Rejection Journey

By G Dean Manuel

So, we survived 2017! It was a bit touch and go there but I think we all made it to 2018 relatively intact. So, we are going to talk about something every writer must face sometime in their career: rejection. Actually, we are not just going to talk about it, we are going to put together an actionable plan. Let's start with some facts.

Towards the end of the year, I went on a spree of submissions mostly prompted by writing a couple of stories for an anthology called "Heart of the Child." So let's look at some numbers:

Since starting in October, I have had:

• Stories submitted: 12
• Stories accepted: 3
• Stories rejected: 12
• Stories currently in submission: 4

Now, on the poetry side of things:

• Poems submitted: 11
• Poems accepted: 2
• Poems rejected: 9
• Poems ready for submission: 24

But what does this all mean? Does it mean that all my stories and poems suck? Well, the easy answer is no. It doesn't mean anything of the sort. It means, at the time I submitted, the editor didn't think my story or poem fit what they were publishing. Even doing all the research about each that I could, I can't account for everything. The editor might have found a common theme among submissions that they liked and mine didn't follow that common thread. They simply could have not liked the story or poem. One editor's opinion on a story or poem doesn't mean that it sucks. It means it: a). needs work OR b). needs to find another home.

And that's what I did with a few of my submissions if you do the math. Submitted them to other places when they were rejected. I'll be updating you guys when I get a rejection or an acceptance. Mostly because I want you to see that perseverance pays off.

Happy writing!

G Dean Manuel is a multi-genre writer and helper of people. If you would like to know more about G Dean Manuel, click here.

Why You Should Join A Writing Group

By Irene Bassett
(Read the original post here)

Recently, Greg Manuel wrote a very passionate piece arguing about the cons of joining a writing group. He brought up some good points, and I agree with a lot of them, however, I feel that it is important to point out some of the benefits of joining a writing group. I will also address Mr. Manuel’s point about time wasting posts that drown out everything else, which is quite a valid concern and quite frankly the biggest con of a writing group. But first, a bit of my personal history.

I’ve been a member of about five different writing group, and each one is different. My first writing group was called Creative Writers and it was relatively small. The person who ran it had left, and somebody picked it up and ran with it. Around this same time, I joined a second writing group called Fiction Writing. They were vastly different beasts, not just because they were different sizes, but also ran differently. Creative Writers’ admins had a laissez-faire way of handling posts, and I liked it for a time. Fiction Writing was a bit stricter in its posting and seemed to be dominated by juggernauts who posted acceptance letters daily. I also joined one called Ninja Writers, which was structured similarly to Fiction Writing, but I didn’t find it as engaging. There is also The Inner Writer’s Circle, which is a small but up-and-coming group with some excellent material from the owner, as well as Mr. Manuel’s very own Writer’s Lounge. For the most part, however, I kept myself to Fiction Writing and Creative Writers, and my experiences in these two groups have influenced me and my opinion greatly. As such, I will be approaching this analysis from my perspective within these two groups.

Facebook Writing Groups do have some great benefits in my opinion – the first being you have easy access to a wealth of knowledge and experience. You also have access to a network of authors who know magazines that are accepting submissions, as well as where to find great editors. And lastly, you have access to a group of people who will support you – so long as you support them back. These three points are the fundamentals of why I support the idea of joining a writing group.

The first point I have is the access to the wealth of knowledge and experience. I have learned more in the past year about outlining, connecting with agents, writing a tighter plot, and correcting my own grammar than I have in the past decade of schooling and independent research. Fiction Writing was the biggest contributor to that, as they are a massive group of about 30k members, with a combined experience of at least 100 years between them. Creative Writers eventually got to that point, and I was proud to be a member of the more seasoned veterans in that group. Fiction Writers, however, was always my go-to source for information on outlines and the nitty-gritty of writing. Brian Paone, who runs Fiction Writing posts daily tips on everything from marketing to common mistakes he sees as an editor. Creative Writers was better for bouncing ideas around and seeing what others thought of them. It was a great experience, but Creative Writers was honestly much better for the next point – networking.

One of the most important things an author can do in this era of the internet is networking. Facebook, a social network is the perfect avenue for this. You can connect with other authors and editors, and learn what places are accepting submissions. You are building a network when you add friends on Facebook. You are involving yourself in a network when you join a writing group. Good writing groups will have members posting places that are accepting submissions. Good writing groups will give you experiences they’ve had with magazines and with copy editors. But most importantly, they will also let you connect with some editors who want to work with you. Creative Writers was good for that – I met two editors in Creative Writers, both of which did excellent jobs with the pieces I’ve sent to them, and for a decent price. This would not have been possible had I not been in Creative Writers (a network). Fiction Writing’s very own Brian Paone also does editing, and it is a bang-up job for a very good price. But editors aren’t the only people you should connect with. You should also connect with your fellow writers.

