novel openings

I've been thinking a lot about novel openings lately. It shouldn't surprise you that a good novel opening is a lot like a good short story opening. One of our most popular blog posts ever was our short story cheat sheet, and it has a lot of great tips for short stories. I was inspired to write this after Editor Betsy and I taught a workshop on writing short stories.

Focusing more specifically on speculative fiction novels, however...

• You really need to have a character within the first couple of pages, ideally on the first page. This is because the reader identifies with the characters. If there's no character, who do they identify with? Keep in mind fiction is unique in that the reader gets to become another person via this identification. This initial character should be the protagonist, but it doesn't have to be.
• In chapter one your character needs to have a problem or some other unique situation. This is the first appearance of 'plot' and it needs to at least hint at the major conflict of the novel. Also this should be related to the protagonist's character arc.
• On page one you should give the reader some idea of setting in terms of time and space. I do not recommend a long description or a big info dump--just give us a sentence here and there. As an aside, paragraphs of info dump are old-fashioned; don't do it.
• Your novel opening should be consistent with your genre. You read a lot in your genre, right? If you don't know what your genre is: figure it out ASAP.
• You should know your novel's theme or big idea and chapter one should be consistent with it. Your theme is the take-away from your novel. Similar plots can have very different themes. For example, if your novel's plot is the zombie apocalypse ... What's the theme? The theme basically guides you in how you tell the story. Perhaps your protagonist moves heaven and earth to save his daughter, in which case the theme is 'family is everything.' Or, perhaps, the protagonist cures the zombies via medical expertise, in which case the theme is 'science can save us.' You get the idea.

Good luck with your novel openings!

Editorial tricks

As we put together the last issue of Electric Spec I couldn't help noticing I've picked up some editorial tricks, to make a story pop, over the last decade. I thought I'd pass some of them along to you...

Tricks to make your story stand out from the crowd:

• Have minimal spelling and grammar mistakes. (Okay, I admit this isn't strictly a trick.) No one will read your story if they're distracted by errors. Use your software's spelling and grammar checker. Use your significant other. Use your persnickety retired-school-teacher aunt.
• Create a unique title for your story. Your title is essentially the commercial for your story. When readers see it in a table of contents they should think "I need to read that!" After you finish your story, stop, pause, think. What is the essence of your story? Your title should reflect that. You might even have a great phrase already in your story you could use.
• Put your power words at the end of your sentences. This gives the sentence more oomph! Related to this, put your dialogue tags in the middle of the sentences. Here's an example:
  • "I can't believe he's dead," the angel said.
  • versus "It can't believe it," the angel said. "He's dead."
  The second version is more dramatic, isn't it?
• Make use of white space on the page. Putting more white space around a sentence makes it stand out more. In other words, start a new paragraph--even if you don't have to--to emphasize something. This can be especially effective at the end of the story.

Good luck!

Thanks!

As you know, the marvelous May 2015 issue of Electric Spec is out. Huzzah!

Thank you potential authors for submitting your stories. We appreciate you! Thank you authors K.C. Griffin, Jessica Kelly, Malcolm Laughton, Jim Breyfogle and George Schaade. We appreciate you!

Thank you to our associate editors Chris Devlin and Nikki Baird. You rock! Thank you to our columnist Marty Mapes. You rock! Thanks, also, to our cover artist Ron Sanders for his piece "Ache." Nice job!

Thank you tech guys at Hardlight Multimedia in Ireland. Huzzah for you!

Most of all, thank you readers! We wouldn't exist without you. :)

It's alive!

Check out the brand new issue of Electric Spec!

new issue in 5 days!

We have a new issue of Electric Spec coming out in 5 days! You already heard from Author K.C. Griffin about her story "Mass Exodus" and know we'll be featuring chapter one of Emissary by Author Betsy Dornbusch. I believe we also bragged about Editor Betsy's Interview with Roberto Calas. We have a bunch of other neat stuff...

Author Jim Breyfogle tells us about "Sowing Peace" in his epic fantasy; you'll never think about a graveyard in the same way after reading this. Author Jessica Kelly explains how to take advantage of people's lack of attention to "Details" in her macabre tale.

We also have some science fiction. Author Malcolm Laughton makes us realize being an "Ageless Rock Star" is not as wonderful as it sounds. In "Cruising in an Event" Author George Schaade shows us the adventures of a father-daughter team in a chaotic world.

Be sure to check it all out on May 31, 2015!

from our author

Here are some comments by Author K.C. Grifant about her story "Mass Exodus" which is upcoming in our marvelous May 31, 2015 issue of Electric Spec:

I have always been obsessed with flying. I wanted to soar since I was a kid, jumping from the third step of our front porch hoping that sheer willpower would launch me upwards. Dreams of unencumbered flying were the sweetest gift: for a few infinite dream-moments I experienced a buoyancy and freedom that could not be replicated in the waking world.

The germination for the story “Mass Exodus” was a single thought: what if we all had this ability to fly without explanation?

This strange occurrence would be met the way all news today is met: as a collective mass of reactions online. Social media has an unprecedented effect on how we process the world, especially unusual or upsetting events. The near-instant access to everyone’s responses moves us closer to a hive mind than ever before.

As an idea quickly propagates throughout a system like an aggressive virus, the hive mind could, conceivably, be hijacked to perpetuate a mass delusion or used to propel a jump in the evolution of our brains and psyches. As the main character tries to figure out what’s what and resist a powerful collective belief, she risks becoming humanity’s sole outcast.

Ultimately, the question that came out of this story was: if everyone believes in something, how do you know if it’s a mass delusion or a new reality? I invite you to read and decide for yourself.

Author Betsy

I bet you were expecting preview of coming attractions for the marvelous May 31, 2015 issue of Electric Spec. This is a preview of coming attractions! In Editor's Corner this time, we are lucky enough to get chapter one of Author (and Electric Spec Editor) Betsy Dornbusch's new hardback novel Emissary. W00t! I've starting reading it and "ooh la la!" it's good. And I am totally objective. I objectively recommend it.

For those of you who only know of Betsy's editing expertise, she has several books out. There's Exile in hardback and trade paperback. I was even blurbed: "From the first line ("Cut her throat. His own wife."), readers of Betsy Dornbusch's Exile know they are in for a dramatic and exciting tale.... Any reader who joins her for the ride will be glad they did. Lesley Smith".
There's Archive of Fire, of which Author Aaron Michael Ritchey said "Archive of Fire is Supernatural on steroids." She also has a secret (oops!) identity as Ainsley, author of speculative erotica including Lost Prince, Quenched with E.C. Stacy, and Quencher with E. Cameron Stacy.
Anyway, my point is, Author Betsy knows what she's doing. Check her stuff out.

Here at Electric Spec we support authors. That's the whole reason we started the 'zine a decade ago. So, also coming up in the next issue will be Editor Betsy's fun interview of Author Roberto Calas! I can't wait!

May 2015 prod meeting

We, the Electric Spec Editors, are hard at work on the marvelous May 31, 2015 issue! Recently, we had the production meeting. We met at a new establishment which did serve adult beverages. We all got carded--which was hilarious. :) I, personally, imbibed 5 different types of beer, but Editors Betsy and Dave went all fancy with the bourbon. The food was yummy. We did pat ourselves on the back a little for making Electric Spec a success for almost a decade. (Yeah!)

But, I know those aren't the types of details you're interested in. We had a vigorous discussion of the stories. One major consideration ended up being issue balance. We picked 2 SF stories, 2 fantasies, and 1 horror story. It was difficult because there were so many good ones, but we couldn't pick 5 fantasies, for example. Another major consideration was the story ending. Did the protagonist(s) do anything to cause the ending? Was something different at the end?

I emailed all the hold-for-voting folks who didn't get into the issue. If you're one of those, you should feel good about getting into hold-for-voting. We're sorry we can't published all the stories in h-f-v! We are in the process of emailing all the "yes" authors. Please send back your contracts promptly so we can start editing. We'd love to have more authors blog about their stories here, too. Please consider it if we're publishing your story.

Fun fact: we are nearing the half-million mark (500,000) for page views of the blog. Tell your friends. Come on, let's push it over the edge. :)

I'd like to give a special shout-out to our Associate Editor Nikki Baird who helps us read the slushy stories. Yeah, Nikki!

I'd also like to give a special shout-out to prospective authors. We wouldn't even have a 'zine if you didn't send us your works of art. Yeah, you!

the whole package

We, the Electric Spec Editors, are finishing reading slush this week and moving on to choosing stories for the May 31, 2015 Electric Spec issue. I find this step (choosing) difficult because all the stories in hold-for-voting are good. This step is probably the most subjective. What do I look for? Well, I'll tell you: the whole package. In terms of stories this means:

1. The story has a unique voice. This can be rendered via the protagonist's point-of-view or the prose or a beautifully-rendered world or something else. Basically, I want to get lost in the story.
2. The story has a unique plot. I choose stories with plots I haven't read before. However, if the voice is lovely enough, this can be superseded.
3. The story has a unique protagonist. IMHO every protagonist should be flawed in some way and be gifted in some way. The protagonist's unique qualities then should drive the plot problem and solution. I want to believe the protagonist is, or could be, a real person.
4. The story is in a genre I prefer. Subjective-me really likes urban fantasy and hard SF and especially stories with time-travel and/or quantum physics. I like other types of fantasy and soft SF and macabre horror. In general, I prefer man-against-nature stories over man-against-man stories. I enjoy humorous stories (but humor itself is very subjective). I don't like stories with a cruel tone. I have been known to black-ball stories with rape, especially kid rape. Caveat Scriptor.
5. Finally, there are editorial concerns: The story is mostly free of grammar and spelling errors. (Error-filled stories are more difficult to edit.) The story isn't super long (These are more work to edit). The story can't be similar to one we published before.

