I'm big in Europe. Honestly.
Well, that last post was sort of random. Sorry about that. Navel gazing and what have you. Work yesterday was nearly intolerable, and I spent a lot of time wondering what the fuck I was doing, and why I was doing it. Anyway.
The rewrite for InterZone is going fairly well. It's almost done. Well, the first pass is almost done. Jetse has expressed a willingness to go through several drafts, going so far as to say that he would prefer to do it that way. I have a strange feeling about this story. I have sort of a history with Jetse now. In the May e-sub period for IZ, he passed one of my stories up to the editorial counsel and really wanted it to sell, but it stalled and didn't make the cut. He wrote me the longest rejection letter I've ever gotten, 1300 words, describing what went right and what went wrong, and how best to make a sale next time. To be clear, Jetse really liked the story, and if it had been just him making the decision it would have sold. He even asked me to notify him if the story sold somewhere else, so he could buy a copy. It did sell, and to a magazine that Jetse already subscribes to, so all is well.
When August rolled around, I submitted two stories. The first he put on hold, and eventually it made the final cut and moved to the full counsel, where it's sitting right now. The second is the rewrite request. I have no question in my mind that if I hadn't already made an impression with the first two stories (the one in May, and the first of the August stories) that this story would have been rejected. I could be wrong, but that's the feeling I have.
The best part about the rewrite is that I'm realizing that I was telling the wrong story. I'm getting an insight into the editorial process, I'm seeing the story with fresh eyes and I'm learning how to plot better. At the very least I'm going to come out of it with a much, much better story. At the best, I might end up making a sale to a really great magazine. It's crazy.
Anyway. I suppose I just wanted to vent all that, and to thank Jetse for being a hell of an editor. As the kids are saying: Roxor.
posted by Tim Akers @ 7:29 AM
9 Comments:
Tim, what was the magazine you made the sale of that first story to? If it's not too late I might try and get a copy.
Electric Velocipede. Just made the sale, don't even know when it's going to be printed. It's a *really* small zine.
Wait, do you mean my first story ever? Oh, man, that train's long gone.
No, I meant the first one mentioned in your blog entry, the one that didn't get into InterZone.
Really small, eh? I'll still do a little research and see what my chances are of getting it, so, you know, I can keep a pristine copy and sell it for huge giga-dollars when you are famous.
Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
electricvelocipede.com
It's only sold at conventions, some bookstores in New York, and maybe one each in Chicago and LA. The readership is small, but the important thing is that the circulation includes everyone in the sf/f industry in NY. The zine's editor was (until about a month ago) an assistant editor at St. Martins. Not many people read it, only the right people. That kind of thing.
I heard that if you approach a certain wall in Memphis and chant the proper spell, a magic hobo will appear and sell you a copy of Electric Velocipede for the right kind of mystical beans.
But what kind of beans, you ask? Yes. Yes.
Hmm... Quimby's. I've been told I should go there anyway. Maybe the next time I'm in town, I'll have to try to pick one up.
Aha, so small that even very small tweezers can't pick it up. On the other hand, issue #9 appears to be online in its entirety, so with any luck, even if I don't manage to buy the damn thing, I can at least read the story, which is what I really wanted in the first place.
It can be ordered one issue at a time. And I'll have copies, obviously.
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