Boarders Writing A Novel: Volume 14 A Memory of Civility

[Melphis Amekia]

14 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Your short story sounds somewhat similar in style and content to Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Have you read that at all, and if yes was it part of your inspiration? (Not that there aren't many other fairy tale-esque novels to inspire you of course.

I think maybe the best place would be to try submitting to some fantasy magazines or something? Don't they usually publish a lot of short fiction? Good luck though!

I honestly never heard of that story(though I will see if I can track it down and read it). The prompt I got was a Christmas/Yule tale about dragons with extra points if Baba Yaga makes an appearence. The only real inspiration was Slavic mythology(and, if you wish to call it an inspiration, the fact that an MC, but especially female MC, has(and mostly does have) to have some type of a romantic relationship in the story, which is why I said "no romance subplot"... I didn't use any other setting/novel as a source of inspiration - what I wrote in that story was me, trying to kind of subvert all those fairy tales I read a decade or more ago whilst trying to still leave the feeling like I am actually writing/you reading a fairy tale(I honestly laugh if anyone actually thinks that the story I wrote actually is a fairy tale.).

Since I come from a place where fantasy magazines are non-existant, which means my knowledge of any and all fantasy magazines is also non-existant, I really don't know where would I even pitch the story to. I guess Tor.com might be a good place to start... and Google isn't that helpful because I can't parse out which magazines are good/still running/etc. If anyone can give me some pointers, that would be cool.

54 minutes ago, First of My Name said:

Still here, and I vaguely remember you. (I think so at least, it's been a while). Welcome back.

Well, it's been 2 years. How's your story going? Have you finished the series or started some other project or?

[HexMachina]

3 minutes ago, CorwinusJ said:

I honestly never heard of that story(though I will see if I can track it down and read it). The prompt I got was a Christmas/Yule tale about dragons with extra points if Baba Yaga makes an appearence. The only real inspiration was Slavic mythology(and, if you wish to call it an inspiration, the fact that an MC, but especially female MC, has(and mostly does have) to have some type of a romantic relationship in the story, which is why I said "no romance subplot"... I didn't use any other setting/novel as a source of inspiration - what I wrote in that story was me, trying to kind of subvert all those fairy tales I read a decade or more ago whilst trying to still leave the feeling like I am actually writing/you reading a fairy tale(I honestly laugh if anyone actually thinks that the story I wrote actually is a fairy tale.).

Since I come from a place where fantasy magazines are non-existant, which means my knowledge of any and all fantasy magazines is also non-existant, I really don't know where would I even pitch the story to. I guess Tor.com might be a good place to start... and Google isn't that helpful because I can't parse out which magazines are good/still running/etc. If anyone can give me some pointers, that would be cool.

Well, it's been 2 years. How's your story going? Have you finished the series or started some other project or?

Thanks for this post, interesting to hear about your inspirations. 

Unfortunately I think Tor.com stopped taking submissions earlier this year actually.

if your story is in English you could possibly try Clarkesworld? http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/submissions/ 

[First of My Name]

26 minutes ago, CorwinusJ said:

Well, it's been 2 years. How's your story going? Have you finished the series or started some other project or?

I'm working on a new iteration of the same project (it's a trilogy now), but I've written very little the past months. I'm more or less satisfied with what I've put to the page so far and thrilled about where the story is heading, but I've been lacking time/motivation/inspiration. The scope and meaning of the story has changed at least twice a year for the past three years, but right now it's spanning roughly 70 years, with each book focusing on the child of the previous protagonist, and focusing on the consequences their actions have on the world around them. So the scope is pretty big and it requires a lot of work. I'm still enjoying it a lot but the pace is rather glacial.

[Magnar of Skagos]

26 minutes ago, First of My Name said:

I'm working on a new iteration of the same project (it's a trilogy now), but I've written very little the past months. I'm more or less satisfied with what I've put to the page so far and thrilled about where the story is heading, but I've been lacking time/motivation/inspiration. The scope and meaning of the story has changed at least twice a year for the past three years, but right now it's spanning roughly 70 years, with each book focusing on the child of the previous protagonist, and focusing on the consequences their actions have on the world around them. So the scope is pretty big and it requires a lot of work. I'm still enjoying it a lot but the pace is rather glacial.

Interesting concept, been playing around with something like that in my head, too.

[Melphis Amekia]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Thanks for this post, interesting to hear about your inspirations. 

Unfortunately I think Tor.com stopped taking submissions earlier this year actually.

if your story is in English you could possibly try Clarkesworld? http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/submissions/ 

No problem. And thank you - I submitted it to Clarkesworld, though it would be cool to know of some other fantasy magazines too.

I write in English only, cause it is a bit easier to do so than in Croatian and also cause the amount of books our publishers would print out is way too low, so English publishers are a much better bet for me.

[Melphis Amekia]

Edit: Double Post.

[Starkess]

Corwin, I use The Submission Grinder to research markets for short stories. There are other ones out there! Just in case you aren't familiar, most short story markets don't accept simultaneous submissions.

[Melphis Amekia]

Thank you, Starkess! I'll bookmark the site xD

(Also, I was a bit confused by what exactly it was meant by simultaneous submissions and it honestly makes sense now and it's reasonable for the publishers too :D)

[Of the Eastern Cliff]

Greetings, Boarders! I'm a returning forum-goer who has since lost access to my original account, so I'm using a newer one. I've fond memories of this place.

I finished a voluminous draft of a Chinese-inspired fantasy story some time last year and have since been attacking it with a machete to cut out large chunks. I've also been polishing a short story and sending it to various magazines. No luck yet but it's been a good learning experience.