One obvious example is the relationship between myself and Mr. Manuel. I would not be writing this piece, and you would not be reading it if it weren’t for the friendship and respect I’ve developed for Mr. Manuel over the past few months of working with him. And it was all through networking that this was made possible. It’s also through networking that I met several other authors, such as Matthew Brockmeyer and Steven Carr. These two men are people whom I respect greatly. Mr. Brockmeyer showed me an excellent platform to pitch my novels to indie presses, while Mr. Carr always keeps an eye sharp for magazines accepting short stories. All of this through the magic of networking. And with a network comes my final point – a writer’s network is also a writer’s support group.

Let’s face it, part of the game with writing is the grind of rejection letter after rejection letter. I didn’t see as many people posting about their rejections in Creative Writer’s as I do in Fiction Writing. But each time I do see an author posting about their rejection, the response was overwhelmingly positive. “You’ll get them next time,” was the most common reply. Or they would hit “like” as a show of silent solidarity. Very rarely did I ever see anybody blow a raspberry at a magazine for rejecting another’s work. In Fiction Writing, there was even a link to a blog post from a magazine editor explaining reasons why your piece might have been rejected – even if it was perfect. It certainly made it a lot easier to bear my own massive pile of rejection letters. But they aren’t just there for you when you get rejected – they’re there for you when you succeed. Your family might celebrate you finally getting published, but folks in a writer’s group know the grind. They know how hard it is. They know how much sweat, blood, and tears you’ve poured into a piece. They’ve been there, they are there. So, when they say “congratulations” you know it isn’t just a hollow piece of praise. It’s a praise with meaning. Writing is hard work, and nobody knows that better than writers. But, that also brings me to my next point. The time wasters, and honestly the biggest con to writing in the world.

Mr. Manuel and I both are in agreement that the posts that go along the lines of “What kind of music do you listen to when writing?” Or “Write a story in X words about Y thing” are the bane of a healthy writing group. Creative Writers at one point was inundated with these posts, and my timeline was often flooded with people responding to the low hanging fruit. It got so bad at one point that the administrative team decided to start deleting those posts, and I believe for a time, they did a weekly thread for that kind of writing. This alleviated the problem and allowed the authors to ask questions and get responses again. Fiction Writing doesn’t have quite as big a problem with it as Creative Writers did, but I suspect that’s because the size of Fiction Writing makes it so that those posts never see the light of day for more than a few minutes. But they are time wasters, and even worse, they are space wasters. For the love of writing, a group with these kinds of posts is a group that you should stay well away from. You will never get anything done, and you will never get any questions answered. Nor will you be able to answer any questions you may have. 

A writer’s group is a tool, like a knife or a shovel. You wouldn’t use a knife to dig a hole, and you wouldn’t use a shovel to chop an onion. With that in mind, you shouldn’t use a writing group to buff up your own ego, nor should you use it as another form of entertainment. If properly utilized, you can go far in your career as a writer. 



Irene Bassett has had stories featured on the NoSleep Podcast and CREEPY under the pseudonym Irene Stark and on blacktime e-press under the pseudonym Kenny Stark-Udar. Irene lives in Long Beach, California, and her primary email address is irenestark2017@gmail.com. Learn more about Irene here.

Should I be part of a writing group?

So, you went on Facebook and joined a writers' group! Yippee! You think to yourself this is going to be great, an open resource to assist you when you are stuck on something. Other people who have the same passion you do. Nothing couldn't be better, this group is going to be magical.

Then you have to swallow your disappointment when it is nothing like that. Most writers' groups drown under a flood of silly and pointless posts. Write X story in X number of words. If you can get past that then you can realize that most groups are ticking time-bombs that repeatedly explode in a rash of internet violence (I'd love to give these people a sarcastic slow clap for being such wastes of space that devote time and energy to fighting each other in such an ineffectual manner) where two main groups antagonize one another: The Social Justice Warrior and the Asshat Trolls. This struggle of two divergent groups waging war against one another will rage on long after we are dust in the wind. Now if you can't tell who is who, that is pretty normal. They are virtually indistinguishable.

