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Productive Procrastination with Flash Fiction

“I’m on deadline, so my house has never been cleaner.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard some version of that from my writer friends. It’s never worked for me, alas. My brain does not accept cleaning as a procrastination method from writing deadlines. However, it turns out that the reverse might be true!

This month, I was doing a cleaning and organizing challenge*. So naturally, my brain decided that I should be doing some writing instead. But not Big Writing, like working on my book. No, that would be too obviously not what I was supposed to be doing. But how about something smol and quick, with a deadline that meant I should obviously do it sooner rather than later?

That is how I ended up taking my daily quick freewriting exercise and tweaking it to fit a monthly flash fiction contest’s theme.

* Necessitated by the accumulating detritus that began when I participated in NaNoWriMo’s monthlong writing challenge right before the pandemic hit, and snowballed when … yeah. All that came with it.

Takeaway 1: Seriously, if you’re not a super-speedy writer and you’re planning on NaNoWriMoing this November, have prep plans and recovery plans for everything non-writing-related! Bonus points for actually writing your plans down in advance.

Takeaway 2: Don’t have time for a “serious” writing project? Not sure what you want to write next? Try something small and fun, like one of these monthly themed flash fiction contests. As always for publishers included in Aswiebe’s Market List, none of these charge fees and they all pay (a little–flash fiction is not usually highly remunerative!):

Apex Magazine’s themed monthly flash fiction contest: https://apexbookcompany.moksha.io/publication/apex-magazine-flash-fiction
Dark Moments, Dark Hare Press’s monthly challenge: https://www.blackharepress.com/submissions/
Flame Tree Press’s newsletter flash fiction (must subscribe to free newsletter to get monthly themes and submit): https://www.flametreepress.com/submissions/
Apparition Lit’s Monthly Flash Fiction Challenge (scroll down–flash fiction guidelines are under the submissions countdown): https://apparitionlit.com/submissions/

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

DreamHaven storefront in the Standish neighborhood, by Elcief (CC BY-SA 4.0)

If you’re in the Twin Cities area, I have a reading coming up in October at Dreamhaven!

On Wednesday, October 4, ABRA STAFFIN-WIEBE reads and holds a reception as part of the Speculations Reading Series, from 6:30-7:45 p.m. Abra Staffin-Wiebe is a science fiction author who loves futuristic fairy tales, cheerful horror, and dark science fiction. Dozens of her stories have appeared at award-winning publications including Tor.com, Escape Pod, and Fireside Magazine.

Bring a friend! There will be cookies and soda as well as giveaways during the reading. Afterwards, we usually adjourn to Parkway Pizza for some social time.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

Lucy Worsley’s 9 “Christie Tricks” for Mystery Writers: https://careerauthors.com/christie-tips-on-mystery-writing/

Hook Your Genre Readers on Page One: https://careerauthors.com/writing-for-genre/

5 Ways To Use Short Stories To Grow as a Writer: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/5-ways-to-use-short-stories-to-grow-as-a-writer

Publishing Contracts 101: Beware Internal Contradictions: https://writerbeware.blog/2022/06/10/publishing-contracts-101-beware-internal-contradictions/

How to Prevent AI Bots from Scraping Your Website: https://www.jonathancrowe.net/2023/09/how-to-prevent-ai-bots-from-scraping-your-website/

10 Tips for Building a Realistic and Vibrant Fictional World: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/10-tips-for-building-a-realistic-and-vibrant-fictional-world

Overdrive and Libraries: Everything You Wanted to Know: https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/overdrive-and-libraries-everything-you-wanted-to-know/

Featured Market

Tales & Feathers Magazine (Augur) will be opening soon for cozy fantasy submissions!

Our ideal submissions look like this:

Quiet character-driven storytelling

Gentle moments

Rich fantastical worldbuilding

Everyday moments

Stories that take place before or between or after the epic conflicts

Stories that offer warmth, comfort, and possibility

We welcome stories written in any fantasy genre or genres, including stories that blur genre lines. We are especially interested in high fantasy, fairy tales, and myth.

We also welcome stories that have been translated into English and stories that engage with non-Western fantasy genre traditions.Tales & Feathers

Basics: cozy fantasy, 1,000 – 2,500 words, CA$.11/word, no reprints. Submission periods: 10/1/23-10/21/23 BIPOC, trans, or disabled writers; 10/8/23-10/21/23 general submissions.

