The Last Day

I just finished my first revision (not enough changes to qualify as a new draft) of "Carte Blanche." I've decided to rename it "The Last Day." The more I thought about "Carte Blanche" as a title, the less I liked it. I think this fits it better.

I'm going to show it around to a few of the usual people, get some opinions, see if they're confused about anything in the story. I ended up tacking a couple hundred more words onto it in this revision, while removing significantly less. Still, it's under 1,300 words, so that should open up a lot more doors for submission purposes.

Writing a 1,000 word story is a far different animal from writing a 10,000 word story. You've got to take one theme and really run with it, rather than having two or three to play with. It feels a bit like a smash-and-grab; you've got to get in, do your thing, and get out before the dust settles. It's a different process from the kind of pieces I normally do.

But, I'm pretty happy with it. I think another draft, some pruning and polishing, and I'll be satisfied enough with it to start looking at magazines to send it to. I haven't decided what to work on next. I've got a couple ideas, but just vague impressions at the moment. I have a couple characters I'd like to explore, but I haven't worked out a discrete plot, or themes, all that stuff that makes a story worth reading.

Whatever it is, I'd like to be a bit more upbeat. "The Last Day" is a bit of a downer, and two other stories I've written are bittersweet at best. "Where Do We Go From Here," which is available to read on this blog, is fairly positive. I think I'd like to try something funny next, it's been a while since I've written something funny. One of the stories I read in Space and Time was called "Pegleg and Paddy Save the World," by Jonathan Maberry. It was amusing in an off beat, tongue-in-cheek kind of way. I think I'd like to try something along those lines.

-E. Maxfield Moen

Space and Time, and my first submission

I got another magazine in the mail today; Time and Space, Issue #112. The content of this magazine is much different from Leading Edge. Not worse, they just seem to be a lot more lax about things like sex and language. There's none of that in the stuff I write, but I don't think that'll automatically disqualify me.

This is their Halloween issue, so most of the content tends towards the dark and the supernatural. Still, there wa some stuff that didn't, and I still think I got a pretty good grasp of what they accept. But it wouldn't hurt to pick up another issue, especially as they're not accepting submissions right now anyway.

On another note, I sent "Long and Short" to Leading Edge earlier this week. Unfortunately, I didn't include a self-addressed stamped envelope so they could get back to me. I mailed them another letter, this one with the SASE. I just hope they don't toss the story on that account. I guess if they do, and I don't hear from them in a couple months, I can just submit it again. Still, I'm kicking myself for making such a silly mistake. I'll have to be more careful in the future.

In the meantime, I'm going to wait until Time and Space is accepting submissions again, and while I'm at it I'll pick up a copy of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This one I saw at the bookstore, though at the time I thought it was an anthology from the magazine rather than the magazine itself. That's one I should definitely pick up.

Also, I have another magazine to check out, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. This one is on-line only, and it looks like I don't have the option to buy individual issues. I like Orson Scott Card, and I'd like to get in his magazine. I'll have to look over the samples on his site before I decided if I want to subscribe.

Other than that, I'm still working on my stories. I'm revising "The Mind's Retreat," and I'm started on my second draft of "Blank Check." Got ideas for several other stories, but nothing fleshed out enough yet that I'm ready to work on them yet. Maybe part of the issue is that I'm trying to work on them as 10,000 word stories. I was able to write "Blank Check" with ease once I realized it could be done well in a couple thousand words. Maybe I should start looking harder in that direction. Something to think about.

--E. Maxfield Moen

Leading Edge

I got a copy of Leading Edge in the mail today. It's one of the magazines I'm thinking about submitting to. Leading Edge is a semi-annual magazine published by Brigham Young University, which probably explains why they're not interested in work that "belittle[s] traditional family values or religion." That's not a problem; there's none of that in my stories.

I gave it a read today, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing. They take their jobs seriously there, and I think I have a story or two that fit the overall tone and style of their magazine. They also state that they send two or three critiques back with each submission, which is something I look forward to even if they don't accept my work. The only critiques I've gotten so far are of the "I liked it" variety from friends and family. While that's nice to hear, I'd like to get an opinion from an unbiased professional, as well.