Well, if you haven't been chased away or are lucky enough to find a group that is devoid of such antics, sadly, you aren't in the clear. You scroll down your group's wall and find posts like what music do you listen to? What author influenced you to write? Where is everyone from? I call these distraction posts. Time wasters. You might say, well, I can ignore these. True, you can. Truly, that is great if you ignore their lure but they aren't just spiderwebs of wasted time waiting for unexpecting attention to ensnare. They are more insidious. These posts end up garnering attention and because of the way Facebook's analytics work, these posts actually bury other posts. Sadly, most people that join a writers' group are not, in fact, writers. They are just time-wasters. And they love posts like this. Not just posting them, they love commenting. So, these posts make it to everyone's walls and the post by Little Mary Author doesn't make it to anyone's wall.

There are hundreds of other little things that detract from the integrity of a writers' group. People posting random works with no desire to have anyone do anything but congratulate them. Posting of social media links, like for like or follow for follow. Etcetera.

Okay, so you shopped around and found a group that has a tight stricture against time-wasting posts, they only have a small population of SJW and asshats (you'll never get rid of all of them), and seem generally nice people. There can't be anything wrong, can there?

No, not if what you want is to be in a community of writers and use them as a resource to ask questions. Then you, my friend, are golden. If you'd like to better your craft and expand your experience in writing, then you are barking up the wrong tree. In my experience, these groups are great if you'd like to talk to like-minded people and maybe get a few questions answered. Beyond that, writing groups start to fall apart. You are most likely not going to get a rousing conversation about the pros and cons of the anti-hero.

That's what you are looking for? Well, then you are going to have to go searching. Like you will have to parse through many groups to get to a golden egg. Or you can start your own group. That does require a lot of time and energy. Here will be the problems you face going forward trying to find or create said group:

1. Writers have real lives. Writers are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. Means life gets in the way. Most will not post as much as you want them to...
2. Writers are flaky. Writers come from all walks of life and my experience, many are flaky. Comes from being a dreamer.
3. Being active in social media is time-consuming. We've all been on Facebook. Enough said.
4. (If you create your own group) You will have to become a combination of warden, teacher, student, and writer. That's a lot of hats to wear. You will find much more in your tenure as a group admin.
5. Being a group admin is a thankless existence. Don't expect anyone to appreciate your efforts.

Does all this mean that you shouldn't even try to be part of a writers' group? Shrug. I can't answer that for you, you will have to make up your mind for yourself. Bear in mind that I've mainly listed the cons of joining writer groups. There are good points, too. Author's Tale puts on a yearly anthology. Scribblers Writing Organization puts together a magazine called Blood Puddles. Those are just to name a couple. In the end, you will have to weigh the pros and cons and see if being part of a writing group is worth your time.

Submitting a Story!

Going to take a slight detour this week and talk about making submissions. For those of you that have been reading my series on crafting a story, I'm not done. This is more of my side piece. One that my main piece is totally aware of and cool with because my main piece knows that I'll always come back to it.

Anyways, making submissions.

You took a much-needed break from your novel and wrote yourself a short story. Awesome! Now you want to submit that story to a magazine? What are some things you should know about before submitting a piece to a magazine? Glad you asked! Let's look at your story first...

Does your story have the 'it' factor?

When you are writing to submit to a magazine (or literary journal, e-zine, website, etc..), keep in mind some basic difference between short story writing and novel writing. These are important if you wish to get a short story published.

Short stories are shorter than novels. I know, you are saying, "Duuuuuuh." A short story is shorter but must still contain the essential parts of a story! Short stories aren't just scenes cut out of larger works, they must stand on their own. A short story must have a narrative arc that reaches some sort of resolution. If you are simply writing scenes, then the chances of your story being published are very slim.

First lines of short stories are much more important! You must grab a reader's (and magazine editor's) attention from the beginning and take them along for a ride. Editors have slush piles of unsolicited manuscripts and you are kidding yourself if you believe that most of them will always read the whole manuscript, every time. Most will give you a page, a paragraph, even maybe a sentence to grab their attention and make them want to keep journeying down the road with you. Make sure that your first line is an attention grabber.

After the first line, you gotta keep it going! No time to waste on boring stuff! Gotta spit hot fire. What does that mean? It means, unlike novel writing where there is an ebb and flow, short stories are more condensed. You don't have time to lose a reader for a paragraph so you can describe the effort she makes when painting her toes. No three chapters describing how your protagonist buried a cat. THIS IS SHORT STORY WRITING! (Sorry, channeled my inner King Leonidas.) You have to make sure there are no wasted words in your submission! Condense, make sure every word counts towards the end goal: Taking your reader for a wild ride.

