Chris Sarantopoulos's Blog, page 13

Published short story

I got published for the first time in 2014. That year was great for me, and totaled three short stories published in webzines. Loved them all, and it saddened me when two of those magazines ceased their operations. I think there’s a kitten whimpering with its head hung for every literary magazine that closes. For some of you, three short stories are nothing. Okay, maybe most of you craft that many in a day or so. But for me, short stories aren’t all that easy. I prefer coming up with longer narratives, stories where I can delve into some world building, deeper character arcs etc, so three were just fine :) Lets not forget I had only started writing a year before that.

I had high hopes for 2015, and I kept whoring my stories left and right, as Faulkner once said. Alas, 2015 sucked! I probably collected more rejection emails from that year than a seamstress has pins in her arsenal.

2016 on the other hand, seems to be a promising one. “Seems” is the keyword, as always. Bride of Chaos will publish a short story of mine for its 9Tales Told in the Dark series, sometime around April. Have a look at them, and if you like horror, fantasy, or sci-fi consider supporting the magazine. I’ve already stated my opinion on literary magazines in a previous message, and I stand by what I had said back then.

Filed under: Published work, Uncategorized Tagged: editors, horror, literary magazine, literary magazines, novel, publication, published, short story, writing

Synopsis, Query, and other dreaded stuff

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on two things (actually, one for the most part, but I just started on the second a couple of days ago): my query letter and the synopsis.

I’ll be honest with you, I honestly did think they would be easier. I’m a newbie, I should have known better; guilty as charged. I’ve already revised my query several times, and the thing I’ve been focusing on is the main character (John Piscus – you can read a small introduction to him here) and what’s at stake for him. Every time I think the letter is in a better state than before, and every time I post it online for critique, the comments and suggestions I receive make it seem as though I’ve done it all wrong. Which for all I know, it probably is completely wrong. Last critique round, an agented writer made some valid comments, so I thought I should follow her suggestions primarily and fill in with things the rest of the other helpful commenters said. So I revised, rewrote everything, and posted it again feeling confident that this time, thanks to her and the help of so many others who provided feedback before her, I had finally nailed the damn thing and would have a lot less to worry about. All the conflict was there, every necessary bit about the main character was there, the main twist that pushed the plot forward to the point of no return was there, what could possibly be wrong, right? Right? WRONG!

The commenters thought it was worse than before.

Either I am dumb or I’ve reached the point where if I keep following suggestions from different people, the whole thing will indeed turn into an unintelligible assortment of letters put one after the other. In other words, gibberish. And yet, it can’t have reached the point of perfection so soon. It’s impossible. They must be right. This thing takes time, yes? Months of working on those two paragraphs that will cause the potential agent to say “I’d like to have a look at that. Sure, why not?” Months of rearranging those 250-300 words within their sentences in such a way that they will be the most melodious thing anyone has ever read. It can’t be ready in a matter of a couple of weeks. No way!

That was when I decided to take a break. It was time to work on something unrelated to the query. Kind of. And thus I had a look at my synopsis. I know that some agents won’t ask for one, but I thought it would be better to have it ready and handy for those who would ask it. It shouldn’t be a problem; after all anyone who uses the snowflake method knows that one of the first steps is having the synopsis ready beforehand.

BUT

From drafting the story all this time ago to having completed the novel, I had changed the story, the plot, and the characters twice after I finished the first draft and once more before that, after I had finished outlining (are you seeing where this is going, folks?). Newbie writer as I am, I never updated my outline after I finished the novel. I just left it there for the future me to remember how different my story was when I first conceived it.

Here’s an insider’s tip. You ready folks? This is all the wisdom of the world. You sure you’re ready? Here goes: don’t do that. Yeah. Don’t. If you outline, save yourself the trouble and update that outline as you go along. Your future self will thank you. Learn from my mistakes.

Fun times!

So what stage have you reached with your WIP?