And then, of course, at the production meeting we have to worry about things like issue balance, meaning, for example, we can't publish 5 zombie stories.
But the production meeting is a post for another time...(like next week!)

advice from reading slush

We are working hard behind the scenes on the May 31, 2015 issue of Electric Spec. Right now, we are still getting through the slush pile. Thus, you should expect to hear back from us by the end of April/beginning of May if we got your story.
Here's some advice for potential Electric Spec authors based on reading slush:

• Focus on the first page. If the first page has a lot of spelling or grammar issues editors are less inclined to keep reading. If the first page is confusing editors are less inclined to keep reading. I should know who the protagonist is, where he/she/it is, when he/she/it is. Refer to each character consistently via one name. Don't put a lot of specialized terms or jargon that I can't figure out from the context on page one. I shouldn't be asking 'What's going on here?'
• Do have a unique protagonist. Every real person is different, so every fictional person should certainly be different. The more unique they are, the better. How do you create a unique protagonist? Virtually everything in the story should be colored or interpreted through the protagonist's perceptions. Specific details also help here. For example, a new Lamborghini Veneno Roadster is different from a dented 2007 Nissan Versa and tells us something different about the character(s) that own them. And FYI: telling the reader the characters' hair color will not create unique characters.
• Do have a unique twist on plot. Notice I didn't say a unique plot; I'm not sure those exist. For example, a story about zombies taking over is not unique. A story about zombies getting better was unique--the first time. A tip: if your plot has been made into a TV/cable show or a movie is it not unique/twisty enough. In particular, human men killing other humans or aliens is hard to make unique. A surprise reveal at the end that the protagonist is really an alien is hard to make unique.
• Do have nice smooth prose. I recommend reading aloud to catch awkward sections. Generally, you don't want to repeat the same word within a sentence. If your prose is not smooth it takes me out of the story. Don't make me stop and ask 'What is the author trying to say here?' Any time I'm taken out of the story it gives me an opportunity to think 'I should reject this.'
• For Electric Spec we like stories with a plot. This means something needs to be different at the end of the story than it is at the beginning of the story.
• Do show. You can tell, you just need to do some showing as well. Telling is summarizing and puts a layer of author between the reader and the characters. Dialogue is a good way to show. :)

I guess that's it for now.

We sincerely thank you for sending your stories in!

Morrell's Advice

Recently I had an opportunity to hear author David Morrell speak. He summarized many points contained in his writing craft book Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing: a novelist looks at his craft. I strongly agreed with much of his advice. In no particular order, here are some highlights:

• Writing is a kind of self psychoanalysis. Use your one-of-a-kind psyche to guide you to original unique stories, subjects, themes and approaches. Don't try to imitate other authors. Don't chase the market.
• Don't be ignorant about other authors. Read!
• When you get stuck in your writing, consider having a conversation with yourself. What happens next? Why? So what? and the like.
• Plot should equal conflict plus motivation.
• Plot and character should be intimately related.
• Write what you're passionate about! If you don't know about something, research it. Have adventures; live your life. A well-lived life has a lot material for fiction.
• A writing career will have many peaks and valleys; keep your perspective.

How about you? What good writing advice have you gotten?

The submission deadline for the May 2015 issue is midnight U.S. MDT, April 15, 2015!
Get those stories in!

bare your soul?

Have you ever participated in a writing workshop? Do you have any critique partners? There can be a phenomena associated with reading multiple (in progress) pieces from an author, namely, you may come to feel like you know personal things about said author. You may feel you know the author's values, mores, paradigm, family history, and/or sexual/romantic experiences or other aspects of his/her soul.

I've personally noticed this phenomena with first novels. First novels often seem to be wish-fulfillment adventures. Have you ever seen this?

Is this phenomena a drawback to writing? No. We want to know your soul. Come on, show us. :)

The deadline for the May 2015 issue of Electric Spec is coming up: April 15, 2015!
Get those stories in!

personal proclivities

I read several novels in March 2015 and I realized some (most? all?) authors have certain proclivities. Since we're all writers and readers, here, we all know proclivity means natural or habitual inclination or tendency; propensity; predisposition.

Currently, I'm reading the third novel, a huge blockbuster, of an author. I also read her first book this month. These unrelated books have some similarities. First of all, the prose is really lovely; this author is quite talented. That's a good proclivity! Both novels take place in small towns in Missouri. Both novels feature failed/failing journalists. Both novels have a violent undertone. Both novels are super dramatic.

I recently reread 2 novels of my favorite author and she also has certain proclivities. Her characters tend to be relatively powerless, operating in the background. She seems to enjoy using the framework of another work of fiction (possibly fictional fiction, i.e. not real), quoting from it or actually stealing its story or structure. She uses a lot of gerunds. She loves to have characters get interrupted. I could go on. :)

To be fair, I should analyze my work and see if I have any personal proclivities... Upon reflection, I have many. My main characters are often female scientists. My novels often take place in Colorado on the campus of a certain university. My novels often include quantum mechanics in some form. My novels often include a romantic subplot. Okay, here's a weird one: my novels often include copies of the protagonist! These copies occur via cloning, time-travel, quantum mechanics, and/or other mechanisms!
Hhm. I may be in a writing rut. I'll have to work on this.

How about you? Do you have any personal writing proclivities?

Pinker's Style

I recently read The Sense of Style: the Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century! by Steven Pinker. Pinker covers everything that confuses and confounds writers. :) For example, we all know a pronoun is a word that take the place of a noun. In fact, there are different kinds of pronouns:

• A nominative generally is the subject, or actor, of the verb. Nominative pronouns are I, he, she, we, they, and who.
• An accusative generally is the object, or receiver, of the verb. Accusative pronouns are me, him, her, us, them, and whom.
• Genitive is primarily a way to indicate possession; it's a noun that modifies another noun. Genitive case is marked on pronouns: my, your, his, her, our, their, whose, its and on noun phrases with 's.

I sometimes have trouble with I verusus me. Using this information, a writer should write: I was down by the schoolyard. Or, even: Julio and I were down by the schoolyard. But a writer can write: Me and Julio were down by the schoolyard. One of Pinker's messages is language evolves and writers should use their knowledge and experience to write what works for a particular piece.

Another tricky one for me is who versus whom. But the nominative/accusative difference should pin it down. Who kissed the bride? Whom did Henry kiss?

What grammar issues do you find tricky?

reddit takeaways

As I mentioned last week, we did a reddit AMA. Here's the link. I thought I'd give a recap here of the AMA and our accompanying offline discussion for folks who want to know more about Electric Spec.

We started the ezine about a decade ago because we love writing and wanted to support writers. All the editors are speculative fiction writers and avid readers (and members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers). We also enjoy speculative TV and movies. Although we don't have any formal training as editors, there are some English degrees among the editors.

It should be pretty clear from the AMA that we all enjoy humor. If Editor Betsy and Editor Dave had to pick a favorite genre I believe they would pick epic fantasy. Editor Betsy in particular enjoys dark stories. My favorite genre is SF, although I really enjoy urban fantasy as well. Horror/macabre is tricky; we tend to get a lot of men murdering women stories. This gets tiresome. Give us something original.

In terms of length, flash is hard to do well, particularly stories of less than 1000 words. This is because it's difficult to make the reader care about the character in such a short amount of time. If your story is over 5,000 words, conversely, it's likely it needs slashing. You don't believe me? Well, if you have multiple point-of-view characters, more than one subplot, or multiple timelines you probably need at least 5,000 words. But if not, cut it.

We had differing opinions on cover letters. Editor Dave liked it if an author mention Electric Spec in his cover letter. I admitted I don't read them. (!) Editor Betsy said her opinions on cover letters have evolved over the years. We agreed it's annoying when authors don't submit an *rtf as requested. Or if they don't put "SUBMISSION" in the subject line of their email.

Probably the number one takeaway of the experience was: it was a blast! We had a lot of fun. I highly recommend reddit for readers and writers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

truth in fiction

Definitions of fiction abound. One could say fiction is "literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation." Or, "In broader, everyday usage, fiction refers to any appearance, impression, or understanding that is imaginary or otherwise not strictly true." Thus, it may be odd to consider truth in fiction. But I've been pondering what makes fiction great and I'm deciding it's truth. Perhaps this shouldn't be a big revelation considering our true literature blog entry from last year.

I'm taking a class right now and, among other things, we're supposed to read some novels and basically judge them. All the novels are well-written. All of them are entertaining. But some of them are not great and I think it's because they didn't appear to contain any truth or authenticity. After reading I thought: this plot could never happen, or these characters are too over-the-top to be real.

This idea is relevant for short fiction. A short story should embody some truth. I admit this can be challenging with speculative fiction when you aren't necessarily writing about this Earth or about human beings. But it's worth trying. Good luck!

