Sorry to hear that, Jeff. How many have you sent out?

Kind of going with the query letter/outline for all of my fellow travellers in that special hell, have you tried going to writer's conventions (not necessarily workshops like Clarion, but the bigger ones) and pitched your work there? If so, was it at all helpful? Which one did you go to? I've heard of this being worthwhile, but don't really no where to begin on it.

So far I've received 8 form rejections out of 17 submissions total.

On the bright side, I'm still waiting to hear back from one agent who is reading the entire manuscript, and a book publisher who would be a perfect fit for my book. If those turn out to be rejections, I'm going to be seriously depressed.

For now I'm trying to remain hopeful and patient.

What story are you pitching right now, Jeff? Your fool's journey story?

I've a question for anyone ... I've got a character I've been tossing around for about 3 years, and recently have pulled him back to the fore and started thinking about him again, to flesh him out. I've got two stories waiting for him, but recently decided he needed to be fleshed out a bit first.

Today while I was mowing I contemplated him being Roma (he was initially Jewish, or Roma, but was never clear). There will be some backstory eventually, about why he does what he does, but the gist of it is that he's an occultist, a collector of antiquities, and can see patterns where others can't, which eventually makes him a player in the great cosmic game.

Is this too contrived? Over done? I don't know if it matters that he's from Earth, though definitely human(oid). He could be from another realm entirely, so I could make up is race/ethnicity and base it on the Roma culture. Or am I just better off calling a spade a spade, making him Roma and just making sure that what I write is fresh and new?

Alternatively, how do I come up with the mysterious, middle aged, curio shop owner with an ethnicity tied to the 'old world' that isn't cliche? If not Roma (or Jewish), then what? Suggestions?

could he be an old/roman god exiled by the cosmic players because of the "new" gods new place in the world, something like american gods? living immortally and ready to help this new player make a name for himself?

quote:

Originally posted by The_Raven:
Does anyone on here know of any good markets (magazines, ets.) for urban fantasy and just plain quirky, weirdness. I write short stories that, so far as I can tell, don't really fit into any sort of mold, not even urban fantasy, but that's close. They're what you might get if you crossed The Twilight Zone with O. Henry, with a hint of Stephen King on occassion (and bear in mind that they are not nearly as good as any of those...)

Anyone know of good markets for such oddwall work?

Have you ever tried ralan.com?

First off, I'm just now reading this thread cover to cover (after having posted a few times in relation to specific posts back around pages 6 or 7 or so). I'll catch up, and likely respond to some old posts in doing so.

quote:

Originally posted by Babylon the Bride:

quote:

Also working on a fantasy story, but I'm having a bit of a trouble with the plot - and I do want to finish the plot before I start writing seriously..

Want help with that?

Stepping in on this offer, is it open to all? I just sent you a (rather weird) PM

*laughing* funny, I replied to this thread back in page 3 I'd forgotten ... sorry for the ramble, carry on.

quote:

Originally posted by The Scoundrel:
Parrotslave, How is the B&N course? Do you find it helpful enough to recommend?

The short story thing helps get your foot in the door from what I understand. Pretty sure that's how Orson Scott Card broke in (in fact, I think he did something very similar to what you're considering doing in "The Worthing Saga"). On the ohter hand, people like Richard K. Morgan made it on their novel alone.

I've tried both...I don't know that one is easier than the other. It seems to me like they're very different crafts. If I were you, I'd work on some of your sci-fi shorts when you need a break from your novel, like after you finished a draft or hit a dead end and need to clear your mind.

I feel like I should know this already, but Scoundrel, are you a published writer? Shorts and novel?

quote:

Originally posted by Babylon the Bride:
I've posted this on the good news thread too...

I've been asked by an alternative scene magazine to contribute a short story! They're collecting English language short stories about Vienna for a special. And it can be any style (Hmm...horror? Sci-fi? )

And if I do this right...wow...I may actually be a Published Author this year!

So now of course my mind's gone completely blank. I can't remember anything about the city I live in!

So, Miss Babylon, any update on this?

Okay, I'm sorry for throwing all these posts out there at once, I'm just catching up and also getting back into my own writing so I've got some creative energy and desire to talk shop and yeah.

So. Character names. Anyone have any clever ideas for coming up with them? I just changed my protagonist from Oleg the gypsy curio shop owner to Thomas the 30-something midwest boy. He was Jeff for a few minutes, then Steve. No reason, just because. Then I started thinking about his parents and imagined them to be the sort of people who would name their one and only son after several popular people, so ...

Henry David Thearou
Thomas Jefferson
Upton Sinclair
=
Thomas David Sinclair I think it fits him quite nicely.

*looks around*
*hears someone shout off stage "Dude, you killed the thread!"*
*mopes off to lunch*

ROFL! I'm not the only one with threadkiller insecurities! Whew.

JP, I read I don't know how I missed all those posts before. I thought the last thing you put up here was the Ralan.com link.

Character names are rough. I usually change most of my character names over and over again, until it just sounds right. Especially if it's for a contemporary story (as opposed to some victorian cyberpunk-ish apocolaptic fantasy). Even then, some of the secondary characters keep getting their name's changed. How do I know when it's right? Personally, I do a lot of reading aloud, and I just keep changing it until the name literally sounds right to me. ( I think Thomas David Sinclair sounds great, by the way

As far as being published, I won a contest last year for the first the first chapter of my sci-fi/fantasy adult novel and got a runner-up award for my Y/A novel. The Y/A one is finished, but I haven't been able to get a publisher to bite on it yet. I'm thinking about revising my query though, 'cause I think it's pretty entertaining.

I got paid for winning the contest (wOOt) but no actual sales...so ONWARD!

All my male charactor names start off as Brian for some reason..

Then i go through a baby name book and pick names that mean something to their charactor.

I always remember one tip from a writing book, which was that each charactor's name should start with a different letter, and have different syllables (I think it works mainly for charactors who have a lot of scenes together)

I like to use obscure Saint names, usually ones that have a clear significance to the character, but occasionally I have been guilty of picking a name because I think it's pretty.

quote:

Originally posted by St.ßøudïcca:
All my male charactor names start off as Brian for some reason..

Then i go through a baby name book and pick names that mean something to their charactor.

I always remember one tip from a writing book, which was that each charactor's name should start with a different letter, and have different syllables (I think it works mainly for charactors who have a lot of scenes together)

Yeah, there's a few animes I've seen with characters with similar names... and whenever they say one characters' name I'm always like: "which was that!!!"

If I pick out a real name, yeah I use a baby book, and look for a meaning that works... but a lot of mine names are made up, for the non-humans... and for those I often translate words I think describe them into different languages, and see if any of those words inspire me to make a name...

*Chains self to thread*

Damn it! I will write!

*cheers for St. B!*
Write! Write! Write!

I got my first professional rejection letter last week. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I'm going to make a scrap book, I think.

a scrapbook of rejection letters? surely you have more confidence in yourself than that?

Confidence has nothing to do with it. If you try to submit your work, you're gonna get rejected. Probably a lot. But you keep submitting and swallowing those rejection letters because you remain confident in what you're doing. If you can have a good time with it, more power to you.

Sorry to hear about the rejection, Hugh. Good luck on the next go.

*hugs Hugh* sorry... just keep trying! Everyone gets rejected at some point... Even the pros, right?

My poetry got editor's choice for the poetry book! I'm so happy, and I'm a semi-finalist in the contest... Oh man, I really hope I win something, that'd be grand!