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: novel, outlinining, query, snowflake method, synopsis, The Darkening, writing

Inspiration prompt 20

Aside from the fact that it’s a really nice photo and the filters used make it even better, there’s a story behind it. At least I think there is one. And if there isn’t, well, I’m pretty sure we can invent one, yes? Isn’t that what we’re supposed we do? Create reality when there’s none?

Now, what do you think the story here is? Two elderly men talking about what? Their lives? Their past failures? disappointments perhaps? Let’s take it up a notch and go into the realms of fantasy, shall we? What if whatever story you had in mind, was told through the umbrella’s point of view? If you don’t like that, how about making the umbrella into a magical item, perhaps one that could control the weather, or something that could grant wishes? If you’re into more humourous stories, how about the umbrella being cursed and its bearer is always under a personal cloud pouring rain all the time, or perhaps the umbrella had abandonment issues and wanted to feel it is needed by its bearer. What would the dialogue be between the umbrella and the two men?

Lots of potential here. What do you think?

Filed under: Inspirational Prompts Tagged: inspiration prompt, novel, story, writing

Let the hunt begin!

Or rather, the process before the hunt.

I think it’s time for me to start researching agencies and agents that seek Post-apocalyptic Horror novels. I have to admit, it wasn’t easy for me to admit it, or come to terms with. Somewhere deep down in me, I’m still convinced that my book needs work. On the other hand, I know for a fact I can’t do anything more on it without destroying what I have created. Also, given the fact I’m somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to my writing (OKAY, okay… perhaps “somewhat” is an understatement, fine. Excessively then.), my inhibitions may be related to that. And there’s always the probability of me being a little bit intimidated. Bottom line is I don’t want any of these reasons to hold me back. I don’t want to be that writer who says the manuscript isn’t as good as it should be, when in fact it’s only an excuse, and spends the next 20-30 years always polishing it. And I do believe that if I tamper with the manuscript any more, I will make a mess of it. The perfectionist in me will not allow that. Worst case scenario, even if I do come up with anything to improve, it will be some time later, and I will have the chance to see things clearer than I do now.

So, from now on, I will make use of the LONG list of agencies I have bookmarked over the past three years and see which of their agents would be interested in something related to The Darkening. To increase my chances, I will research agencies in the UK as well as the US. It’s time I start drafting my query and research as much as possible about it.

I will also participate in every (or as many as humanly possible) twitter contests, hoping to pair, if not with an agent, then perhaps one of the editors (acquisition or otherwise), if any participate during these events. If possible, I’d like to have started querying by late spring or early summer, then I imagine around autumn the first rejections will start pouring in. Is it okay if I still hold a sliver of hope that one of them may request the full manuscript?

The query letter comes first though. Another uphill path stretches before me.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: agent, agent hunt, novel, query letter, The Darkening, writing

Holidays alongside memories

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful time, and I wish you all the best for you and your families.

I was rummaging through some old (very old, to be honest) stuff from my time in Scotland (any Aberdonians here or Scotts in general? Raise your hands please) and I found a booklet I had completely forgotten about. In it I found a dozen or so poems I had written way back in the late 90s. At least, at the time, I thought they were poems; not sure what anyone would call them now. I thought I had lost it, destroyed it, or just left it for the next tenant to find.

As I said, I am a late bloomer as far as writing is concerned, but I guess I did show a tiny spark of the need to write from back then, even though it didn’t flourish, and I totally forgot about I had even attempted it. I wonder if there are any salvageable lines in them? I’ll have to work on them more and do some editing (back then, I still believed writers produced their work in one sitting, and it came out perfect… yeah, I know. Silly me.) before I even attempt to consider them as poems, let alone show them to anyone. But it brought back a lot of memories, from a really nice time in my life.

Anyway, how was your holiday season? Did you do anything fun? Did you visit any other places, go abroad perhaps?

