January 2024 in Review

Hello Funny People, 

I hope the first month of the year has treated you well. Between the cold and the news, it's been pretty brutal for most of us (unless you live in Southern California, in which case 😝). Personally, I've been staggered a bit due to some disappointing happenings, but they haven't derailed my hopes completely.

Art by Devora Johnson 

Report from the Shorter Fiction Front

At the closed of 2023, I made it a goal to sell one new piece of short fiction this year. Why only one? Because that's potentially achievable.

I'd had my heart (semi-) set on the sale going to one of three calls set to make their decisions within the next several months. Sadly, the worst happened, and not one of those three landed an acceptance. I don't mean to be graphic, but it was definitely a steel-toed boot to the gonads seeing those rejections land in my inbox, one after another.

It was only after that third and final R came through that I realized something: all this time, I'm just been kidding myself, and it's time to unmask.

With more zines closing and the ones that are still around becoming either more irratic in their opening and ever more selective with their choices, I've realized that it's really time for me to pull back from my attempts at short fiction. My reasons for this are threefold.

1) It's not my strength. I got very lucky in late '22 when Todd Sanders bought "Urtext Redux," for The Librarian Reshelved. I had a story ready, the call was open, and Todd planned to do a second volume of stories (not that I knew that at the time). Right place, right time. But that's all it was. Luck. A glorified consolation prize. A participantion trophy. And I can't rely on that anymore. I need to lean into my strengths, and for better or worse, that seems to be in long-form, which is far more forgiving than the short story.

2) It's unsustainable. We're experiencing a major retraction in the short fiction market, with even bigger zines suffering, largely ad a result of Amazon (fuck you, Bezos), discontinuing their magazine subscription service. Interzone no longer has a print zine as of issue 297. Fantasy Magazine closed it's doors only 3 years after its relaunch. Daily SF shows no signs of coming back to life after its closure at the end of '22. And many of the little magazines that were cropping up when I was at my peak of interest as a short-form writer have ceased operations to my dismay. And the few that are still hanging on are growing more selective or are branching out into other fields of endeavor to stay afloat, causing the central zone of interest (the zine itself), to fall by rhe wayside. I simply see no chance for a mediocre talent like me to stand out in a slush pile that might have an Eric James Stone, a John Wiswell, an Ai Jiang, a J.A. Prentice, an Addison Smith, a Jonathan Olfret, or the next great genius of the form on par with them sitting next to it. It'd be like trying to get an art gallery to host a series of child's drawings after they'd hosted an exhibition of the painter they're calling the next Van Gogh.

3) I don't like what I'm producing anymore. That brief list of brilliant writers are, for better or worse, my peers now. And I can't hold a candle to them, even now when I have probable cause to say I am a peer. The short fiction I'm producing isn't anything to brag about. Most of it frankly sucks, or isn't original enough for anyone to consider for inclusion in any magazine. And I'm tried of constantly not being good enough. So, I'm done. Until I feel like I can come back and write something truly good, I'm putting my pen down. (And honestly, I don't expect to pick it back up.)

Instead, all my energy is going into novels from now on.

#AmDrafting 

At the moment, my main project is a Portal Fantasy. 

I plan on using this as the final "boarding point" for the larger fantasy world that serves as the backdrop of my previous two fantasy novels. I started this book with only a few ideas as to what would happen, far less than I had going into the Space Opera in the latter half of last year. (At least there, I had a plot and a reasonable number of characters at hand.) Here, I have two characters, a beginning, and an eventual end.

However, after several weeks of work, I have six chapters, and the beginning of an idea of this book's structure in mind. Here's hoping I can keep it under 100k going forwards.

Besides the much more uncertain nature of this book's plot, my other major point of contention is it's romantic subplot. I've not written much romance. I've written pieces with romantic elements, but they usually involved couples who were established. Here, I'm writing the beginning of a slow burn courtship. Whether I can make a success of it will be an...interesting experiment to say the least. But once it's done, I'll see if it's in the wheelhouse of things I can do in the future.

And yes, I do have my next novel stewing in the back of my mind. If I manage to finished the portal fantasy before the end of the year, it'll be the next in the queue for me to work on.

