WTF WotF?
I’m havinga difficult 2025 so far, story sales-wise.
After making my first of the year fourdays into 2025 (‘Planes of Illusory’, a previously unpublished flash, to Angry Gable Press’ forthcoming anthology This Exquisite Topology: ACollection of Happy Abstractions), it’s been a total blank since. This decade, mysubmission to acceptance ratio has gone from 40 (2020) to 30, 18, 26, to 17last year, a downward trend I was getting used to. This year, I’ve submitted 75for that one bite. It’s earnt me $25. Financially, if that was ever my reason forwriting, I may as well panhandle outside the Co-op.
My lifetime record against the big boys in the pro markets iseven worse. Since 2017, when I started recording all my submission on the Grinder, Clarkesworld have seen and rejected 76 of my stories, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores 71, Asimov’s 67, Fantasy & Science Fiction 66, and Apex 65.
But every so often I get a sign that they’re not entirelydeaf to my hammering on the door. Trevor Quachri, editor of Analog, recently said “I like your style of writing andsuggest that you try us again”. Okay, he probably has that phrase on a keyboardshortcut, but, hey, it’s a nibble in thepseudo-fishing game of short speculative fiction submissions. Glass always halffull, and all of that.
One silver lining is that my consistent failure in the pro market means I stillqualify to enter The L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Competition. But eventhere, where I have got used to honorable (sic) and silver honorable (sic)mentions, I seem to now be casting my seed on stony ground.
Last year, I thought I’d write something specifically forWotF, more of a novellete than just a short story, something with a bit ofsweep and grandeur (think Oscar-bait movie rather than just movie). Somethingactually set in space rather than, say, Chingford. A tad over 9000 words, Ipolished it until it shone. I thought it was up there with, if not better than, my WotF finalistfrom 2017.
It didn’t even get an honorable (sic).
I had a very nice email exchange with Joni Labaqui, contest director. She agreed, if I resubmitted the following quarter, she’d steerthe story to a different first reader. I resubmitted. I can only assume this isa me-problem, because it came back unplaced again.
WotF send a very nice, albeit generic, email with the possiblereasons for one's abject, screaming failure. So, I invite you, dear reader, tojoin me in my attempt to work out what the fuck went wrong…
We appreciate your talent and hard work to produce thisstory. However, this one is not quite ready for us yet. Keep writing though,don’t give up. In order to help you, we’ve provided the list below of commonreasons that a story needs some work. Definitely consider revising itaccordingly and entering it again.
Here are the most common reasons:
Failure to Launch: Your story begins too slowly.There isn’t a lot of room in a short story for long introductions. As much asyou might love the introductory scene, if it doesn’t help the story hit theground running, consider whether you are beginning your tale too soon. Is therea good narrative hook? Have you let the reader know where they are in time andspace? Are you introducing your protagonist—or any character—for the reader tofollow? And please, don’t send us stories that begin with the character wakingup. Most editors hate that trope. Give us interesting action. Make us want tofollow your character through the entire manuscript. Make friends with yourdynamic verbs. Don’t “was” us to death.
There are 300 words, during which the maincharacter is introduced (“an ambassadorial magus and me, a fast-trackedcadet as aide”), before we get to “destiny came without warning, one moment calm, the next adisorientating, ear-splitting snake-hiss of jetting gas, a flash of darknessfollowed by pulsing washes of scarlet, the muffled roar of engines replaced ata stroke by a choking metallic whine and the shriek-shriek-shriek of alarms,and the vessel shaking like it was pulling itself apart.”
Off the starting grid after less than 3% of the story. Conclusion: Not guilty.
Needs more Science Fiction or Fantasy Elements: Thiscontest publishes only speculative literature. We do not accept mainstreamstories. If there is no science fiction or fantasy element introduced earlyenough for us to recognize, that also helps to bring about the conclusion ofthe story, this may be the reason why you are receiving this letter. Justbecause a story takes place in a science fiction or fantasy setting doesn’tmake it science fiction or fantasy. If the plot can be moved to any othersetting, with any other characters, with no change in the outcome, it’sprobably not speculative literature.
The fifteenth and seventeenth words are ‘ship’ and ‘hyperspace’,so context should be clear. It deals with disembodied intelligences seeking bodies to occupy. And did I mention it’s all set in space? Is that not SF enough?
Conclusion: Not guilty.
Not Sticking the Landing: Your story peters out, ordoesn’t end in a way that satisfies what you promised the reader in thebeginning. Beginning with one character and ending with another but making noreference to the initial quest at the end, or going off on a tangent that leadsthe story in a completely different direction confuses and frustrates thereader. You might have submitted an excerpt from a longer work without makingit stand on its own. Make sure that you finish your plot.
The story is about “a secret diplomatic mission to bring peace to aconflict promising to spill over from Negus Umbra to other worlds” (top of page2). The narrative, which centres on how to continue the diplomatic missionafter being stranded in space, ends with Negus Umbra’s fate sealed, determinedby the protagonist’s actions and decisions – and mistakes. It doesn’t just hangtogether, it’s laser focussed.
Conclusion: Not guilty.
Playing in some else’s sandbox: You may have decidedto write a story using a trope that we have seen far too often. Vampire orwerewolf stories, angel stories, secret aliens living among ordinary people,the protagonist suddenly discovering that s/he is immortal, powerful, the ChosenOne, the long-lost child of the monarch are all well-worn and tired. Thosetropes may even have vocabulary which has become all too familiar in similarstories, and will make yours seem like a poor copy. If you have a new andoriginal take on a typical plot and write it well, send it! We’d love to seeit. Or you may have impinged on copyrighted or trademarked worlds. Fan fictionis not allowed, especially in an ongoing property, such as a popular movie,television show, game, or book series. But even if the universe you chose iswell out of copyright, you may not have a unique enough take on it.
