Rebecca Adams Wright's Blog, page 2

Writers’ Blog Hop

Despite the fact that this site is only a “blog” in the very loosest sense, I am participating today in a writers’ blog hop.  I was inspired to do so by a request from my dear friend Tim Susman, whose far more articulate answers to these questions can be found on his website.

What am I working on?

Several projects, though at the moment I am focusing on the final edits and promotional material surrounding my upcoming story collection, The Thing About Great White Sharks.  This collection is slated to be released early in 2015, so there’s at least a deadline on that distraction.  During lulls in the revision I am dabbling with a couple of newer, orphaned short stories (they didn’t quite make the collection deadline) and preparing to plunge (back) into my next large project: a YA novel told from the point of view of a teen dad whose son isn’t quite…human.  I have an outline and five chapters of this novel written, but work on the collection has diverted my attention for a while.  I plan to attack the YA story with more gusto in a few months’ time.

How does my work differ from others in the genre?

That would depend on how you categorize my work.   I consider my stories to be “speculative fiction,” which is the closest I can come to conveying in few words that I consider my work to be intimate, character-based, and rooted in the natural world (elements of narrative which often characterize so-called “literary fiction”) as well as defined by some fantastical element–ghosts, time travel, advanced robotic pets, aliens, far future living, etc.  My work may stand out from the fiction of other writers blending or bending genres in that it is simultaneously humorous and humane–or it may not.  A number of genre-fuzzy writers combine those elements nicely.  My work has a dark streak, too, however.  And a lot of animals.  Just as placing current events in a science fictional context can help a writer get away with bald social commentary, I sometimes feel that wrapping deep emotions around animals–pets, mostly, but also wild creatures–allows me to speak more freely about troubling human needs and desires.

Why do I write what I do?

Some of my answer is explained above, in why I so often find myself writing about human relationships to animals.  As to why I write fantastic, character-based fiction, well, it’s just so much more interesting to me personally to say “sure this marriage is going south, but what if that’s because the wife is a bird who really, physically, HAS to fly south?  For the winter?” than to write about a crummy marriage mimetically.  All stories are made up to some degree, and all “reality” is suspect.  I find that I am best able to access emotional truth as a reader and writer through speculative fiction.

How does my writing process work?

Until recently, I had a fairly structured writing routine: most days, I was at the computer by 8:30 or 9:00 every morning, writing for a few hours before heading off to my secondary job.  I would spend a half hour or so each day reading over previous writing, make a few small (small!) edits, and then pen anywhere from 250 to 1500 new words.  Now that I am caring full-time for my young baby, however, routines are out the window–at least for a while.  These days I write whenever I can–while my daughter naps, or, more reliably, after my husband comes home in the evening.

As to how I treat a manuscript: first comes the rough draft.  Then, if I read through this initial draft and decide that, no matter how messy, the story has some potential, I meddle with the sentences and plot until I have draft number two (or three, or four, if draft one was particularly rough).  At this stage I send the story out to my husband and to a small pool of incredibly helpful first readers.  Once they’ve read and followed up with me, I pen another draft that takes into account their best criticism.  Depending on what they have to say, this new draft may be nearly identical to the story read by my first readers or may appear almost completely different.  I read this draft out loud in order to catch every typo or nonsensical bit that I can.  Then I send the story out into the world and cross my fingers.  After that, it’s time to move on to the next project.

Next Hop!

Stay tuned here for answers to these questions from Kodi Scheer, a talented friend who has been published in The Chicago Tribune and the Iowa Review and who recently released an amazing story collection, Incendiary Girls.

 

Story set to air on WBEZ

Exciting news! My newest short story of Great Lakes eco-terrorism, “Straws,” will soon air as part of WBEZ public radio’s After Water series. Chicago fans, you can listen at 2pm your time on July 30th. Everyone else, you will find the audio at http://www.wbez.org/series/front-center/after-water-science-art-and-journalism-around-climate-change-110544.

The full text of the story will be available post-broadcast at http://afterwater.tumblr.com/. Check it out! There are some other wonderful stories up there already.

Story Collection SOLD

Big news–I have sold my first book! My collection of short stories has been picked up by publisher Little A and will be appearing sometime early in 2015. I am thrilled to see a manuscript that represents many years and much energy in such good hands, and am really looking forward to working with editor Carmen Johnson and all the other great folks over at Little A. I owe thanks to everyone who has looked at these stories over the years, especially my Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Workshop classmates and the members of my University of Michigan MFA cohort.  Such an exciting time here!  More information will be upcoming, of course, as the book heads to press.

