVEN THE SLOWEST AND DULLEST. IF WE COME AT HIM RIGHT, TALK HIM ALONG...AND AT LAST SAY, WHAT DO YOU WANT? (OR IF THE MAN IS VERY OLD, WHAT DID YOU WANT?), EVERY MAN WILL SPEAK HIS DREAM. AND WHEN A MAN TALKS FROM HIS HEART, IN HIS MOMENT OF TRUTH, HE SPEAKS POETRY. (Ray Bradbury, from The Writer Archive April/2008)

This reminds me that everyone has a story, a poem, a truth inside of them. The children's librarian who hates germs. The tattooed and pierced boy behind the counter who hands you your bagel and says "you're welcome" in a soft, southern drawl. The old man in the wheelchair, who is sitting outside the nursing home but is really roaming somewhere far away in his mind. Sometimes we get the chance to ask these people their story. Sometimes we get to make it up. Either way, there's a truth in there somewhere, if only we'll listen.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #37

2011-09-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 37 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed Quicker than the Eye, or has A Sound of Thunder gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Welcome Aboard!

2011-09-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, we have a couple "new" faces here at Write1Sub1. Please join me in welcoming Madeline Mora-Summonte and Stephanie M. Lorée to the team as fellow site administrators. You'll be seeing their names more often in the months to come, and next year they'll join the monthly rotations with Simon, Steve, and myself in moderating Write1Sub1's posts and updates. Check out their bio blurbs on our "About Us" page to learn more about them, and visit their blogs. You'll be glad you did.

W1S1: Neither one of you is a stranger to Write1Sub1, isn't that right?

Madeline: I've been at this challenge since the beginning. I even looked back at my archived blog posts to find the one I wrote about W1S1—it was on 12/28/2010!

Stephanie: I started at the beginning of the year, though I admit I haven't succeeded every time. Life has a tendency to get in the way, but Write1Sub1 holds me accountable, keeps me motivated, and encourages me to keep getting back on that horse. Or keyboard. Or whatever... What can I say, I'm a sucker for the art of short stories.

W1S1: What have you appreciated the most about this challenge?

Madeline: For me, one of the best things about W1S1 is the sense of community that's evolved. I love writing and being by myself but sometimes, whew, things can get lonely. I so enjoy reading the W1S1 Weekly/Monthly Check In posts and the WiP Wednesday posts and seeing how we're all doing—acceptances, rejections, publications, writer's block—and knowing there's always someone there to cheer or commiserate.

Stephanie: The casual yet orderly atmosphere. No one is going to hover over you at your keyboard, forcing you to grind out more words. But every week/month there's a new post asking about your progress. Everyone is friendly and welcoming, and their constant encouragement helps me stay
on track.

W1S1: How has this challenge affected your writing?

Madeline: W1S1 has affected my writing in such a positive way. It's given me direction. I've always had stories in progress but what usually happened was I would let a story sit and then not return to it, or I would revise it but then not submit it. This challenge motivates me to finish, revise and send out at least one story a month. Since starting W1S1, I've had eight new stories accepted/published. This doesn't count the handful of other pieces I was inspired to revise and submit, some of which have also been accepted/published.

Stephanie: Because of Write1Sub1, I received my first acceptance to a professional publication! It's made me realize that yes, I can write short stories. And yes, someone will pay me for them. I also write a lot more shorts than I used to and have experimented with micro-fiction, from #twitfic to flash.

W1S1: Always great to hear such positive results! But obviously, there are times as writers that we can get a little discouraged. So what keeps you motivated to write?

Madeline: I believe it's what I'm meant to do. Everyone has a purpose/a talent/a gift and I believe one of mine is to write—stories, poems, blog posts, book reviews, novels—anything and everything. It doesn't mean it's always easy—not even close!—but it does mean I know I'm on the right track

Stephanie: The community encouragement is a huge help, but writing is really an intrinsic desire for me. Writing is what I do, who I am. I can't not write. If I did, I'm pretty sure my brain would implode in mutiny. Thanks for inviting me to the Write1Sub1 team. I'm looking forward to amazing stories and successes, this year and next!

W1S1: Thank you both! It's great to have you on board—2012 is seriously going to rock.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #36

2011-09-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 36 is here!

How's it been for you? Have the words soared like The Flying Machine, or has The Dragon gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

*On a more somber note, today marks the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the US on 9/11. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families as we look ahead and hope for a more peaceful tomorrow.

Apollo's Lyre wants YOU!

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Joining us today is Jim Harrington, editor of Apollo's Lyre, an "online ezine loaded with writing articles, poetry, flash fiction, interviews, and more...for writers and readers of every caliber and genre."

Jim has graciously extended an exciting opportunity to Write1Sub1 participants for the December issue of Apollo's Lyre.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Apollo’s Lyre?

Apollo’s Lyre publishes flash fiction to 1,000 words, poetry, nonfiction, articles on writing and book reviews. I serve as the flash fiction editor.

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

I look for a strong opening hook. I want to know who the main character is and what’s at stake by the end of the first paragraph. I want a character I can care about (but not necessarily a nice person). I want a resolution that fits the story. Stories whose sole purpose is to get to a punchline rarely work for me. You can learn more about my likes and dislikes at my Six Questions For. . . blog, where I interview -- well, myself. At this blog, I interview editors and publishers to find out what they look for in a story or poem, what turns them off to a submission, the mistakes authors make when submitting book manuscripts, and more. (For my third hat, I serve as Markets manager for Flash Fiction Chronicles and write an occasional post on some aspects of writing for the site.)

The full Apollo’s Lyre Guidelines are available here.

W1S1: Please tell us about your December “Spotlight On Write1Sub1,” and the special opportunity you’re offering to our writers.

In the current issue of Apollo’s Lyre, I began a series called “Spotlight On.” It has multiple purposes. One is to provide a venue for authors to get published. In addition, I want to share the works of various writing groups with my readers (and provide some free advertisement for the groups). But honestly, the main reason is to promote Apollo’s Lyre and, hopefully, expand the submissions pool. I chose CrimeFicWriters for the first issue because most of the writers have a number of publications, and I knew the quality would be good. The September issue features the FlashFiction-W critique group, a group I belonged to when I began writing flash. I found out about Write1Sub1 from Milo’s interview at Flash Fiction Chronicles and thought the group would be a perfect fit for this new effort.

My offer to the group is to publish up to ten stories in the December issue as part of the "Spotlight On" series. As I stated earlier, stories are limited to 1,000 words and open to all genre. Since the issue comes out in December, holiday-related stories are welcome but not necessary. Please read the guidelines before submitting.