Not fan fiction. No well-worn tropes, other than aspacecraft suffering an accident. And whilst I don’t claim to have invented theidea of disembodied alien intelligences requiring bodies, it’s not exactly the Benjamin Sniddlegrass level of well-worn, is it? And I’ve just Googled the names of aliens andalien races I cooked up by blindly stabbing at the keyboard. Qu’TyTh’Gth,anyone? No, didn’t think so.
Conclusion: Not guilty.
Too Much Violence: Stories featuring egregiousviolence, gore, or torture are not suitable for this contest. If it’s notnecessary for the plot, then cut it out. Otherwise, revise your story and sendit elsewhere. Send us something else that fits our guidelines.
Yes, there’s blood, there’s violence, but short, sharp,story-relevant, not dwelt on, and no more than in a family-friendly movie like Star Wars.
Conclusion: Not guilty.
Too Much Sex, Sensuality or Profanity: Ouranthologies are meant to be read by young adults on up. If the theme is tooadult, or there are “on screen” sex scenes, it’s not for us. If you can tone itdown, you may rewrite and try again. Otherwise, there are other markets thatwill accept it. Some sensuality is fine, even welcome, if it works in the plot.One F-bomb won’t scuttle your story. Long passages of swearing aren’t suitablefor this contest.
They’re stranded in space. Oxygen is running out. There’sno time for sex. Maybe there isn’t enough?
#
As regards profanity, I once had an emailexchange with Joni Labaqui regarding a different story when I defended it ashaving ‘no more swearing than around a normal British family dinner table’. I thinkshe was a bit shocked when I unpacked that for her. I can only conclude Americans don’t swear, like womendon’t fart. That said, I had WotF’s puritanism on my radar for this one, and the strongestword here is ‘steel’.
Conclusion: Not guilty.
Children’s story: As above. Our anthologies aremeant to be read by young adults on up. If the plot is too simplistic, if thecharacters are led by the nose to their conclusion, that’s why you’re receivingthis back.
No, it’s really not.
Conclusion: Not guilty.
Devotional or Political Content: If you have aspecific point to make that feels as if you are lecturing the reader, pleaseconsider a market that publishes that kind of material. If we are overwhelmedby your agenda, we ask you to tone it down and concentrate on a plot that will pleasea wide variety of readers.
If there’s an unwitting agenda at play, other than ‘we’reall doomed’, I can’t spot it re-reading it. But then, allegories tend to go over my head.
Conclusion: Not guilty, at least not deliberately.
Reality check: Your plot or character behavior iswildly implausible, so much that it stopped us dead. This doesn’t mean thatmagic can’t exist. It means that a character in danger of losing his life isn’tgoing to philosophize about unrelated subjects for sixteen pages. Is the rewardfor fulfilling the quest ridiculously small or entirely pointless? Charactersdon’t work against their own self-interest. Even self-sacrifice fulfills someinner need. Look at your plot from the point of view of a stranger. Would areasonable being act that way?
Okay, this one is subjective, but I had it front and centrein my mind whilst writing. The story concerns a disembodied alien intelligencethat the inexperienced protagonist goes up against and loses. Her decision todo so is, I think, consistent with her character and the impossibility of her circumstances.
But, if my fault falls under any of these headings, it maybe this one. The story is written to an eight-sequence structure (as most of mylonger stories are). But I’ve skipped the eighth. The seventh is where thecharacter gets to their lowest point, when all seems doomed, before snatchingvictory from the jaws of defeat in an uplifting finale. But, in this story, thereis no snatching, no finale. The antagonists win. Sometimes life is like that. Sometimesstories need to be like that.
But I’ve noticed an increasing habit amongst publishers, particularlyAmerican publishers, to reject the downbeat on principle, as if there's now an unwritten law stories have to be uplifting, that the good guys and girls need to win every time. Reality check? I think that’s exactlywhat I’ve done. Deny reality in stories, and it’s a small step to denyingreality in the real world. Which sounds a bit too much like the world we're living in. Writers of the Future? Maybe too much like Writers of the Present.
Conclusion: Not guilty for reasons of insanity. Or should it be for reasons of excessive sanity?
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My Thoughts are with You. Your Thoughts are with the Authorities for Calibration Against Societal Norms
Award-nominated science fiction and slipstream author Robert Bagnall’s second anthology of twenty-four stories, variously bleak, funny, bleakly funny or – very occasionally – optimistic.
2084 - The Meschera Bandwidth
2084. The world remains at war.
In the Eurasian desert, twenty-year old Adnan emerges from a coma with memories of a strictly ordered city of steel and glass, and a woman he loved.
The city is the Dome, and the woman... is Adnan's secret to keep.
Adnan learns what the Dome is, and what his role really was within it. He learns why everybody fears the Sickness more than the troopers. And he learns why he is the only one who can stop the war.
Persuaded to re-enter the Dome to implant a virus that will bring the war machine to its knees, the resistance think that Adnan is returning to free the many - but really he wants to free the one.
24 0s & a 2
Twenty-four slipstream stories. Frequently absurd, often minimifidian, occasionally heroic.“Brilliant stories, well written!” (five stars, Amazon).