In other news the Electric Spec Editors are doing an 'Ask-Me-Anything' over at reddit.com this Thursday evening March 12. Come on over and ask us anything! For example, you could ask Editor Betsy how hanging out at a bar, drinking beer, led to her first publication in hardcover. You could ask Editor Dave how he's making the world safer for love and marriage. Considering my recent attempt to write a horror romance, you could ask me: "How do ghosts have sex?" But please don't. :)
See you over there!

so many favorites

We are extraordinarily lucky to get so many lovely stories submitted to Electric Spec. Thank you; we appreciate it! Our fabulous February 28, 2015 issue is chock full of fun spec fic stories. There are so many good ones, I can't even decide which is my favorite. How about you?

I didn't blog much earlier about our discussion with author Rebecca S. W. Bates. Check out her interview to find out how to differentiate characters and other writing tips as well as why Rebecca makes use of diverse cultures in her work.

Betsy Dornbusch's story "The Last of a Caste" also hasn't been blogged about yet. Ezine readers may not know, but in addition to being an editor, Betsy is a very accomplished author with several novels out. Her fantasy story is very dark. What would do if you were an assassin and ordered to kill a pregnant woman? Wow! Dramatic!

If you haven't yet, check out the new issue!

Check it out!

Check it out! We're live with a brand-new issue of Electric Spec! Huzzah! Thanks for joining us as we start our tenth year!

Thank you very much to our authors. Thank you very much to our associate editors, Nikki Baird and Chris Devlin. Thank you very much to our tech support folks at Hardlight Multimedia. Thank you author Rebecca S.W. Bates for the interview. And special thanks to our cover artist Joel Bisaillon. Check out his awesome picture:

And most of all: Thank you readers!

more free fiction

Savvy readers know at the end of this week we'll be giving you more free fiction in the Fabulous February 28, 2015 issue of Electric Spec! Here at Electric Spec we love speculative fiction, all kinds.

Rounding out our quintet of excellent stories will be Peri Fletcher's fantasy "When Next the Rains Come" and George Walker's science fiction story "Museum Man."
Among other things, both of these stories do a marvelous job with plot and character arc. Things are definitely different at the end than they were in the beginning. Coincidentally, the protagonists in both stories rebel against their fate, creating new paths for themselves. Aren't active protagonists great?

We'll have a couple other fun items in the issue including a fascinating interview with author Rebecca S. W. Bates and a dramatic bonus story in Editor's Corner.

Be sure to check everything out on February 28!

macabre horror fantasy coming

Only eleven days until the fabulous February 28, 2015 issue of Electric Spec!

Last week you heard a little about one of the upcoming stories. We also have some exciting macabre horror fantasy coming in the issue. Yes, that's a mouthful. The horror genre is the most difficult to define. The Horror Writers Association says horror can deal with the mundane or the supernatural, with the fantastic or the normal. It doesn't have to be full of ghosts, ghouls, and things to go bump in the night. Its only true requirement is that it elicit an emotional reaction that includes some aspect of fear or dread. FYI if you're a horror writer you should know about the Horror Writers Association (HWA).

In eleven days you'll get to read for yourself Jason Sturner's "Potawatomi Island" in which a man travels to a spooky island searching for answers to a long-standing mystery.
You'll also get to read Charles Payseur's "Capital Coffee" in which coffee's role in the apocalypse is illustrated.

Check them both out in the new issue!

from our author

In case you haven't heard, we have another fabulous issue of Electric Spec coming at the end of the month. It will contain several excellent stories. One of them, "Once Lost, Gone Forever," is by author Gwendolyn Kiste. We asked her to tell us about her story:

At its core, “Once Lost, Gone Forever” is a coming of age story. As a huge fan of novels like The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird, I set out to create a supernatural tale that transforms the chaotic nature of teenagers into an overt “gift” that the two lead characters use to express themselves, albeit with dangerous results. For so many reasons, Inali and Melissa are unlike anyone I’ve ever met, yet they both share similarities with virtually every friend I had growing up—in particular their desire for belonging as well as their craving for a life that’s just over the horizon but always somehow out of reach.

Just before I wrote “Once Lost, Gone Forever,” my own best friend from high school moved across the country to start fresh with a new partner. While I was (and am) so happy for her, it got me thinking about how much our bonds forged when we’re children impact us for the rest of our lives. We don’t require friends in the same practical way we need family. Friends fill a different type of need, one that helps us understand who we are and how we fit into the world. With these themes in mind, I wanted to craft something dedicated to that profound feeling of young friendship. An ephemeral, even ethereal experience, I hope I’ve done it justice.

Be sure to check it out on February 28, 2015.

About the production meeting

We, the Editors of Electric Spec are working hard behind the scenes on the February 28, 2015 issue. Recently, we had our production meeting for this issue. Thus we are in the process of emailing all the authors with stories in hold-for-voting with a yea or nay. Yea authors also get a nifty contract which they need to email back so we can start editing their stories. Let me reiterate something I've said before: if your story was in hold-for-voting it was publishable. Writing is a tough business so you have to appreciate small victories. You should pat yourself on the back.

Some totally unbusinesslike impressions of the meeting... We met for the first time at an Asian restaurant which seemed to have only one waiter working. Thus, we had less liquor than usual. :( Editor Dave also said the scotch and soda he ordered was the oddest he'd ever tasted. I do wish I had a picture of his expression when he tasted it. However, my beers were good and my sushi was good, so I'm not complaining.
We invented a new game. When the fortune cookies come, instead of adding 'in bed' at the end, add 'in my novel.' Thus, here are our novel fortunes:

• The axe soon forgets, but the tree always remembers in my novel.
• Take time to relax especially when you don't have time for it in my novel.
• Only by acceptance of the past, can you alter it in my novel.

Here are some more interesting/relevant impressions from our story discussion:

• Length was an issue. Very short, flash, pieces are tough; it's hard to write an entire plot in less than a thousand words. Longer pieces (over 5,0000 words) were not popular. None of us seemed to want to edit those.
• Don't worry about political correctness. We had a story with a Muslim protagonist doing some unusual things and we discussed if we should worry about offending people. Bottom line: No worries. Send us your politically incorrect stories.
• Telling is not a hit with us. If a story has a lot of telling, i.e. summarizing of the story, rather than showing the story, it was less likely to be chosen. To be clear, none of the stories were all telling--such a story wouldn't have made it into hold-for-voting.
• Story epilogues weren't popular. One editor said why would a short story need an epilogue? Put the whole story in the story.

That's about it for the behind-the-scenes. I won't tell you about seeing Editor Betsy and Editor Dave 'talking' in the dark and deserted parking lot. Under the full moon. I won't tell you how their ears seemed much larger and hairier, or their hands looked much claw-ier, or their teeth much bigger and sharper. I will tell you I got out of there quick!

genre versus literary

I've been thinking a lot lately about the dichotomy between genre and literary fiction. This is probably because I'm in the process of reading The Best American Short Stories 2014. Of course, BASS is the collection for literary fiction. While all these stories are beautifully written, I wouldn't have chosen any of them for Electric Spec.

The series editor Heidi Pitlor had some telling words in her intro: ...many stories tended to wander--sometimes intriguingly, often into unsettling territory--rather than accelerate toward some definitive endpoint. While some stories that I read this year were built around or upon some narrative roadway...plenty were not.
To me this epitomizes the divide between genre and literary fiction. I would say genre fiction needs to have a narrative roadway, i.e. a plot. This means something needs to be changed at the end of the story. It could be subtle, e.g. a change within the protagonist, but something needs to be different.

When I choose fiction for Electric Spec I agree with the 2014 BASS editor Jennifer Egan: The best fun, for me, comes from reading something that feels different from anything else. ...Let's say that I'm biased toward writers who take an obvious risk, formally, structurally, or in terms of subject matter, over those who do a familiar thing exquisitely.
We do strive to publish original stories.

Egan is also a bit provocative considering her job as BASS editor: ...I don't care very much about genre, either as a reader or as a writer. To me, fiction writing at any length, in any form, is a feat of radical compression: take the sprawling chaos of human experience, run it through the sieve of perception, and distill it into something comparatively miniscule that somehow, miraculously, illuminates the vast complexity around it.
This is definitely something to aspire to.

Maybe the genre/literary divide isn't so big. What do you think?

Next week I'll tell you about the Production Meeting for the Feb 28, 2015 issue.

write a lot

We editors tend to get asked "How do I write a story you'll buy?" This question is really "How do I become a better writer?" There are several things we recommend including joining a critique group, reading a lot of fiction and reading writing craft books. However, the number one thing you can do to improve your writing is write a lot.

A while ago Neil Gaiman said on his journal:Chuck Jones told would be artists to draw, explaining that "you've got a million bad drawings inside you and the sooner you get them out, the better". Raymond Chandler is reputed to have told would be authors that they have a million words of crap to get out of their system. And in both cases there's a lot of truth there -- if only because it allows you to keep going despite your technical limitations and inability to get the words or the pen to do what you want, and eventually find yourself, well, competent. And some of the words and pictures you turn out on the way can be pretty good too.

There's really no substitute for this. You have to put in the time and energy and put the words on the page/screen. You have to get used to putting one word after the other. I think it also helps you get over the preciousness of your writing. Authors need to be able to kill their darlings. :)

Behind the scenes, we are very busy at Electric Spec getting through the slush for the Feb 28, 2015 issue. If you submitted a story by the Jan 15 deadline you should hear from us by the beginning of Feb with a 'No thanks' or a 'Hold-for-voting' email. I better get back to it!