To submit, send your stories to flash1000editor@gmail.com. Put Submission: W1S1 and your last name in the subject line. I will select up to ten works to publish in the December issue. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the above address. The deadline for the December issue is November 20th. All authors will be notified by November 30th as to the final status of their story.

W1S1: Thanks, Jim!

What a great way to wrap up our first year here at Write1Sub1. We'd like to see as many stories as possible sent Jim's way, so get cracking! Keep in mind that Apollo's Lyre accepts reprints, so feel free to send W1S1 work you've already had published elsewhere this year -- as long as you own the rights, of course.

This invitation is open to all W1S1ers who have been checking in between January and August of this year, even if you just signed up a few weeks ago. Let's make the December issue of Apollo's Lyre its best ever!

In Breaking News, Garbled Transmissions...

2011-09-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

James Payne at Garbled Transmissions Magazine has given Write 1 Sub 1 a shout out. It's great to see our little community reaching its tendrils into the larger world, isn't it? He invites our comments and feedback too, so why not stop over there and have a look around the site while you're coming up with something to say? It's a neat place.

Our own Colleen Chen has published a flash there! Diet for the Soul. It certainly sounds scrumptious. I'm heading over to read and leave a comment now. I hope you'll join me.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #35

2011-09-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 35 is already upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words been hotter than Fahrenheit 451, or has The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

August There Will Come Soft Rains Award WINNERS!

2011-09-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the following Write1Sub1ers who have successfully stuck to the challenge during the month of August:

Stephen V. Ramey

Milo James Fowler
Madeline Mora-Summonte
Shelley
DaveK
dmbonanno.com
defcon
Stephanie M. Lorée
Xyzo
digitalinkwell
Simon Kewin
Beth C.
Celesta Thiessen
Sealey Andrews

(Let us know if we've missed anyone.)

Well done all. You officially receive the AUGUST "(THERE WILL COME SOFT) RAINS" award for your efforts!

Now for the fun part: our August "There Will Come Soft Rains" BlogFest.

Visit the participant above and below you on the link list (or all of them, should the spirit move you) and give them a virtual slap on the back for a job well done!

August There Will Come Soft Rains Award

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Are YOU an August Rains success story?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge -- either weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the August There Will Come Soft Rains Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's short story, of course).

So, let us know! If you've stuck it out, tell us in the comments below, and we'll add you to our end-of-the-month celebratory post. Include the URL to your blog or website, and we'll make your entry a link for others to explore.

BLOGFEST RULES: Just visit the participant above you and below you on the winners list (posted tomorrow night), or visit them all, and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month!

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #34

2011-08-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 34 is at hand!

How's it been for you? Have you written gems or flops? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, tell us all about it. w00t! If you've had something accepted/published, tell us that, too, so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Halls Of Fame. But if stuff has gotten in the way of the writing and all your replies have been rejections, let us know so we can commiserate. We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Bradbury Bytes

2011-08-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

New to the W1S1 Wednesday line up - Bradbury Bytes! We can all use a good dose of inspiration and motivation now and then, and who better to keep us on track than our "leader" - Ray Bradbury. And there's no better week to start than this one because it was on Monday, August 22, 1920 that Ray Bradbury was born, changing literature forever.

YOU MUST STAY DRUNK ON WRITING

SO REALITY CANNOT DESTROY YOU.

(Ray Bradbury)

We deal with reality every day - from small things, like cleaning the house and doing laundry to larger things, like working a day job or struggling with financial problems. We live it, we live in it. But that doesn't mean reality gets to win. It doesn't get to take our creativity or our dreams or our imagination. It doesn't get to...unless we let it.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #33

2011-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 33 is at hand!

How's it been for you? Have you written gems or flops? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with Graeme Hurry of KZine

2011-08-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Graeme Hurry of new UK Speculative Fiction Kindlezine Kzine kindly agreed to be interviewed by us.

W1S1 : Kzine is a new speculative fiction magazine, but you're by no means new to the publishing game. Could you give us a brief history of Kimota and Kzine?

In the early 90's I was the newsletter editor for the Preston Speculative Fiction Group which, at the time, were having guests at least every month. So the newsletter had information about the guests and news. At Christmas I brought out a bumper edition with contributions from Group Members. This grew in size over the years until I decided to get external contributions and sell it as widely as possible in attempt to advertise the SF Group. Issues 1 to 3 were photocopied and stapled by myself. From issue 4, I got a printer involved and the booklet became perfect-bound.

After 16 issues (8 years) circumstances changed and I found it too difficult and expensive to continue, and the mag folded. Last year I bought a Kindle for my mother for Christmas and on researching it came across the Direct Publishing Amazon allows and it seemed to solve the main problem I was having which was paying the printers up front, then inevitably being left with unsold copies. Kindle publication is free. Obviously Amazon takes a slice of sales but at least that's from definite income. So I decided to try the water and contact as many Kimota contributors as possible about publishing a bumper anthology of stories printed in the old Kimota. It was reasonably painless so I decided to get back in the saddle and start a new fiction Kindle magazine to be called Kzine.

At the moment I do not know if it will be published as a subscriber magazine or as a series of books. The problem with subscription magazines is that they only work on Kindles, not iPads or iPhones etc. So I'll probably go for a series of books. I don't have quite enough stories yet for issue 1 (as of July, 2011).

W1S1 : You're currently reading for Issue 1 of Kzine. What are you looking for?

I am looking for new fiction for worldwide publication on electronic format in the crime, horror, science fiction and fantasy genres, or mixtures of these. The main criteria are readability and originality. The length can be a bit more flexible than a print magazine but I would expect a word-count of between 1000 and 8000 words. Submissions should be by an attachment to an email. See the website.

My advice for new writers it to put the story away for a few days after it's written and look at it again as if you were a reader. In this way some blind-spots can be overcome and you could see if it works as a complete story rather than what was in your head when you wrote it. So often I get stories with continuity mistakes or are hard to read which the author should have noticed on a dispassionate reading.

W1S1 : Is Kzine going to be a paying market?

Yes, the aim is for an advance to be paid a month after publication and further payments made if the mag does well. The amounts are still being worked out but the web site has the current thoughts. The advances won't be enormous, particularly at first. But I will keep a track of all income from each magazine and when it reaches a worthwhile sum over and above the advance send the royalties on. However, I wouldn't be planning on buying a yacht, unless Matchbox does one!

W1S1 : What advice could you give to writers thinking of submitting to Kzine? Are there things you see too much of? Or not enough?

