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mbarkerWriting Excuses 12.39: Q&A on Short(er) Fiction
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2017/09/24/12-39-qa-on-shorter-fiction/
Q&A List:
Q: How do you market short stories today? How important is it for perspective novelists to learn the short story field, and are novellas more viable now with self-publishing?
A: Market yourself, not any individual story. Online magazines. Consistent quality, but continually surprising. A quick awesome fix. Novellas definitely are more viable with self-publishing. Novellas hit the price point sweet spot on Amazon, and fit web-based, mobile-based consumption. Bite-sized novellas are good marketing.
Q: What are some tips you have for mapping out the pacing of a short story?
A: Pare it down. Figure out the beginning, middle, and end, then focus on hitting the targets at 2000 word marks. Novella, pare down the subplots, focus on one thing, and write a 25,000 word novel. Know what the ending is, then focus each step on that pow. For romance, I need to know the start, middle, and end, and focus on getting to the end, plus who are the people, how do they react and survive, what's the black moment when they may not get together, and how can they believably get together?
Q: How short is too short for short fiction?
A: Twitter has flash fiction Fridays. Business cards have flash fiction on the back.
Q: Is publishing sections from a novel a viable way to get traction for that novel, or is there a better way to break in if you want a novel published?
A: Look at Dragonflight, which had the initial short story excerpt published, then the rest. Get to know the short fiction markets, then see if you have an excerpt that works.
Q: What should I look for in a semi pro market if a story has already been rejected by the major markets?
A: Reputation and editorial style. While you're submitting, write something else! Check Predators and Editors, Absolute Write, etc.
Q: What aspects are crucial in novels, but redundant in short fiction, or vice versa?
A: Novels often overlap character moments of discovery with plot elements. In short fiction, overlapping too much can fizzle your bang. Subplots, characters, and locations balloon much faster in short fiction than in novels.
( Questions, and some answers... )
[Brandon] All right. I'm going to call it by giving you some homework which is I'm just going to require you to go buy a short story collection. All you novelists out there, I want you to buy one. I actually want you to buy one that has a variety of authors in it. I don't want you this time to go buy my collection. I want you to go get Year's Best, maybe Gardner Dozois's Year's Best, or I want you to get a themed anthology. One of George Martin's themed anthologies would be a great place to go.
[Howard] Uncanny a good one to pick up?
[Brandon] Yeah, yeah, yeah. All sorts of things.
[Piper] [garbled]
[Howard] Clarke's World.
[Brandon] Yeah. Totally. Get one of these magazines. Buy Clarke's World or Uncanny, which are fantastic magazines. But get something that's got a variety of authors in it. If you haven't read one of these in the last year, this is your homework. If you have, then you get to take the week off.
[Laughter]
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses, you're out of excuses, now go write.
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2017/09/24/12-39-qa-on-shorter-fiction/
Q&A List:
Q: How do you market short stories today? How important is it for perspective novelists to learn the short story field, and are novellas more viable now with self-publishing?
A: Market yourself, not any individual story. Online magazines. Consistent quality, but continually surprising. A quick awesome fix. Novellas definitely are more viable with self-publishing. Novellas hit the price point sweet spot on Amazon, and fit web-based, mobile-based consumption. Bite-sized novellas are good marketing.
Q: What are some tips you have for mapping out the pacing of a short story?
A: Pare it down. Figure out the beginning, middle, and end, then focus on hitting the targets at 2000 word marks. Novella, pare down the subplots, focus on one thing, and write a 25,000 word novel. Know what the ending is, then focus each step on that pow. For romance, I need to know the start, middle, and end, and focus on getting to the end, plus who are the people, how do they react and survive, what's the black moment when they may not get together, and how can they believably get together?
Q: How short is too short for short fiction?
A: Twitter has flash fiction Fridays. Business cards have flash fiction on the back.
Q: Is publishing sections from a novel a viable way to get traction for that novel, or is there a better way to break in if you want a novel published?
A: Look at Dragonflight, which had the initial short story excerpt published, then the rest. Get to know the short fiction markets, then see if you have an excerpt that works.
Q: What should I look for in a semi pro market if a story has already been rejected by the major markets?
A: Reputation and editorial style. While you're submitting, write something else! Check Predators and Editors, Absolute Write, etc.
Q: What aspects are crucial in novels, but redundant in short fiction, or vice versa?
A: Novels often overlap character moments of discovery with plot elements. In short fiction, overlapping too much can fizzle your bang. Subplots, characters, and locations balloon much faster in short fiction than in novels.
( Questions, and some answers... )
[Brandon] All right. I'm going to call it by giving you some homework which is I'm just going to require you to go buy a short story collection. All you novelists out there, I want you to buy one. I actually want you to buy one that has a variety of authors in it. I don't want you this time to go buy my collection. I want you to go get Year's Best, maybe Gardner Dozois's Year's Best, or I want you to get a themed anthology. One of George Martin's themed anthologies would be a great place to go.
[Howard] Uncanny a good one to pick up?
[Brandon] Yeah, yeah, yeah. All sorts of things.
[Piper] [garbled]
[Howard] Clarke's World.
[Brandon] Yeah. Totally. Get one of these magazines. Buy Clarke's World or Uncanny, which are fantastic magazines. But get something that's got a variety of authors in it. If you haven't read one of these in the last year, this is your homework. If you have, then you get to take the week off.
[Laughter]
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses, you're out of excuses, now go write.