Guidelines: https://www.augurmag.com/submissions/

Market List Updates

To see all the details about these new listings and what they’re looking for, go to https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/new/. For all the hundreds of listings, go to Aswiebe’s Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet, or view it online at https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/marketlistonline/. Best read on a bigger screen!

Click to see details of the latest updates!

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Keeper of Lists

Feel free to share this blog post/newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. The next update of Aswiebe’s Market List will be after 10/15/2023. If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

Featured

What Belongs In Fiction Submission Guidelines? plus Aswiebe’s Market List updates

Thoughts in Passing

What Belongs In Fiction Submission Guidelines?

Here are the basics of what should be in short fiction submission guidelines. If you follow me on social media, you may have seen me rant about some of these in “Dear Editors…” posts. This post is aimed at editors because that’s how much of it was originally phrased, but as a writer, it’s also helpful to know what you should expect to find in the guidelines.

0. Just starting out?

Are you in the process of establishing your publication? Not sure what your final pay rates or accepted wordcounts will be? That’s okay! It’s fine to adjust your guidelines later, as long as you are clear about what current accepted submissions will be paid, etc. You can say, “We are figuring out our long-term policies. Right now, we are reading for our first issue. Stories accepted for this issue will be paid $.08/word.” Changing your policies after you accept a submission is shady. If you plan to change your guidelines, consider pausing submissions and changing guidelines before the next submission period.

1. What kind of story do you want?

Genre, subgenre, any themes or particular vibes. It would be lovely if every writer had time to read several issues of every publication they ever might submit to, but that isn’t the reality. Putting this info up front will save you a lot of time in the slush pile. Genre magazines are generally pretty good about this. Realist literary magazines are generally pretty terrible at it.

2. How much do you pay?

Per word or a flat rate is the usual. “We pay at or above the industry standard rate” is not actually saying how much you pay. Industry standard can mean many different things. Pro rate changes depending on genre. Paying in “exposure” = non-paying. If you don’t list a pay rate, the assumption is that you don’t pay. One exception to this assumption is “Best of the Year” anthologies, which usually pay $.01/word. (They should still list the pay rate on their guidelines, but they often don’t.) If your pay rate depends on the success of a Kickstarter, be upfront about this! If you don’t pay in U.S. dollars, please specify your currency. Sorry, but USD are the standard.

Note: Charging submission fees is a common practice for realist literary magazines. But in science fiction and fantasy circles, Yog’s Law dictates that money flows to the writer. Charging submission fees is taboo, and patting yourself on the back for not charging fees is … weird.

3. What rights are you buying?

The subject of rights is really a whole essay by itself. Usually this is some version of First Rights for original (never-before-published) stories and Reprints Rights or One-Time Rights for reprints. Often there is a period of exclusivity and a right to archive the story for a particular length of time. Never say, “All rights stay with the author!” That is impossible. If you didn’t get any rights, you wouldn’t be allowed to publish their story. Publishing a story automatically uses First Rights, for one thing.

Don’t try to take All Rights. Don’t be a jerk.

4. What wordcounts do you accept?

What’s your minimum? What’s your maximum? If you don’t specify, please don’t be mad if you get flash fiction or novellas. If you don’t specify because you’re honestly good with getting flash fiction or novella submissions, it’s lovely to say so. Some of us have been snarled at by editors who assume their idea of acceptable story length is universal. It’s fine to say that people must query first for stories over X words.

5. How do you feel about reprints?

Do you accept reprint submissions? It’s also great to specify if they are given the same preference and if they will be paid at the same rate or not. If you don’t say you don’t accept reprints, expect to get some queries about them.

Beyond the basics…

6. Are simultaneous submissions okay?

For bonus points, you could also specify if you accept simultaneous submissions–authors submitting to other magazines at the same time, which might mean a story you like gets accepted elsewhere before you respond.

7. What’s your submission schedule?

Once you figure out a submission schedule (Open all the time? Only open the third week in October in leap years?) and average response time, it’s very kind to include that information too.

Finally, please please please keep submission guidelines up even when you’re closed to submissions. Don’t erase the whole page. Just put a big SUBMISSIONS CLOSED UNTIL X at the top of the page, and temporarily hide the submissions email address if you need to.

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

If you’re in the Twin Cities area, I have a reading coming up in October at Dreamhaven!