I'm going to use a quote from Highlander to explain how your story should be: IT IS BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY - Kurgan

Burn us with your brightness!

A Note on Editing and Beta reading...

If you are saying to yourself, just because this is a short story, I don't need to get it edited or have it beta read then you are wrong. Don't think that you are someone so special that an editor will not put down your story in deference to your brilliance. While most magazines will make minor edits, mostly in format, they will not accept a piece that is full of grammatical errors. Just like anything else you write, let someone else read it, several someones if you can swing it, get their opinions, incorporate the ones that you think are needed, then have a final run through with an editor.

Okay, our Story Sparkles... What's Next?

After making sure that our story is submission quality, now we need to find a magazine that will take our piece of writing. Time to do some research! You can Google markets where your submission would be welcome, spending hours slogging through the different websites to figure out which one to submit to... or you could cheat.

I'm going to suggest two websites, one paid and one free, for making finding a place to submit easier. The free website is Submission Grinder. In the website's own words "The Grinder is a submission tracker and market database for writers of fiction and poetry".A search engine specifically geared towards markets to submit your work! Now Duotrope is much the same but a pay to use version. Supposedly, because you are paying for it, it is more up-to-date but I don't see much of a difference in the two in my opinion.

It tells you all sorts of cool stuff, like if a magazine is even active anymore!

As far as choosing one, familiarize yourself with the content of each magazine. Websites usually have one or two sample stories that give you a rough estimate of the stories that they publish. Don't skip this step! It is a waste of time, both for you and the editor, if you submit something that they wouldn't dream of publishing.

We're ready to submit now, right?

At this point, with the magazine in mind, it is time to go over their submission guidelines. What? You're ready to send it off, it has been beta read and edited, it's perfect? Hold on! Submission guidelines give you information about formatting and information the editor wishes included in your submission. This is one of those points you can be auto-rejected before someone has even read your story. Follow their guidelines!

Remember, you are submitting to their publication. You follow their rules. That simple. Now usually, a good rule of thumb, is to include your name and contact info in the upper left of your manuscript and the word count (rounded to the nearest hundred) in the upper right.

Some websites, those ones that wish to support your further work, will want you to send in a bio. This should be done in the third person and give readers a way to follow you. Don't overdo it with your credits. Limit yourself to three relevant publishing credits. An example:

Badass Writer lives in Extraordinaire City with his wife and 1.5 kids. He is a multi-genre writer who enjoys skydiving in is off time. His sci-fi story "I'm a Teenage Ninja Toaster" was published in Cool Story Online. For the ladies, his romance story, "I'm Pretty Hunky, Aren't I?" was published by Random Romance publishing. You can follow him on Twitter @youwishyouwereme or on Facebook @badasswriterspeaks.

Now, after you've read their guidelines and have your story formatted the way they want it, now it is time to submit! Find out how they want you to submit: email, snail mail, Submittable (or some other analogous online submission system). Do your thing!

Notes for after you've submitted

You've submitted, now comes the most dreaded part. Being patient. Unfortunately, there is no getting around this part. The average time that your submission kicks around the system? Probably around two months. Unless otherwise noted on their website, ninety days is the industry accepted length of time one should wait before querying about their story. That is only if their website doesn't state something different. Don't annoy an editor if their website clearly states that they can take up to six months to get back on submissions.

Two terms you should familiarize yourself with are simultaneous submission and multiple submission. The former tells you whether the magazine allows you to submit the same story to other magazines. This is done with the understanding that you will immediately inform the magazine if your story has been accepted somewhere else. When a magazine allows multiple submissions, it means you don't have to wait until you hear back from a submission before you submit again. Many magazines do not allow for this, so make sure before you do this. If you don't see it, don't assume! Query the editor with any questions.

You should use some form of tracking for your submissions. It is very important! That way you aren't sending the same story out to places you've already sent it to and you aren't simultaneously submitting unless that is your intention and the places you're submitting to allow it. Most publications do not allow resubmission of rejected stories. Many don't want simultaneous submissions.

If you are rejected and it is a form letter rejection, don't take it personally! Most publication editors don't have the time to write a personalized rejection to each and every individual that sends a story into their publication. That would be insane. Rejections are part of the game, get rejected with class. Say thank you and move on. There is a right place for your story, it just might take a while to find it.

One final note, be careful where you post your work. Most publications will not accept work that has been in some way available to the public. That means if you post a story to Facebook or your blog, then you are disqualifying it from a majority of publishers out there.

Confidence, Fair Writer!

I have three stories published. One novella. I have a blog that gets a mediocre fan base. Nothing too wild. And I have folders on my computer filled with unpublished stories and half-finished ideas.