What happens to your story?

The submission deadline for the Feb 28 2015 issue of Electric Spec is this week: Jan 15, 2015! Get those stories in. I highly recommend you peruse some of our "Tips from the slush pile" that I listed last week here on the blog. If you have sent in a story, you might be wondering what happens to it. Well, I'll tell you...

Hopefully, you followed our submission rules, which are given here. Notice it says, "Use the following subject line: SUBMISSION:Story Title by Author's Name". If you do not put "SUBMISSION" in your subject line you may get caught in our spam filter and then who knows what the heck will happen? We do not guarantee we read stories caught in the spam filter. :(
Technically, we aren't supposed to read stories with no cover letter, or which aren't in *rtf format--but we may let these last 2 rules slide.

Anyway, assuming your story makes it into our Inbox, I randomly assign your story to one of our editors: Nikki, Betsy, Dave, or me. Thus, it doesn't do you any good trying to address your story to a particular one of us. I don't have time to read each cover letter before I assign the stories.

We editors are supposed to read the stories in a timely manner and get back to you with a 'No Thanks' or a 'We'll hold this one for voting.' I'm sorry to say "timely manner" can vary. A lot. Apologies, if you've been waiting to hear back for a while.
Sometimes, an editor is on the fence about a story and then we'll email it to another editor and ask: What do you think? I do this with genres I know the particular editor really enjoys.
I've blogged a lot about opening a story with a bang, e.g. see set the hook. After a decade of doing this, I don't read your whole story if it hasn't caught my attention by the end of the first page or so. Sorry.

Once a decision is made, your story either goes into the hold-for-voting folder or ...the trash. :( We don't keep any kind of records of rejected stories.

Then, we have the production meeting. I've blogged quite a bit about the production meetings in the past. Our next production meeting will take place in about 2 weeks. To prepare, we summarize and rank each story in hold-for-voting. Based on the individual editor rankings, I compile a numerical ranking of the stories. Interesting fact: usually each editor gets their favorite story published and usually they get to edit said story and interact with the author.

The editors email the lucky authors with the good news. I email the unfortunates with the bad news and then delete the stories. On the bright side, if you made it into hold-for-voting your story is publishable.

Presumably it will start its adventure all over again at another market...

give me characters

We, the Editors, have been going through the story submissions in preparation for the Feb 28, 2015 issue of Electric Spec. Thanks for sending your stories in!

We've given "Tips from the slush pile" several times: Sept 2014, July 2014, July 2014, April 2014, Dec 2013 and so on. I hate to say it, but these comments are still pretty relevant. Check them out if you're interested.

Today, I'm going to focus on something we don't get enough of, and frankly, something I don't read enough of in general: unique characters. I would love to see more stories with unique well-characterized protagonists. I would love to see more protagonists with unique voices. Give your characters unusual personalities, i.e. a rare perspective on the world with their own thoughts, feelings, interests and/or vocabularies. Show me that quirky person only you could write.

Why am I emphasizing this? It's difficult to create a unusual plot because they all consist of a person has a problem and acts to solve it. What could the problem be that we haven't seen before? Certainly not a murder or broken heart.
On the other hand, there are over 7 billion people on Earth. That's a lot of possibilities for protagonists. :)

So, with apologies to Patrick Henry: Give me characters!

Don't forget the submission deadline is Jan 15, 2015. Good luck!

true literature

Like many of you, I've had a little time off recently. I've used the time to catch up on some reading including Norman Spinrad's interesting Asimov's essay "Genre versus Literature" in which he states true literature ... enlightens the mind, touches the heart, explores the feedback relationship between consciousness and the cultural and physical surround, raises and/or answers moral questions, and does so with a dramatic, entertaining and apropos story that climaxes in a satisfying epiphany.

That’s true literature. That’s good literature. And genre has nothing to do with it. It transcends genre by ignoring its requirements or fulfilling the requirements of as many genres as it pleases and ignoring all genre restrictions. At its best that’s great literature.

This is an excellent goal for all writers to aspire to. Look at your story. What does it teach the reader about the human condition? If the answer is nothing, maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board. I better get back to work myself.

In the meantime, the deadline for our first 2015 issue of Electric Spec is on the horizon: January 15, 2015.

Spec the halls!

I really enjoy holiday speculative fiction. Every year I reread my copy of Connie Willis' book Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. It's part of my holiday tradition. Do you have any speculative fiction holiday traditions? If so, please share.

Unfortunately, the timing of the Electric Spec issues doesn't lend itself very well to any holiday focused editions. Maybe someday...

Happy holidays!

set the hook

Many of the writer's conferences and workshops I've attended recently have focused on starting your novel or short story in medias res (in the midst of things). It does seem as if our culture has changed and readers, like everyone else, want immediate excitement. Author Jeanne C. Stein writes about this in a Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers blog entry Adventures in Genre Writing: Lesson Five. Jeanne's Genre Writing series is worth reading. One main point she makes in this installment is the opening of your story must "set the hook." You have to get the reader interested in your story very quickly. Jeanne also recommends against character or setting descriptions in the opening.

Take a look at your WIP. Do you have a bunch of descriptions in the beginning or do you set the hook? If you're happy with it, send it on over!

genre fusion

I enjoyed Cory Dale's term "genre fusion" in the recent Electric Spec author interview. She said, I can't write anything that doesn't combine genres, and fantasy sneaks into all my stories no matter what. ... I write what I like to read. I wanted to create something unique, something I'd never seen done before. I like to think of ... genre fusion rather than a mash-up, and like cooking, the combined flavors work well together.

There's a down side to genre fusion, however. As Dale says Mashing up genres is great for readers, but it scares the crap out of publishers.

But don't fear, intrepid author! Electric Spec is definitely a market that appreciates genre fusion. Please send us your melded flavors of speculative fiction! We're looking forward to reading them.

What's your fave?

Check out this excellent cover art by Karl Eschenbach:

What's your favorite part of the new issue of Electric Spec? I've really been enjoying all the stories and the interview and the cover art. I guess that's not super surprising since I helped make the issue. :)
Can you believe we just wrapped up the ninth year of publication?

And how about that poem in the "Letter from the Editors"? We can thank Editor Dave for that. Thanks, Dave!

As always, if you see something awry, please email us at submissions (at) electricspec.com without "SUBMISSION" in the subject line. We'd enjoy hearing your opinions here in the comments section.

Of course, we are currently accepting submissions for the first issue of 2015! Good luck!

Live, we are!

We're live with the notable November 2014 issue of Electric Spec! Thank you authors! Thank you editorial staff, including Chris Devlin and Nikki Baird, our associate editors. Thank you to our tech guys at Hardlight Multimedia. And thank you to our cover artist Karl Eschenbach. We appreciate everyone's contributions.

And special thank you to our readers! We wouldn't exist without you!

steampunk alternate history urban fantasy

We have a super-interesting author interview for our notable November 30, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. We're interviewing Cory Dale, author of Demon Fare, out December 15, 2014. Demon Fare is an utterly unique novel in the steampunk alternate history urban fantasy genre. And, yes, I just made up that genre, but this novel has it all.

It has lots of steam-powered machinery, and just look at the cover (left): it's very steampunky. It's alternate history because one hundred and fifty years ago something happened to Earth that put it on an alternate course. And it's quintessential urban fantasy in tone and plot: it has humor, it has romance, it has good versus evil, and it has kick-ass heroes.

I did ask Dale about this genre mash-up and much more. You'll have to check out the whole interview this coming Sunday November 30!

epic fantasy with a twist

To finish up our preview of coming attractions, at least as far as short fiction is concerned, we have some epic fantasy with a twist in the notable November 2014 issue of Electric Spec. It's a bit curious that we don't get more epic fantasy submissions... (Hint, hint.)

In grad school I studied speculative fiction and I wrote a paper one semester in which I stated (provocatively) that there are reactionary elements inherent in epic fantasy. I was trying to stir up trouble but I do think epic fantasy tends to be old-fashioned with damsels in distress and brave knights, etc. Thus, you can imagine my delight in Tyler Bourassa's "Plight of the Magi" featuring a kick-ass female protagonist in an epic fantasy setting. As I've said before, we enjoy original fiction here at Electric Spec.

We also have a lovely (creepy) mixture of epic fantasy and the macabre in the next issue. The story in question is "Corrine's Song" by Michael Haynes, and it's one of the creepiest and saddest pieces I've read.

Are you intrigued? I hope so! Check out all our new stories on November 30!

humor in spec fic

Surprisingly, we have quite a bit of humor coming in our notable November 2014 issue of Electric Spec. Personally, I really enjoy humor in my spec fix. We'll be interviewing Cory Dale on her upcoming novel Demon Fare, a humorous steampunk alternate history urban fantasy. (!) But I'll tell you more about that later in the month.

In the issue will be one of the funniest stories I've ever read, "Aladdin's Neti Pot" by Sarina Dorie. Imagine, if you will, the genie Aladdin living in a neti pot instead of a lamp... What could possibly go wrong? :)

We'll also have the story "Dennis" by Nathan Ehret. This starts out with The trouble with being a robot was you never got to do anything for fun. It just gets better from there.

I'd have to say, in general, humor can be a little problematic. Humor arises when the reader's expectations are subverted resulting in surprise. The reason humor is tricky is every reader has different expectations. The story in Editor's Corner this time will be my "Green is the New Black." I think it's funny, but you'll have to decide for yourself if you agree.