Because I have mainly being getting submissions from previous Kimota contributors the stories I am currently getting are Horror, fantasy and SF, however I have added crime to the mix and I would like either hard-boiled crime or better, crime mixed in with SF, fantasy or horror. But the story has to work and be a damn good read. It's not just a ticking boxes exercise.

W1S1 : Kzine is a UK magazine. Do you think it's useful to talk about British SF and, if so, how does it differ from, say, US SF?

I had some US contributions in the print Kimota and there are more sales of the Kindle Anthology so far in the US than the UK. However, I think the essence of a magazine is formed more by the editor's taste than the contributors. I may prefer the low key UK type of story but there are still plenty of people in the US producing such work.

I must admit in my SF reading I don't see much difference between US and UK SF. For instance I am reading Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep (a kindle version on my iPad actually) and it is original and superbly written and I couldn't tell if it was a part of UK or US SF, it's just damn good.

W1S1 : Kzine is to be a Kindle-only magazine. Do you think that's the future for publishing?

A couple of years ago I'd have said electronic books were heavy, annoying and could not replace paper. However on getting a Kindle and an iPad I find it so much more convenient to have your place found for you, an inbuilt dictionary to look up hard words. They're so much thinner than most modern books. You can also make notes which you can print. I'd say paper is going to dwindle to children's books, academic, small press and prestige editions in twenty years or so. The readability of the Kindle surface in the sun is very good and when a colour one comes out it will be superb. The one thing that electronic books don't give you is a surface for an author to sign if you meet them, but no doubt in time that will come too.

One problem with electronic books is that there is a glut of people publishing so sorting the geniuses from the misguided can be difficult. I'd like to encourage people to rate ebooks where possible, if you either love it or loathe it - it will help someone else in their selection.

Thanks Graeme - fascinating stuff. Don't forget, if you're interested in reading or contributing to Kzine, you can find out more here.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #32

2011-08-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 32 is at hand!

How's it been for you? Have you written gems or flops? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

WIP-It Wednesday

2011-08-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

How's it going this week? Are the words flowing faster than you can type? Or do you find yourself staring out of windows a lot? Any particular problems you could use some help on? Here's your chance to share. Tell us in the comments below.

From scintillating dialogue to adverb overload, let us know how it's going. Show us yours, and we'll show you ours. That's what Work-in-Progress Wednesday is all about!

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #31

2011-08-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 31 is at hand!

How's it been for you? Have you written gems or flops? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with Samuel Mae of Comets and Criminals

2011-08-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

As you may know, W1S1er Samuel Mae has recently started his own speculative fiction magazine : Comets and Criminals. Samuel kindly agreed to discuss his new venture and the sort of thing he is looking to publish.

W1S1 : Can you give us your vision for Comets and Criminals? What sort of thing are you planning to publish?

My initial goal is to produce four issues of C&C over the course of 12 months. Of my long-term goals, my biggest is to build a successful zine, one which writers will look back on fondly later in their writing careers and say, ‘that’s where I got my start.’

Another goal is to pay pro-rates. I can’t afford to at the moment, but hopefully at some stage in the future I will be able to. In aid of that, I’m investigating available grants, and will be giving readers an onsite opportunity to donate. I’ll also be releasing the full issue of each zine, in a number of electronic formats, at the beginning of the relevant quarter for a very affordable price, so people will be able to support the zine that way. I’m looking at a subscription service, too. Of course, the content of each issue will be released free onsite over the quarter, but why wait thirteen weeks for a particular story if you don’t have to?

Seeing as the zine is based in New Zealand, I’d like to include stories from Kiwi writers in each issue. NZ doesn’t have a lot of genre fiction markets, and while the electronic age means we can sub almost anyplace in the world, it’s still nice to know there’s someplace local that will look at your work.

As far as what I’m planning to publish, well, I guess ‘good fiction’ is probably too generic an answer. But that’s really the crux of it. I’ll admit to being a bit selfish here, because I want to publish fiction I enjoy. Hopefully other people will enjoy it too, but that wasn’t a prerequisite for me going into this.
At a minimum, I want to see ten short stories and five poems and/or flash pieces in every issue of C&C. I’ve decided to spend right up to my budget for each issue, so hopefully I’ll be able to fit a few more in.

My plan for each issue is to have a spread of stories across the genres we represent, and a fair few that cross and straddle those boundaries. Of course, much of that plan is dependent on the submissions I get, so (hint, hint) send me your stuff.

I have other ideas as to what I’d like to include in the zine after it’s been up for a bit, but it’d be better for me not to get sidetracked with them now ;-)

W1S1 : Any advice you'd give writers thinking of submitting? Are there things you've seen too much of? Or not enough? Any pet hates?

Basically, my advice is: Send in the stories you have that fit into the genres we represent. They don’t even have to fit the whole way. Just as long as part of them does. But, to expand a little on likes and dislikes and wants and so forth:

I love whodunits and amateur sleuth stories. In fact, I’d really love to have a recurring sleuth feature in our pages each issue.

I love science-fiction. However, my definition of SF is fairly loose, which is to say that the science doesn’t have to be pivotal to the story. But, if it is, enough rigor to get me to suspend my disbelief would be appreciated.

Send me western fiction that’s not set in the old American west. I was very tempted to state in the guidelines that I was looking for frontier fiction rather than western fiction, but decided to go with the latter as a genre definition. For now, at least.

Historical fiction. I want it. Alternate histories are fine.

I have yet to see an adventure story in my slush pile (which is only a couple weeks old, but still).

I love stories that are set somewhere other than America and Europe (or space-versions of America and Europe). A couple of things to note when subbing those to C&C: please avoid racial stereotypes, or stereotypical tropes (race/culture exists to offer wisdom to hero; race/culture needs hero to save them because they can’t possibly do it themselves, etc).

And definitely, definitely send me stories that cross and straddle genre boundaries.

Oh, and any story that is just a platform for spewing hatred toward any group of people will be automatically rejected.

W1S1 : You're doing something many writers will have thought about - starting up their own magazine. What are your reasons for doing so?

This is something I’ve been thinking about, on and off, for the last eighteen months. However, while I’d thought about it seriously, it was never really a serious thought, if that makes any sense. Then, a couple months ago, the idea reemerged, and this time it wouldn’t let me ignore it. I sat down, examined my finances, thought, ‘I can do this.’ And so I am.

Why am I doing it? Well, the challenge, for one. But it’s more than that. When I was six, I used to go out into the back-garden of the house we were renting and dig big holes. When my folks asked me why, I told them it was because I was digging for treasure. When I was twelve, I used to watch guys wandering up the beach with metal-detectors and a little thrill would skip along my shoulders while I fantasized about what they might find. I’ve never lost that desire to discover treasure. And I think I have more chances discovering treasure this way than I would have digging holes in my backyard (as far as I know, no pirates buried their bounteous bounty anywhere in New Zealand).

