Wiscon-Related Thoughts pt 2
II Slush
So, at Wiscon, in the "Reading with a Squint" panel, I made the assertion (as I frequently do--regular readers of this LJ will have heard it before) that the gender ratio of slush shouldn't actually be the same as the ratio of its corresponding ToC. That is, 70/30 male/female in slush might not actually translate to 70/30 in the ToC, all other things being equal.
This is because ninety percent of slush is just not in the game. The panelist sitting next to me, who...well. The panelist sitting next to me corrected me. "Ninety-five."
"Well," I said, "I'm being charitable." But it's true, that much slush isn't even actually under consideration. It's just not there.
The other panelists took issue, contending that they didn't actually see so much of what they would call "crap." One said, she saw a similar distribution as in her classes--she's a teacher--where the majority of subs were, say, Cs, with a few Fs and a few As and chunk of Bs, just like you'd expect.
I agree with her about the letter grading, if I were giving letter grades to slush, if subbers were students I was teaching.
But I'm not teaching, and I don't grade subs. And C work isn't in the game. If you're only calling F papers "crap" then I don't see much of it. I've only seen about the F work you'd expect, and only one of those was Eye of Argon bad.*
Mostly, the slush is entirely grammatical, but the sentences aren't put together right. The words are dictionary-correct but utterly the wrong words. The idea is thin, and what there is of it is hidden behind wheel-spinning openings and characters cut from the finest cardboard, or even punched out of a book of paper dolls. The paper dolls utter (once again, perfectly grammatical) sentences no human being would ever actually say, in language so clunky it leaves a dent on my desk. And so forth. In classroom terms, this is "not bad. Now do better." In slushpile terms, this is "Nope." It's not actually competing with the stuff that's B and A level. It's not part of the pool the ToC is actually drawn from. It is difficult to read in large quantities, kind of like eating one stale peanut butter sandwich after another. And another. And another. My hat is off to teachers everywhere.**
But. Ratios. Women have less free time. No, seriously, they do. Despite a lot of very big cultural changes, women are still expected to pick up the majority of housework and childcare. And they do.
And writing takes hours. Hours you aren't helping kids with homework, or doing laundry, or any of the other million things people (including yourself) judge you for not doing, that other people in the household could be doing, yes, but it's your job. And if you've got small kids? Forget about free time, you're lucky to be able to shower by yourself.
There's also nothing like living as a woman to make you check your appearance twice and three times before you walk out the door.*** Nothing like knowing taking hours away from the stuff you know your neighbors are tsk tsking about--the stuff you're probably feeling guilty for neglecting in favor of your writing--might not amount to anything anyway. You're going to make darn sure what you send out is as good as it can be. And maybe you never do get to that point, maybe you figure you'll never be that good and just write fanfic for your friends. **** Who will, at the very least, be a supportive community for you.
But I think men are taught--expected!--to be more confident and assertive. I think way more men sit down for an hour or so, slap down some words and say "that's brilliant!" and send it out. Maybe they proofread, maybe they don't. Certainly all of the F-grade fiction I've seen has had male-sounding bylines. So, I hypothesize that more men are sending out very beginner-level work than women. Which will tilt the percentage in the slush.
And even without that, if fewer women have time to write seriously, if the few who do submit are the ones who are really invested in it, and hence work harder at it and have more skill, then maybe the ratio of A and B grade slush will look really, really different from the ratio of raw slush. Maybe. I wish I could see those numbers.
I hypothesize that, once the slushy slush is cleared away, the ratio will be much closer to 50/50.
*Writers! If you buy an economy sized bucket of punctuation, please don't feel compelled to use the semicolons all up at once. They keep forever, and you don't actually need them all that often. It's much better to have one when you need it than have them sprinkled liberally all over the first half of your story as decoration, and then have none to use when, you know, the sentence actually calls for one. And I know it seems like you'll never run out of commas, but when your page has more commas on it than your bagel does poppyseeds, you might want to rethink your approach.
**Writers who are in this phase--or fear they are--ought not despair. Everyone starts somewhere. Editors and slush readers know this, and don't hold it against you. In fact, if they see your work improve over time they're often quite pleased, and sometimes secretly cheer you on.
*** Of course, this is a hilarious demonstration of your messed up focus on trivial stuff like makeup and clothes. And also of course, if you neglect them you're unfeminine and unattractive. Gotta love that double bind!
****I've got nothing against fanfic, or the idea of writing without the goal of paid publication. I quite like the idea of communities of fans sharing their art and their enthusiasm. It's just, it's kind of interesting how many women there are in such communities, isn't it.
Part 1
Part 2 Slush
Part 3 Ann Likes Red
Part 4 Bias Is Inherent in the System
Part 5 Women Write Different Stories From Men?