On Wednesday, October 4, ABRA STAFFIN-WIEBE reads and holds a reception as part of the Speculations Reading Series, from 6:30-7:45 p.m. Abra Staffin-Wiebe is a science fiction author who loves futuristic fairy tales, cheerful horror, and dark science fiction. Dozens of her stories have appeared at award-winning publications including Tor.com, Escape Pod, and Fireside Magazine.

Bring a friend! There will be cookies and soda as well as giveaways during the reading. Afterwards, we usually adjourn to Parkway Pizza for some social time.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

Five Secrets to Writing Suspense: https://careerauthors.com/five-secrets-to-writing-suspense/

IMHO: What Remedies Do Authors Have When Fraudulent Work Appears on Amazon? : https://hotsheetpub.com/2023/08/imho-what-remedies-do-authors-have-when-fraudulent-work-appears-on-amazon/

5 Ways to Survive a Publishing Draught: https://careerauthors.com/5-ways-to-survive-a-publishing-drought/

My Book is Coming Out This Month. Here are Ten Things I Learned on the Way to Getting Published: https://horrortree.com/my-book-is-coming-out-this-month-here-are-ten-things-i-learned-on-the-way-to-getting-published/

How to Market Your Book to Get Worldwide Exposure: https://insights.bookbub.com/ideas-for-getting-your-book-more-international-exposure/

Rambling About Revisions: https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/rambling-about-revisions/

The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World (how people traveled in olden days): https://orbis.stanford.edu/

Featured Market

Nightmare Diaries anthology wants dark speculative fiction, pays $.10/word.

Moonstruck Books will publish an anthology of dark fiction titled Nightmare Diaries in Spring 2025. We are seeking short stories, fairy tales, flash fiction, and novellas of 500-10,000 words.Moonstruck Books

Basics: dark fiction, 500 – 10,000 words, $.10/word, unknown reprint policy, due 12/27/23.

Guidelines: https://www.moonstruck-books.com/submissions

Market List Updates

Click to see details of the latest updates!

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Keeper of Lists

Feel free to share this blog post/newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 9/15/2023. If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

Last Chance to Submit This Year!

Okay, so it’s not necessarily your last chance to submit a story in 2023. But it might be! Many publications shut down for the holiday season. They won’t accept new submissions. Even if others don’t shut down, the odds are good that their response times will slooooooow down. This goes for agents, short story markets, book publishers, everyone.

What is the holiday season? The slowdown starts the week of the United States’ Thanksgiving break, which is the week of Nov 20th this year. And many publications are flat-out closed the entire month of December. The good news is that these publications often have one last submission period in the month of November.

So if you have something that you’re working on, you may want to put in some extra writing and revising time to get it out for submission as soon as possible.

If you’re planning on doing NaNoWriMo, you have a couple more days to wrap up your writing-in-progress before that chaos begins! And remember, I’ve got a collection of useful links about increasing your productivity right here: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/#htoc-productivity

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

Sadly, I had to cancel my reading at Dreamhaven Books due to catching Covid. I’m fully recovered now, thanks to Paxlovid and Metformin. But between catching the really nasty chest cold that’s been going around, and then swapping cold-for-covid with my spouse, that was several annoying weeks of sickness and recovery for our family. The reading is likely to be rescheduled for early 2024.

I have a Halloween publication! My story, “You Are in the Heart of the Corn Maze,” came out in the Fall issue of Fear Forge. This story’s a bit about the pandemic, and parenting, and the parts of ourselves we suppress. And a corn maze!

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

Orbit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, is offering 14 free online events on the topic of “How to Write Your First SFF Novel”, covering inspiration, POV, outlining (or not), retellings, worldbuilding, tropes and trope subversion, magic, settings, romance, ensemble casts, heroes and villains, writing while working/caretaking, scene structure, and expanding a book. The guests include James S. A. Corey, C L Clark, P. Djèlí Clark, Megan E. O’Keefe, Tasha Suri, Fonda Lee, Ann Leckie, and more. Sign up here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/orbit-books/how-to-write-your-first-sff-novel/
Date range: Oct 11 – Nov 15. Recordings will be available after the scheduled live event, too.

Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere: https://indieweb.org/POSSE

The Indie Files: Wide For The Win 2 – Retail Promotions: https://www.sfwa.org/2023/10/17/indie-files-wide-for-the-win-2-retail-promotions/

Safety Dispatch: How to Establish and Use a Pen Name: https://www.sfwa.org/2023/10/24/safety-dispatch-how-to-establish-use-pen-name/

How to Get (& Stay) Ready for NaNoWriMo: https://careerauthors.com/how-to-get-stay-ready-for-nanowrimo/

GHOSTS WITH THE MOST! Five tips to make your ghost stories truly haunting: https://horrortree.com/ghosts-with-the-most-five-tips-to-make-your-ghost-stories-truly-haunting/

Money-Saving Guide for Authors and Writers (resource links): https://couponfollow.com/research/money-saving-guide-authors-writers

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI: https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/23/1082189/data-poisoning-artists-fight-generative-ai/

You Just Found Out Your Book Was Used to Train AI. Now What? https://authorsguild.org/news/you-just-found-out-your-book-was-used-to-train-ai-now-what/

How to Use Bookbub with a Limited Budget: https://insights.bookbub.com/bookbub-limited-budget/

How to Write Scary Novels Infused with Fun and Humor: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/how-to-write-scary-novels-infused-with-fun-and-humor

Plot Method: Jot, Bin, Pants: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17t0dYvl2noZS9WEQI-Cjx1Go0GUa1ZxmHnpMT-aiTeM/edit

Featured Market

Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Urban Stories (House of Gamut) is looking for dark fantasy, dark SF, and horror themed to a real-world city in winter.

Noisy, crowded, ever in motion, the City can be more than a setting—it can be a character, as nuanced and as fickle as a human being, with as many traits and quirks as the best mapped out characters. The City can be the ever-present and constant companion (or foe) to the protagonist and antagonist alike.

Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Urban Stories is an anthology that takes place in different cities around the world during the bleak—sometimes harsh—season of winter. Your story submission must conform to the guidelines listed below and feature the City—in fact, the title of each story will be the City of which you write.

We are not looking for vampire/werewolf love trysts. We are looking for fantastical elements within the City itself.

Because we all know—deep in our hearts—that nightmares and fairies, monsters and ghosts, and terrors of the real and imagined call the City their home.

GUIDELINES:

• Short stories (3000-7500 words) that feature something fantastical in a city during winter. Your story will be titled by the city name (i.e. “Boston” or “Sydney”).

• In this case a “city” should be considered a large population center (over 200,000 permanent inhabitants.

• The “city” should be a real place—no “Gotham City” or “Hogsmeade.”

• PLEASE Confirm which city your story will take place in before starting to write.House of Gamut

Basics: dark speculative fiction, themed, 3,000 – 7,500 words, $.10/word, no reprints. Submissions due: 3/31/24

Guidelines: https://houseofgamut.moksha.io/publication/house-of-gamut

Market List Updates

To see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, go to https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/new/. For all the hundreds of listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet, or view it online at https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/marketlistonline/. Best read on a bigger screen!

Click to see details of the latest updates!

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Keeper of Lists Feel free to share this blog post/newsletter with others by whatever means you like, as long as you include all of it. The next update of Aswiebe’s Market List will be after 11/15/2023. If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

Thoughts in Passing

Revising Parallel Scenes

All too often, the revision process involves simultaneously editing two (or more!) scenes to make them line up. This can happen when one scene is dependent on the other. It can happen when showing the same events from multiple different PoVs. It can happen when writing scenes out-of-sequence. It can even happen when the writer had a beautiful brainstorm late in the writing process and to set it up properly, they need to change earlier events to align. *cough, cough*

For on-paper revisions, it’s straightforward enough. Just print out copies of the relevant scenes and set them beside each other on the table. Scribble red ink here, there, and everywhere. Voila! But when moving around large chunks of text, digital revisions may be easier. This is when the idea of a “Working Scenes” file (or two!) comes in handy.

Consider it like a scratchpad. Mine is just an empty document, unless I’m actively working on meshing two scenes. Then I copy one of the scenes from my Work in Progress over into Working Scenes, arrange the file windows next to each other so I can see both at the same time, and adjust both at the same time. I usually keep the scene that needs the most work in the Work in Progress window, and the one that needs few or no adjustments in Working Scenes. If I do make changes in Working Scenes, I bold the section that will need to replace the original. If the changes are extensive enough, I replace the entire section in the original.

Once I’ve made my changes in both scenes, and moved the Working Scene changes back into the Work in Progress, it’s done! Then I delete the scene from Working Scenes. And voila, it’s a blank slate ready for the next round of adjustments!

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

Oh my slithy toves, let me warn you of the perils of the parenthetical “fix this later” note! Kidding. It’s actually a great tool, as long as you go back and fix things sooner-later instead of later-later. I … did not.