Also in the next issue will be "Best's Laid Plans" by Lane Cohen. We selected this story because it's a very good time-travel story featuring Pete Best and the music world. At the production meeting I was surprised to find out the other editors did not realize "Best's Laid Plans" was humorous. Look at the title; it has an actual pun! How could this not be humorous?
Also consider a quote from the story: "Oops," Britney said. "I did it again." Ha! But be forewarned: Britney is definitely not the character you might expect her to be.

Be sure to check out all the stories coming November 30, 2014!
Stay tuned in coming weeks for more previews of coming attractions.

notes from production meeting

We recently had another productive Electric Spec Production Meeting. Huzzah!

By now, all the folks in Hold-for-Voting should have heard from us with the possible exception of a couple acceptances. (It takes a little while to get the contracts together.) Even if we didn't take your story, you should feel proud to be in Hold-for-Voting. All the Hold-for-Voting stories were publishable.
Acceptances are asked to acknowledge the contract, send us their bio info and Paypal account info. Once we get the contracts back we start editing. We send the resulting edited story back to the author for his/her approval. We may repeat this step as needed. Eventually, we send the story to our copy-editor and the final step is posting the story on the preview page. The author has a final chance to check it over there. Finally, we publish. This quarter we go live on November 30, 2014!

I've passed along our hopefully-objective ranking system for the production meeting in the past, so I won't go into it again here. For the current issue we ended up accepting the top five stories. Thus, we had time to discuss stories in general. We agreed endings are particularly problematic for authors.

Short stories are works of art and authors can do whatever they like. However, for our market we like emotionally satisfying endings. Stories we publish have endings that wrap things up (good or bad); they do not just stop. This means in your story:

• Something has to happen.
• Something should be different at the end.
• Your ending should relate to your beginning.
• You should be able to state clearly what your story is about.

A writing or critique partner can help you decipher if you have an ending or not. We are currently accepting submissions for our first issue of 2015. Good luck!

Soon, I'll start bragging, er, blogging about the November 2014 issue. Stay tuned!

Spinrad on story

In preparation for the production meeting I've been pondering what makes a good story. The first and foremost element to a good story is story.
Norman Spinrad wrote some interesting remarks on this in 2011:

Talented writers who misunderstand science fiction have often fallen into ...[a] trap, supposing that writing in the SF mode allows you to invent whatever literary world suits your purpose without regard to suspension of disbelief or scientific knowledge, and sometimes it even works.

But you do have to have a purpose, a theme, a didactic ax to grind, a revelation to convey—something, anything, that pulls together your series of events, uniting character evolution with dramatic structure and with philosophical vector to reach a satisfying conclusion for the reader, an epiphany, if you’re really on your game, even a satori.

There is a technical term for this.

It’s called a story.

... Stories arise somewhere below the intellectual surface of consciousness—the subconscious, the collective unconscious, the dreamtime, the zeitgeist—and you know when one arises from the vasty deeps because it grabs you with the grappling iron of emotion, and will do the same for the reader if you’re up to the task of conveying it. Stories call you. There’s no guarantee they’ll come when you call...

Good luck getting your stories to come when called!

Next week I'll report what happens at the production meeting for the November 2014 issue.

Asimov on Creativity

We don't often give links to other stuff here but I can't resist...
Check out Isaac Asimov's article on creativity in the MIT Technology Review published on-line this week here.
Enjoy!

what's your line?

The submission period for the November 2014 issue of Electric Spec is closed. Of course, this means the submission period for the February 2015 issue is open.

We are working hard behind-the-scenes getting ready for the production meeting. We haven't quite gotten through all the slush but we're working on it. I've started reading the hold-for-voting stories and when I do so, I write a one sentence summary of each story so I can remember it for the production meeting.

In general, this is a very helpful exercise. If you can't express your story in one line...you may have a problem. For example, in our most recent issue we had stories that can be described via 'What happens to girls who get it on with fairies.' and 'A Hawaiian steampunk murder mystery.' These single lines make the stories sound intriguing, right?

In my own fiction, I recently sold a story which can be summarized by the line 'An astronaut's synesthesia saves the mission.' On the other hand, I've been working on a story which is not working (yet). It's line is: 'A robot gets Alzheimer's.' When I express it in one line, I can see that it's a setup for a story but not a complete story. Ah ha! I need to answer the question: what happens when the robot gets Alzheimer's? I should go work on it.

In the meantime, what's your line?

editing

First things first: tomorrow is the submissions deadline for the November 2014 issues of Electric Spec. Get those stories in.

Our submissions page says A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story.

Some authors are scared away by this. Don't be. Obviously, we edit for spelling and grammar. The most common other edits are cutting extra words and lines. Many authors repeat themselves. Sometimes authors go off on tangents that don't relate to the story at hand.
Sometimes authors have pov shifts--we fix these with as few word changes as possible.
Sometimes we alter the spacing of prose on the page. For example if something is very important we might give it its own paragraph.
Once in a while we don't feel the title does justice to the story. We might tell the author: we think the essence of the story is this. Can you come up with a less generic title?

Electric Spec editors do not write any part of your story. We have never changed the essence of any story and we never will. If we didn't like your story we wouldn't have bought it.

And, bottom line, any change has to meet with the approval of the author.

hurray for writers!

We, The Editors, are working feverishly behind-the-scenes to get through the slush pile in preparation for our November 30, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. Which reminds me, the submission deadline for this issue is coming up: October 15, 2014. Get those stories in! We sincerely appreciate your submissions.

As I peruse all the interesting stories, I can't help thinking writers are amazing. They create people and worlds out of nothing but their imagination. Wow. Think about that for a second. There was nothing...and then, bam!, there was something. And fictional characters are known around the world and throughout time. Think of your favorites; maybe they include Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins, Paul Atreides, Arkady Darell, Sookie Stackhouse, Harry Dresden, Ender Wiggin, or Tyrion Lannister... The list goes on and on. And I bet your friends know and love the characters, too. So, I'll say it again: writers are amazing.
If you are a writer: thank you! Thank you for working hard to create stories to spark readers' imaginations and dreams.

Hurray for writers!

earn your death

We're looking for some good macabre stories for our noteworthy November issue of Electric Spec. Macabre can evoke the grim and ugly aspects of death, but we tend to focus on the associated emotional facets. Perhaps it would help to think of it as suggestive of the allegorical dance of death.

Over the last decade we've received hundreds (thousands?) of stories of men killing their wives and/or girlfriends. In recent years these are often flash fiction pieces where the characters are introduced and then, bam!, the woman's dead. Sadly, after reading these I think, "Eh." I've seen it before, and, frankly, I don't care about any of the characters. And thinking up a unique way to kill off the woman doesn't help.
Consider bucking the trend and writing a macabre piece that doesn't involve murder. :)

In your story if you want to kill off your woman, make me care. How do you do this? You create a three-dimensional murderer and murderee, with good and bad characteristics, loves, hates, and desires. Real people want something(s) and so should murderers (and I'm not talking just murder). The murder should arise as a consequence of their characters. The protagonist's character should not consist solely of murderer.

Is this hard to do in flash fiction? Yes. Very. It's difficult to do in 5,000 words, too.
But no one ever said writing was easy. Or, if they did, maybe they deserve...
Good luck!

tips from the slush pile

We, the Editors, have started going through the slush pile for the notable November 2014 issue of Electric Spec. Thus, I've got some tips for authors...

Short fiction is an art form, and, frankly, you can do anything you'd like. That's part of the beauty and allure of short fiction.
However, if you want to be published in Electric Spec:

• You must have at least one protagonist. Another name for protagonist is 'main character.' I can't stress this enough. If you don't have a protagonist the reader has no one to identify with.
• You must have at least some showing. This means you cannot have all telling. Telling puts a layer of author between the reader and the story. The reader wants immerse him/herself in the story, to go on an adventure, not think: this is a clever author.
• You should very probably have dialogue. It's very difficult to have a protagonist and showing without any dialogue. It can be done, if there's only one character total in the story for example, but it probably shouldn't be.
• You must have a speculative element. We aren't called Electric Spec for nothing.
• Something needs to happen. Another way of putting this is: something needs to change in the story.

To summarize, if I read a story from the slush pile and it doesn't have a protagonist, some showing, some dialogue, a speculative element, AND change, I will reject it.

what's your destination?

I recently attended a workshop taught by the fabulous fantasy author Carol Berg. See the excerpt from her new novel Dust and Light in our last issue of Electric Spec here. The workshop was about plotting a novel without outlining. It turns out Carol is not an outliner! If you've read her excellent and complicated novels this will come as a surprise to you. It was a surprise to me.

The take-away from the workshop was: when writing, you must know your destination. In a novel you should know the ending of your large story arc and you should know the destination for each of your chapters. But it's totally fine to figure out your chapter destinations as you go along.

IMHO, as a short story writer you should know your final story destination when you start writing. Personally, I've written myself into a lot of corners and tangents when I didn't know my destination. Don't do that! :)
So, I ask you: What is your destination?

short story cheat sheet

We hope everyone's still enjoying the awesome August 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. Tell your friends! :)

Editor Betsy and I recently taught a workshop on how to write short stories. I'm not sure I said everything I meant to say, so I thought I'd compile the list of bullet points here, in, well, bullet points.