I'm going to send them a copy of "Long and Short" as my first submission. They accept works up to 15,000 words, but prefer stories that are under 10,000 words. "Long and Short" is a bit over 10,000. I'll give it the once over before I send it to them, see if I think there's any room to shorten it a bit. But if it seems fine the way it is, I'll leave it that way.

It'll be a couple months before I get a response, but that's nothing new to me. The contest I sent my stories to before took about that long, as well. And if I'm going to let something like that stop me, I might as well not be writing.

I own a copy of Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino, which I skimmed before, but plan on reading more carefully now. I'd feel a bit silly if my story got rejected before it was even read because of some dumb mistake I've made.


I've got another magazine or two I'm waiting for, and once I see the tone of those, I'll look for a story to send them as well. It feels good to be moving forward in this, and I hope that even if I get rejected by everyone I send my stories out to, I hope to at least have learned something from the experience. Wish me luck.

-E. Maxfield Moen

Trying out something new

In my researches, I've discovered that a lot of magazines are publishing what are called "short shorts," stories that average 1,000-3,000 words. This was a bit distressing to me, since as I mentioned earlier, my short stories are more in the 10,000-15,000 word range. I've found a few magazines that publish stories in that range, and I've ordered copies so that I can give them a look to see if I feel my stories would fit.

At the same time, I've been thinking about working on a couple stories that are under 5,000 words. The story posted on this blog, "To Whom it May Concern," is about 2,000 words, so I know I'm not such a snob that I think my stories can't possibly be told in less than 10,000 words. I'm even considering sending "To Whom it May Concern" out to some magazines, once I figure out exactly what kind of genre it'd fit into. My biggest problem with the story is its title. It feels like such a cop-out. But then, I understand editors like changing the titles of stories, so I'm not that worried about it.

I've had an idea for a story banging around in my head for a while now that I think I'd be able to write in a couple thousand words. My tentative title for it is "Carte Blanche." It's the kind of story they used to do on like The Twilight Zone, or The Outer Limits. It's a piece of speculative fiction, one of those near-future dystopian settings kind of stories. I spent a long time last night lying in bed thinking about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it'd be perfect for a short. So on top of researching magazines, shopping my stories around, and getting my collection of rejection slips started, I'm going to be working on that story. It'll certainly give me a lot more publications to send it out to.

-E. Maxfield Moen

First thoughts on seeking a publication

 I skimmed through a few parts of my copy of The Novel And Short Story Writer's Market, mostly in the articles written to help budding authors like myself. I also did a random sampling of a few of the magazines listed that accept Sci-Fi manuscripts. It's given me some food for thought.

I looks like on the average, most magazines want stories under 10,000 words. That makes sense, they have a limited amount of space to work with and they're probably just as worried about quantity of stories as quality. Unfortunately for me, the first story I had in mind to send in, "The Mind's Retreat," is closer to 17,000 words. So I'm going to have to do some heavy revising to cut it down.

I wrote that story a few years ago, and it was my first submission to the Writers of the Future contest. It didn't win, but I still feel a touch of pride thinking that the judges (who include a number of authors I respect) actually read something written by me. But looking at it now, I can see there's plenty of room to put on some extra polish. Just cleaning away the story's cruft should get it a lot closer to 10,000 words.

The other stories I'm considering submitting, "Long and Short" and "Where Do We Go From Here" are shorter, at approximately 10,500 words and 13,000 words, respectively. I'll have to keep "10,000 words or less" in mind as I continue to write stories, or else I'll have to start marketing them as novellas.

Once I've tightened up "The Mind's Retreat" some, it'll be ready for me to start sending out manuscripts. I haven't decided whether I want to go the simultaneous submission route yet or not. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I think I should compile a list of magazines I'm most interested in first, see what their policy of simultaneous submissions is, and go from there.

-E. Maxfield Moen