new issue soon

Our awesome August 31, 2013 issue of Electric Spec is almost here! Huzzah! Thanks to some very good authors, we have some very good stories to share with you:

In "Little Miss Saigon" by Malon Edwards we get a whole new perspective on a mother's love; I'll give you one hint: zombie.
In C.R. Hodge's "Queen Meabh," an archeologist's field project does not go as planned; I'll you a hint here: possession.
For a post-apocalyptic adventure, "For Want of Stars" by Beth Ceto fits the bill.
Ever wonder what happens when death machines kill everyone but ignore you? Find out in "Amelia Amongst Machines" by David Brookes.
Hhm. I'm sensing a bit of a negative theme.
Fear not! We close out the issue with a romance in David W. Landrum's "Someone." Of course, as you might expect this romance has a speculative twist...

Check them all out, August 31 in the usual place: Electric Spec

your brain on fiction

You may or may not have noticed we had a little bit of technical difficulty at the end of last week with our marvelous May 31, 2013 issue. We think we've resolved this. If you see something weird please email the submissions email.
We are all working hard behind the scenes on the awesome August 31, 2013 issue. In particular, I wanted to give a shout out to our excellent copy-editor Chris Devlin. You rock, girl! Thanks for all your help on the issues.
Stay tuned next week for some more specific bragging about the new issue. :)

Now, on to the topic at hand. Annie Murphy Paul wrote a fascinating article "Your Brain on Fiction" published in 2011 in The New York Times. The gist of it is: The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated. Wow! Isn't that cool?

What does this mean for authors? It means we really need to show, not tell. Words with odor associations activate the smelling portion of our brain. Words with motion associations activate the parts of our brain associated with moving. Words associated with textures or other tactile sensations activate the parts of our brain associated with touch. Let's use all the amazing words and mental associations at our disposal. :)

What's your favorite sensory word? Use it!

editing

The Electric Spec Editors are working hard editing stories for the awesome August 2013 issue. I thought I'd give you all a glimpse behind the curtain...

As authors make sure you remove as many spelling and grammar errors as possible before you submit your work of art. Do use the spelling and grammar tools of your word-processing software BUT don't rely on them exclusively. A lot of spelling and grammar issues can slip by. In particular, a misspelled word can be auto-corrected to become another word. Try reading your work out loud to separate yourself from your work and catch these gotchas. As an editor, I don't have preconceptions of what a piece says so it's easier for me to spot problems.
Be careful with word choice. I know authors who love their thesaurus, but not all words are created equal. Consider what a word really means. And is it consistent with your world and character? This is also something editors look at.

Probably the most common thing we edit for is length. IMHO, rarely does a short story need to be 5,000 words or more. I know Electric Spec accepts longer stories but those extra words are almost always padding--and padding that obscures the true beauty of a story. One of our editors (his name rhymes with Dave) is a master at revealing a story jewel hidden underneath the fluff. We call him The Slasher and all try to emulate him.
Related to this is where the story opens. Often a story opens with a lot of setup or backstory. Often this isn't needed.

An editing trick I've discovered over the years is line spacing. White space on the page or screen is your friend because it imparts drama. It lets the reader focus on a particular sentence. Go ahead, try it. When something important happens, put that sentence in its own paragraph. I often recommend the climax--especially the emotional climax--of a story get its own paragraph.

See?

Didn't you focus on the above line? Of course, the opposite holds as well. Readers focus less on stuff in a long paragraph.
A similar idea for dialogue is to break up dialogue with beats, small physical actions or expressions. Here's an example:
"I love you." She swallowed. "And I've never said that to anyone before." versus
"I love you. And I've never said that to anyone before."
Isn't the first version more dramatic? Breaking up the dialogue makes the reader focus more on the individual lines.

Authors selected for the awesome August issue should be in the process of sending back their contracts. Once we receive the contract, the Editor begins editing. If our proposed changes are minor, we'll post the story in a preview and ask the author to okay it on the webpage. If more significant changes may be necessary we generally go back and forth with the author giving suggestions, etc.