W1S1 : Has seeing things from a publisher's perspective given you any fresh insights into being a writer?

Well, I’m still very new at this, but it has already given me some insights, and will continue to do so, I’m sure. Chief among these is that there are a lot of writers at a similar skill level. And also that a lot of writers struggle with similar things (things I also struggle with). Oh, and I can often pick whether I’ll like a story or not from the cover letter. As far as cover letters go, I much prefer brief and professional to longwinded and flowery. One more cover letter hint: please don’t include a logline or description of your story. If you tell me what happens why would I want to read on?

W1S1 : Where can people go if they want to find out more about Comets and Criminals?

www.cometsandcriminals.com is the main spot. From there, you can sign up for our RSS feed, either via reader or via email. You can also follow us on Twitter. The zine is @cometsandcrims, and my personal one is @samuel_mae. We have a rudimentary Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Comets-and-Criminals/196130253772019), too.

Thanks again, Simon, Milo and Stephen. Hopefully I’ll see lots of submissions from you and all the other W1S1ers soon!

And thanks to you, Sam! The very best of luck with C&C.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #30, the July Joy Blogfest

2011-07-31T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's the end of Week 30 and/or the end of Month 7! And, since it is the end of the month today, we're combining the usual check-in post with the monthly blogfest winners post.

So, how's it been for you? Have you crafted literary treasure or had only literary displeasure? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Write 1 Sub 1 Weekly
If you've managed to write a story and submit a story this week, tell us all about it. And if you've had something accepted/published, tell us that too, so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Halls Of Fame. And if you've stuck to the scheme the whole month, let us know so we can add you to the July Joy Blogfest winners list (below). Be sure to include the URL to your blog or website so we can make your entry a link for others to explore.

Write 1 Sub 1 Monthly
If you've managed to write a story and submit a story this month, tell us all about it so we can add you to the July Joy Blogfest winners list (below). Be sure to include the URL to your blog or website so we can make your entry a link for others to explore. And if you've had something accepted/published, tell us that too, so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Halls Of Fame.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

The July Joy Blogfest

Now to the fun bit! This month's Blogfest is named for Ray Bradbury's The Machineries of Joy short story collection (1964). The following people have successfully stuck to the Write1Sub1 scheme in the month of July :

Beth Cato
D. M. Bonanno
Madeline Mora-Summonte
Milo James Fowler
M. S. James
Shane M. Gavin
Simon Kewin
Steve Ramey
thegirlinthesoapdish
TNC

Many congratulations, all. You officially receive the July Joy award for your efforts!

BLOGFEST RULES: Once your name's on the list, just visit the participant above you and below you (or even visit them all) and give each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month.

Best of luck in August, everyone!

WIP-It Wednesday

2011-07-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

How goes the writing this week? Are you feeling inspired or just in the mire? Any particular problems you could use some help on? Anything to shout about? Tell us in the comments below. That's what Work-in-Progress Wednesday is all about!

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #29

2011-07-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 29 is nigh!

How's it been for you? Have you written pearls or toe-curlers? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with Sue Babcock of Liquid Imagination

2011-07-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

"Liquid Imagination is where audio, visual and literary arts bleed together as one," accepting fantasy, science fiction, and horror, as well as literary fiction.

Today we're honored to have editor Sue Babcock join us for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Liquid Imagination?

I switch hats a lot at Liquid Imagination – many jobs are rolled up into one position we call Managing Editor. It’s a mix of Master Sergeant, Webmaster, Illustrator, Editor (for literary fiction), and Business Manager. I have the great pleasure of working with some of the finest people in the industry, people who put the contributor ahead of their own egos. This attitude is exhibited at all levels: with John “JAM” Arthur Miller (Publisher), Kevin Wallis (fiction editor), Chrissy Davis (poetry editor), Brandon Rucker (flash editor), Bob Eccles (voice talent), Jack Rogers (artist), and our two new additions of Jezzy Wolf (book reviewer) and Stephen Roberts (book reviewer and assistant publisher).

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

Intensity, wonder and great characterization.

Intensity: I love stories that engage me on an emotional level. Intensity must flow naturally from the action, characterization and plot so that I don’t feel manipulated. I want to be awed by the strength, the wickedness, the forgiveness or gentleness of the characters, by the intensity of the characters feelings and resolve, by the action and the risks the main character take. I want the author to have risked something, to have allowed the reader into his or her most private world where the soul and heart merge together.

Wonder: Stories must make me think, make me wonder “what if” or “if only,” engage me and keep me reading. I love being astounded by twists and knowledge that flows from the pages as easily as it flows through history. I love to feel the wonder of the characters’ actions and feelings.

Great characterization: Stories with great plots but flat characters leave me saddened by wasted potential. Characters should live and breathe, should be rounded with good traits interwoven with faults. Even the antagonist should have something the reader can appreciate. No one is all good or all bad, and I love characters in stories that reflect this complexity.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

If a story has the pieces discussed in Question 2, then theme, story structure, hook, ending and style will play into the equation – which isn’t so much of an equation as a subjective feeling. We are willing to work on some of these issues with the author. If, for example, the story has a great theme but the ending is weak, we’ll work with willing authors to see if we can come to some kind of mutual resolution. However, if I find poor grammar and spelling, or confusing plots with clichés or incomplete conclusions, or if the submission doesn’t meet our guidelines in major ways, these stories will be rejected. I feel that these issues are often the result of poor workshopping and editing, as if the author didn’t care enough about the story or our publication. These indications of antipathy turn me off to the story faster than anything else.

W1S1: What new stories/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to Liquid Imagination this year?

Liquid Imagination takes a broad spectrum of stories already – speculative fiction, literary fiction, flash, and poetry. We are considering some special themed issues, such as an issue dedicated to transformations, whether they be physical (i.e., shape shifters), emotional, or metaphorical transformations. We haven’t set a schedule for the themed issues yet, though. I’d also love to have a category for experimental writing, for writing that take risks beyond the standard “rules” we often talk about.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

I love a good story, and it seems that good stories are often overlooked for safe stories; good storytelling is shoved aside for stories that adhere to strict rules. I’d love to see the industry take more risks in what is published.

We are on the cusp of a new era in publishing as we move from print into the electronic and digital realms. So many opportunities, so much potential, exists in this transition, and I hope the industry responds with open arms. In digital publishing we can combine stories with audio, images and animations to enhance the experience. Print is static; digital can bring the world to life in ways that allow imagination to flow—and that is what Liquid Imagination is all about.

