Chantal Boudreau's Blog, page 19

April Submission Blitz – When You’re Strange

One of the problems with writing primarily speculative fiction is that sometimes the tales I come up with are so strange, they don’t really seem to fit anywhere. Other than submitting them to a venue like Weird Tales or Drabblecast, where bizarre is the norm, I usually end up just sitting on them until the entirely unexpected comes along.

“On the Tip of her Tongue” is one of those kinds of stories. Aside from being strange to the point that even those specializing in the peculiar aren’t sure what to make of it, it also happens to be rife with foul language – not my typical tale. I have tried submitting it to a few of the odder venues, or ones that prefer shocking fiction, but so far I haven’t had any luck.

During this blitz, however, I stumbled upon a call for submissions for an anthology that seems custom-made for this story. This honestly wasn’t an event I’d ever expect to see. I jumped on the opportunity and submitted right away, but I won’t know if it’s in until August. Other than either not liking my writing style, or not liking the story as a whole, the only thing I can see that might put them off is the amount of obscene language involved. They may see it as excessive even if the story fits very well with their theme. It was one of those risks I took when I wrote the story, but it just doesn’t work without it. So, I have sent it in as is and I’ll hope for the best.

Here’s hoping J

 

Old Dogs…New Tricks

Originally posted on Guild Of Dreams:

by Chantal Boudreau

A friend of mine recently posed the question whether or not characters should be predictable, and followed with the argument that if a character does do the unpredictable, it can jar a reader out of a story. You’ve already established that a character behaves a certain way, so having them act differently would just be wrong, right?

Not so fast.

Demanding that a character adhere to pre-established norms makes the assumption that character development ends once that character has been thoroughly introduced to the reader. We all should understand that that’s just not true. Aside from the fact that some people enjoy being unpredictable, even sticks-in-the-mud will do something out of the ordinary from time to time. You may know somebody quite well, yet see them transform gradually as they grow and mature. And how likely is it that a traumatic event or a life-altering experience will…

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April Submission Blitz – Sending Things Down Under

I submitted a flash fiction story today to a venue in Australia. I haven’t received any Australian acceptances yet. Most have been from the US, a small handful from the UK, and only three so far from my home and native land. Admittedly, I haven’t submitted very many times to Australia, so that doesn’t allow for much chance at success. One rejection from that far away place arrived so quickly after sending out the submission, I find it hard to believe they did anything more that peek at the cover letter before hitting send on their form rejection letter.

I’m not going to let that dissuade me any. This is only the third resubmission for this flash fiction piece so I’m hopeful. I know it fits the venue’s theme. I’ll just have to wait and see if it suits their fancy.

More tomorrow J

April Submission Blitz – Stretching

My submission today was a story I wrote in a genre that is not normally my genre of choice. There are a variety of reasons why I might stretch myself beyond my comfort zone from time to time. Sometimes I feel the need to challenge myself. Sometimes I’m inspired by a particular idea or call for submissions. Sometimes I just do it for a crazy lark.

The results? To be honest with you, I wouldn’t describe the results as my best work, but I wouldn’t describe it as a total failure either – and I grow from the experience. The stories from these experiments tend to bend to the bizarre, more weird than wonderful, but some folks still enjoy them. I’m not prepared to discount any of them on that basis alone. I’ve noticed some of my stories that have been accepted in the past were not the ones at the top of my favourite lists, while some of my preferred tales have been the victim of multiple rejections to date (and in some instances, nasty attacks.) You can never account for other people’s tastes. For that reason, I tend to submit everything I’ve completed, even if I’m not entirely sure if they are deserving of an acceptance. Some of them have yielded a “yes” when I was expecting a “no”.

So I’ll continue stretching myself, for what it’s worth. Maybe I’ll discover another genre that I like as much as my current favourites.

April Submission Blitz – Try Again

It’s easy to get discouraged in the face of rejection. To be honest with you, I’m much more inclined to resubmit to venues where I receive positive feedback along with any rejections. It lets me know that they didn’t take issue with my particular style and voice, but just decided not to go with that particular story. If they tell me they’d love to see more submissions from me in the future, they definitely will.

I’ve also received rejections that weren’t just negative, they were downright scathing – my story was some terrible blight upon their day and I must be a moron for submitting it to them. While I can handle rejection, I don’t need that kind of negativity. That being said, I find you only tend to run into those responses from venues with multiple slush readers, and the response you get is a matter of whose portion of the pile you happen to land in. Three different submissions can end up with three very different responses clearly written by three very different slush readers. I’ve actually learned to ignore those ones and resubmit anyway. I may just end up the next time with a slush reader in a better mood or with a better overall attitude.

The ones that make me nervous are the ones where I get nothing to let me know how they felt about my story, like the venue I’m submitting to today. The last story I sent drew a very neutral response. It had me wondering if they were put off by my voice or style, or just the story. It’s easier to get up the gumption to resubmit to a venue where I get a strong response, even if it’s a negative one. If they were inviting, I think “hope you like this one too” as I hit the send button. If they were nasty, I think “take that – I’m going to keep submitting until you’re sick of me!” But the bland ones with a “meh” approach? I just can’t get all excited about sending them a new story.

So what have I done? I sent them one of my stranger stories. Maybe that might draw a stronger response. Guess I’ll have to wait and see…

April Submission Blitz – Sometimes Confusing

I sent in a submission today for an anthology where the theme was a little ambiguous. From what I read, it sounded like my submission would be acceptable, although it didn’t match the ideal submission they were looking for. It did seem to fit the secondary themes they were willing to consider, as long as I haven’t misinterpreted what they were describing. I’m sure you can tell from this that I was a little confused. Before I hit send I was thinking the story I chose was a reasonable match for their “bigger picture” – but afterwards I was second guessing myself.