Be sure to checkout the new issue August 31!

uniqueness and action

We, the Editors, had our production meeting this past weekend. This means our awesome August 2013 issue is well on its way to creation. All the authors who were in hold-for-voting and not selected have been emailed. Remember, if your story made it to hold-for-voting, your story is publishable. Kudos, for almost making it into the issue! I think some selectees have yet to be emailed--but it's coming soon.

IMHO, we had an extra tough time selecting which stories to include in the issue because we had a lot of strong finalists. I thought I'd pass along some discussion points for your consideration. At Electric Spec we really like unique stories. This means your story will have a better chance with us if it has a different take or unusual twist in it. Try to subvert our expectations. For instance, if a man falls in love with a ghost woman, you might expect the problem would be that the love-interest is a ghost; but what if that's not the problem? One clever way to create something unique is to combine multiple genres, for example, zombies and artificial intelligence. I think you get the idea. The bottom line is if two somewhat similar stories are in final contention and one has a unique twist and one doesn't ==> we pick the unique one.

The second issue that was a deciding factor at the recent meeting was: does the protagonist act to solve his/her/its problem? (Notice this means the protagonist has a problem.) In other words, the main character has to do something to change his/her/its circumstances. For example, if evil robots are running rampant across the countryside killing everyone and the protagonist is saved when they're cut down by a virus --> not great. On the other hand, if evil robots are running rampant across the countryside killing everyone and the protagonist tries to lure them away from a settlement to save the people there ==> very nice. Especially if you add in a unique twist like the protagonist is a little girl and some other stuff...
I think you get the idea here, too.

As you may have gleaned, we have some great stories for the awesome August issue. Stay tuned this month for more info!

politics in fiction

I read an interesting book recently, Flashback by Dan Simmons. Set in the future, it's essentially a murder mystery with a disgraced ex-detective being forced to solved the murder of a powerful man's son. The title refers to flashback, a drug that most Americans are addicted to, in which you flash back to memories from your past. As you can imagine, this doesn't bode too well for the U.S. economy, etc. In Flashback the U.S. and most of the rest of the world's civilizations have been destroyed.

This future world Simmons created is extreme. Evil Muslims have been waging a holy war on the whole world. Clever sneaky Japanese still have advanced technology but also have a brutal feudal style culture of ritual suicide and worse. (If this sounds racist to you, I agree.)

Furthermore, in this world, Simmons writes the U.S. was totally bankrupted/destroyed by its entitlement programs. Europe was destroyed by its socialist policies. In addition, Simmons states multiple times that anthropogenic climate change is a "hoax". He mentions one lab repeatedly where this nefarious research took place and which is the site of horrific research in the novel. (Never mind the hundreds of other universities and labs that do research in this area which are never mentioned.)
To make a long story short, Tea Partiers would love this book.
Before reading this novel I had no idea what Mr. Simmons' personal political views were...but I have a pretty strong feeling I do now.

Should you include strong political views in your novel? In my opinion: caveat scriptor. I'll put it another way. Has Electric Spec ever published a story with such blatant political propaganda? No.

Stay tuned next week for an update on the Awesome August issue and our production meeting!

ambiguity

I read an interesting book recently, The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman. It tells the story of a disadvantaged mother in 1831 England and what she does to protect her baby in the midst of a cholera epidemic. "Dress lodging" refers to a whore renting a fancy dress so she can attract fancier johns. It's a very dramatic story and well-written. Moreover, it has an interesting point-of-view, with the author often addressing the reader. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to reveal some people do die of cholera.

However, the ending is ambiguous. A positive life for the dress lodger is suggested for the audience, but we have no way of knowing if it will come to pass. When a novel or story has an ambiguous ending, it's up to the reader to decide what will happen. Even more than usual the reader plays an integral part in an ambiguous-ending story.

What do you think will happen to the dress lodger? A happy ending? Death via cholera?
Whatever you decide it says a lot about you. :)

Does Electric Spec publish a lot of ambiguous-ending stories? Savvy readers know the answer to that question, but I'll give you a hint: No.

similes and metaphors

First a little business. We've passed the submission deadline for the August 2013 issue of Electric Spec. If you got your story in: Hurray for you. If not: we're now accepting submissions for the November 2013 issue. Good luck! In general: thank you authors! We wouldn't exist without you. :)
Please don't email us and ask us what the status of your story is. It clogs up our email and makes it that much slower for us to read the actual story submissions.
We're having the next production meeting at the beginning of August, so all submitters--including those in hold-for-votting--will hear back from us by about August 7.