“Yuri, in a Blue Dress” up at The Account

My dystopian short-short “Yuri, in a Blue Dress” is now available on the website of The Account.   Thanks to editors Tyler Mills and Brooke Wonders the story looks absolutely beautiful, and thanks to my fellow contributors it is surrounded by a marvelous group of new poems and essays.  Go take a look!

New Story Upcoming!

I am pleased and proud to announce that my story “Yuri, in a Blue Dress” will be appearing in The Account sometime this Spring.  For those of you not familiar with this new magazine, The Account is a whip-smart “Journal of Poetry, Prose, and Thought” put out by a group of very talented folks in Chicago.  Not only does the magazine grant access to some amazing text and visual art, but the artists in each issue also offer short aesthetic statements that appear beside their work.  If you’re interested in my new story and how/why I wrote it, be looking for the April 2014 issue of The Account.

Reaction to “Sheila;” Fan Art

I have been thrilled to find that reaction to Day One’s publication of “Sheila” has been almost unanimously positive.  Thank you to all those who wrote touching letters or positive reviews of the story.  It is so rewarding to discover how many readers enjoyed “Sheila.”  If you haven’t read the story but would like to, it is still available as part of a “Day One” subscription (by purchasing a year of the magazine you automatically receive the previous issues) at this link.  “Sheila” is now also available as a stand-alone Kindle ebook for those who prefer just the one story.

The only thing that’s even better than a good review?  Learning that one artist and reader found “Sheila” worthy of some amazing fan art.  Award-winning comic artist Gabriel Bautista Jr. has created an image honoring the story’s protagonist (and his beloved spaniel herself, of course) that can be found here.  Beautiful, no?

“Sheila” up on Amazon

My short story “Sheila” is now up at Amazon.com as part of their new Day One publication.  I am so proud to be the cover story for this very first issue of a digital magazine that Amazon envisions as “a weekly digital publication dedicated to short fiction—including work from debut authors and stories from around the world translated into English—and poetry.”  Check out my tale of a man and his robotic dog (as well as the wonderful poem by Zack Strait it is alongside, and the amazing cover illustration by artist Forsyth Harmon) over at http://www.amazon.com/dayone.

CSSF SF Novel Writers Workshop

It’s official: I will definitely be attending the Center for the Study of Science Fiction’s SF Novel Worskhop this year. The other attendees seem like great people (especially my enormously talented friend Brooke Wonders) and it will be great to work with leader Kij Johnson again. Kij was a tireless and perceptive Clarion teacher and I can only suppose that her insight will do wonders for my burgeoning YA novel. I need to get writing if I’m going to have chapters to share by June.

Story in Daily Science Fiction

Well, the news is in: my flash fiction “What to Expect When You’re Expecting an Alien Parasite” will be going out to Daily Science Fiction subscribers on Monday, January 14th.  The story will appear on the DSF website one week later.  If you can’t guess, I’m pretty thrilled!

Clarion Write-a-Thon

I am participating in this year’s Clarion Write-a-Thon, a fundraiser which benefits the Clarion Foundation.  This generous organization exists to fund and promote the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, one of the most important resources for new science fiction and fantasy writers anywhere.  I know how incredible and well-respected Clarion is because I went there last year, with the help of the Clarion Foundation.

Compared to the number of traditional MFA programs and creative writing workshops in America, there are very, very few serious outlets for burgeoning genre writers.   Clarion provides the critique, craft help, and professional information these young authors need.  The intensive, six-week workshop draws talent from all over the world and changes lives, but it isn’t free.

The Clarion Foundation knows how poor new writers can be.  They make it their goal to try to help every candidate with the talent and determination to earn a place in the class attend the Clarion workshop.  They helped me make it out to UCSD in 2011 and the experience completely reshaped my approach to  my writing.  I met other authors in my field, gained valuable publication advice, and just generally became a stronger, better-educated author.

With your help, I can do my part in 2012 to ensure that no eager and exceptional writer is turned away from Clarion next year due to a shortage of savings.  I’ll  write the words and sweat over the pages, all you have to do is donate.  A whole new generation of literature will thank you.