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: aberdeen, editing, holidays, New year, poems, scotland, writing

Inspirational prompt 19

I’ll be taking the next few weeks off from blogging. The last post of 2015 is an inspirational prompt with an image I consider related to The Darkening.

Though I’ve never watched the show Ripper Street, from which the image is taken, I can not but feel captivated by that look on the girl’s face. Also, notice the body language, how tense she appears.

In The Darkening, my protagonist John Piscus, is a deranged survivor of an apocalyptic event. I envisioned John having this same expression on his face each time he looked inside him and his life, and of what he was capable of doing to carry on; of what lines he was willing to cross.

So, have you ever tried writing a story from the POV of a person like that? How would you tackle it? What POV would you use and why? Does it inspire you to write something?

Until the next time (sometime in January 2016), I wish you all a happy festive season, and a happy New Year!

Filed under: Inspirational Prompts Tagged: inspirational prompt, novel, post apocalyptic, POV, story, The Darkening, writing

Update

I got most of the beta’s feedback and I’m currently into heavy editing mode. I mean I was in heavy editing mode ever since I finished drafting it and decided to re-write The Darkening (twice, mind you), but now I’m really into HEAVY editing mode. I feel like this, this new round of edits is the real deal, the “make me or break me,” kind of thing. This is when I will actually WRITE the book. After all, writing is editing. And while I should be more than excited, not only for getting constructive feedback (every one of my betas pointed out things I had missed completely and they all reached to the same conclusions), but for finally being a few steps away from the final stretch (of this round, of course), alas I lack the motivation to do it. It’s as if I flipped a switch at some point in my head and I considered the work done and done, even though I consciously reminded myself time and again that it was only the beginning. The funny thing is that I’m at the point where I have to read the whole book and do only yet very important two things: reduce the excessive explanations (aka overwriting) and tame some of the descriptions. Once I hurdle over these two things, it’s the minor, though even more important, details I have to fine tune. I already managed to condense the first 7 chapters into 4, and I reduced the total word count by 6K+ words (and every writer knows how hard it is to have to murder our darlings). And I did it with no problem or hesitation, only to find myself unmotivated to cut back on the unnecessary fluff. The fluff! Sometimes I really hate the way my mind behaves. I’m telling you, if I hadn’t developed a daily writing/editing routine by now, I would have abandoned and shelved the Darkening (shame on you, Chris, for even thinking about it!).

No, I can’t do that. It’s my baby, my firstborn. I want to see it reach perfection :)

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: editing, novel, The Darkening, writing, writing problems

Literary magazines

I recently received a few rejections for some of my short stories. OK, fine; a lot of them, and they all came more or less at the same time. In fact, one of them has amassed more rejections than all the others put together. If you’re like me and are trying to get a short story out there, perhaps this article will be of some use. It’s a long read, but it gives an insight on how magazines work and think. As for me, I’ve accepted the fact that this year I will publish nothing.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lincolnmichel/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-published-in-a-literary-magazi?utm_term=.hvzJn621B#.gexxBMp6Z

Filed under: Uncategorized

Inspirational prompt 18

Here’s another image to set you creativity gears in motion. What do you think happened? Accident or something deliberate? WAs someone dear to the girl in the picture lost or is it just a reaction to the loss of worldly possessions? What if the character you create is more selfish and cries not over the ashes and the destruction, but because now she won’t be able to fulfil some self-centred whim? What if she was misguided into doing something that resulted in the fire.

There are a lot of stories you can come up with this one. Try one :)

Filed under: Inspirational Prompts Tagged: inspiration, novel, story, writing, writing prompt

Agents’ rejections explained

I found this article the other day, thought it may be of interest to those of you who, like me, want to have their work published traditionally. It explains some of the cryptic replies agents usually give.

Has any of you tried or thinking of trying querying for traditional publishing? Have you encountered these types of rejections or something similar?

http://linkis.com/litreactor.com/colum/M7qj0

Filed under: Uncategorized