Oh yes, my little farsical hop "Duck Hunt" is showing up in the newest issue of Leading Edge. It just came hot off the presses, so will be available for order soon, if it isn't already. The website doesn't have current info up yet. That's something I'll be speaking to el editorio about soon. So, if you want it, I have no idea how you can get it. Yes. I'm being terribly helpful. I'll look in to the matter.

I got a letter today informing me that I won third place in the Ann Doty Fiction contest for BYU. So that's pretty cool. The story was from two years ago, and I entered it just because I was searching my archives for something to submit to every one of BYU's writing contests. It's got good characters and a decent plot, but the writing isn't all that great, so I'm glad that it was recieved well.

Character Naming

I hear a lot of people say that one of the most frustrating things about writing is naming their characters. Well, from an editor's standpoint, one of the most frustrating things is reading named characters. There are a lot of do's and don'ts when it comes to naming. First off, don't try to name people like Tolkien or C.S. Lewis. Both of them, especially Tolkien, were linguists. Tolkien created an entire language, and parts of several others.

So don't try making your names sound "fantasy-esque" unless you've spent twenty years on a world. Don't use apostrophes or colons or semicolons or commas or astericks or dashes in your names. It just makes them look stupid. Make sure they are pronounceable.

My advice? Use real names. If you have the urge to "make them different" then change a few letters or something. It's a common tactic, and not as annoying as using punctuation marks. But seriously, there's no reason you can't use one of the billions of names from the real world human tongue.

If you use names out of history, or from a certain group of real world people, then try to make all the people in your novel (that are from the same area as the character you've named) use names from that same real world area. For instance, a main character in my novel I'm writing is named Xerxes. So, I'm going to try to keep all new characters that originated from his same country have Persian names. Another example, is a character named Nathan. All the people that share his heritage will have Hebrew names.

My favorite tool for finding names is simple: Babynames.com. I often search by name origin, and you can find lesser known names and some pretty cool ones. Another thing I do is do a google search for, say, "persian names," or "scottish surnames," etc.

Remember, when it comes to naming characters, you don't have to be original. Names aren't original. It's a fact everyone knows. Just don't give a main character a name like Rand or Conan or Clark Kent.

I've got too many things to keep track of in the sidebar, so I'm not going to list where I've sent stuff anymore. Also, I've got good old duotrope's digest to keep track of my submission. It's a good time.

I Win

I recieved an email this morning saying that I came in first in the English department's informal essay contest at BYU.

Hurrah!

Rejection and Dejection

I've been thinking about rejections lately, because, well, I get them on about a bi-weekly basis. This may sound extremely discouraging. To be honest, my standard response to a rejection is to feel completely abused and dejected for about eight minutes, and then get a second wind of determination to get something published.

I'd like to stress once again the use of Duotrope's Digest, Market for Writers. It's a wonderful tool, both for keeping track of your submissions and for looking for new places to send your work.

In my career as a writer, I'm up to thirteen rejections. That, my friends, is didly. The average short story magazine has a acceptance rate of somewhere between 1 and .5 percent. That means that, to be average, I'll get anywhere from 99-199 rejections to every acceptance.

Discouraging? Nah. I'm better than that. The reason I give these numbers is to scare off the non-commited writer, and to remind the hardcore writers how much work it takes. And, it's to encourage myself, because I look at my numbers, and I have 13 rejections, and that's not so bad. I may have a long way to go, or I may get something accepted before I hit twenty. Either way, I'm not bothered. I'll get there eventually.

In other news, I've gotten a decent jump on el novelo. It's still untitled, and will remain that way for a while in all likelyhood (funny, because I already have a title to the sequal that I'll probably never write--go figure)

Well I can always depend on rejections from F&SF to keep me company every two weeks. It's a bit like clockwork, to be honest. Nathaniel Brisk is back in the fold, ready to be sent out someplace else. I'll take care of that Monday.

I just finished the rewrite for Hero Kyros and posted it back up on Baen's Universe introducing slush. I cut out almost 4000 words in this edit. Wow. I mean, that's almost an entire third of the story. But I think it made it stronger. I read the new version to myself (until my voice got hoarse) out loud. Normally I think that my writing sounds better in my head, but this one seemed to have a very good voice for being done out loud. I'm happy when I still enjoy my own writing.

