On the Short Story
When I was in high school, I wanted to be a science fiction writer. I have no idea how many short stories I wrote in high school and the early years of college, but it was a lot. Ultimately, however, I decided that I wasn't well suited to the medium. I literally collected enough rejection letters to wallpaper a room -- a decorating motif I seriously considered at one point. It got to the point where I had the form letters from each of the publications thoroughly memorized. It really did become disheartening after a while.
But I've actually been very lucky on the writing front. Writing (non-fiction) is a major part of my day job. And as such, I never get a rejection letter. Oh, I get rewritten! I've had my boss decide to kill a project I've done a lot of writing on. For that matter, I've decided to kill projects I've done a lot of writing on. But when something isn't working, I just get a note that says, "This isn't working, try such-and-such." And I can launch iTunes or load up our website and hear/watch/read something that I wrote, and feel like a writer. And at least some of my writing really does flirt with being science fiction, if only as a framing device for the non-fiction.
And still, the short story remains an elusive format for me. It's been about a year and a quarter since I decided to try my hand at the medium again.
Part of the challenge is that the short story is a format that I frequently find frustrating as a reader. While I love to read short stories (largely because it's a format I can enjoy in the small windows of time I have to read), I only end up actually liking about 10% of them. There's almost always something major I wish the writer had done differently, or (more often) I feel the story was told in the wrong medium altogether. As I write I'm always trying to do so in a way that would be part of my 10% of likable stories, but I'm sure in doing so I'm flying in the face of the currently accepted norms or doing things that work beautifully in my mind but not so much for others.
I'm sure another part of it is that I'm not finding as much time to write as I'd like. More stories in the game of submission tennis would certainly help my odds. More practice would no doubt improve my skills. But working full-time, trying to start a business, and commuting to another city on the weekends just to spend time with my husband really cuts into the "pleasure" writing time. I do, however have three short stories currently making the rounds, and two more that I'm hoping will be ready to start submitting soon. That's three more stories under consideration than most "I'd really love to be a writer"-types have out there.
One of those short stories came home again today. It had a personal rejection letter with a very specific reason why the story didn't work for the editor. As I entered it into my log (yes, I'm anal retentive) I noticed something. Today's rejection was the 20th since I started submitting short stories again. Of those 20, six have been personal rejection letters, five of those containing very specific input on why the story didn't work for that particular editor.
I've always been taught that the personal rejection letter is an aberration and not the norm. So either in the 15 years I wasn't writing short stories all the editors have found more free time to give comments or else I'm getting much closer to that elusive sale. Either way, I'm getting a sense for what works in my writing (or for specific editors, as at least one of the editors didn't like something that was the whole point of the story) and therefore how to put forth a stronger submission next time.
Now I suppose I just need to spend some time writing fiction instead of LiveJournal entries...
But I've actually been very lucky on the writing front. Writing (non-fiction) is a major part of my day job. And as such, I never get a rejection letter. Oh, I get rewritten! I've had my boss decide to kill a project I've done a lot of writing on. For that matter, I've decided to kill projects I've done a lot of writing on. But when something isn't working, I just get a note that says, "This isn't working, try such-and-such." And I can launch iTunes or load up our website and hear/watch/read something that I wrote, and feel like a writer. And at least some of my writing really does flirt with being science fiction, if only as a framing device for the non-fiction.
And still, the short story remains an elusive format for me. It's been about a year and a quarter since I decided to try my hand at the medium again.
Part of the challenge is that the short story is a format that I frequently find frustrating as a reader. While I love to read short stories (largely because it's a format I can enjoy in the small windows of time I have to read), I only end up actually liking about 10% of them. There's almost always something major I wish the writer had done differently, or (more often) I feel the story was told in the wrong medium altogether. As I write I'm always trying to do so in a way that would be part of my 10% of likable stories, but I'm sure in doing so I'm flying in the face of the currently accepted norms or doing things that work beautifully in my mind but not so much for others.
I'm sure another part of it is that I'm not finding as much time to write as I'd like. More stories in the game of submission tennis would certainly help my odds. More practice would no doubt improve my skills. But working full-time, trying to start a business, and commuting to another city on the weekends just to spend time with my husband really cuts into the "pleasure" writing time. I do, however have three short stories currently making the rounds, and two more that I'm hoping will be ready to start submitting soon. That's three more stories under consideration than most "I'd really love to be a writer"-types have out there.
One of those short stories came home again today. It had a personal rejection letter with a very specific reason why the story didn't work for the editor. As I entered it into my log (yes, I'm anal retentive) I noticed something. Today's rejection was the 20th since I started submitting short stories again. Of those 20, six have been personal rejection letters, five of those containing very specific input on why the story didn't work for that particular editor.
I've always been taught that the personal rejection letter is an aberration and not the norm. So either in the 15 years I wasn't writing short stories all the editors have found more free time to give comments or else I'm getting much closer to that elusive sale. Either way, I'm getting a sense for what works in my writing (or for specific editors, as at least one of the editors didn't like something that was the whole point of the story) and therefore how to put forth a stronger submission next time.
Now I suppose I just need to spend some time writing fiction instead of LiveJournal entries...