Now, on to some fun stuff: similes and metaphors. Similes and metaphors are an important part of your writing arsenal. Every single author should be using them; they make stories richer. Similes and metaphors are easy to get mixed up (I know I do). A simile is when an author directly compares two things using a word like "like", "as", "than", or a verb such as "resembles". :) A metaphor is when an author describes a subject by asserting that it is the same as an unrelated object. So, notice a simile differs from a metaphor in that the latter compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing.

The important point for writers to remember--especially speculative fiction writers--is your similes and metaphors need to be consistent and compatible with the character and the world. Moreover, they can be used to create those characters and world. Think about it. A rural character in a macabre tale will use much different similes and metaphors than an alien in a science fiction tale. Ooh! I just got an image of a hillbilly on an alien world... :)

In terms of tips, it's rarely a good idea to have more than one simile and/or metaphor in one sentence. It's rarely a good idea to use a mixed metaphor or simile (unless you're going for humor).
Does anyone have any favorite similes or metaphors they care to share?

Now your homework assignment: look at your most recent work and make sure you have some similes and metaphors. Then, make sure they are unique to that story, to that character, to that world. Good luck!

get in the groove

The submission deadline for our Awesome August 2013 issue is coming up: July 15. Get those stories in!

One of my writing friends made some very inspiring comments the other day, so I asked her to summarize them for your reading pleasure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guest post from Jamie Ferguson:

A while back I finally got back in the groove and started focusing on my writing again. I wanted to finish my book, but I also gave myself the okay to take it slow because I didn't want to get burnt out and stop. I was moving at a glacial pace, but I was moving!

I started to pick up steam last fall. My editor had given me exactly the kind of feedback I needed, I was making progress on editing my book, and I took a writing class from Dean Wesley Smith. But this wasn't enough. I wanted to make real changes in my life. I didn't want to work on my manuscript for a day or two, then do nothing for 3 weeks. I like to compare writing to exercise - when you're in shape, you can't not exercise...but when you're trying to get in shape, you'll use even the most ridiculous excuses to avoid doing anything. I wanted to be in writing shape.

The plan I came up with was to incorporate a variety of writing-related activities into my life on a weekly, preferably daily, basis.

I signed up for two classes: one on book cover design, and one on interior book design. I eventually took another three writing classes. I tried out a few writing podcasts, finally settling on Writing Excuses as my favorite. I started reading writing blogs. I joined a small critique group. I worked on my manuscript whenever I had free time. And I started having writing happy hours with a few other writers. You can discount the latter, but I do not - talking with other writers helps keep you motivated. And combining it with wine doesn't hurt...

My idea was that if I involved myself in many different writing-related activities that I would be more likely to be able to stay focused. So if I took a little time off from my manuscript, but was taking classes, listening to podcasts, and going to a critique group, that I was still focused on writing. Kind of like if you take a few weeks off from running, but you're hiking and lifting weights, you're still used to the idea that exercise is a part of your life.

Incorporating all of this into my life was a challenge in the beginning, but I achieved what I wanted - seven months later I'm still writing diligently on a regular basis. My book was published in April, I'm about to publish a small short story collection, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through my second novel. My plan was a success!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations and thanks, Jamie!

Sookie rocks!

As every self-respecting speculative fiction fan knows, Charlaine Harris released the final Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series book this spring, Dead Ever After That makes book number thirteen for those of you who are counting. In honor of the ending of the series I decided to read them all again from beginning to end, and I'm having a ball. Harris is an amazing author. Her plotting keeps the reader entranced. Moreover, she's created a whole cast of characters that are engaging and realistic--and that's with vampires, shifters, werewolves, and fae running around!

Sookie, in particular, is a tour de force character. Harris has done a masterful job showing naive Sookie change and grow into a self-sufficient, wise woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. While Sookie isn't exactly a typical woman, she's not superwoman. She's flawed in the beginning of the series and flawed in the end, although less so. She has a lot of setbacks but always manages to pick herself up again and keep trying. She also wrestles with big picture ideas of good versus evil and what it means to be a good Christian. Kudos, Ms. Harris!

