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What is a realistic path to becoming a published SF author?

deathpanels — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:35:44 -0800

What is a realistic path to becoming a published SF author? I recently saw someone who was trying to become an comedian/actor and had just started out. Her method of daily motivation was to chart a set of steps that had to be accomplished before she would have a shot at her ultimate goal, acting in a movie. So this chart looked sort of like:

Move to L.A.
Get work as an extra
Get in an improv group at ____ theater (I can't remember the name)
Find a talent agent
Go to auditions
Speaking role in a feature-length film

...but obviously with more detail that I am failing to remember. Each item on this list gets checked off on the way from top to bottom, showing her progress toward her ultimate goal.

Perhaps it seems a bit silly, but I like this a lot, so I started thinking about my own creative goals, and how to apply this model to publishing SF fiction. Here my information gets fuzzy. Although I've often fantasized about having a book published, I am embarrassed to report that I don't quite understand the intermediary steps that must be met before one is likely to be published. I know I'd need a literary agent to submit to publishing houses, but what "scut work" is typical before agents will take an author seriously enough to take them on as a client? Is publishing short fiction in magazines – Asimov's et al – still regarded as an entry point? Is attending Clarion a big stepping stone worth working toward?

I know we have a few resident SF writers on MeFi. Perhaps some of you could help. The more details the better. Thanks in advance.

(Note: Self-publishing, while perfectly fine and wonderful, is not something I am interested in pursuing at this time.)

to join or not to join?

nonasuch — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:46:36 -0800

Should I join SFWA? I just made my third short story sale to a qualifying market. But $80 a year is a non-trivial amount of money for me, and I'm not sure I'll get much out of it besides the ego boost of being a Real Writer. Are you a SFWA member, and if so are you glad you joined?

Time for some new reading material.

Scientist — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:05:31 -0800

Hit me with some great, freely-available, science fiction short stories. I love science fiction shorts. My dad always had a few old Nebula and Hugo collections kicking around the house and I went through them over and over again. I'm looking to pick up some more and I figure there have got to be quite a few available here and there across the internet. Help me find some of the very best!

Here are the requirements:

1) Must be a short story. If it takes more than an hour to read it, it's probably too long.

2) Must be science fiction. Feel free to take as broad a definition of this as you like.

3) Must be available, on the web, for free. HTML, PDF, TXT, doesn't matter. I need to be able to just browse over to it and start reading.

4) Must be a specific story. I'm not looking for collections, magazines, anthologies, or writing groups. Just links to single stories that I can go ahead and start reading.

5) Must come highly recommended by you. I'm looking for stuff that you personally have read and loved, stuff that's really, really good. If you want to tell me why you think it's good so much the better, but honestly you look like a reliable, discerning sort of person and I'm willing to trust your judgement.

That's it. In the interests of making this question maximally useful to as many people as possible, I won't try to restrict things to only stories I have read myself, or only certain subgenres, or anything like that.

Now go to it! Bring me your choicest bite-sized bits of online SF! Find me something to tickle my brain and entertain me in the boring cracks of my life. All I have to offer in return is undying universal love.

"Connect" takes off

thatwhichfalls — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:07:16 -0800

A science fiction story that I have uploaded as a free kindle download to Amazon has has somehow taken off (it's at #619 in the free kindle store and is rising fast). How do I best capitalize on this?

Fiction writing advice for the advanced amateur.

PhoBWanKenobi — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:58:53 -0800

I seem to be teetering on the edge of getting somewhere with my writing, but I'm not there yet. How can I learn to get a handle on pacing and characterization in my novels and short stories? Background rambling snowflake info: I write genre fiction--sci-fi and fantasy short stories, and sci-fi and fantasy young adult novels. I've been trying to become a published writer for three years now and seem to be almost getting somewhere. Looking at my spreadsheet, about 80% of my rejection letters are personal rejection letters (even from some pro markets!), and I've had many stories get passed on to editorial boards or senior editors, but no acceptances. I've queried two novels, and had an okay rate of material requests, but likewise, no luck there actually getting signed. And I'm starting to notice a pattern.