W1S1: Thanks, Sue!

So for all of your Write1Sub1ers out there who just might have a story to submit, go check out the Liquid Imagination submission guidelines here. And if you'd like to check out the stories in their most recent issue, go here.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #28

2011-07-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 28 dawns!

How's it been for you? Have you created a masterpiece or a disasterpiece? Here's your chance to tell everybody how it's gone, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

A W1S1 Confession - a Guest Post by Brenda Stokes Barron

2011-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I'm sort of a free spirit when it comes to this Write 1, Sub 1 thing. I keep track of what I write and what I submit, of course, but I'm not one for detailed logs. I may not have met my goal of a story a week last month.

But what I have done is write. And write. Then write some more. I wrote more new stories in June than I had in all previous months of the year. Sure, I'm brand new to W1S1, but that's just the point, isn't it? This challenge *works*.

So maybe I'm a W1S1 rule breaker. But I'll tell you something: I'm writing and submitting and doing it all at a much faster rate than I ever have before. My internal editor—that nagging voice that tells me nothing I write is ever good enough—shuts down and leaves the words alone until I get them on the page because I have a goal. I may never know exactly when a story is "done" but I know when to let it go. For better or for worse.

To me, W1S1 is common sense. And that's the beauty of it. It gives us a place to gather to share our hardships and victories (and even the day-to-day slog) with people who know our pain and triumph. It's a place to share the experience of being a writer and more than anything else, it holds us accountable. And a little prodding in the ribs is what we writerly folk need to go from thinking about being writers to sitting down and clacking away at the keyboard until something new appears on the page. That act—forming something from nothing—is made of magic. And I look forward to committing magical acts for the rest of the year with you all.

Brenda Stokes Barron

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #27

2011-07-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 27 is upon us! Already!

How's it been for you? Have the words sparkled like starlight or have you found yourself in a black hole? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. w00t! If you've had something accepted/published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Hall Of Fame. But if stuff has gotten in the way of the writing and all your replies have been rejections, let us know that too so we can commiserate! We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with Teri Santitoro of Scifaikuest

2011-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Scifaikuest is an online and print magazine dedicated to minimalist genre poetry. Today, we are honored to have editor Teri Santitoro join us for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Scifaikuest

I would define my basic roles at Scifaikuest as: Number one--to spread the word about minimalist genre poetry! Number two--to make sure that Scifaikuest publishes the best material in those categories!

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a poem?

Good concept, proper form and unique perspective.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a poem's acceptance or rejection?

If a poem doesn't have a good concept to begin with, what's the point? I always try to work with contributors to correct their form (if it's improper), and ask the poet to please rework a poem and resend it, if I feel the basic concept or unique perspective is there to begin with, but the form is off. However, if there's no real MEAT to the poem, I will decline it.

W1S1: What would you like to see more of in the way of Scifaikuest submissions this year?

Actually, I'd like to see more articles and illustrations! We get so much fantastic poetry, but hardly any illustrations or articles. We always need door/cover art as well as black and white interior illustrations. And articles about genre poetic forms are always needed as well.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

I'd like to see genre writing and illustration gain more respect. :-)

W1S1: Thanks, Teri!

So for all you Write1Sub1ers who might have a poem to submit, check out the Scifaikuest submission guidelines here. If you'd like to see their most recent issue, go here.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #26

2011-07-03T00:56:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 26 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like honeyed wine, or have you hit writer's block? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

If you've managed to write a story and submit a story, shout it from the rooftops. Yahoo! If you've had something accepted/published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Hall Of Fame. But if stuff has gotten in the way of the writing and all your replies have been rejections, let us know that too so we can commiserate! We're all in this together.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

The June "Jack in the Box" WINNERS!

2011-06-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the following Write1Sub1ers who have successfully stuck to the challenge during the month of June:

Chris Fries

Stephanie M. Loree
Matt James
Madeline Mora-Summonte

Louise Charles
Sealey
Xyzo
Beth Cato
Green Room
Joe Romel
Lydia Gray
A.G. Carpenter
S.E. Gaime

Simon Kewin

Stephen V. Ramey

Milo James Fowler

(Let us know if we've missed anyone.)

Well done all. You officially receive the JUNE "JACK IN THE BOX" award for your efforts!

Now for the fun part: our June "Jack in the Box" BlogFest.

Visit the participant above and below you on the link list (or all of them, should the spirit move you) and give them a virtual slap on the back for a job well done!

The June "Jack in the Box" Award

2011-06-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Are YOU a June "Jack in the Box"?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge -- either weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the June Jack in the Box Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's short story, of course).

So, let us know! If you've stuck it out, tell us in the comments below, and we'll add you to our end-of-the-month celebratory post. Include the URL to your blog or website, and we'll make your entry a link for others to explore.

BLOGFEST RULES: Just visit the participant above you and below you on the winners list (posted tomorrow night), or visit them all, and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month!

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #25

2011-06-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 25 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words been hotter than Fahrenheit 451, or has The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

WIP-It Wednesday

2011-06-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

In the middle of writing an awesome tale this week? Are the words flowing faster than you're able to put them down? Or could it be you're suffering from a bit of writer's block? About ready to delete the whole blasted thing and start over? Tell us in the comments below. From favorite first lines to the most horrendous similes, we want to read them. Show us yours, and we'll show you ours. That's what Work-in-Progress Wednesday is all about!

On a related note, if you'd like to submit a reflective post in which you ruminate upon how Write1Sub1 has impacted your writing in marvelous ways, send us a message via Twitter @write1sub1, and you just might be featured on a Wednesday in the near future!

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #24

2011-06-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 24 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed Quicker than the Eye, or has A Sound of Thunder gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

WRITE 1 SUB 1 . . . SAVE 1 (OR MORE!)

2011-06-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

My first published piece was a poem in Highlights for Children magazine. I wrote it myself but, since I was only nine, I needed help to send it in. And apparently, 30 years later, I still need that help.

Enter the Write 1 Sub 1 Challenge.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m a writer and part of being a writer is sending out the work. I know this. But I’ve lost count of how many stories disappeared into the giant maw of my desk drawer where “almost there” stories go to languish and die.

Was I too lazy to give them the extra attention? Was I too anxious about messing up what was already there? Was I just not in the mood for another potential rejection? I don’t know.

What I do know is that W1S1 helps me save those stories. It also gives me the oomph I need to get the new ones out and in front of readers (other than my husband.) No one else will do the actual subbing for me. Not W1S1. Not my husband. Not our tortoises. (And you thought publishing was already slow…)

I know it sounds silly. It’s not like there’s a trophy or a giant check or a party for the winner at year’s end. (Is there?) For me, W1S1 is about community. It’s about focus. It’s about challenging myself to do better - for me, for the stories, and for the readers.