In happier news, today I have discovered that my shoulder-cat, Creamsicle, is happy to sit on my shoulders even when I am *not* sitting in a wingback chair. This is great, because my preferred “office chair” is actually an exercise ball with no back at all. I had been delaying putting it back at my desk because I like having Creamsicle keep me company. Now I know that I don’t need to give up either one. Of course, it’s too hot to work in my attic office in this hellish heatwave. But soon!

Me, with a cat draped around my shoulders like a scarf.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

“Write with Love” and Other Advice from Chuck Tingle: https://www.tor.com/2023/07/25/write-with-love-and-other-advice-from-chuck-tingle/

Growth-Centered Story Structure: https://jessmahler.com/growth-centered-story-structure/

12 Dos and Don’ts of Revealing Critical Backstory in a Novel: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/12-dos-and-donts-of-revealing-critical-backstory-in-a-novel

Publishing: Expectations vs. Reality: https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/publishing-expectations-vs-reality/

Featured Market

The SciFidea Award contest is for Dyson Sphere-themed novels and novellas.

The submitted works should be within the realm of science fiction, and must show a new worldview that conforms with scientific logic.

The work involves both the technical setting of the Dyson Sphere (overall structure, the scale and the size, construction materials and methods, etc.) and the ecological environment of the internal civilization (gravity changes, alternation of day and night, species distribution, etc.).

The writing should be smooth, the imagination and speculation should be creative and novel, and the plot should convey a sense of wonder.
SciFidea

Basics: themed SF, 30,000 – 100,000 words, 10 winners earn $20,000, no reprints, due 8/31/23. Guidelines: https://contest.scifidea.org/

Market List Updates

To see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, go to https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/new/.  For all the hundreds of listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet, or view it online at https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/marketlistonline/. Best read on a bigger screen!

Screenshot of market lists update. Click to go to New Updates page.

Click to see details of the latest updates!

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Keeper of Lists

The next update of Aswiebe’s Market List will be after 08/15/2023.

If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

You Missed a Spot!

When you think you already plotted your story … but when you’re thiiiiiis close to the end, you find out you left out an important bridge. And by you, I mean me. It happens to the best of us plotters, no matter how intricately we think we’ve woven our web.

So when the web is 98% constructed, what do I do when I discover the missing 2% of the pattern?

I sulk.

No, really. First, I allow myself to be justifiably cranky at my past self who assured me that the job was done and everything would be fine and all I had to do was follow the map. What a slacker! Past Me is fired!

Unfortunately, that still leaves the job for Present Me. I plot best with pen and paper (this could be a liability if I ever plan a murder). So I get out my notebook and pen and scribble down all the end conditions that I need the bridge to connect to. Then I work backwards. What is the smallest step that has to occur to get to that end point? Okay, got it. Rinse and repeat.

Sometimes, I discover that the bridge just won’t be structurally sound if I try to connect it to one of those end conditions. That sucks, because it means that I have to change the already plotted ending. It extra sucks if I’ve already written part of the doomed scene. But eventually, the gossamer bridge that I’m plotting becomes solid and real. Then I breathe a sigh of relief and get back to putting in the words until I get to The End.

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

The kids are out of school, I went to the (excellent as always) 4th Street Fantasy Convention, we had a week in Kansas City, 4th of July and CONvergence are coming up, and–what’s that you say? That isn’t writing? Very observant of you.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

Defy Parkinson’s Law to Be More Productive: https://lifehacker.com/defy-parkinson-s-law-to-be-more-productive-1850565701

7 Tips for Choosing a Title You Love: https://careerauthors.com/7-tips-for-choosing-a-title-you-love/

Featured Market

Successfully launched Monstrous Magazine wants horror flash fiction, pays $.06/word.

We’re launching a print magazine! Monstrous will contain comics, prose fiction, and articles.

FLASH FICTION

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

Horror Flash Fiction for the first issue, to be published later this year. There’s no theme, but we do like monsters, pulp, and classic horror films. Focus should be on fast-paced entertaining stories. We’ll take a limited amount of fantasy, but make it dark and action packed. No science fiction or detective fiction. No reprints.
Monstrous Magazine

Basics: horror, 1,000 – 2,000 words, pays $.06/wd, no reprints, first submission period closes 7/27/23. Guidelines: https://monstrousbooks.com/submissions

Market List Updates

To see all the details about these new listings and what they’re looking for, go to https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/new/. For hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe’s Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet, or view it online at https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/marketlistonline/. Best read on a bigger screen!