Story fit is a big issue when it comes to submissions. It also seems to be a point of interpretation where I fall short. About half my rejections say they don’t think the story is the right “fit” even though they enjoyed it or if it fits the venue and they want to accept, it doesn’t match up with the other stories they’ve decided to accept, so they’re going to pass on it. An author can write a fantastic story with a solid plot, good technical form and acceptable style, but if it happens to be something too distinct, you could end up having a terrible time getting it published, especially if it skirts more than one genre or lies somewhere between mainstream and speculative (I have one of those in my “available for submission” pile.)

So I’ll cross my fingers on that one – another story that got some “we really enjoyed it” slush pile love, but which has received multiple rejections nevertheless. It’s a divergent tale, both dark and hopeful, disturbing but inspiring.

Wish me luck!

April Submission Blitz – Things I Won’t Do

While I will write cover letters and resubmit stories until I’m blue in the face, there’s a few things I won’t do to try to increase my odds of getting published. I won’t submit anywhere where a submission fee is required – contests included. I won’t pay for a venue membership to get “preferential treatment”. I won’t buy editing services from the publisher in order to improve my chances of acceptance. And I won’t support a kickstarter campaign in the hopes that it will give me a competitive edge in the slush pile either. I’ve seen all of those “opportunities” come up at one point or another, but I’m in this for the long run, earning my way into the game. I’m not on the hunt for possible short cuts I might be able to buy, or some publishing lottery I hope to win.

When I submitted today’s story, they had the option of just making the submission, or submitting and paying $5 to enter their editor’s choice competition (3 prizes of $100? – that’s a small prize for that kind of entry fee.) And you could purchase one of their memberships to get preferential treatment (that’s exactly how they described it.) I may have little chance of an acceptance as a result of keeping my money in my pocket, but if that’s the case, so be it. I hold to the advice that unless you are self-published (and are paying for things like editing or cover art), the money should flow from the publisher to the writer and not the other way around.

I submitted a story that has already received several rejections, so I’m not holding my breath, especially since it will likely be parked at the bottom of the slush pile because I didn’t pay. Nevertheless, it’s still worth a shot.

More tomorrow…

April Submission Blitz – Decisions, Decisions

I’m not having any trouble finding venues open to submissions this time around. The main challenge at the moment is deciding what to submit where. Most of what I have on hand is dark fantasy or fantasy, with a few horror pieces I’m looking to resubmit after past rejection, but several of the venues are looking for any kind of dark or weird fiction, which makes for a tough choice. I was tempted to send a longer piece to the pro-rate venue I submitted to today, but they said they really needed flash fiction, so I went with a playful dark morsel that got a maybe from another pro-rate venue. I’d like to think that’s going to give me a better shot at success – but we’ll see.

I have so many things I want to do this weekend: time spent with the family, four different print books I want to read and several ebooks too, getting my taxes together (I really should finish that,) movies to watch, a house to clean and so much more. Writing’s actually on the back-burner at the moment…too much to submit and keep track of. I actually should be focusing on either editing older novels or working on Dominion, but I have too many other things vying for my attention. Hopefully I’ll be able to come up with some sort of list of priorities.

More tomorrow…

April Submission Blitz – New Options

I’ve been saving up links for different listings of venues open to submissions and that means I’m submitting to publishers I’ve never submitted to before. Today I sent in a flash piece to a new-to-me publisher and I’m staying hopeful that I’ll get a positive response. Unfortunately, submitting to unfamiliar publishers can have its drawbacks. The last time I sent off this story, it was also to a venue I hadn’t tried before. The results were not happy. The anthology switched hands while in development and the new publisher decided it wasn’t necessary to inform authors of rejected stories that they were going to pass on their submissions. The first I knew my submission had been rejected was hearing that the anthology had been released. It had been out for over a month – and all that time I was waiting on an answer that wasn’t coming.

I can understand not having the time to personalize a rejection letter or to offer feedback, but those submitting deserve at least a form letter so they know when they are free to resubmit a story somewhere else, particular if that publisher requires the submission be exclusive. It’s both the courteous and fair thing to do. I’m not sure if this publisher decided they couldn’t spare the time to send out form letters or had been cowed by a harsh response from someone they rejected in the past. What it does mean is I likely won’t submit to them again. I could have been sitting on that submission for months longer if I hadn’t noticed that the anthology had been released. I’d much rather get a rejection notice than be left in the dark.

Hopefully, I’ll have better luck with this one, no matter what the outcome.

April Submission Blitz – “No” but Go

While I was preparing for today’s submission to Lamplight, another pro-rate rejection came in. The editor, while not interested in my story, was kind enough to say she was pleased to see a submission from me in the slush pile. As strange as this may sound, it’s nice to just have my name recognized and my efforts acknowledged. I may not be meeting with any pro-rate success but the encouragement is always helpful. By the end of these submission blitzes I’m usually feeling pretty downtrodden. Any bolstering of my spirits makes the slew of rejections easier to bear (along with the odd acceptance, of course.)

I’m hoping to hear back soon on some of the novel submissions I’ve made, but it could be a few months yet. As it stands, all of my stand-alones have been submitted somewhere at this point, one to Angry Robot, two to Exile Editions and three to Simon 451. I’m considering submitting one of them to Crossed Genres if they get a “no” from where they’re at now. Considered CG is looking for mixed genre works, my writing may have better luck with them. I’m hoping CG will still be accepting submissions if and when that happens.

More tomorrow J