Madeline Mora-Summonte

visit Madeline's blog here.

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #23

2011-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 23 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words soared like The Flying Machine, or has The Dragon gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

WRITE 1 SUB 1? ABSOLUTELY!

2011-06-08T17:00:00.001-07:00

I first heard about Write1Sub1 thanks to Alex Shvartsman. He mentioned it in a thread over in the Absolute Write Short Fiction section in mid-December 2010.

Sounds interesting, I thought, and headed over to the blog to check it out. And was immediately bitten by the W1S1 bug.

For various reasons 2010 was an awful writing year for me. I managed one complete short story--which was an ugly thing to read--and nothing else. To contrast, in 2009 I wrote a dozen short stories and two novels.

The stories were still there in my head, clamoring to be told, but writing them had become an exercise in frustration.

When I read through the W1S1 blog, however, it was like a circuit had been reconnected. Whereas previously there’d been a dull resignation when I thought I should be writing, now there was a scorching enthusiasm to sit down and craft beautiful things made of words.

Which may seem like a strange reaction, given that W1S1 is a deadline-oriented challenge, and surely putting pressure on myself to write stories wouldn’t help me rediscover the enjoyment I’d been missing.

But it has helped, most definitely. It’s not just the challenge, it’s also the community. Knowing there are other writers persevering towards similar goals on similar schedules, and being able to share encouragement and commiseration with them, is a huge thing.

So far this year I’ve written eight fresh stories. One of those stories has sold, and the rest are dressed to their best, visiting all the markets they can until somebody offers them a home.

Without W1S1 I doubt any of those would’ve been written. So thanks, W1S1!

(Also, a special thanks to all the awesome writers who hang out in the Write 1/Sub 1 subforum at Absolute Write. Youse peeps rock!)

Sam Mae

visit Sam's blog here

Weekly/Monthly Check-In #22

2011-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week 22 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words been hotter than Fahrenheit 451, or has The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it, whether you're a weekly or monthly (or anything in between) W1S1 participant.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with K.C. Ball and Jude-Marie Green

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

"10Flash is a quarterly on-line magazine dedicated to genre flash fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, suspense, crime capers and slipstream. Each issue offers up ten flash fiction stories written around a common theme."

Today, we are honored to have editors K.C. Ball and Jude-Marie Green join us for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at 10Flash Quarterly?

Just now, it's a two-person operation. We both read each submission and meet online weekly to discuss newly submitted stories. We're approaching the point at which we may need to take on slush readers, but hope to put that off as long as possible. As far as the mechanics of publication, K.C. does most of that just now.

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

We look for clean writing, a clear strong voice and a fresh story idea. It doesn't take much slush reading to discover how often writers submit stories that involve the same old tropes – and think they've submitted something new and wonderful. We like humor, too, but it's difficult to do funny right.

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

Editors often say, “It didn't work for me.” All writers hear that; we have and we've both said it as an editor. It's frustrating because it intangible, there's no concrete element there to examine for a story fix. We want to have fun reading a story, to laugh out loud or say “Wow!” when we get to the end. If a reader starts jumping ahead in a piece of flash, it's a sure sign the story isn't working.

W1S1: What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to 10Flash Quarterly this year?

We get a lot of fantasy and horror. I'd love to see more hard science fiction that isn't space marines (I'm not a big fan of military SF) and more suspense, particularly noir and crime-caper.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

The focus on established names, by publishers, editors and readers. We understand it's a money thing, but it makes it so difficult for a new voice to break through. It's one of the reasons K.C. started 10Flash. To give voice to fresh, new voices. We're starting to grow, to attract some name writers, but we hope to always have room for new voices in each issue.

W1S1: Thanks, K.C. and Jude-Marie!

So for all you Write1Sub1ers who might have a story to submit, check out the 10Flash Quarterly submission guidelines here. If you'd like to see their most recent issue, go here.

The May Marionette WINNERS!

2011-05-31T22:04:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the following Write1Sub1ers who have successfully stuck to the challenge during the month of May:

Simon Kewin

Stephen V. Ramey

Milo James Fowler
Madeline Mora-Summonte
Sandra Davies
Ellie Garratt
Dave K
svanfow
Joe Romel
Sparklecat
Lydia Gray
GreenRoom
Louise Charles
dmbonanno.com
Xyzo
Shelley
Sealey
MattJ
DonnaV
Janet
BethC
Jeff Chapman

(Let us know if we've missed anyone.)

Well done all. You officially receive the MAY MARIONETTE AWARD for your efforts!

Now for the fun part: our May Marionette BlogFest.

Visit the participant above and below you on the link list (or all of them, should the spirit move you) and give them a virtual slap on the back for a job well done!

The May Marionette Award + BlogFest

2011-05-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Are YOU a May Marionette?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge -- either weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the May Marionette Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's short story, of course). And starting this month, we will no longer be posting a separate end-of-the-month check-in for our monthly participants. Our Sunday check-ins from here on out will be for everyone.

So, let us know! If you've stuck it out, tell us in the comments below, and we'll add you to our end-of-the-month celebratory post. Include the URL to your blog or website, and we'll make your entry a link for others to explore.

BLOGFEST RULES: Just visit the participant above you and below you on the winners list (posted tomorrow night), or visit them all, and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month!

Write1Sub1 Week #21 Check In

2011-05-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week #21 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

SHARING THE JOURNEY

2011-05-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this on Sunday (5/1). Milo has just posted the weekly Write1Sub 1 check in. I'm looking forward to hearing how the group has done this week.

It can be a lonely business, writing, though I love it to bits, tapping into a community like Write1Sub 1 can make all the difference. I am not alone. All over the world there are people doing the same things as me: writing, subbing, laughing in the face of rejection, and celebrating the occasional acceptance. It's good to be part of a community. That's the best thing about Write1Sub 1 for me.

Let's check in: the first post this week is from Sandra Davies who's written 80K, so far, this year. Wow. Well done, Sandra. I'll add my own post soon.

Another benefit of Write1Sub1 is learning about markets. I had an acceptance from Eschatology this week, and I heard about that market from Write1Sub 1. I like to think that it goes both ways. A couple of writers have thanked me for pointing them in the direction of Scifaikuest-- glad to do it. What goes around, comes around.

Yes, I've really been enjoying Write1Sub 1, so much that I've just signed up to another writing community- A-Story-a-Day in May. (And, yes, I'm counting this guest blog post -- everything counts).

