Success!

Congratulations, Michael. That sounds like an interesting anthology.

Great news, Michael! I look forward to reading it.

My short story 'Bug' has been sold the new semi-pro magazine Scifia for their december issue!

My short story 'Bug' has been sold the new semi-pro magazine Scifia for their december issue!

Grats!

Congratulations Michael and bobsandiego!

Congrats on the sales Michael, Bob, and anyone else I've missed recently.

Congrats to Michael and Bob!

Congrats Bob and anyone else I've missed.

Graduate Teaching Assistanceships really steal your time away from you, so if I've forgotten ya, I apologize.

Congratulations, Michael and Bob!

Also, thank you for your congratulations. I'm hoping more information is coming about the anthology soon. I see a few acceptances, but no ToC list yet.

The September issue of Penumbra, featuring my short story "The Memory of Huckleberries" is now available.

http://penumbra.musapublishing.com/

I'm so excited. My name is BIG!

Just saw this on Facebook on the chat and then on your page. I LOVE how your name is in HUGE letters on the cover. Very awesome. It looks like it belongs there 😉

Very nice, Rebecca!

Congrats, Rebecca!

Steve

That's really nice,
Congratz Rebecca!

Congratulations, Rebecca!

The September issue of Penumbra, featuring my short story "The Memory of Huckleberries" is now available.

http://penumbra.musapublishing.com/

I'm so excited. My name is BIG!

Congratulations, Rebecca! Can't wait to read it!

Thanks very much, everybody! I'm looking forward to reading it, too. I had to do a decent amount of cutting at the last minute to get it to fit the guidelines and I don't remember what its final draft looked like.

Scouts on Duotrope report that Martin has a significant win to report!

Martin, I'll let you do the honor.

I would love to hear all the details!

Congratulations!

I'm also waiting for him to announce via Internet!

Congrats Bob and Rebecca. 😀 Yay!

Well, I know I've been a little scarce, y'all (I'm going to plead "grad school"), but I just had to drop by and brag. I've got a 6,000-word story in the current issue of Emerald Sky magazine (one of the TM Magazine imprints). And if you're reading this and it's still September 2012, it's available online for free.

I miss you all! Come visit me in Fresno!

Congrats, Kyle. I've had a quick look - no time to read it before work - but it looks good.

Steve

Congratulations, Kyle!

Congratulations, Kyle! Coincidentally, at WorldCon Alex and I were just discussing how you hadn't been around in a while. It's good to see you're still around and having some success!

Scouts on Duotrope report that Martin has a significant win to report!

Martin, I'll let you do the honor.

I would love to hear all the details!

Congratulations!

The stories I could tell you...
The stories I could tell you...

Seriously, this has to be the worst-kept secret on the Internet since Prince Harry's Vegas Vacation photos!

Yes, Stan Schmidt confirmed at WorldCon, and new editor Trevor Quachri (pronounced CASH-ree) confirmed it as well: Analog is buying my story, "Not Close Enough", a story of an unusual Martian expedition and a commander with difficult orders to enforce.

I can't tell you when it will appear. Analog buys stories and puts them in inventory until they fit a given issue, based on length, theme, complementary stories, etc.

I can't even tell you when it will be "official" in terms of a signed contract. Stan says he has filed the paperwork, but the Contracts Department moves in mysterious ways -- mysterious and slooooow.

But Stan's word and Trevor's word is official enough for me; so with advice from Facebook friends, I posted it to Duotrope. Actually, Stan told me two weeks ago that he was buying it; but I reported it as confirmed on Saturday at WorldCon. I'll always think of it as official on the day I had lunch with Stan. And besides, that way it showed up at the top of the results on Duotrope!

People have asked me if I have any tips on how to sell to Analog. I'm going to turn this into a blog post; but here's a rough draft...

****************************************************************

You're asking ME? After my one fluke of a sale? You should be asking Brad. Or Patty. Or Nancy. Or Ken. Somebody with repeated sales. You're asking ME? Are you CRAZY?

But since you asked... And since I can't resist the urge to speculate... And since my ego knows no bounds... I think I can say what closed the deal for this particular story. I'm not sure exactly what I did to earn the rewrite request; but I can tell you what happened from there.

When I got the rewrite request from Stan, he wanted me to cut down on the initial exposition. I wasn’t sure how I could do that. That exposition was necessary to make sure the reader understood the situation: risk-taking astronauts in conflict with risk-averse bureaucrats, and a commander whose responsibility it is to STOP the astronauts from going around the bureaucrats. I had to establish that the bureaucrats were overly cautious. I had to establish that astronauts from the very beginning have been boundary-pushers; and there was no way they would be happy with the boundaries of this mission.

But then I realized: no, I didn’t have to do that. I wasn’t writing for any old audience in the rewrite; I was writing for ANALOG readers! Analog readers are smart space/tech junkies, just like me. A different audience might need that much exposition, but not Analog readers. I could assume that most of them know the history of the space program as well as me, or at least as well as I did when I was a teen. It was still important to HINT at the risk-averse bureaucrats and HINT at the risk-taking astronauts; but I could just hint, and trust that the readers would fill in the details. So I cut back and rewrote on the intro with that in mind: assume I’m writing this story for ME, someone who groks the basic scenario, and so don’t waste my time explaining what would be obvious to this particular audience.

And this isn’t just a theory. I mentioned this approach to Stan at lunch Saturday, and he confirmed that was exactly the right approach FOR THAT PARTICULAR STORY. Will it work with the next story? I don’t know, but it FEELS right to me.

So that’s my big advice to you, and to me on my next submission: if writing for Analog, assume your reader is a smart layman who is versed in the basics of science and history and also in science fiction conventions. Don’t skimp on essentials, but don’t explain stuff that many of them could explain better than you!

And extrapolating from there – and here I’m only guessing, since I don’t have even ONE sale to back me up – assume an Asimov’s reader is steeped in traditions of science fiction’s rich characters and history, and can understand the basics of a culture or a character without too much exposition. Save the exposition for what’s truly unique about your characters, and trust your readers to fill in the more general ideas.

Another guess: assume an F&SF reader is versed in literature and will really appreciate extra effort at rich metaphors, foreshadowing, allusions, and other stylistic choices. Plot is less important, because they can connect the dots even if a few dots are missing, but only if you can engage them with your technique.

Again, this is all guesswork. I can’t make any guarantees to anyone. But I’m going to keep this in mind: think about what your target audience needs to know, and what they don’t. If it works for you, remember me in your Hugo acceptance speech!

Grats Martin!

Thanks, Tom! It was great meeting you at WorldCon!

Thanks, Tom! It was great meeting you at WorldCon!

And you too!

Thanks, Martin!