Short Story Cheat Sheet:

• Inspiration:How should you start? Write what you're passionate about. Notice this initial concept could be a person/character or an idea/plot topic.
• Protagonist:Every short story must have a protagonist. Your protagonist needs to be a sentient being with something to lose. Your protagonist needs to have a problem in the beginning (ideally, the first 250 words) of the story.
• Conflict:Every short story must have conflict. When your protagonist acts to solve his/her/its problem something or someone needs to oppose him/her/it.
• Plot: Thus, the simplest possible story plot is: A protagonist has a problem and acts to solve said problem. Something/one opposes the protagonist--causing conflict. The protagonist thinks he/she/it will fail--dark moment. The protagonist tries again and either succeeds (hurray!) or fails (aw!).
  This is also called the external story arc.
• Emotion:A good story needs to impact the reader's emotions. How do you do this? The reader needs to empathize with, essentially become, the protagonist. This is achieved through your characterization of the protagonist. Do not describe the physical characteristics of your protagonist (you want the readers to imagine themselves). Instead, show the protagonist through his/her/its thoughts, feelings, words and deeds and through the words and deeds of other characters in the story as they react to the protagonist.
  It's hard to evoke emotion in the reader unless you really torture your protagonist, i.e. give them a significant problem and make it seem like they truly won't succeed. The dark moment is when the protagonist and the reader thinks the protagonist will fail.
  Make sure to resolve your story. The reader needs to know if the protagonist has succeeded or failed in his/her/its actions.
• Change: Something about the protagonist him/her/itself needs to have changed as a result of the events of the story. This is the internal story arc.
• So what?When you finish your story, you need to ask: So what was the point of this story? What happened? If there was no point, if nothing happened, you need to work on it some more.
  Honestly, it can be difficult to get the distance from your work to ask this question effectively. Consider asking your friends, family, critique partners, "What happened?" If they can't answer you...back to work.

Good luck with your short stories!

Thank you, Zoe!

We'd also like to sincerely thank our cover artist Zoe Frasure! A fun fact about Zoe's work: we used her art in the marvelous May 31, 2014 issue as well. :) Nice work!

We're live!

We're live! Check out the new issue of Electric Spec! Thanks go out to all our authors, to our assistant editors Chris Devlin and Nikki Baird and to the whole technical team at Hardlight Multimedia! None of it could have happened without all of you. Special thanks to author Carol Berg for sharing her new novel with us.

And, of course, thank you readers! We wouldn't exist without you.
Huzzah!

very soon attractions!

Wow! It's almost here: the awesome August 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec.

We really pride ourselves on presenting readers with unique fiction. In the upcoming issue we have stories about: Elvis and the apocalypse (did you know these were related?), an ancient severed head causing a lot of trouble, a back-to-school sci-fi/fantasy spoof, what happens when girls get it on with fairies, and a Hawaiian steampunk murder mystery. Are you intrigued? I am and I've read them all already. :)

One of our favorites authors, Carol Berg, is sharing an excerpt from her brand-new novel Dust and Light. It begins with: Coroner Bastien's not-quite-a-smirk was immensely irritating.
"Constance sent word we've another mystery."
Exciting!

Check it all out on August 31, 2014!

Coming Attractions!

We are getting down to the wire for the awesome August 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec! We'll be showcasing 5 wonderful stories:

• "The Bog Man" by David K. Yeh
• "The King Must Die" by Bo Balder
• "Kites and Orchids" by George S. Walker
• "Sci Fi High" by Clint Spivey
• "When the Moon is Waning" by Larisa Walk

All these stories are exceptional. The editors are grateful that authors keep sending us such good stories. Thank you, authors! (Keep it up!)

It looks like we have some exciting other features as well. Here's a hint: Carol Berg.
I'll give you some more coming attractions on Thursday August 28.

Be sure to check out the new issue on August 31!

even more from our authors

I have really been enjoying hearing directly from our authors. It's been a blast. Another fun story we're publishing in our August 2014 issue of Electric Spec is "Sci Fi High" by Clint Spivey. He wanted to tell us some...

Thoughts on Young Adult Fiction
by Clint Spivey

YA gives writers an interesting opportunity. While ten thousand authors are all chasing the same nickel in a world where readers dwindle due to distractions, YA flourishes. It seems parents, who may not even read themselves, see the value in encouraging it in their children, and with good cause. But what does this mean to writers? Do we strive to please parents, the ones likely buying the fiction? Or do we seek to try and give an accurate picture of the world to our ultimate goal, the dear reader.

I ask this because, through work-shopping a recent story, set in a high school world of monsters, robots, angels, and inter-dimensional beings, I found myself being criticized for language and themes that were too mature for the story’s teenage characters. While I appreciated all of the advice I received, and ultimately followed it since it helped get the story published, I found myself conflicted.

My own high school experience, completed some seventeen years ago, was full of drugs, drinks, sex, curse words, and crime. This isn't to say I engaged in these acts, sex almost never, but these things were all around my fellow students and myself. Drugs from pot to meth and even LSD were available on campus if one knew the right person. Knives were visible, probably guns, though I never saw any. I know many people who were having sex regularly. Our on site day care for teen mothers attests to that. This wasn't some school in a terrible place, either. But the very school where the guy who first wrote, ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…’ attended.

I don’t believe YA fiction for high school students ought be filled with sex, drugs, and gangs. But do we do our readers of this group a disservice by treating them with kid gloves? While reading, surrounded by reality replete with the dangers mentioned above, do they smell a phony only trying to get their parents to make a purchase? I admit I’m not well read in YA, but after writing the aforementioned story, I figured this was an interesting discussion to begin.

more from our authors

One of the stories we're proud to present in our upcoming awesome August 2014 issue of Electric Spec is "The King Must Die" by Bo Balder--and it's not a fantasy, which you may be thinking. This is one of the most unique stories I've ever read.
Bo would like to tell us about:

My Experience in Writing "The King Must Die"
by Bo Balder

It was one of these rare moments of inspiration – I woke up at 5 in the morning with most of this story in my brain. I couldn't get back to sleep as long as the story was forming. I tossed and turned, feverishly imagining more, fleshing it out, until I gave up, got out of bedand wrote a brief outline. The actual writing, later that day, was as feverish and unusually smooth. I'd been to Vegas once, so imagining and looking up what it looked like in the seventies was easy. I've always loved Elvis and his music, so that wasn't hard either. The title is from Mary Renault's novel about Theseus in ancient Greece. In the novel, kings die to ensure their people's health and prosperity. I don't know where the frogs came from, I really don't. They were just there in the story from the beginning. Maybe somebody else will have an explanation what metaphor they are, but as a writer I think you should leave these symbols alone and just be grateful they appeared to you at all… Of course the story needed revision, but the essence was there from the beginning. It's special to me because of its strange birth, and I'm glad it's found a home!

from our authors

At the recent production meeting we came up with the idea to let some of our authors 'talk' to the blog readers directly. Thus, I am happy to introduce to you author Larisa Walk; we're going to publish her Fantasy "When the Moon is Waning" in our August 2014 issue. So, without further ado, take it away Larisa!

One Writer's Inspirations
by Larisa Walk

People often ask writers about the sources of our inspiration. It is not an easy question to answer, because the ideas often come from many sources: dreams, something heard on the news, nature, another writer's book or story that triggers an A-ha moment, a conversation overheard while having a cup of jasmine tea at a tea house, mythology, or seemingly out of nowhere at all. That latter one is a gift, especially when the story comes to you from its beginning to its end, all but wrapped in shiny paper with a pattern of peach-colored roses and a matching bow.

I can identify my two of the most frequent sources of inspiration: Russian history and mythology. They inspire me not only because I was born and raised in Russia, but because there is so much conflict and mystery in them. And to me conflict and mystery are what makes a satisfying story.

Take the fact that Russia lived under the Mongol domination for 200 years. Immediately questions rise up like bubbles in a boiling pot of water: How did those people survive? What was their life like? Was there a resistance movement? Was there nothing but hatred toward the oppressors or were there stories of love between the Mongols and the Russians? After five years of research of both English and Russian sources, I wrote a novel that answers those questions: A Handful of Earth.

Then there is the Russian fairyland where each character has a dominion over a certain part of people's lives. The domovoi keeps an eye on the house; the dvorovoi rules over the yard and cares for the animals that live there; and the bannik looks after the bath house. This, of course, brings more questions, more mystery, and more inspiration. From here the writer's imagination takes over, and the crafting of a story begins.

notes from the Production Meeting

The editors of Electric Spec had our Production Meeting this week. Approximately 6 beers and 2 scotches were consumed. We had a large number of very good stories in hold-for-voting, so it was tricky to narrow down the field to 5. Eventually we prevailed, however, and authors are being emailed the good (or bad) news as we speak. Hopefully all the hold-for-voting authors will hear back from us by the end of this week.
When we accept a story we send along a contract. Once the author accepts the contract we start editing the story. Things move pretty quickly this month since we're publishing the next issue on August 31.

Here are some tips based on our story discussion:

• A strong voice is important but other things are important as well, namely, a plot
• Make sure your story is speculative fiction. Macabre fiction, in particular, can be tricky here. For example, if a story contains a mysterious blurry figure, is it a ghost or an illusion? If it is a ghost you've got speculative fiction. If it's ambiguous...maybe not.
• It's probably not a good idea to include tampons in your story. Editors are susceptible to the ick factor like everyone else.
• We don't like super long (over 5000 words) stories. They're a pain to edit.