I've been doing well with the Write1Sub1 challenge. I've only skipped one week in March and when I missed the March Martian award-- I was gutted. What is it about these challenges that's so motivating? The aspect of public accountability? Yet there are no dire consequences if we fail. In fact, there's a community waiting to commiserate with us. It's the same with my monthly targets on my blog. You wouldn't have thought that they would make much difference, but, yikes, the month I didn't post my targets, my word count hit rock bottom.

There's something special about being part of the community, about saying: Yes, I'm going to try my best to get this thing done. And these communities don't just happen, there are three people spending a lot of time making sure everything goes smoothly. So, thanks to Milo, Simon and Stephen, who've given us a chance to come together in this way .

Debs

visit Debs' blog here.

Write1Sub1 Week #20 Check In

2011-05-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week #20 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with Ty Drago, editor of Allegory

2011-05-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Allegory is an online/PDF magazine published three times a year specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres -- as well as anything original or "quirky."

Today, we are honored to have editor Ty Drago join us for an insightful interview.

W1S1: First off, how would you describe your role(s) at Allegory?

Let's see ... Founder, Publisher, Editor, Manager, Recruiter, Layout Artist, Financier, Indentured Servant, and pretty much everything else. Every four months, I launch myself into a cycle of submission collection, distribution, reading, rejecting, accepting, writing articles, picking cover art, designing the issue, collecting authors contracts, biographies and promotional photos, writing checks, paying web hosting fees and filtering letters to the editor. Then, when I'm done, I do it all over again. This past May makes forty-two times!

W1S1: What are the top three things you look for in a story?

First and foremost, I look for a kick-butt, attention-grabbing beginning. I'm a big believer in seizing your reader's attention on the first line. Second, I look for a surprising, unconventional twist in the plot. Finally, I look for a strong, satisfying ending. Make me laugh and you have a real shot. Make me CRY and you're in!

W1S1: Typically, what makes the difference between a story's acceptance or rejection?

There's no easy answer to that one. At Allegory, I give my editorial staff a lot of leeway. Each is a talented individual and each has his or her own instincts regarding what works and what doesn't. For myself, those three rules I listed in the last answer are the key. But I know for a fact that the others may have slightly different criteria. So let's keep it simple, shall we? Just write the best story you can.

W1S1: What fresh story ideas/themes/genres would you like to see submitted to Allegory this year?

No easy answer to that one either. I like sociological science fiction. I like urban fantasy. I like a good ghost story. Vampire and Nazi tales are a tough sell, since I rarely see anything original in those rather over-used themes. But again, some of the other staff editors might feel differently.

W1S1: If you could change anything about the publishing industry today, what would it be?

I'd very much like to see more distribution of small press publishers. E-publishing has helped, giving novice authors publication opportunities that would otherwise be hard to come by. And there are still some print houses with the vision to gamble on an unknown writer (Sourcebooks comes to mind, but I may be biased!). Unfortunately, so many big publishers seem so focused on the bottom line that it's hard to them to invest in an author who doesn't "hit it big" right out of the starting gate. It's a shame.

W1S1: Thanks, Ty!

So for all you Write1Sub1ers who might have a story to submit, go check out the Allegory submission guidelines here. If you'd like to see their most recent issue, go here. Also, please visit Ty's Amazon author's page where you'll find his latest book, The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses.

Write1Sub1 Week #19 Check In

2011-05-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week #19 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

WHY I DO THIS

2011-05-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

By “this” I mean write and submit short stories. I did a quick count the other day, and came up with close to 600 rejections to short story submissions in the past 4 years. For those of you keeping score at home, that breaks down to 150 a year or nearly 1 every 2 1/2 days. Ouch.

Anyone can write. I have to believe as much to survive my day job as a high school English teacher. Some days are harder than others, for my students as well as me. Writing well and developing one’s craft requires patience. Patience requires a healthy dose of perspective. Since I started my writing journey four years ago, I’ve gained as much perspective as any bit of craft. Rejection is part of the game, and I’ve received my share. Each “no” used to sting like a solid punch in the gut, knocking the writing wind out of me.

But I learned from my rejections. Editors would offer bits of advice. Occasionally, when a story was accepted for publication, an editor would work with me and I’d learn little nuggets of craft which I applied to my next story. Through the torturous process of submission, rejection, and revision, I learned to be a better writer. I started submitting to more challenging markets. I saw many more rejection letters. I continued to submit.

Sometimes, one of my stories squeaked through the golden door.

I believe in short stories. I believe they, along with the grueling slog of submission, made me the writer I am today. It might not be the only way to learn your craft, but it’s an honest one.

Aaron Polson

visit Aaron's blog here.

Write1Sub1 Week #18 Check In

2011-05-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week #18 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

Interview with Maureen Scott of Ether Books

2011-05-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

Maureen Scott is the co-founder of eReader short story publisher Ether Books. A longer version of this interview with her appeared over on Simon's blog late last year. Ether are now actively seeking submissions, which might be of interest to Write1Sub1ers.

Q. The commute-length short story would seem to be well-suited to eReader devices like the iPhone. Almost the literary equivalent of the casual game. Does it surprise you there aren't more available?

A. There have been a lot of apps released that have "classic" short story content. We believe we are the only company licensing short form content from living writers to place in our app. We operate a distribution platform using Apple's in-app purchase functionality. The functionality was designed by Apple to enable games apps to charge for "levels" of their games. Our innovation is using the functionality to sell discreet stories, essays, poetry, etc at a micro-payment cost level. We believe we are very early to this market; the publishing industry is focused on hardware eReaders like the Kindle and the iPad. We have our own eReader software which we have launched initially via our iPhone app. We have spoken to other companies who have had the same idea but have not delivered any apps. We have a huge advantage due to our previous experience when compared to these more traditional companies.

Q. Do you see yourselves as a software house, writing apps to deliver fiction to readers, or as a publisher, exercising editorial control etc., but one that just happens to use electronic devices? Are you more a bookshop or a book publisher?

A. We view ourselves as a hybrid. We certainly provide a channel to market and monetisation for writers via our app. We curate content now, and are not providing editoral except for the occasional correcting of typos, etc. Our starting point is writers. We want to be the digital destination for writers to showcase their content, and for consumers to source a great digital read. We are like Amazon in that we are a distribution platform. We are unlike Amazon because we curate content and are not a "self-publishing" platform.

We are positioning ourselves as a digital content technical platform and destination for consumers. We will be providing our community of Ether writers with tools to help them promote their content via our app. It is a new market and we want to constantly innovate and help our writers earn a living by writing great content. We have social networking functionality built into our app to enable consumers to engage directly with our writers as well as "tell a friend" functionality to spread the word about our app but more importantly our great new writers.

