N.E. White's Blog, page 8
July 14, 2020
No longer writing or editing
But it has been a long time since I’ve written anything. And our last anthology (this one) felt like pulling teeth.
My heart is just not into it.
2020 has seen a lot of changes (mostly bad), so I figured making a formal announcement about the death of my writing aspirations would be fitting.
I’ll still be around. Maybe in a year or two I’ll be back. But no promises.
Until then, write the next great American SF/F novel for me.
(By the way, I am reading for Mythaxis – a long standing online zine that is now managed by This Dude.)
December 22, 2019
DYING EARTHS – the 2019 SFFWorld anthology — SFFWorld
Just when you thought that the world was about to end without delivering something good to read as it all comes crashing down, good news: the latest SFFWorld.com anthology has finally been published! DYING EARTHS contains sixteen stories of fantastic, horrific, or scientifical fiction penned by both forum members and authors from further…
May 21, 2019
Finished!
Quick update:
I recently finished reading all the submission entries to SFFWorld’s Dying Earth anthology. Whew!
Actually, it wasn’t an insurmountable task. I blame life, laziness, and Netflix. (Not GOT.)
Most reject/accept notices have been sent out. If you haven’t gotten yours, I am still debating whether to reject, accept, or ask for a re-write. Final decisions should be complete by the end of this week. If by Monday you have not heard from me, please drop me a note.
Once that is done, time for the fun stuff: cover art!
Stay tuned,
N.E. White
May 7, 2019
Decisions…decisions…
Howdy World!
Rejection slips have gone out for a majority of the submissions we got for our upcoming Dying Earth anthology.
I sent a few acceptances, but there are more to send. I’ll make those final decisions sometime later this month.
Until then, I thought I’d share the stats. We all like stats, right? Here we go:
Number of stories submitted: 61
Average story length: 3,836 words (1,000 minimum; 9,100 maximum)
Number of stories rejected (so far): 37 or 61%
Of those rejected, the average story length was 3,897. The minimum story length rejected was 1,100 words and the maximum was at 9,100.
As it happens, all the stories over the suggested word count were rejected. Good reason to stay under those guidelines. Just saying…
Number of stories accepted (so far): 5 or 8%
Do these numbers mean anything? Maybe. Maybe not.
But they are interesting. Most publications’ (paying or non-paying) acceptance rate is around the 1 to 10% mark. We’ll be a little higher than that, but not much.
I still have 20 stories to read and contemplate. They all won’t end up in the anthology, but each is worthy of publication. So, if your story does get rejected, it’s not the story, it’s us.
Until next time, keep submitting!
March 27, 2019
Random Post #231
Is this really random? Is this really #231?
Today I read about Clare Winger Harris.
Ms. Harris wrote science fiction back in the 1920s when it wasn’t cool to be a science fiction writer let alone a woman. To be both – shocker! But she did it. I’ve never heard of her before. Thank you Google for putting the above article in my news feed.
Today I listened to Natasha Lyonne.
Why is today so full of cool stuff? It must be the Spring in the air.
Natasha Lyonne stars in and co-created Russian Doll. This is a Netflix series in which the main character Nadia, played by Lyonne, dies over and over again. The classic groundhog day syndrome. But Lyonne’s story is so much more interesting! If you haven’t watched Russian Doll, you should. Then go listen to that interview linked to above.
Today I received two more submissions.
So far, we have over 40 submissions to our newest short story anthology. The deadline is drawing near (March 31st, 2019). If you’ve got a story set on a dying earth, we want to read it! Please follow the link above for submission guidelines.
Until next time,
Nila
March 21, 2019
Anthology Update (and reasons why we might reject your story)
Howdy Folks!
Thanks for all the industrious writers out there who have submitted a story to our anthology. We’re happily gathering them up, reading, and making the hard decisions to accept or not.
It’s always a tough call. Many of you write excellent stories, but (here it comes) there are various reasons why we might not accept it. Here are a few that might apply. Keep these in mind the next time you get a rejection letter.
Someone else wrote a similar story to yours and, frankly, it’s better. This one burns! Both as an editor and writer. The thing is if the other person hadn’t submitted, yours probably would have been accepted. So, yes, it is worth killing off your competition. Joking, of course. No, the thing to do is read your competition. Find out what makes their story better than yours. I’m not saying to copy, but learn and do better next time.