Other take-aways from the meeting: we're going to modify our webpage to indicate that we've been taking longer to get through slush. :(
We're going to ask authors if they'd like to contribute to the blog.
We were thinking of doing something special for our ten-year anniversary (next year), but we're leaning against it.
I guess that's all the highlights. We'll start previewing coming attractions next week.

check back Thursday

Behind the scenes at Electric Spec we are in the final stages of preparing for the Production Meeting for the August 2014 issue. This involves ranking the stories in hold-for-voting. And then changing our minds and re-ranking the stories. And then changing our minds.... Ugh.

Check back on Thursday this week and I'll let you know how the meeting went.
Happy Tuesday!

behind the scenes

We're working hard behind the scenes at Electric Spec preparing for the production meeting next week. I thought I'd give you a little peek behind the curtain...
We try to be objective when choosing stories to go in hold-for-voting. I even have a kind of check-list I use. Some items on the list include:

Does the story have the following within the first 2 pages:
• speculative fiction?
• protagonist?
• a problem?
• is it hooky? am I intrigued? drawn in?
• is the writing reasonably good? --meaning it's NOT distracting me.
• does the author have a unique voice?

Does the story have the following by the end:
• the protagonist acts?
• something happens?
• things are resolved?

Note not all these things are required--but if they're there, that story will get in hold-for-voting.

After stories are in hold-for-voting the editors rank them in numerical order. I then compile the total score of each story for the production meeting. The total score is just the sum of the individual editor's rankings--so a lower score is better. For example, if all three editors think a story is #1 among those in hold-for-voting it gets a total score of 3. And incidentally that story would be in the issue. (We've never had a story get a score of 3.) Notice, with all these numbers we're trying to be objective here as well.

However, when I decide on my personal rankings I'm not objective. I do take into account if I like the story or not. I don't know if this is good or bad, but it's how I do my rankings. Generally, each editor's favorite story, their #1, does make it into the issue.

Next week I'll let you know what happens at the production meeting.

perfection not required

I've passed along a lot of tips from the slush pile over the years. Unfortunately, these tips tend to be a list of 'what not to do' rather than 'what you're doing right.' So, what are you doing right?

First of all, if you started writing a story and actually finished it: Kudos to you! This is not an easy task. You should be proud you've created something from nothing. I think this is especially true today when we have sooo many other things clamoring for our time and attention.
Second of all, if you submitted your work and subjected it to possible rejection: Kudos to you! This is not an easy task. Everyone at Electric Spec is a writer and knows rejection stings. The trick to learn is: don't let it sting too much.

The vast majority of the stories we receive have an appealing protagonist with a problem who works to solve said problem. They often have neat or horrifying creatures and beautiful and/or intriguing worlds and/or fascinating science. These stories grab us. They emotionally manipulate us (good!). They have realistic and compelling dialogue. If you read the 'zine you know this. :)
So, hurray, for authors!

The vast majority of stories we receive are not perfect, however. That is totally fine. We don't expect perfection. We are not perfect. A few grammar issues or misspellings are no problem.
I would say the most common reason we don't publish a story is: the author hasn't quite transferred the story to the page. We ask questions like: What is this story about? Who is the protagonist? What happens in the end? It's not always easy to answer these questions after reading a story. What's the easiest way to avoid this problem? Ask a friend or family member to read your story and then ask them what it was about.
Another reason we don't take a story is: we've read or published several similar stories previously. A story can be well-written but if there's nothing fresh or new or unique about it, we probably won't take it.

We should finish with slush for the next issue within the next two weeks. So, keep an eye on your in-box if you haven't heard back from us yet. We'll have the Production Meeting for the awesome August 2014 issue at the beginning of August. And then I'll start blogging some previews of coming attractions!

slush pile notes 2

Today is the deadline for submissions for the August 2014 issue of Electric Spec. Get those stories in and good luck!
We've been making some progress on getting through the slush pile, so here are some more tips in no particular order...

• Put your story hook in the beginning of your story. I strongly recommend it appear on page 1. There's a school of thought that recommends you start fiction with the ordinary world. This can work, but you don't want to bore the reader. I think readers, including editors, have less patience now than they used to. If you have the cool reveal that your protagonist is a god in the middle of the story, readers might not get that far.
• Seriously consider avoiding Urban Fantasy creatures including vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc. It is very difficult to put a fresh spin on these. We'd love to see some creatures from more obscure mythologies. Are there any interesting fables in your ethnic or cultural background?
• Don't use non-said or non-asked dialogue tags. You can use different verb tenses of say and ask but use anything else at your own peril. Why? It pulls the reader out of the story. Can you really moan, sigh, hiss, grunt words? No-ooooo-ooooo.
• Speaking of which, writing out screams of horror is rarely effective. Gaaaahhhhhhh! In general, macabre fiction is difficult. It should be spooky or creepy rather than bloody. Bloody horror is more suited to visual media.
• Keep market in mind. Over the past nine (!) years we've created a specific Electric Spec 'brand.' In particular, our stories must have a speculative element. Our stories have dialogue. Our stories have protagonists. In our stories something happens. Our stories are mostly showing rather than telling. Our stories have a resolution. We like unique fresh stories.

I guess that's it for now. Thanks for reading.

slush pile notes

Once again it seems we are behind with our slush pile. Apologies. If you submitted for the August 2014 issue rest assured we will get back to you. Eventually.
Here are some miscellaneous comments related to the slush pile...
Of course, the only rule of writing is there are no rules to writing. :)

• Please do not give a synopsis of your story in the cover letter. It gives me the idea that you think your story is confusing. If your story is confusing, explaining it in the cover letter won't help.
• Please do not use giant fonts or weird formatting in your story. It's distracting and it makes me think you are an inexperienced story-teller. (Along those same lines, don't tell me this is the first story you've ever written.)
• Please do not submit stories of more than 7000 words. This is outside our word limit and honestly, if you can write a story of ~7400 words are you sure you can't find 400 words to cut? If I was going to give one overall tip for everyone it would be: make your story shorter. Cut everything that doesn't need to be there.
• It is not recommended that you use sentences of more than 100 words. Can you say 'run on'? Related to this: generally, don't repeat a word multiple times within a sentence.
• Generally, a story needs to have a protagonist.
• Generally, a protagonist needs to do something in the story. If no one does anything, it's not really a story, IMHO.
• Don't start your story with the protagonist waking up. Don't start your story with the protagonist dreaming. Don't start your story with the protagonist opening the front door.
• Don't write a story about real-life political figures or other famous people.

Do send us your submissions by July 15, 2014 for the August 2014 issue. Recall the submissions guidelines are here.
Good luck!

endings

Oh, come on, you knew "endings" was coming. :)
The end of a story is the most important part. The end has to tie everything together and should address the beginning in some way. Most importantly, the end has to evoke an emotional response in the reader. I'm not kidding. The end has to make the reader feel something. Maybe it's only satisfaction that everything was wrapped up or 'Huh, interesting idea,' but it has to be something.

One of my fellow RMFW members wrote a very interesting (long) blog post lately about emotion: Emotional Barrier in Fiction: The Most Important Barrier For You To Cross (Part One). When I wrote the story that was my first pro sale, I was sobbing at the end as my protagonist sacrificed herself for her family. Was sobbing and sale a coincidence? I think not.

The tricky thing about evoking emotion in the reader is you have to make the reader care about the protagonist. I took a creative writing class last Fall and the young students tended to go right for death, dismemberment, rape, etc., before we cared about the characters. The teacher said they didn't "earn" the drama. How do we make the reader care? I think the author has to care.
What do you think?

Good luck with your emotional endings!

middles

Recently, one of my writing groups was discussing how we approach a story. Most folks had at least an idea about the beginning and the ending. I didn't hear a lot of enthusiasm, or even planning, about middles. I'm not surprised. Are you? In my own writing, too often middles become muddles. :( Unfortunately, as an editor, if I get lost in a muddle, that leads to rejection.

Luckily, short fiction is easier, in some ways, than long fiction. In the beginning, you must hook the reader; you must set up the story problem. In the middle, you must make things worse for the protagonist(s). The story problem gets even more dire. Also in the middle, you must set up the protagonists with the tools to succeed--even as it looks like they will fail. Piece of cake, right? Ha!

How you do this is totally up to you. If you have to write a muddle and then rewrite it, so be it. I have personally rewritten many a muddle. Having some one else read your work may help you identify muddles. "What happened here, in the middle?" Please don't send us your muddle. :)

Good luck with your middles!

In other news, the deadline for the awesome August 2014 issue of Electric Spec is approaching. Submissions need to be in by July 15 for consideration. Thanks!

beginnings

As we begin work on the next issue of Electric Spec I find myself thinking about beginnings… (This may also have something to do with the fact I'm starting a new novel.) There's a lot of talk in the writerly cybersphere about how to write. Do you plan everything out? If so, you're a plotter. Do you plan very little out, write by the seat-of-your-pants? If so, you're a pantser. A long time ago I learned I do have to do some planning when writing a short story. If I don't my stories meander all over the place, only arriving at their destinations by a very circuitous route or by accident. Not good. I could usually whip said stories into an actual story with the help of my critique partners but it did take a considerable amount of time. Also, not good.

