This is how it goes ...

[truepenny]

matociquala has an excellent essay on becoming a midlist writer.

I can't add anything to what she wrote, and I don't have any sage advice, but I can give you this snapshot of what being a professional short story writer looks like. Conveniently, this also gives me the chance to vent some of my frustration before I explode at the cats. We've seen this movie. It never ends well.

*ahem*

I have eighteen short stories that are finished, but not published.

Three of these are in press (with Alchemy, All Hallows, and Tales of the Unanticipated), and I have no idea when they will see the light of day.

Eight of them are in submission. The minimum length of time anything has been out is two months, the maximum a couple weeks short of a year. I've queried* about two of them this morning. ETA: And one query just bounced. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Seven stories, then, have been rejected and come home with their tails between their legs, and I'm trying to figure out where to send them. For the ones that have racked up an impressive number of rejections, this is harder than you might think. I've been trying to think of a market for one since June, two since July, four since August. Five of the seven, to add insult to injury, are horror stories which do not participate in what one might call Teh Sexy. Which, as I am using it in this instance, has nothing to do with sex or sexual content, but with novelty. Many horror editors seem to want novelty, and I don't do novelty in horror. (I am reminded here of Eddie Izzard's sketch about original sin.) I write traditional horror stories. The point, as far as I'm concerned, is not to do something new, but to use the traditional tropes and conventions of the genre as well as possible, and ideally to say something about human psychology along the way.

Or perhaps this merely indicates that I'm not very imaginative, but very good at rationalizing in self-defense.

In any event, seven stories need a market, because I really can't sell them if I never send them out. And then I have three short stories that are neither finished nor unfinished, because something's fucked somewhere, and I have no idea what it is or how to fix it. And all the semi-finished stories that are waiting for me to get my head out of my ass and figure out how to write again.

(There's a whole 'nother post about why my short-story-writing engine seems to be broken, but let's not go there right now, kthnx.)

This is the part of selling short stories that sucks. Not the rejections, so much--although they're no fun--but picking yourself up again afterwards and getting back in the ring. Because, you know, that's the part that you don't have to do. I don't have the Witch King of Angmar standing over me with his big spiky mace, telling me that if I don't submit the damn story, he's going to bash my head in. I could quit. I could just give up and lie down and admit defeat. And I'm bad with things I should do. Always have been.

It's hard enough shoving the hippopotamus up the hill without the suck monkeys tying my shoelaces together.

---
*Yes, even an antisocial occupation such as writing does demand a certain amount of assertiveness. I hate that.

Comments

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Amen. Sing it, sister.

I freely admit I gave up the short stories when my first novel was published. I had always struggled with them, achieved very moderate success, and one everything was on the REJECTED list, I stopped submitting them. Hell with it. I'll write books. For that, you get a contract.

But I do have to say I regret that one of my stories never found a home. I've read it at all the conventions this year, everyone loves it, I've had people tell me they need a break afterword to recover from it, etc.

But noooo. Rejected. Everywhere.

Okay, enough with my rant. I feel your pain.

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

How ironic... email me off list 'cause I might have a home for a story of yours (or may need a new one). Steve

[pameladean]

*Yes, even an antisocial occupation such as writing does demand a certain amount of assertiveness. I hate that.

Oh, tell it! If I'd wanted to be a salesperson, I'd have BEEN A SALESPERSON, all RIGHT?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

P.

[babilary.livejournal.com]

firstly, I should introduce myself. we have mutual friends, which is how I discovered your lj, and when I looked I discovered your book is one I recently saw while browsing amazon & put in my "next time I buy books, buy this one" list. so. howdy.

about short stories. I have a rather depressingly small number, only 4 completed short stories, and only one has found a home. one is "out there" awaiting answer and the other two have gotten several rejections and sit in a pile on my desk. I always feel like I should rewrite the story after a couple rejections, or shelve it, but it's probably insecurity talking. thanks for your post--it helps to hear successful writers like yourself having the same trials.

-Christina

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Greetings! And welcome.

I've found that if I get three or four rejections all mentioning the same flaw in a particular story, it's probably worth taking another look. Or if the editor's comments make me want to kick myself for not having recognized the glaring and obvious problem that they're tactfully pointing out. Other than that, no, you'll only drive yourself crazy.

I've sold 2 stories to the first market I tried. I've also sold 2 stories to the eighth market I tried. Rejectomancy is a mug's game.

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

Um, you may have enough stories for a collection. There are a handful of small presses that do publish story collections lately. Especially if one has novels to help one's track record...

But I think collections should have at least 25% original content if possible.

And you might find that, after having sold a collection (with both reprints and not-yet-published stories) some places might be interested in running some of the pieces as excerpts or teasers for the forthcoming collection.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I keep saying I'm not a short story writer. And just now I'm not writing short stories, so that seems to be evidence. But I know what you mean about sending them back out again: oof.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

It would so much easier if you could just _think_ them into the envelopes. It's not even the figuring out what to do next that gets me--it's that I apparently can't be bothered to sit down and lick the flap.