Aeryn Rudel's Blog, page 17

A Week of Writing: 9/6/21 to 9/12/21

Two weeks into September, and here’s my weekly writerly report card.

Words to Write By

A great quote about revision from author Leigh Bardugo. 

“I think the hard work of writing is just how long a book is terrible before it’s good.”

― Leigh Bardugo

Since I’m currently in the revision trenches on my latest book, quotes like this resonate with me. Like last week’s quote, this one illustrates what’s so difficult about the revision process for me, and I’m sure for a lot of folks. The act of writing ...

Write to Revise: My WIP Checklist

This week, I started the second revision of my WIP novel Hell to Play. This is the big revision/rewrite before I start shopping it around, and it will be driven by the comments and notes from my three excellent critique partners (bless you, you wonderful people). Anyway, I thought I’d talk a bit about what this revision will focus on because I suspect my issues are issues for a lot of folks. Let’s dive in.

Pacing. The consensus of my critique partners is that the first 100 pages of the novel ar...

Weeks of Writing: 8/23/21 to 9/5/21

A couple of fairly productive weeks. Here’s the score.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Michael Crichton.

“Books aren’t written- they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

–Michael Crichton

I feel this in my soul. Revision is the hardest part of the process for me. As Michael Crichton said, it can be a hard thing to accept–that you’ve worked your ass off on the first draft (and those ...

Not Good Enough: When to Trunk a Story

Recently, I went through my WIP folder and realized it was overflowing with stories, some of which had been languishing there for decades. I took a good, long look at these derelict shorts and flashes, and, well, I then created a trunk folder, which was long overdue. I moved some forty stories into this trunk, and I thought I’d talk about why I banished these pieces to literary purgatory. The reasons primarily fall into three broad categories. Here comes a numbered list!

Juvenilia. These were t...

Submission Statement: August 2021

And there goes August. A better month than July, but just barely.

August 2021 Report CardSubmissions Sent: 11Rejections: 9Acceptances: 0Publications: 1Further Consideration: 1

I did manage a solid number of submissions in August, and 11 more gives me a total of 71 for the year. I’m still on pace for 100. I also managed a bunch of rejections, most within the last week of the month. I knew those birds were overdue to come home and roost. No acceptances again, but a further consideration let...

Hold, Please: Further Considering the Short-List Letter

I’ve discussed the hold or further consideration letter a few times on the blog, but since I’ve received a bunch of them this year, I thought it was time to revisit. We’ll look at a couple of examples, what they may tell us, and then try and determine how common they are. I’ll be focusing on pro genre markets in this article because, in my experience, they send more hold/further consideration letters.

Some definitions first. You will often see the terms further consideration, hold, and short lis...

A Week of Writing: 8/16/21 to 8/22/21

One more week in the books. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

Another good one from Ray Bradbury.

“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”

― Ray Bradbury

I don’t know if I agree that it’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row, but, then again, who am I to argue with the great Ray Bradbury? I do like the idea of a story per week, and if you write a lot of flash fiction like I do, then it doesn’t seem too impossible. I did a quick, ballp...

A Week of Writing: 8/9/21 to 8/15/21

Another week gone by. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from one my favorite sci-fi writers Joe Haldeman.

“I think any writer keeps going back to some basic theme. Sometimes it’s autobiographical. I guess it usually is.”

—Joe Haldeman

I agree with Joe here, and moreover, I think when you figure out what that basic theme is, it’s a big step in your development of a personal style. I have an inkling what my basic theme is, and there are definitely some character types tha...

The Rejectomancer’s Grimoire: Mazie’s Marvelous Marketing

The Rejectomancer’s Grimoire contains all manner of useful spells, a number of which can aid a rejectomancer’s efforts to attract new readers. This week, we explore the relatively benign Mazie’s marvelous marketing, a handy enchantment that enhances a rejectomancer’s promotional endeavors.

(If you’re wondering what all this rejectomancer stuff is, start here.)

Mazie’s Marvelous Marketing

2nd-level enchantment

Casting Time: Five minutes

Range: 1 tweet, post, etc.

Components: Material

Duration: O...

Weeks of Writing: 7/26/21 to 8/8/21

A couple of productive weeks of writing and submitting. Let’s see how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Mark Twain.

“It takes a heap of sense to write good nonsense.”

—Mark Twain

I think this quote is particularly important for speculative fiction writers because we tend to write thing that are not only not true but not even remotely possible. In order to get your readers to buy into a vampire that plays baseball, for example, you gotta build the world around that vampire in ...