Aaron Polson's Blog, page 43
October 18, 2010
No, I Will Not Work for Free
But I also believe pay comes in many forms: a good review, a prestigious (if not well-paying) publication credit, the respect of colleagues. This example from Norman Partridge. (How bad ass would it be to get a letter like that?) Money is nice, too. Feel free to send some.
This is the point I was trying to make: I'm not in a place where I want to yield too much creative control for money. If a story I write doesn't sell, so be it. It goes in the "junk" folder. The junk folder is not in danger of starvation. What about "some day maybe" when an agent/publisher tells me to change a key element in a novel so I can get the book on the shelves of Wal-Mart? That would be a nice problem to have, but I'm not in a place to make that decision (nor do I foresee myself there any time soon). What is "too much"? Each artist/writer/what-have-you must make his/her own decision about how far they're willing to go. I won't pretend to make the choice for anyone else.
I can only make my own decisions. For example:
I will keep writing.I will support markets which publish short fiction I respect/enjoy. Any writer who loves short fiction is obligated, in my opinion, to do so. Realms of Fantasy collapsed again, folks. Don't let this happen to your favorite pub. When every paying, well-respected venue for short fiction goes the way of RoF, what kind of "pay the author" conversation will we be having? I'm going to offer any book with my name on it (as primary author or editor) to libraries in the U.S. for free because a good library has always been an author's friend. I plan on hitting some librarian hangouts online and sending a few postcards. (or, if a librarian happens to read this...drop me a line aaron.polson (at) gmail.com).
Go forth an be awesome, dear readers.[image error]
I'm Not Here to Sell Anything
I've been thinking about how "selling" art ruins it (and yes, I consider writing art, even the pulpy lies I write). By ruin I mean changes it--if the goal is to sell a piece of art, market conditions will, even if unconsciously on the artist's part, alter the art. Thomas Kincaid doesn't mass produce his garbage because it's an inner expression of his heart and soul. He mass produces it because it sells. It's not art. It's commodity.
I know some readers of this blog won't consider writing "art". Okay. Fair enough. But I consider the best short fiction to be a pure aesthetic experiment with the ability to conjure a visceral response. (er...art) Consider "The General Who is Dead" by Jeff Vandermeer and Guernica by Pablo one is a short story...the other a painting. Both deliver the horror of war. Both linger long after viewing.
My favorite children (stories) were born from a desire to tell the story rather than write for a market. Maybe I'm not normal, but I write best when I write for nothing but the story. Yes, those stories are hard to sell at times. But they're free. I like short fiction because of that freedom--because short stories are the play land of experimentation and experimentation is vital for art to exist. I'm afraid to write another novel because of the time commitment involved with (at least) a little pressure to write something which can sell.
I'm not here to sell anything, even if I had something to sell.
Have a lovely Monday.[image error]
October 15, 2010
TGIF (The Ghosts Invade Friday)
I just finished Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum, a non-fiction account of William James and his colleagues as they searched for verifiable evidence of various psychic phenomenon at the close of the 19th century and dawn of the 20th. The book shares a wealth of information, and I like Blum's direct approach. Many books on the subject of psychical research are either 1) silly or 2) condescending (like some of the opinions Williams and crew faced). Funny how some of the same questions are being argued about today...or not, according to hard-core skeptics who simply won't join the conversation on neutral terms. (Not much has changed in 100+ years, folks.)Head over to Beyond Fiction for my review/insight into one of my favorite films of all time, Ghostbusters.
And hey, The Borrowed Saints might have a ghost or two...read this week's installment.[image error]
October 14, 2010
Beautiful Things
1.
2. Read Al Sarrantonio's "Boxes". Oh man, the imagery and word play.
3.
'nuff said.[image error]
October 13, 2010
October 12, 2010
On Time
First, I'm happy to report "Mandatory Waiting Period" will appear in Permuted Press's forthcoming Times of Trouble anthology edited by Lane Adamson. Our escapade with time travel was one of the last times Jamie and I exchanged manuscripts and beta-read for one another, so this one's for you, Jamie. Thanks.
I've been thinking about time lately, how much of a curse and blessing a full time job can be. For one, it eats oodles of time. I see other writers in my relative position all over the social media map, and think, how the hell does he/she/it do that? I'm lucky to blog a few times a week and maybe hit a forum once or twice. My kids eat oodles of time, too, but I love those little scamps. There's a weird trade-off: my job and my children provide plenty of inspiration and writing fodder, but suck away the space to sufficiently use it (hence the curse/blessing).