Often as I read slush, I wish our aspiring authors had critique partners (or better critique partners). I wish I could tell the author: 'your story doesn't start until page 3' or 'your beginning and your ending must relate to each other.' Story beginnings are crucial. If I'm not hooked on page one, I usually won't make it to the end of the story. Show me what your story is about on page one.

I suggest authors think more about their story before they begin. What, exactly, is this story about? Who is it about? What's the problem? What's the resolution? What's different at the end of the story? What emotions do you want to evoke in the reader? You don't have to write these answers down, but you should know them.

Good luck!

the latest issue

I hope everyone's still enjoying the new issue of Electric Spec. In addition to the excellent stories by Barton Paul Levenson, Mark Webb, Kathryn Yelinek, Jason Sturner, and Melinda Brasher, we have some other interesting items… In passing I mentioned Editor Betsy's interview of fantasy author Brian McClellan. Check it out to find out what inspired his world, McClellan's writing style, how he does research, how he plans his books, and other tidbits.

Also in this issue, Editor Dave shares a flash-y story, "Forgetting." How many words do we need to tell a story? What's flash fiction? I forget…. :)

In this issue we also have an interesting article about movies from our longtime columnist Marty Mapes. If you love speculative fiction and movies, I highly recommend you read his columns over the years. This time, he discusses "Under the Skin." Have you seen it? Do you agree or disagree with Marty's take?

We welcome any and all comments about the issue.

Now, off to work on the upcoming awesome August 30, 2014 issue!
Send in your stories!

Hurrah!

Discerning readers deduced we went live with the latest issue of Electric Spec on June 1, 2014! Hurrah!
If you were one of the folks waiting for the issue with bated breath, our apologies for not publishing on May 31 as advertised. :( Sometimes technology is a hindrance instead of a help.

A resounding Thank you! goes out to our authors, our artist, our columnist, the technical staff and our associate editor, Nikki Baird! We really appreciate everyone's contributions.

technical difficulties

Unfortunately, we're having technical difficulties.
We're working to resolve them but it's possible the issue might not go live until June 1. :(

more coming attractions

We're entering the home stretch now for the upcoming May 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec.

In "Girl with the Crooked Spine" by Jason Sturner we have an unusual fantasy about a unique girl and a misfit boy who meet in the Field Museum in Chicago. Let's just say: adventures ensue. The editors thought this was one of the most unusual fantasies we've read in a long time.

In "A Learned Man" by Melinda Brasher we have another unique fantasy. This one is inspired by "La Leyenda de Bolsa Salgado," an El Salvadorian folktale. Is he, in fact, a learned man? We'll let you read it and decide for yourself.

I'm told we're also including a 'Spec Fic in Flicks' column by our own Marty Mapes. He's writing "An Alien Perspctive on the Human Condition." I can't wait!

Check it all out May 31, 2014!

good titles

We're still working hard on the marvelous May 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec. I thought I'd take a little time today to brag about our science fiction story in the issue.

This month we'll be publishing "Khuminay and the Axe-Wielding Psycho" by Barton Paul Levenson. As you might have guessed from the title, there's a creature named Khuminay and there's at least one murder via an axe. Just that little bit sounds dramatic, doesn't it? :) It is dramatic. I highly recommend you check it out on May 31.
And, yes, this is a good title.

Interestingly, we've published Levenson before: "The Boogie-Woogie, Time-Traveling, Cyborg Blues". This is also a very good title! Clearly, Levenson has a way with titles. Of course, you have to have a good story to back up a good title, and luckily Levenson delivers.

Also coming up in the next issue is a special interview with author Brian McClellan. McClellan writes epic fantasy, specifically, The Powder Mage Trilogy. The first book was Promise of Blood. Wow, very dramatic title! Editor Betsy will be asking him about several things including his brand-new book The Crimson Campaign.
I can't wait!

first preview of coming attractions

We, The Electric Spec Editors, are working hard on the Marvelous May 31, 2014 issue. Among other things, we have two fun unique urban fantasy stories: "Showdown" by Mark Webb and "Between the Covers" by Kathryn Yelinek.

In "Showdown" an older Australian woman discovers her helpful neighbors are even more helpful and unusual than she suspected. When some other folks object to these neighbors, the woman helps them out and a showdown ensues. Is that sufficiently cryptic for you? :) Well, I can't give the story away! Trust me: you'll want to read it!

In "Between the Covers" we have a story that takes place partly on Earth and partly on another very interesting world. The challenge here: what do you do if your memories of yourself aren't reliable? Again, trust me: you'll want to read it to find out what I'm talking about!

Huzzah for these authors! You can read about them and other authors on our Authors page

Of course, we'd like the opportunity to celebrate you as an author in the future…
Submit your story!

production meeting May 2014

Well, we had a productive production meeting last night. :) Yes, it was on Cinco de Mayo and we did enjoy some Mexican food and lots of beer. Editor Betsy warned us she might fall on the floor--but luckily this didn't come to pass. Even so we managed to get business done. We are in the process of writing all the folks in hold-for-voting with the good or bad news. The authors receiving good news will also be receiving their contract. The sooner you send the contract back, the sooner we can get your story ready for publication.

Some thoughts on the stories we considered… We had a lot of fantasy in this bunch; it was a little odd. Also curiously, we had more than one gargoyle story. What's up with that? Is there a gargoyle meme floating around?
I don't know if it's good or bad but we had a number of repeat authors in hold-for-voting. Since we don't look at the author name when we're considering the stories, I guess kudos to those authors.

Of course, before we got down to business we had to have a gab-fest about various speculative fiction stuff. I recommended Kristin Cashore's novels to my fellow editors. We had a lively discussion of George R.R.Martin's work which moved on to HBO's incarnation of it. Like many, we expressed our concerns about how rapey it is. Bottom line: it's too rapey.

Don't worry: this is related to Electric Spec business. One of the stories in hold-for-voting this time had an attempted rape of a little girl. It got into hold-for-voting because the girl is saved. But, ultimately, we decided it was too much. Please recall our submission guidelines say We do not consider ..stories with over-the-top sex or violence. Considering two of the Editors have little girls at home, I think it's safe to say we will never publish a story in which a little girl gets raped or even almost raped. Or, for that matter, a little boy. Or anyone else. Bottom line: no rape.

The marvelous May 31, 2014 issue will have several excellent stories! Check back this month as I entice you about them and other aspects of the issue. Thanks for reading. :)

rejection

We, The Editors of Electric Spec are getting ready to make the final selections for the marvelous May 31, 2014 issue. This is always a very difficult task. All the stories in hold-for-voting are publishable, so if we don't pick your story it's because of things like issue balance and the like.

All the editors (and tech folks for that matter) here are writers so we know what it's like to have a story rejected. It's rough. Personally, I got two rejections today and one of Friday. Ugh. Even after decades of writing I still get a quick sword-to-the-heart feeling when I read "Thanks, but no thanks." We've all been there.

Thus, if we have to reject you or if you didn't make into hold-for-voting: take heart. Writing is a noble pursuit; it's worth all the heartache. Try to remember the joy of creating new characters and worlds and the fun of sharing stories with family and friends. Writing is one of mankind's greatest endeavours.

And there's always the next issue...

working...

We, the editors of Electric Spec, are hard at work behind-the-scenes getting ready for the Marvelous May 31, 2014 issue! Stay tuned for exciting tidbits about the upcoming issue throughout the month of May.

In the meantime, did you know science fiction is an area of scholarly study? Did you know there's an esteemed open access online forum in science fiction studies called "deletion"? Well, there is! You can find it here: www.deletionscifi.org.
And Episode 4 just came out: The New! The Now! The Fantastic!: Artistic and Scholarly Innovation helmed by Marleen S. Barr, noted for her foundational work in feminist science fiction criticism. This episode has a thematic focus on women’s creative practice intersecting with the science fictional, the authorial and the scholarly.

Check it out!

pet peeves

Today is the submission deadline for the May 31, 2014 issue of Electric Spec! Of course, after said deadline we're still accepting stories for the August 31, 2014 issue.
We've been trying to get through the mounds of fiction in the slush pile. (Thank you for submitting, by the way!) We're in much better shape than we were a month ago. Hopefully, we're doing a better job getting back to aspiring authors quickly.

Here are some thoughts motivated by the slush pile. Please note these are my personal pet peeves; they tend to engender strong negative reactions. Other editors may have others…

• Don't be racist/sexist/homophobic. In fact, don't be any kind of "-ist" in your story. This is a huge turn-off and may (probably will!) result in an automatic rejection.
• Don't proselytize. If I, as a reader, think you're trying to convert me…it may result in a knee-jerk rejection.
• Don't campaign. This is why we recommend you stay away from politics in stories you submit to us. I have a strong negative response to stories with political agendas of any kind.
• Don't bad-mouth groups of people, e.g. all lawyers are scum-sucking vermin. If a reader happens to disagree with the author's opinion ==> automatic rejection. One of my pet-peeves is scientist characters as one-dimensional losers and/or villains. Actually, you can easily avoid this by not creating one-dimensional characters. :)

Of course, I understand the most important component of a story is conflict and an author may intentionally chose to create a character that behaves in a negative manner of this sort. There is a little more leeway in character actions and dialogue, etc. than there is in the author's message. Am I contradicting myself? A little bit.

No one ever said writing was easy. Good luck!