Your story doesn’t fit the theme. I know, we editors make a vague submission call and ask you to write a story. Then we get all upset when your story isn’t exactly what we had in mind, when what we had in mind in the first place was pretty vague. There’s no excuse. I can’t offer too much advice here other than to ask questions. An editor might offer some guidance. If they don’t, keep submitting that story until it finds a home!
Pet peeves. Yes, we all have them. I know an editor/writer who cringes when a writer misuses (or doesn’t use) the oxford comma. Another can’t stand it when “almond eyes” is used to signify an Asian person (rightfully). And then there’s my writing buddy – if something bores him, that’s it. He stops reading. These deal breakers often trump an otherwise good story. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Simply edit (if warranted) and keep submitting.
Waffling. Yes, writers waffle. I know, stunning revelation, no? Sometimes, when you start writing a story, it takes a while to get into the groove. Even if you’ve created an outline and sticking to it, it takes a while to get into your story world. It may only take a few sentences or even paragraphs, but often those very first words are more for you, the writer, than the reader. You’re setting up the story and it shows. We don’t want to read it. Before submitting your story, take a good look at the beginning and make sure you’re actually starting where your story begins.
Lack of editing. Get back to basics, people. No matter how great your story is, if it is riddled with formatting issues or misplaced (or missing) commas or even (gasp) misspellings, it distracts from the story and we’ll just give up.
I hope you found that useful.
Until the deadline…keep writing!
March 2, 2019
New anthology – submission call
Howdy folks,
Yes, I’m sorry it has been so long since my last post. And yes, I’m sorry I didn’t finish my pseudo-review of Welcome to Pacific City (available now). And yes, we’re doing it again.
We put forth the call on SFFWorld.com late last year. Early in Feb, we listed our budding new anthology on Ralans.com and Submission Grinder. And now I’m doing it here.
Dying Earth
The parameters of this theme are meant to be broad beyond the traditional sub-genre and include science fiction, fantasy and SFF horror stories. The stories can be Vancian far future Earth tales when humanity is looking at its end, post-apocalyptic tales of collapsed eco-systems, lone human or AI on a desolate Earth, mutated human civilizations, ancient lost civilizations re-emerging in the wake of modern humans’ destruction, etc. They can be hopeful, tragic, cynical, utopian, baroque, nihilistic or comic, or all of those together. All you need is Earth, the planet, in a collapsed, degenerated, and/or desperate state.
Length: 1000-7500 word hard limit, 2000-5000 words preferred
Submission Deadline: March 31st, 2019 (may be extended)
File Type: DOCX files for preference, can take PDF
Requested Rights: First anthology publication, 6 months exclusivity, for e-book, POD, and audio publication. No fan-fiction or use of existing characters; all work must be the author’s own and the author must own all the rights in the story.
Payment: $25/story – flat rate and comp (digital) copies of the anthology.
Submission Contact: Send an email directly to nilaewhite (at) gmail (dot) com. Feel free to contact me with any questions about the theme or submission guidelines.
Formatting:
Please put contact information on the first page of your story submission: email address, name, pen name if different from your real name, any other contact information needed and an estimated word count for the story.
Use italics instead of underlining words to be italicized.
No font switching; if you have unusual formatting, upon acceptance contact the editors (N. E. White or Andrew Leon Hudson) about how it needs to be formatted.
Use automatic paragraph indents and spacing instead of manual ones*.
Use the # symbol to indicate a scene break if you have any in your story.
Write the words “The End” at the end of your story.
*Go to the Format menu and select Paragraph, which opens a new window already in the tab “Indents and Spacing”, which is where you want to be. To indent the first line of the paragraph, you increase the value “First Line” (0.50cm is probably enough). For a space between paragraphs, increase “Below Paragraph” (0.20cm looks clear). Then click okay and you’re good to go. You can do this before you start and just write away, every new paragraph will automatically have that indent and/or space beneath it. If you want to do it on a completed text, use Ctrl+A to select the whole text before you adjust the paragraph settings.
Again, if you have any questions about the anthology or submissions procedures, contact Andrew LH or N.E.White by direct message. You can also ask questions in this thread and we’ll try to get them answered.
Looking forward to reading your story!
November 11, 2018
Welcome to Pacific City – A Review (Part 5)
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Howdy Folks! Sorry for the delay in reviewing all the stories in the upcoming anthology, Welcome to Pacific City. But many many thanks to all who contributed to our Kickstarter campaign! We met our first stretch goal; we’ll be able to pay our writers a bit more what they’re worth.