I come from a poetry-writing background, and editorial consensus seems to suggest that my stylistics are very strong. However, they also suggest that my work is lacking in characterization and/or pace. I get lots of rejections that say things like "gorgeous writing, but I had no sense of the main character," or "Very well-written, but slow. Send more!" In fact, I just got a novel rejection from an editor today that said something exactly along those lines. As a note, the criticisms about characterization usually seem centered on my protagonists or narrators--they tend to seem bland, I guess, particularly when held up against my more dynamic secondary characters.

I'm currently 2/3rds done with my next novel draft, and this time I want to Do It Right. I'm not sure if my process has something to do with it. I plot pretty extensively in my head, but I've never had success using note cards or outlines or any kind of prewriting like that. In fact, every time I've tried to do that, my enthusiasm for the writing wanes before I get very far, and the project dies. Because I've at the very least figured out what works for me in putting down a draft, I'd prefer advice/resources that focus on fixing these problems in revision. But if you think I really need to sit down with some note cards or something, I'll do it.

So, metafilter, help me become awesome. Do you have any tips and resources for dealing with these specific problems in fiction writing, or advice for advanced amateurs who want to finally manage to go pro? With my last manuscript, I picked up Self-editing for Fiction Writers, but it really wasn't helpful to me because I already know how to manage things like beats and said-bookisms and adverbs--I'm honestly looking for something a little more advanced. I know about the shrunken manuscript technique, and I'm planning on using it when I'm done with this project and would love more advice along those lines. I know I'll probably never be Dan Brown in terms of pacing, but I really want to work hard to be better than . . . well, this!

(Oh, and I have a bunch of really awesome beta readers and am now part of a crit group.)

Thanks for any advice you might have.

A ceative font for my fount of creativity!

Slap*Happy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:35 -0800

I would like to write in a typeface that beckons to an unreasonable future populated by ludicrous characters, yet isn't unbearable to read a few hours at a time on a 24" iMac monitor or 13" iBook laptop. I am writing a series of science-fiction short stories, closer to Spider Robinson and Warren Ellis in tone and theme than further. What readable, contemporary (preferably freely downloadable or reasonably cheap) font would work best when slapping down prose in TextEdit?

Note, I have an alergic reaction to Helvetica, and indeed most of the fonts included with Mac OS X, when not part of a logo of some sort. Windows-standard fonts make me sad about having to use a PC at work. Neither will do.

Also note, I'll convert to Times New Roman if I decide to submit it someplace for publication, or use something web-appropriate if I decide to web publish. I'm talking about a display font to make the creative process more pleasant and inspiring.

My god, it's full of Stars

Artw — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:27:24 -0800

I'm looking for a series of hardback science fiction anthologies I dimly remember from childhood (sometime in the mid 80s). I think it had a one word title with a number, and the series went up to at least number five. I remember two stories in particular... In one a childs home starmaking experiment goes wrong when he puts too much matter into his simulated universe, creating a spinning cylindrical black hole which escapes and destroys the earth.

In another two creatures, essentially sentient stars, play a game in which they throw their cores at each other. The cores are of different colors, and the color difference is analogous to a gender difference. In the end the "male" star impregnates the "female" star but loses it's core. As a dying act it creates life on an earth like planet and then flings the planet out into space.

Any ideas?

Help me find an obscure R.A. Lafferty quote.

rwhe — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:53:41 -0800

Help me find an obscure R.A. Lafferty quote. Just saw Little Miss Sunshine and was struck by its message of embracing one's own utter dorkiness. It reminded me of a quotation by SF writer R.A. Lafferty about finding or inventing for yourself a field of knowledge or an art form so unique (excuse me; you know what I mean) that you will be the first to study it and create in it, and since the first, therefore the best. Knowing Lafferty's inclination to use Biblical allusions, Adam may have been mentioned in there as the first to do a lot of things.

Lafferty has always been an inspiration to me. Ghod knows he certainly lived his advice, and didn't just spout it. Can you help me find it?