Chantal Boudreau's Blog, page 14

April Blitz – Day 26

I’m starting to scrape the barrel, sending out the flash fiction in my list and the stories that are hard to define when it comes to genre. I do have one regular-length SF story yet to submit, but it’s not a genre that inspires my best writing so I’m hesitant to submit it. The other full length story I have is sort of modern fantasy but it needs a very particular market.  I did manage to find a possible venue for some weird fiction in the pile.

The hubby and I were chatting in the car and came up with a flash fiction idea I may write tomorrow.  I have a venue in mind for it, so that one could go out in the next couple of days, once I have it done and tweaked.

Just a few more days to go.  I have a couple of projects in the works for when this blitz is over and I finish up Dominion.  I’m not sure which one I’ll start first.

April Blitz – Day 24

Three more submissions to date – only six more to go. I submitted across the spectrum: one token pay, one semi-pro and one pro-rate. I still have plenty of stories available despite little in the way of rejections during the month. I haven’t actually heard much at all, so I guess I’ll just have to bide my time and hope for the best.

I have one rewrite/resubmit I’ve been putting off but it’s coming down to the wire. I’ll force myself to tackle it in the next few days. I don’t want to miss the chance to turn a maybe into a yes, if it’s meant to be.

Wish me luck.

April Blitz – Day 21

I finished up my essay, finally, and sent it on its way (with two days to spare.) I don’t have high hopes of even placing as a semi-finalist in the competition, but it’s fun just trying. I’d love an outing to Toronto and the $10,000 grand prize would be like a lotto win.

My two other submissions since my last post include a Lovecraftian tale to a semi-pro venue and, after its second rejection this month, a dark fantasy story to a pro-rate venue. I have high hopes for the story. It got a “maybe” from one pro-rate venue that turned into a “no” and my latest pro-rate rejection came with a comment from the editor that it was a “perfectly good story” but that it didn’t have the feel she was looking for for the anthology (too dark perhaps?)

Only a week and a half to go and still plenty of short stories available for submission. Maybe I’ll try submitting novels in October.

April Blitz – Day 18

I received two more rejections since I last posted, but one was for a pre-blitz submission. I’m not letting this dissuade me any. I chose instead to submit to two seriously pro-rate venues. One is a really good fit in every way the other is a little riskier. If either gets an acceptance, I’ll be one step closer to an Active HWA membership (or an SFWA membership for that matter.)

My essay will probably go out in the next couple of days. The latest I can send it is the 23rd, so I don’t have much time left to tweak it and submit it. I’ll have it done in time – I have no doubt.

April Blitz – Day 16

Two more submissions sent – one to a pro-rate venue and the other to a charity anthology. My first rejection for the blitz finally arrived, but that just meant I got to send out that story a second time for the month.

I’m now past the halfway point. I’m almost finished polishing my essay, so that will go out soon. I haven’t run out of submissions or potential venues yet so I may or may not have to resort to submitting one or more of my novels before month’s end.

Wish me luck.

April Blitz – Day 14

I’m riding pretty high at the moment as I submit two more stories – this time to the same publisher for two different publications. I received an acceptance for one of my submissions this month, contract to follow, and I received the cheque for my first official pro-rate sale.  Happy times.

On a sadder note. I discovered one of the pro-rate venues that had given me a couple of maybes in the past had closed down at the end of 2014. It’s always disappointing to see a professional venue that made an effort to encourage newer writers fold.

I’m starting to have to dig a little more to find good fit for what’s left to submit, but at least I’m almost halfway to blitz end.

April Blitz – Day 12

I sent out a few more submissions while completing the first draft of an essay I hope to be submitting to a competition shortly. I haven’t gotten any feedback lately for the submissions from this blitz but I haven’t received a rejection so far. I usually have at least one or two by this point in a blitz.

I’m testing a lot of new ground, via new publishers. I’m not sure if I’m up for submitting any of my novels this month. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Tricksters for Treats

Originally posted on Guild Of Dreams:

by Chantal Boudreau

In the spirit of Halloween (and inspired by a short story submission I just sent out to a venue with a trickster theme), I thought it might be fun to address one of the tropes or arch-types of fantasy: the trickster. This type of mischievous character can appear in many different forms; from devilish deities to cunning spies to impish children, they can serve the sake of comedy relief, plot catalyst, annoying villain or even wisdom-instilling teacher by punitive measures. While not necessarily the protagonist in a tale, they are common to fantasy writing of all sorts, sometimes sidekick, sometimes rival and typically entertaining.

The trickster has strong roots in an assortment of mythologies, from Loki in the Norse mythos and Anansi in African lore to Coyote in North American Native legend, the mischief-maker seems ever present. Perhaps it ‘s because tricksters are a natural component to…

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Bridging the Gap Between the Expert and the Unknowledgeable

Originally posted on Guild Of Dreams:

by Chantal Boudreau

Bruce Blake’s post on the unreliable narrator got me to thinking about narrators, or PoV characters, who are unreliable because of a lack of knowledge. Some readers are able to accept the character’s failing. Others find their narrow perspective hard to handle, especially if the reader is an expert in that area. Their ignorance, even if justified by circumstance, can be frustrating.

One example of this I ran into was when I had a test reader who worked in IT try out a story I had written involving technology gone wrong – a story where the protagonist was a technophobe and for the most part techno-illiterate. The character’s distaste for technology was a reasonable explanation as to why the protagonist had rejected the technology found in the story in the first place, which was an important component of the plot. My reader took issue with the main…

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You May Have Noticed…

I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’m still trying to make heads or tails of the fact that my publisher, May December Publications, has decided to release the majority of its authors, which means the better part of my novels will soon be out of print (in fact, Transcendence already is and the others will soon follow.) If you were thinking of purchasing any of the novels, you may want to grab them now while you still can. Some are being offered at deal prices – Fervor for $4.83 for example.

I can appreciate the reasons behind their decisions. MDP is a family run business and they are dealing with some very serious personal issues at the moment. They are choosing to concentrate their limited time and resources on the publication and promotion of the managing editor’s books instead. This a a more profitable option for them.  I understand their choice, it makes perfect sense, and I expected things to go this way for some time. Unfortunate circumstances just prompted it sooner rather than later.

So now I’m left deciding if I want to put the work into self-publishing these novels, try to find a new small press publisher or just sit on them for a while and mull things over.  My writing effort of late has been going into short stories and I am still publishing those with other publishers.  My Snowy Barrens Trilogy will still be available.

I will have to go about disabling the buttons and links here on WordPress for things no longer in print .  It will take me some time to update everything, so bear with me.  It sort of feels like I’ll be starting all over again from the beginning, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  The only thing  I’m unhappy about losing are the reviews I’ve amassed on Amazon, especially for Fervor.

Anyway, MDP and I will be parting on good terms.  I wish them luck and I enjoyed working with them.

On to the next adventure.