What's that? You don't like Sookie as much as I do? That's totally fine. The bottom line here is Harris has created the type of multidimensional character every author should strive for.
Another important take-away is: read, read, read. Not only is it great fun, but writers learn a lot from other writers.

Who's your favorite fictional character?

Critique Groups

The publishing industry has undergone a lot of growing pains in the last few years. One result of this, IMHO, is critique groups are more important than ever for writers. Why? Because writers need another set of eyes on their work, so they can discover what's really on the page--as opposed to what they think is on the page.

I freely admit getting critique is tough. It's difficult to hear that one's writing, one's baby, is not perfect. And sometimes, feedback isn't helpful. In general, critique should be about how something is written, not what is written.

Here are some critique group tips from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers:

• Offering Critique:
  • Begin with positive comments.
  • Comments should be specific and about things like viewpoint, structure, characters, word choice, etc.
  • Note any confusion you had as a reader and/or questions that were raised.
  • Be sure you separate the character/narrator from the author. Don't assume the author is the character/narrator.
  • Comment on the work itself, and not the subject matter or related philosophies, etc.
  • End with something positive.
• Receiving Critique:
  • Just listen and/or take notes. Do not argue, explain or defend.
  • Don't be intimidated or depressed by the feedback. Honest feedback is a valuable tool for improving one's writing.
  • Don't take everyone's critique as gospel. You are the boss of your writing. Don't make changes before careful consideration.
  • If a critique group isn't working for you, by all means, quit and look for another group.

How do you find a group? Local writers groups have critique groups. Many public libraries have writer's critique groups. There are also a lot of online groups. See, for example, the compilation at: "Online Writing Groups, Writing Communities and Critique Groups".

Good luck!

writing advice

I've been doing a lot of research into writing advice from writers for a workshop I'm teaching with a friend later in the summer. There is a lot of advice out there! I've blogged about this before, see for example Quotes from Writers. Some of the most obvious--and helpful--pieces of advice include:

• To be a writer you must write.
• Finish things.
• Read, read, read.

In an effort to winnow down the massive amount of info, I decided to focus on some of the most successful writers of recent years and see if they have anything in common. And, IMHO, they do.

• George R.R. Martin said recently in an interview that his characters are more real to him than some real-world people.
• Regarding her missing her characters, J.K. Rowling said, "I really miss all of them, but I suppose I'm going to have to say Harry because he is my hero and there is a lot of me in Harry."
  and "What you write becomes who you are…so make sure you love what you write!"
  and "Sometimes I actually hated the book, even while I loved it."
• Stephenie Meyer said "My focus is the characters--that's the part of the story that is most important to me. I feel the best way to write believable characters is to really believe in them yourself."
  and "try not to focus on the publishing part while you write—tell yourself a story that you really love."

Thus the gist of this advice is: write the story and characters that you, the author, love.
Good luck!

we need art

For some reason, in recent weeks our cover art submissions have fallen off. Why is this? Beats me.
The bottom line is, if you are an artist or an aspiring artist think about creating some speculative art and sending it to us.

Some highlights from the Art Submissions Guidelines page include:

• We are currently accepting art submissions for our 2013 and 2014 issues.
• Please do not submit the same artwork more than once.
• Please submit artwork separately from stories.
• We will consider any picture with a speculative fiction element for issue cover art.
  No over-the-top sex or violence, or fan fiction characters or settings, please.
• We pay $20 for each piece of artwork we publish. We buy first-printing world exclusive rights for four months and non-exclusive rights thereafter. Please note this means we want art that has not been published elsewhere. Payment will be made shortly after publication using PayPal.
• To submit your art to Electric Spec, e-mail it as an attachment to submissions at electricspec (dot) com. Use the following subject line: ART SUBMISSION: Title by Artist's Name. We prefer standard electronic formats such as jpeg or gif files.

