writing stuff

[mckitterick]

Just sent off a story to the "Mundane SF" issue of INTERZONE an hour and a half under the midnight deadline. No, really! I think it would be cool to be published in that mag, plus the story fits the theories of Mundane SF. It'll be interesting to see what they think. So off it goes!

Now to send another one to Eric for one of his new anthologies. EDIT: Done! Golly, I now have two stories out looking for homes.

Tomorrow I begin the NaNoWriMo (here's my userid in case you want to "buddy" me) thing for the first time. I was inspired to jump in due to a request for a local NaNoWriMo buddy by a grad student in the Department. Wish me luck with all this.

Best,
Chris

Comments

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

I just went and read up on this -- how very odd! "No plot, no problem!"indeed! Actually, it is an entire problem that has no solution except getting a plot.

Good luck.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's a bit silly. But it's also useful to just do a bunch of free-writing and also to learn that writing - a lot of it! - can get done regardless of what's going on in the rest of your life.

[intrepid.livejournal.com]

I'm doing NaNoWriMo as well.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Cool! We should have a get-together sometime during the month to egg one another onward.

[intrepid.livejournal.com]

Definitely! That would be fun!

[darrkespur.livejournal.com]

I just sent off a story to Mundane SF too. i think it's a fascinating new little subgenre but reading their blog I'm not exactly sure what angle they're looking for on it.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my story has no brain downloading or self-replicating nanobots, only nano-sized chemical-program-delivery mechanisms that seek and target neural tissues with personality simulations. So it's just fancy chemical programming, something we have now, with greater control via another current technology. It'll be interesting to see if they feel it's mundane enough.

I think the "Mundane SF" theory is that the technologies and ideas must be related to existing ones, excluding things that are impossible now like interstellar travel, aliens, vampires, self-replicating nanos, and so on.

Good luck, yourself!

[(Anonymous)]

You too! I understand the Mundane idea and I love it. I'm just not sure whether the Interzone issue wants nearer future 'the world's going wonky and we need to fix it' like I tend to write or 'still far in the future but without the less plausible stuff'. Mine ended up being quite a nearish future political/sociological one with added nifty tech. I'm really happy with it but the comments on the Mundane SF blog today make me doubt whether they're looking for such things.

A little birdy told me you're teaching at Alpha this year. I went in 2003 and 2004 and it was a massive help to me. I plan to return and teach someday, if I get distinguished enough! You'll have a blast teaching there, the teenagers on the course are extremely raw (I know I was) but really talented and enthusiastic.

[stonetable.livejournal.com]

I'm doing NaNoWriMo, too.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

W00t! Go you!

I need to find where people get those word-count bars and use it on my LJ.

[stonetable.livejournal.com]

I'm probably going to use this one:

http://www.writertopia.com/toolbox/nanowrimo

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Hm, all those betas are closed. I'll see if I can find some way to hack it.

[stonetable.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't even see that. In the middle of the page they have instructions to use their graph, so you can do things like this:



http://picometer.writertopia.com/words=10000



and get:

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's cool. Like this:

[everflame.livejournal.com]

GOOD FREAKING LUCK.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

FREAKING THANK YOU!

You're doing it, too, I presume? On account of, well, you kinda already write a billion words a month *g*

[everflame.livejournal.com]

I did it in October. From Sept 18 to Oct 18 I wrote more than 60,000 words, and that doesn't include all the days I was working at renfest and not writing at all! :D

So I'll be cheering you from the sidelines while I work on editing. :D

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, lions! Even working full-time and doing RenFaire? Let your example prove that anyone with the drive can write 50K in a month, no excuses. You kick ass.

I'd say that editing that much would more than count for the word-count, as most editing includes writing and rewriting, plus it's at least as much work.

[everflame.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it was my slowest time at work, so I got to do a LOT of writing here.

I highly recommend serial writing. It forced me to open up to word-flow as I never had before.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Whatcha mean by "serial writing"?

[everflame.livejournal.com]

In my LJ - the "Sunset Motel" thing. I basically wrote a near-90,000 word novel by "publishing" it on my lj as I wrote - I wrote directly into the post webpage, so once I started I *had* to finish that episode. I was also forced to keep the action coming, keep the plot and characterization flowing, because I wanted to a) retain readers and b) entertain myself.

I can talk about it with you more later, or in person, if you like. It was the most interesting writing experience I've ever had. But my slowest time at work exploded into emergency last week!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Ah, you mean "publishing as a serial" in your LJ. Indeed!

That's a really good prompt, needing to finish a scene before you can post it. That's also a good way to get feedback while blazing through it.

What concerns me about that is one has to be really careful about whom one puts on that filter if you intend to sell - some authors post their work for free before finding a publisher, but that can cause contract issues. Especially if it was unedited *g*

Perhaps I'll do the same, just keep it on a narrow filter. Hm.

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Good luck at NaNoWriMo! I think it'll be great for you, especially working with new people. I'll do my best to keep good brain food on hand. =)

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Note to self: Must remember to eat.

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Good luck, bud! I'm doing it too (sort of)--I'm at:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/244540

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Cool! You've been buddied.

(Gosh, but is that the slowest site in the world.)

[astartes-girdle.livejournal.com]

Yeah I did the mundane SF one too though it's a super challenge for me as I don't normally write in that area. But Interzone and I have a black hole. My last three stories over three years have never received a reply. I managed to get hold of them through their site blog and then sent an email, and now I think I've fallen into the black hole again. Hmmm, maybe that's the story. Good luck. Don't you just love those deadlines? :D

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Deadlines, they're helpful! And yeah, I've never heard back from Interzone on any submission or request for nominations (Sturgeon Award). I don't think they actually read anything that comes in. Submissions for this issue, though, go directly to the guest editors, so we should at least hear from them.

Good luck!
Chris