Finally, NPR (I'm addicted) broadcast an interesting science tidbit last week on the way we perceive time. It's worth the read/listen. "How to Live Forever! Or Why Habits are a Curse"
Here's hoping you find the time to do what you want/need to do today.[image error]
October 11, 2010
Guest Starring: Jeremy D. Brooks
My debut novel, Amity, is on the streets...
One of the over-arching themes in Amity is anonymity--specifically, the potential for abuse thereof in online worlds.
In general, the ability to say what you feel in a global forum without fear of personal reprisal is a powerful thing with huge, Peter Parker-esque clauses hidden in the fine print: use it for good or be confident that somebody will eventually swoop down on your favorite online haunts and take that anonymity away.
The internet is rife with examples of free-range anonymous trolling, particularly the chan-style forums.
Imagine Lord of the Flies, but the island inhabitants are cloaked head-to-toe, unidentifiable by size, gender, or age. And there are tens, hundreds of thousands of them lurking about at any given time.
The users have the default option of being anonymous, and that insulation breeds interesting results. Intellectuals become perverts, teenage introverts become leaders, cops share their snuff fantasies, conservative professionals show skin to strangers. The walls are painted with racist jokes and hateful pranks.
Creativity soars. Bits of artistic brilliance often float in unremarkable slime.
Sometimes good deeds are done from behind the wall--recently, thousands of the anonymous users from 4chan called a 95 year old WWII veteran to wish him a happy birthday, much to his delight. They are also known for peaceful protests of the Church of Scientology (and peaceful protests are always a good thing, both the Peaceful part and the Protest part).
But, when a crowd of that size is both self-regulated and anonymous, you can't expect that they will behave themselves often. The collective id tends to take over. And those stories aren't hard to find.
Amity takes the concept of a chan-style website (I feel compelled to repeat that the fictitious website Amity is not, in fact, 4chan, although 4chan did serve as an inspiration) and takes it to darker places. The worst of 4chan is comparable to the most innocuous parts of Amity. It's a kind of thought-experiment: what is the logical conclusion of that world, drawn as a characterization of itself?
The results were, as you'll find in the book, creepy.
Anyway...Amity is available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon, and in most other electronic formats at Smashwords. Check out my website for details: http://jeremydbrooks.com .
And thanks to Mr. Polson for giving me a day on his blog!
[image error]October 8, 2010
Lawrence Zombie Walk 2010
Cell phones? Cell phones? C'mon, zombies...
Wait...wait...is that zombie in the purple shirt texting? Scandal.
Now that's what I'm talking about; children can't run far on their little tiny legs...
On Monday, we'll have a special guest post from Amity author Jeremy D. Brooks. Until then...watch the skies.[image error]
October 6, 2010
The Beast
The Beast lusts for failure, self-defeat, and destructive self-talk.
It is always hungry.
It tells you each rejection isn't just a rejection of your story, it's a rejection of you, the person.
The Beast lies.
The Beast will always be hungry.
It smells exhaustion and frustration and resentment and jealousy like a shark noses blood in the water.
But you can defeat the beast.
You win each time you submit a story, each time you have the courage to sit down in front of a blank screen, each time your pencil or pen touches paper. You spank the beast on the nose each time you write despite the odds, despite the reward, despite what anyone--including yourself--might say.
It's weak, really, this Beast. Weak and small and alone, and it wants you to feel that way, too.
It will always be hungry because it is a nothing, a hollow thing. Empty.
Read my post on Shimmer's blog about fighting the Beast with persistence.[image error]
October 5, 2010
On Plagiarists, Fake Names, and Other Random Things
Evidently there's a new plagiarist in town, but he's not new at all.
From Jodi Lee: "I was recently tipped off (via twitter) to proof that David "Doc" Byron has been plagiarizing works, presumably from people that have submitted to one of his many little for-the-love projects."
You can track the discussion from there.
This has happened before, to me. I'm sure it happens all the time. I don't understand the mind of some people, especially when stealing someone's story and posting for free online...or giving away to a FTL market...dude, nobody's reading your steaming, stolen, pile of dog sh*t. (Not that the original story was dog sh*t...it just became so when you put your name on it, thief.) Are you trying to build a reputation? Well, you have one. Jerk.
Speaking of names (cool off, Angry Aaron), I intended to post a little bit about fake names (for fiction). Yes, we're all familiar with random name generators, especially for fantasy and science fiction...
Speaking of random, Andrea Allison of Southern Writemares plays around with random titles at her blog. My suggestion? Mix and match the words from various titles and generate something truly random, like "Flowers of Shards" or "The Twinkling Boyfriend".
(I think I've heard of that last one...)
Speaking of overused transitional phrases, have a great day, huh?