Artists: start your paintbrushes, or pencils, or computers, or other favorite medium.
What's that? You've never created art? Now's your chance...

nouveau issue

Hopefully, you all have already gleaned we have a merveilleux nouveau Mai issue of Electric Spec! Thank you to all the contributors: Aaron Ritchey, Sarah Pinsker, Maigen Turner, Charlotte Nash, Jarod K. Anderson, Kenny Soward, Marty Mapes. You guys rock. Thank you to all the behind-the-scenes folks: Betsy Dornbush, David E. Hughes, moi, Nikki Baird, Chris Devlin, our web guys. You guys rock.

What's your favorite story? Mine is "The Disconnected", or "A Beastly Game", or "The City of Tears." Oh, wait, what about "Tartarus," "Bulls and Magic," and "The Art of Persuasion"? They're great, too. I can't decide. What do you think?

We enjoy comments. :)

Marvelous May Issue!

Hurray! It's almost here, folks! The Marvelous May 31 2013 issue of Electric Spec! I know I've said this before, but I think our next issue is our best yet! :) The fiction is outstanding--and I'm totally objective, of course! We've got "The Disconnected" by Aaron Ritchey, which really packs an emotional punch. We've got "A Beastly Game" by Sarah Pinsker which is a very unusual combo of South African football (rugby, for Americans) and supernatural creatures. Yes, you have to read it to find out what kind of creatures! We've got the beautifully-written "The City of Tears" by Maigen Turner. Charlotte Nash's "Tartarus" is an action-packed mind-bending thrill ride set on another planet. Finally, we've got the literary-style "Bulls and Magic" by Jarod K. Anderson. As a bonus, Editor David E. Hughes contributed "The Art of Persuasion" for Editor's Corner; Dave is a master at creating legal stories with speculative elements. We have a very interesting fairy-tale movie column from our regular contributor, Marty Mapes. And, as if all that isn't enough, Editor Betsy Dornbusch interviews author Kenny Soward! Phew! That's an impressive amount of issue.

As we finish up behind-the-scenes, a big shout-out to all the authors who submitted their stories for consideration for this issue. Thank you! Electric Spec wouldn't exist without you! Thank you to our columnists! Special thanks to our behind-the-scenes folks including Chris Devlin, Nikki Baird, and our website administrator (you know who you are!)!
Apparently, I need to go cold-turkey on exclamation marks! (!)

Check it all out May 31, 2013!

The Importance of Records

Creative writing is art, but there are some pesky business aspects to it as well. Probably the most important business thing is to keep a record of where you submit your stories and novels. It makes you a more efficient, more likely-to-be-published writer if you submit to probable markets in a timely fashion. Let's look at both parts of this statement, because they're both important.

A probable market is a market that accepts your type of work. This means you must do your background research. For short stories, a great speculative fiction resource is www.ralan.com. (Does anyone have a great general short fiction resource?) For literary agents, a great resource is www.agentquery.com. I've blogged about market before.

A timely fashion is a bit trickier. The industry convention for novels is you may query agents simultaneously for the same work. However, if you get asked for a partial or full manuscript, generally, the agent prefers an exclusive. The industry convention for short stories is NOT to submit the same story simultaneously. This means you can only submit to one market at a time. If you are submitting to a SFWA-approved professional market, for example, I would definitely abide by this rule. If you don't follow industry conventions, you run the risk of offending an editor or agent. That can have a negative impact on your career. Yikes!

Another fly in the ointment is publication. What exactly constitutes publication? If you post part or all of your story on your webpage, is this publication? What about a novel excerpt? What if it's posted on someone else's website or ezine? What if you get compensated? What if you don't? What about rewrites? How much do you have change to make a 'new' story? Regarding this stuff, just be honest and don't try to mislead anyone.
Of course, when the money starts rolling in you have to keep records of it for the tax man. :) I hope you have that problem!

I've tried quite a few things in pursuit of writing records including spreadsheets and databases and, I must admit, none of them work great. Do you have any good tips? If so, please let us know!

The bottom line is: it is important for writers to keep records. Good luck!

Stay tuned as next week we start bragging about the next marvelous issue of Electric Spec!