So my next two projects will be to do an edit of the Envoy (which will be significantly quicker and easier than Hero Kyros), and to go ahead with my latest project, "Banshee." I still have more midterms to go this next week, but I should have a little more time for the writing.
I'm also trying to get in reading and commenting on stories in the Baen's Universe slush, because, well, it's polite to participate, and it's very good to see what cool things (and mistakes) other people are doing in their writing.

Nine days without a rejection letter. I'm starting to get lonely.

I'm working on my "Hero Kyros" rewrite, as well as my new short, "Banshee," and my untitled novel based on the events in "Night in Sassa Hin." Beyond that, Steve and Matt and I are starting on our mysterious project I've codenamed Project F.

All that is a pain in the butt with these pesky things like "school" and "midtern week" and "work" and a "girlfriend" taking up my writing time.

Oops, I mean, that lovely distraction of my girlfriend.

In Brandon Sanderson's class last night we had a guest teacher in Howard Taylor, Schlock Mercenary comicist. He's a funny guy, and I got a free comic book when I was the only person (in a class full of Mormons) that admitted to telling a dead baby joke. I spent a good two hours last night reading it, and it had some great stuff. I was honestly laughing out loud--or loling, if you prefer--at places.

Duotrope's Digest

As I like to share my discoveries of new tools with the other new writers I have met (or people that have just stumbled across my blog), I'd like you guys to take a look at Duotrope's Digest, a free online writer's market. It includes a frequently updated search engine and a submissions tracker, and it's designed so that the more people who use it, the more useful informative it becomes.

Jim Baen's Universe #2

I'm quickly becoming a fan of the Jim Baen's Universe introducing page. While I will probably remain skeptical (or maybe just curious is the word) about how they choose authors from it, I think the overall idea is a stroke of brilliance. Aside from whether or not they'll choose a story for publication, it's an organized way of getting good comments on your story. It doesn't have the clutter of a regular forum, nor does it encourage people who aren't serious about trying to get their stories published.

What I really like, though, is how harsh the commentary is. When I first read the comments, I had that brief pang of "this is my first born child! How dare you mock him!" But I got over that quick, because I like to consider myself not too emotionally attached to my stories. And it wasn't mocking, it was constructive critisism. I like the commentary, though, and this is why:

I do like my writing group, but I feel sometimes that either a) they aren't picky enough to give a quality "I like this or not" reactions because none of them have the experience reading slush or submitting their own stories and getting them rejected, or b) well, they are sitting in front of me, and just aren't going to show the disrespect I'm due when getting a story reviewed.

I've dropped off two stories into their slush pile, my first and third, respectively, and it's really nice to get an opinion on why they've been rejected from the various places I've sent them. A couple more weeks, and I may be comfortable giving them both rewrites after this. Hitherto, I've been following Scott Card's advice and just shooting my stories off instead of rewriting them. But now, with eight stories finished and a novel in the works, I feel comfortable reworking some of the stuff I did last year.

Oh yes, and I have another question if anyone wants to venture a guess: I know that most magazines are sticklers about simultaneous submissions. Would the introducing pile of Jim Baen's Universe be considered a simultaneous submission? It has some very unique properties, ie, the ease in which stories can be posted or taken down; the permenent "up for comments" status of the stories; and the lack of a formal rejection.

Jim Baen's Universe

I just got off my first submission to Baen's Universe. The story is Hero Kyros, just back from somewhere else, and shot off in another direction.

Baen's Universe has an interesting setup. They have a submission forum sort of thing for "Introducing" authors, where new authors can put up their work and have it commented on by other authors, and the editors of BU will take a look at every issue and pick a pair of stories from the recent posts. So, I know several of you are trying to get into the publishingverse like I am. Take a look at Baen's Universe submission guidelines, and follow them into the new writer's section. There's a lot to read through on the submissions page, it's a bit complicated, but I think it's worth it. Look at my story and comment on it, if you well, and then post your own stories.

Also, if anyone figures out if they accept multiple submissions on their Introducing site, let me know.