So what are the rest of the stories like? And why did we chose them? Read on to find out!
If you’d like to read the first part of this review series, click here.
Deal with the Devils by Andrew Leon Hudson
These days, it seems protests and cities go hand and hand. And our imaginary Pacific City is no different. Andrew Leon Hudson, writer and editor-in-charge, gives us a fun story that’s techy (is that a word?) and clever. Apparently, even super heroes (and villains) use the internet. But even better would be one of their own, right? This story follows the lives of two kids who think they’re getting one up on a city tagger, but soon realize their wrong. In the course of their antics, the city finds itself a different sort of hero from the slums of the city.
I liked this story because it’s complicated. Complicated like life is complicated. It also went a direction I wasn’t expecting. Deal with the Devils also has some excellent comedic dialogue.
As an editor, I’ve read a lot of stories. After a while, they tend to meld together. Standing out from the crowd by making your story interesting and funny is never a bad thing. Though humor is highly subjective, if you can pull it off, you’re far ahead of the pack.
Invictus by James Sullivan
Because Welcome to Pacific City is the first anthology (more to come, I hope!) in a shared world setting, we have our share of origin stories. And while I normally feel a little let down by origin stories, Invictus is the exception.
All our readers/editors found the story fast paced, romantic, and action-packed. And to top that off, there’s an alien. Every super-hero story should have an alien, right? But more importantly, Invictus satisfactorily ends the story of our hero’s “normal” life and gives us a glimpse of what he’ll become in his “super” life. That’s not easy to do, but James Sullivan pulls it off with exciting action and good dialogue.
He also gives us some cool, alien abilities! Who wouldn’t want those?
That’s it for this week. More to come later! (Maybe much later… but I’ll get them all done!)
Until next time,
N. E. White
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October 20, 2018
Welcome to Pacific City – A Review (Part 4)
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In my fourth dip in the soon-to-be-released Welcome to Pacific City anthology, I tackle two stories that make it worth it to read hero story anthologies – super heroes!
If you’d like to read the first part of this review series, click here. To find out more about how you can get an early copy of Welcome to Pacific City, click here.
Student of Catastrophe by Lydia Hall
Have you noticed how inconsiderate modern superheroes are?
Lydia Hall’s story, Student of Catastrophe, draws on that premise and does a great job of dropping us in the middle of Pacific City during a super-duper fight. Exciting, yes, but if you’re on your way to work? Not so great.
This is a super (hehe) short and cute story. It ends far too quickly, but the action is easy to follow and the main character just makes you want to follow her around the city – so practical! But then again, someone attuned to the earth would be. 
October 13, 2018
Welcome to Pacific City – A Review (Part 3)
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In this third installment of my review/story-analysis of our Welcome to Pacific City anthology, I tackle the next two stories in that collection. By the way, did I mention there are 14 stories in total? So, if I continue to do two at a time – do the math – we have four more mini-reviews to complete this series.
Okay, now that we got that out of the way…
The next pair of stories look to the future and the past, and funny how both characters in each story aim to control their world in ways we could only dream about.
If you’d like to read the first part of this review series, click here. To find out more about how you can get an early copy of Welcome to Pacific City, click here.
The Witchcraft by Gil Williamson
This story starts out with a criminal wanting to know their future. (Don’t we all want to know that?) And our heroine is a charlatan and her job is to tell her clients what they want to hear – even if it will kill them.
The Witchcraft does an elegant job of dropping us into the seedy undercarriage of Pacific City, introducing us to the folks who really run the city. I think I liked this story so much because I enjoyed how the heroine spoke. She’s in command of her environment and wasn’t afraid of letting that permeate her words and actions.
The story takes a slight turn I wasn’t expecting, which is always a nice surprise.
The Gift of Gabby by Matt Hughes
Matt Hughes is a popular Canadian author who often writes sneaky anti-heroes and charismatic criminals. One of our featured authors, his story, The Gift of Gabby, looks to the past of our beloved Pacific City and tells its origin. Or, more accurately, tells of how one special person can make a difference in the direction a city goes in.
That’s it for today. Look for more to come next week.
We’re not begging for money, but we are running a Kickstarter campaign: check it out here. Lots of goodies to be had! Including art work by none other than Lance Tooks!
Until next time,
N. E. White
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