Is this what I am as a writer?

I will tell you, with utter confidence, it is not. The whole of me as a writer is not my publishing credits. I am not a folder stuffed with stories that haven't seen the light of day. I am not the person that checks Amazon obsessively to figure out if I sold one more book. I can't honestly tell you the last time I checked.

What I am is a writer with his own unique voice.

Do I write perfectly every time? No. I make mistakes. Some of my ideas don't pan out the way I want them to. That's okay, it doesn't mean I'm a failure. I don't regret those stories or feel they are a waste of time. I think of each of those missteps as a building block that lifts my future stories up. With each mistake, I grow as a writer. So I hope I make more mistakes so that I can grow to be a giant. And you know what?

I wish the same for you!

If you are beating yourself up over every little failure, stop. It does nothing but hold you back. Don't define yourself by your failures. Define yourself by your growth. Dare to fail. Try a different genre. Incorporate a literary device you've never tried before. Don't worry if you fail. Just know that even in failure, you've gained something from the experience and move on. Learn. Be better next time. A mountain doesn't climb itself.

Some wisdom before I sign off. Don't compare yourself to other writers. They're on a different path than you. Their successes take nothing away from you or diminish you in any way. Treat your successes as the pinnacle of achievements and let no one take that away from you. Because to you, your achievements are. Treat your stories like your children. When you do, apply this adage: It takes a village to raise a child. Every story needs other sets of eyes to teach it manners and refine it into the story that it can be. Alpha readers, beta readers, editors. Don't be afraid to share your story with the community.

Know that I support you. I celebrate every success with you, from you writing the first draft of your first two thousand word story to you signing a multi-book publishing contract with a major publishing house. Just like I hope you do for me. If you ever have a question, just ask, if I know it, I'll give you an answer. If not, I am almost certain I know someone who does. You can get a hold of me at G Dean Manuel. Happy writing!

Crafting a Story Part FIVE (Crafting a Great Antagonist Part B)

Powers

I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on this section as a villain's powers will be similar in their creation to a hero's powers. That being said, there are things you want to avoid when making a villain's powers. Avoid making overpowered villains! Let's talk examples:

Marc has created his villain ReallyEvilDude to face off against his protagonist TheGoodGuy. When choosing powers for his villain, he decides that he should have the power UnstoppableWorldEnder5. To counter such a power, TheGoodGuy must be given the power DeuxExMachina but through the use of such a power is able to end the threat of ReallyEvilDude and his ultimate power. World saved!

Why is that a bad thing, you ask? It is lazy writing. Anything that you have to cheat to defeat as the writer, is lazy writing. A villain should be balanced and concievably beatable. The heroes should struggle against their foe but in the end, they should reasonably find a way to defeat their foe through their own agency. That's right, a hero should be able to defeat a foe without outside intervention. Now, like any rule, this isn't set in stone but most dramatic stories are ruined when, even though the hero struggled through his heroic quest, in the end someone else had to save him from the Big Bad at the end. It leaves a reader unfulfilled.

Relatable

A good rule of thumb for any antagonist is that they should be relatable. What does that mean? A reader should be able to connect to an antagonist at some level. A parent who lost a thier child and watched the murderer go free because of the negligence of the court system who then targets the very officials that let the murderer walk free is a relatable character. We can empathize with what the character is going through and, while we may not condone such actions, we can see where the character would end up taking up the mantle of villainy.

But why make your antagonist relatable? They are the villain! Because it gives your story depth. When you don't feel for the person fighting your protagonist there is no tension. Evil dragon eats princesses and hero must stop him. Boring. Overdone. But what if the Mr. Evil Dragon was once a peaceful creature that sought to preserve the natural world? But through the continued depradations of the humans of blah kingdom, the dragon had to watch everything it tried to protect be destroyed. So, it kidnaps the princess to make the humans stop their actions and take notice of the destruction that they are letting happen. Suddenly, the dragon isn't the horrible, unredeemable evil that he was in the first plot line. It isn't just some ravening monster doing evil for evil's sake. Through a couple of lines of backstory, we've given it a soul. Suddenly, it is something that gives the readers pause when the protagonists finally confront it.

Last Thoughts on Antagonists

Okay, for anything else that I've left out, it will be the same as when you crafted your protagonist. Just refer to that post for further instructions. In the end, when you craft any character, your number one goal is to make it believable within the context of your narrative.A believable, well-developed character will enhance the quality of your storytelling. No person, ever, has said that the characters were too well-crafted and relatable...