Part 6 Fight for Your Right to Party
Part 7 Ending on Felicitous Seven
So, at Wiscon, in the "Reading with a Squint" panel, I made the assertion (as I frequently do--regular readers of this LJ will have heard it before) that the gender ratio of slush shouldn't actually be the same as the ratio of its corresponding ToC. That is, 70/30 male/female in slush might not actually translate to 70/30 in the ToC, all other things being equal.
This is because ninety percent of slush is just not in the game. The panelist sitting next to me, who...well. The panelist sitting next to me corrected me. "Ninety-five."
"Well," I said, "I'm being charitable." But it's true, that much slush isn't even actually under consideration. It's just not there.
The other panelists took issue, contending that they didn't actually see so much of what they would call "crap." One said, she saw a similar distribution as in her classes--she's a teacher--where the majority of subs were, say, Cs, with a few Fs and a few As and chunk of Bs, just like you'd expect.
I agree with her about the letter grading, if I were giving letter grades to slush, if subbers were students I was teaching.
But I'm not teaching, and I don't grade subs. And C work isn't in the game. If you're only calling F papers "crap" then I don't see much of it. I've only seen about the F work you'd expect, and only one of those was Eye of Argon bad.*
Mostly, the slush is entirely grammatical, but the sentences aren't put together right. The words are dictionary-correct but utterly the wrong words. The idea is thin, and what there is of it is hidden behind wheel-spinning openings and characters cut from the finest cardboard, or even punched out of a book of paper dolls. The paper dolls utter (once again, perfectly grammatical) sentences no human being would ever actually say, in language so clunky it leaves a dent on my desk. And so forth. In classroom terms, this is "not bad. Now do better." In slushpile terms, this is "Nope." It's not actually competing with the stuff that's B and A level. It's not part of the pool the ToC is actually drawn from. It is difficult to read in large quantities, kind of like eating one stale peanut butter sandwich after another. And another. And another. My hat is off to teachers everywhere.**
But. Ratios. Women have less free time. No, seriously, they do. Despite a lot of very big cultural changes, women are still expected to pick up the majority of housework and childcare. And they do.
And writing takes hours. Hours you aren't helping kids with homework, or doing laundry, or any of the other million things people (including yourself) judge you for not doing, that other people in the household could be doing, yes, but it's your job. And if you've got small kids? Forget about free time, you're lucky to be able to shower by yourself.
There's also nothing like living as a woman to make you check your appearance twice and three times before you walk out the door.*** Nothing like knowing taking hours away from the stuff you know your neighbors are tsk tsking about--the stuff you're probably feeling guilty for neglecting in favor of your writing--might not amount to anything anyway. You're going to make darn sure what you send out is as good as it can be. And maybe you never do get to that point, maybe you figure you'll never be that good and just write fanfic for your friends. **** Who will, at the very least, be a supportive community for you.
But I think men are taught--expected!--to be more confident and assertive. I think way more men sit down for an hour or so, slap down some words and say "that's brilliant!" and send it out. Maybe they proofread, maybe they don't. Certainly all of the F-grade fiction I've seen has had male-sounding bylines. So, I hypothesize that more men are sending out very beginner-level work than women. Which will tilt the percentage in the slush.
And even without that, if fewer women have time to write seriously, if the few who do submit are the ones who are really invested in it, and hence work harder at it and have more skill, then maybe the ratio of A and B grade slush will look really, really different from the ratio of raw slush. Maybe. I wish I could see those numbers.
I hypothesize that, once the slushy slush is cleared away, the ratio will be much closer to 50/50.
*Writers! If you buy an economy sized bucket of punctuation, please don't feel compelled to use the semicolons all up at once. They keep forever, and you don't actually need them all that often. It's much better to have one when you need it than have them sprinkled liberally all over the first half of your story as decoration, and then have none to use when, you know, the sentence actually calls for one. And I know it seems like you'll never run out of commas, but when your page has more commas on it than your bagel does poppyseeds, you might want to rethink your approach.
**Writers who are in this phase--or fear they are--ought not despair. Everyone starts somewhere. Editors and slush readers know this, and don't hold it against you. In fact, if they see your work improve over time they're often quite pleased, and sometimes secretly cheer you on.
*** Of course, this is a hilarious demonstration of your messed up focus on trivial stuff like makeup and clothes. And also of course, if you neglect them you're unfeminine and unattractive. Gotta love that double bind!
****I've got nothing against fanfic, or the idea of writing without the goal of paid publication. I quite like the idea of communities of fans sharing their art and their enthusiasm. It's just, it's kind of interesting how many women there are in such communities, isn't it.
Part 1
Part 2 Slush
Part 3 Ann Likes Red
Part 4 Bias Is Inherent in the System
Part 5 Women Write Different Stories From Men?
Part 6 Fight for Your Right to Party
Part 7 Ending on Felicitous Seven