#AmEditing

While I admit I haven't looked at either of my two completed manuscripts much since the new year began, I do plan to return to them asap. Hopefully when I open the documents my eyes don't immediately start burning like I'm viewing the contents of the ark of the covenant.

But seriously...

If I happen to have a day where I can't quite bring myself to work on the current novel. I'll be spending some time editing and revising one of my two drafted novels. I found I really enjoyed the editing process in conjunction with drafting when I was determined to finish edits on my first novel in '22. Maybe I'll be able to recapture some of that magic this go around too.

#AmQuerying

A few days ago, a user on the Ex-Bird App compiled a list of agents who were going to actively be seeking manuscripts in the particular vein of fantasy I'm primarily writing in. So, I spent the better part of three days taking that list and compiling it into a spreadsheet. (All those years working in an accounting office teach you a thing or two about Excel.) 

Now, I have a personal sortable database that I can search by last name, full name, and most importantly for my purposes Agency name. I also added columns for preferred querying methods, present status (are they open or closed?), and pronouns (because that matters now). And over the January 21st weekend, that baby saw its first bit of action.

I sent 10 queries that Sunday, making sure to note the date sent, while also making sure to not query two agents at the same agency. (That's considered uncouth.) 

My present plan is to use the log to send out at least 10 queries each month going forward. With a list of about 120 agents, that should be more than enough each period to get me through the year.

I do have to say though that, after having spent nearly a whole weekend getting this effort off the ground, I realize why I stopped so soon in this process last year. 

Every damn agent out there has a different way they want to be queried, and each of them wants different things. Some want a synopsis, and some don't. Some want only 5 pages from the manuscript. Others want 10. Some want 25. Others want 50. Some want 3 whole chapters, not matter the length. And some don't want anything except the evil little letter. 😳😠😖🤯

If anything needs standardizing, it's this ridiculous process. I don't think I've had my patience tested more before or since.

Miscellaneous

What have I been reading and watching lately? 

Well recently, I finished Gareth L. Powell's Descendant Machine, Cory Doctorow's Red Team Blues, and Deborah Chester's The Fantasy Fiction Formula. Two novels and one nonfiction book. 

Descendant Machine by Gareth L. Powell

Gareth's was an excellent follow up to Stars and Bones. Totally different, despite being in the same universe. (An idea after my own heart.) And the title's already appeared on several longlists for awards, including the Nebula and BSFA. Sad he won't have another book out this year, but he'll have two out next year.

The Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester 

Chester's craft book was one I'd been meaning to get to for a long time, after hearing Jim Butcher name drop it. Never have I read a craft book that was so nuts-and-bolts before. I'll definitely be dipping into it again from time to time.

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

I'd long heard of Cory's stuff, but I'd yet to read one of his titles, simply because I do most of my reading these days via audiobook. Sadly, he refuses to out any of his audiobooks on Audible (for good reason, again, fuck you, Bezos), so I nearly ran the risk of never being able to listen to his stuff. Until I got Libro, that is. Martin Hench is Sam Spade of the 21st Cenury, but with a spreadsheet and a sense of humor instead of a gun. Apparently there are at least two more novels in this series to come, and I will definitely be picking them up to read in the future. And as my libro credits come in, I'll also be picking my way through the short wishlist of titles I need to get too.

I've also discovered the glories of the Tubi App, which I've found to be a treasure trove of great classic TV and movies. 

Granted, most of what I've been watching on there is Classic Doctor Who stories. Thus far, I've watched several classic stories from Tom Baker's era. These include "The Ark in Space," an excellent piece of hard SF mixed with some grizzly body horror, "Genesis of the Daleks," which managed to make the Daleks terrifying again, and I'm presently watching "The Brain of Morbius," which I'm enjoying for its Frankenstein-esque quality.

In addition, I'm watching and enjoying the new series, Hazbin Hotel. If you enjoy tragicomedy, dark fantasy, don't mind crude humor (it's not for everyone), and have an appreciation for musical theater, I'd reccomend it. Frankly, after being so long in development since the pilot dropped in 2019 on YouTube, it semi-surprises me that such a good show wound up living up to the hype. But sometimes it happens. Can't wait for season two to drop.

Until next time, Funny People, stay safe, stay healthy, and take care.

— IMC 🙃