Conference Season

Ah, springtime! Leaves are budding, flowers blooming, birds singing, and writers conference season is starting. If you're a writer, consider rubbing elbows with other writers in person. Conferences have a lot to offer: you can meet and get to know other authors, you can go to craft workshops. Some even have writing contests and pitch opportunities with agents and editors. Before you sign up, think carefully about what you might want to get out of a conference. Do you need inspiration to give your writing a new shot in the arm? Do you want to meet a particular agent or editor? Do you want to connect with other local authors? Do you want to find some new critique partners? How much does the conference cost, including travel expenses? Do your research.

Some conferencs coming up include: Clarksville Writers Conference (June 6-7, 2013), the Carnegie Center’s “Books in Progress” Conference (June 7-8, 2013). Personally, one of my favorites is Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers annual conference (Sept. 20-22, 2013). I go every year. The deadline for their prestigious commercial novel contest "Colorado Gold" is approaching: June 1, 2013.

In general, a great place to find out about writers conferences is Poets & Writers: Writers Conferences, Colonies, and Workshops. Another excellent resource is the Shaw Guide to Writers Conferences & Writing Workshops.
Does anyone have a favorite resource to share? Or a favorite conference to recommend?

Maybe I'll see you at a conference this summer!

emotion

At the production meeting last week we had an intriguing discussion about what makes a story good. One thing that came up was endings. Since we blogged about Story Endings last fall, I won't repeat myself. Another important component of a good story is emotion. I did touch on aspects of this in Story Layers earlier this year. But it can't be emphasized enough...

A good story affects readers' emotions by putting the protagonist through emotional situations. If I, as a reader, am not emotionally affected by a story, it hasn't done enough to grab me. The writer hasn't taken advantage of all the tools at his/her disposal. Emotion is one of the metrics we used to chose the final stories for the marvelous May issue of Electric Spec.
Check it out May 31, 2013 and see if your emotions are engaged! Feel free to let us know one way or another.
Thanks!

production meeting

Hi, gang. The Electric Spec editors had the production meeting for the marvelous May 31, 2013 issue. All went surprisingly smoothly as we mostly agreed on which stories would be a good fit for the issue. Editors are in the process of emailing authors the good or bad news. Authors who made it into hold-for-voting should hear back soon with a "Yay" or "Nay." And they should pat themselves on the back for a job well-done since all the hold-for-voting stories were publishable.
In more behind-the-scenes news, each editor got assigned their stories to edit. We also shuffled some of the other administrative duties around. It's been over 7 years after all!

We also had a long discussion about the differences between horror and macabre and what kind of stories we've been getting in this genre. To make a long discussion short, we're tired of getting stories where some kind of monster (literal or metaphorical) murders someone. We're more interested in spooky, creepy, and/or paradigm-shifting stories. Thus, we're going to update our submission guidelines to reflect this. Stay tuned for this, and recall the fiction submission guidelines are here.

I guess that's it for production meeting info.
Keep sending us your stories!

stay tuned

We're having the Electric Spec production meeting soon for our marvelous May issue. Stay tuned for an update at the end of the week. Thanks!

grab me

I don't think it's a secret that all the Electric Spec editors are also writers. I write a lot of short stories and submit them to various venues. It's annoying when an editor writes back, "I liked this story, but it just didn't grab me enough. Sorry." Ugh! As we finish up slush for the marvelous May 31, 2013 issue, such comments do resonate with my inner editor. I've been reading a lot of nice stories, but not a lot of stories that grab me. (Feel free to think: Ugh!).

One how-to writing book I read recently emphasized manipulating readers' emotions. I hate to say it, but emotions grab readers.
How's a poor author supposed to manipulate a reader's emotions? By making the characters feel emotions. When people read fiction they become the characters they read about. If the protagonist is emotional, the reader will be more likely to be emotional and will be more likely to be grabbed by the story.
Unfortunately, you can't have emotions for no reason; they need to be integral into the story. This is done by having high stakes. The situation the protagonist is in needs to be important.

The good news is we all know at least one person very, very well and we can mine that knowledge for our fiction. What's the worst thing that could happen to you? What would rock you to your core? How would that make you feel? Why? What would be the consequences? What would you do to resolve or fix that? The deeper you delve into your psyche, the more writing seems like therapy--but maybe that's a good thing. Ultimately, readers want truth and understanding about the human condition.

Good luck!