Does anyone have suggestions for places to go for beta-readers? A while ago I tried the Reddit fantasy subforum but had no real luck. I've also signed up to Scribophile, prompted by CorwinusJ's earlier post.

[Melphis Amekia]

12 minutes ago, Of the Eastern Cliff said:

Does anyone have suggestions for places to go for beta-readers? A while ago I tried the Reddit fantasy subforum but had no real luck. I've also signed up to Scribophile, prompted by CorwinusJ's earlier post.

Scribophile is really good if you have the drive and time to critique other people's works which give you points(the crits) to post your work(There's also the academy for articles about writing which can teach anyone a lot). I recommend getting into the One for One group, it's for exchanging crits and maybe, if you and some other writer agree, become beta readers. Though, if you're looking for a beta reader exactly, you either need to strike a friendship there on Scrib or get into the Ubergroup(I know there's one for novels and one for poetry), though it is closed a lot of the time and only sometimes opens for to search for writers of specific genres, and rarely is it fantasy, unfortunately.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Have just had 48 hours of supreme inspiration - starting from scratch, I now have a 3000 word short story, complete at the second draft stage. Woohoo.

(Obviously there's still work required, but it's awesome to be this productive).

[First of My Name]

That does sound pretty awesome, RBPL.

Interesting concept, been playing around with something like that in my head, too.

Yeah, I love the concept. Let's hope we don't end up with something too similar

[Of the Eastern Cliff]

17 hours ago, CorwinusJ said:

Scribophile is really good if you have the drive and time to critique other people's works which give you points(the crits) to post your work(There's also the academy for articles about writing which can teach anyone a lot). I recommend getting into the One for One group, it's for exchanging crits and maybe, if you and some other writer agree, become beta readers. Though, if you're looking for a beta reader exactly, you either need to strike a friendship there on Scrib or get into the Ubergroup(I know there's one for novels and one for poetry), though it is closed a lot of the time and only sometimes opens for to search for writers of specific genres, and rarely is it fantasy, unfortunately.

Thanks for the info. I'm slowly navigating the website, but it looks to be full of very helpful people.

[Of the Eastern Cliff]

17 hours ago, CorwinusJ said:

Scribophile is really good if you have the drive and time to critique other people's works which give you points(the crits) to post your work(There's also the academy for articles about writing which can teach anyone a lot). I recommend getting into the One for One group, it's for exchanging crits and maybe, if you and some other writer agree, become beta readers. Though, if you're looking for a beta reader exactly, you either need to strike a friendship there on Scrib or get into the Ubergroup(I know there's one for novels and one for poetry), though it is closed a lot of the time and only sometimes opens for to search for writers of specific genres, and rarely is it fantasy, unfortunately.

Thanks for the info. I'm slowly navigating the website, but it looks to be full of very helpful people.

[Of the Eastern Cliff]

17 hours ago, CorwinusJ said:

Scribophile is really good if you have the drive and time to critique other people's works which give you points(the crits) to post your work(There's also the academy for articles about writing which can teach anyone a lot). I recommend getting into the One for One group, it's for exchanging crits and maybe, if you and some other writer agree, become beta readers. Though, if you're looking for a beta reader exactly, you either need to strike a friendship there on Scrib or get into the Ubergroup(I know there's one for novels and one for poetry), though it is closed a lot of the time and only sometimes opens for to search for writers of specific genres, and rarely is it fantasy, unfortunately.

Thanks for the info. I'm slowly navigating the website, but it looks to be full of very helpful people.

[The Marquis de Leech]

13 hours ago, First of My Name said:

That does sound pretty awesome, RBPL.

My idea is an Antarctica two thousand years from now, after global warming has taken out much of the globe. West Antarctica is now a string of perfectly inhabitable islands, with a culture that resembles pre-revolutionary France. My protagonist pays a visit to the Duc d'Rossland, at his châteaux in the shadow of Mont Erebus. There's a crisis coming...

[SeanF]

8 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

My idea is an Antarctica two thousand years from now, after global warming has taken out much of the globe. West Antarctica is now a string of perfectly inhabitable islands, with a culture that resembles pre-revolutionary France. My protagonist pays a visit to the Duc d'Rossland, at his châteaux in the shadow of Mont Erebus. There's a crisis coming...

That sounds rather interesting.

[First of My Name]

16 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

My idea is an Antarctica two thousand years from now, after global warming has taken out much of the globe. West Antarctica is now a string of perfectly inhabitable islands, with a culture that resembles pre-revolutionary France. My protagonist pays a visit to the Duc d'Rossland, at his châteaux in the shadow of Mont Erebus. There's a crisis coming...

That sounds pretty cool (well maybe not, after the global warming, but you know). At the very least it sounds like a unique setting.

Mine takes place on a planet humanity has fled to after using up all of earth's resources, and one of the questions is if they'll avoid screwing up this time. But they kind of don't, partially because of the actions of that family I mentioned.

[SerJosephValkyrie]

When does it reach the point here of posting a new thread for Boarders writing a novel? This seems full and the one I want to post is kinda long, hahah like 3000 words long

[Spockydog]

59 minutes ago, SerJosephValkyrie said:

When does it reach the point here of posting a new thread for Boarders writing a novel? This seems full and the one I want to post is kinda long, hahah like 3000 words long

Put it within spoiler tags. That should be fine.

ETA: Sorry, it's not tags anymore. Highlight the text, then click on the eye icon in the toolbar.