Q. What genres do you publish? Most novels are "mainstream", of course, but there are strong traditions of short-story telling in SF, fantasy etc. Do you see those markets working differently?
A. We can offer any number of genres and are increasing the genres all the time. We always ask our writers to think of new and fun names for genres. We are actively seeking SciFi and Fantasy writers. We can't predict if the markets will work differently; we have architected our infrastructure so we can launch "genre" apps when the demand is there.

Q. Do you plan to ever publish other forms - novels for instance?

A. We are soon launching serialisations of a novels, in the Charles Dickens model. We are innovators and have the technology platform and mindset to deliver content in "byte sized" reads. We know that serialisations have worked previously for mobile content. Mobisodes have been popular mobile content for short video-type content. We think the same thing will be popular with the digital word.

Q. Devices such as the Kindle and iPad have come a long way but they still seem rather crude at times : drab, clunky, expensive and they break if you drop them. Do you think they'll ever supplant the paperback?

A. My experience of industries moving into the digital arena has taught me that technology does not replace, it adds channels to market and changes commercial models. The airline industry thought they could save the commissions they paid to travel agents by creating technology to facilitate consumers booking their own flights. What the airline industry did not see coming was the new "direct booking" technology enabling new airlines to enter the market with a much lower cost base. Travel agents did not disappear. The direct booking technology enabled pricing transparency and gave consumers real time price information that was not previously available. We at Ether love the Internet and the power it places in the hands of consumers! Will eReader hardware devices replace the paperback? For some people, yes, for other consumers, no. But it does create the environment to enable writers to get published without ever working with a literary agent or a traditional book publisher.

My gut instincts tell me that people are reading more than they ever have, but they don't "think" of surfing the web and reading text messages as "reading." This is where context and technology come into play. When technology is developed to enable people to read in a different "format" ie, via a digital reader or on their phone the technology acts to "enable" consumption in a different context. I have downloaded books onto my Kindle and then bought the paperback since I wanted a hard copy. The analogy that I use is a simple one. Every day I receive documents in my email inbox. I certainly don't print them all! I read most straight from my screen. But sometimes I do want a hardcopy, so I print it. I believe that this is how digital publishing will evolve over time. On demand printing will faciliate this; and the publishing industry will be forced to be a lot more efficient.

If I were a traditional publisher right now I would be publishing as many extracts of books that are "in the pipeline" as possible. If these books aren't adopted, or downloaded by digital readers I would kill the publication of the physical book. Publishers should be welcoming the new technology with open arms! They can now test the market before committing huge sums to the "hope" that a book will be a best-seller. They will have factual data on which to make their "physical" book publishing decisions. So maybe the question to ask is "will publishers only print paperbacks of books that are proven to be read in the digital space?" I have never been good at predicting the future but it does pose some interesting questions. I would also add that the Kindle and iPad are first releases. We non-engineers cannot even hope to imagine the future technical capabilities of the hardware devices. Combine that with the innovation of software developers and the future looks very exciting indeed. Maybe the commercial change will be that fewer pens and pencils are sold :). And sales of eye glasses will increase as we all require glasses at an earlier age from spending so much time reading from a screen. Who knows?

Q. What's your advice to writers who are wary about embracing new technology? Should they be afraid or enthusiastic?

A. Enthusiatic. The world is your oyster! The biggest challenge will be finding your audience; but when you do you will get to keep more of your well-earned money! You can forget about those horrible rejection letters and the months and months of waiting. I haven't even mentioned how fast writers can be published via digital platforms.

Q. New technology invariably has implications for the sort of art that is produced. The mechanized printing press, for example, allowed the mass-market novel to exist. How do you think literature on eReaders will evolve?

A. The context of mobile content consumption is that readers have time to kill and are bored. Our mobile writers need to quickly grab the attention of the reader and hold it, since the reader can so easily play a game on their smartphone instead! Some of our writers have already stopped working on their novels and are instead writing more short stories. Consumer behaviour is notoriously difficult to predict and we are really excited to identify the type of stories that are likely to win the eyeballs of our readers.

So there we are! If you're interested, Ether Books are here and their iPhone app is here.

Write1Sub1 Week #17 Check In

2011-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Week #17 is upon us!

How's it been for you? Have the words flowed like Dandelion Wine, or has Something Wicked gotten in the way? Here's your chance to tell everybody about it.

Successes and failures, triumphs and disasters, brilliant ideas and insane dreams: we want to read all about them!

The April Witch Winners!

2011-04-30T08:00:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to the following Write1Sub1ers who have successfully stuck to the challenge during the month of April :

Stephanie M. Lorée
Madeline Mora-Summonte
Sandra Davies
Deborah Walker
Dave Krenitsky
Joe Romel
Sparklecat
Misa
Louise Charles
Madeleine
D.M. Bonanno
irishoma
Beth C
GreenRoom
thegirlinthesoapdish
Eric Sisco

Simon Kewin
Stephen V. Ramey
Milo James Fowler

(Let us know if we've missed anyone.)

Well done all. You officially receive the APRIL WITCH award for your efforts!

Now for the fun part: our April Witch BlogFest.

Visit the Witch above and below you on the link list (or all of them, should the spirit move you) and give them a virtual slap on the back for a job well done! And if you like what you read, maybe even become a follower ...

Write1Sub1 Month #4 Check In

2011-04-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

The end of Month #4 is here! If you're taking part in the "Light Ray" monthly challenge, here's your chance to share with us all how it's gone.

Have you managed to write the story you intended? Have the angels whispered golden words in your ear or have demons conspired against you? Let us all know so we can cheer or commiserate as appropriate. And if you've had something accepted/published, tell us so we can add you and the market to the Write1Sub1 Hall Of Fame.

Successes, failures, ideas, questions, ambitions : we want to read all about them!

The April Witch Blogfest

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Are YOU an April Witch?

At the end of each month here at Write1Sub1, we publish a list of everyone who has managed to stick to the challenge - either weekly, monthly or whatever variant is working for you.

This month, everyone who has done so receives the April Witch Award (in honor of Ray Bradbury's short story of that name).

So, let us know! If you've stuck it out, tell us in the comments below, and we'll add you to our end-of-the-month celebratory post. Include the URL to your blog or website, and we'll make your entry a link for others to explore.

BLOGFEST RULES: Just visit the Witch above you and below you on the winners list (posted later this week), or visit them all, and give them each a virtual slap on the back for their success this month! There are lots of great blogs out there, well-worth following ...