Click to see the hot new updates!

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Keeper of Lists
Aswiebe’s Market List
Abra Staffin-Wiebe’s Author Website

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 7/15/2023.If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 06/15/2023.If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

Website Update!

A reminder that my full market list is now, finally, fully searchable online! Of course, you can still download the complete spreadsheet and keep your own copy on your own computer.

And I’ve added a new page that is all the very latest updates (the same markets as in the table below, now with even more details!), searchable and sortable in the same way as the full market listings page. Both of these pages are, of course, best viewed on a wide screen.

Remembering Promises to Your Reader

Every story makes promises to its readers, even if the author doesn’t realize that they’re doing so. The trick is recognizing which promises you’ve made, and making sure that the ending pays those promises off in a way that either the reader expects … or will be delighted to have not seen coming. Handle that last one with care.

Critiquers can help. As I go, I ask my critiquers to write down questions they have (so that I can make sure they’re answered), the details they think are significant (so I can check if I want them to be), and things they expect to be resolved by the end.

I also train myself to notice the promises that I’m making. Is there a countdown to something? Is there unresolved tension (romantic or otherwise) between characters? Is there a big event coming up? Have I been foreshadowing anything? Did I set a gun on the mantelpiece and forget about it? Either that gun has to be removed from the mantelpiece, or it has to go off. That metaphorical gun can be a character, a conflict, a looming failure, or a striving for success.

I can’t keep track of all that stuff in my head. The promises that I make intentionally as I write, I also note down in my plot notes for the ending. (I’m approaching the ending of my novel now, which is why I’m thinking about this.) On my current project, I’ve been getting critique notes as I go, which is not something I always do and definitely not something I recommend for everyone! But it has helped me get a feeling for what promises my readers are picking up on, and that has shifted some of the details of the satisfying ending that I hope to provide.

During revisions, I keep a separate page just for notes of what I am promising and foreshadowing, and I check them off when I pay them off. I only write down the promise or foreshadowing when I actually see it on the page. Sometimes I need to work it in earlier to give it more impact. Sometimes the payoff isn’t good enough to be worth the promise, and I decide to take out the set-up entirely. It depends. Ah, the magic of revisions!

If all goes well, readers end up feeling satisfied with the ending, even if they don’t see all the moving parts that set up that emotional response.

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

I am at 120K on my “if T. Kingfisher wrote The Expanse” novel, about a derelict alien space station and the scrappy salvagers existing at its mercy. (Yes, I still need a better elevator pitch and comps!) If all goes according to plan, I should be able to finish the first draft of this book before the next edition of Aswiebe’s Market List. And then laugh. A lot. About how I was once worried that it would be “too short.”

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

6 Ways to Write Characters You Love to Hate: https://savethecat.com/tips-and-tactics/succession-barry-6-ways-to-write-characters-you-love-to-hate

8 Promises You’re Making to Readers—and Then Breaking: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/8-promises-youre-making-to-readersand/

Six Lessons from my Writing Crush: https://writerunboxed.com/2023/05/19/six-lessons-from-my-writing-crush/

How to Brainstorm Original Ideas for Christmas Horror Stories: https://horrortree.com/how-to-brainstorm-original-ideas-for-christmas-horror-stories/

Featured Market

Qualia Nous, Vol. 2 wants dark science fiction and all blended sub-genres of science fiction (horror, fantasy, etc.), pays $.10/word (capped).

The first volume of Qualia Nous (2014), edited by Michael Bailey, won the Benjamin Franklin Award for science fiction and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. It was a Foreword ReviewsBook of the Year finalist in horror, science fiction, and a bronze winner for anthologies, as well as a silver medal finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards, a finalist for the Indie Book Awards, and a winner of the International Book Award. It was also the first Written Backwards anthology (of eventually many) to contain work by Stephen King.

… While not many like the term “literary,” that is what this anthology is looking for: groundbreaking work that break normal conventions and will stand the test of time, propelling emerging and undiscovered writers into the mainstream.
Written Backwards

Basics: speculative fiction and poetry, 3,000 – 10,000 words (fiction), pays $.10/wd, no reprints, due 7/31/23.

Guidelines: https://nettirw.com/submissions/

Market List Updates

Go read the very latest updates. They are searchable and sortable. Best viewed on a wide screen.

**Click to see all the latest updates!**

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Keeper of Lists
Aswiebe’s Market List
Abra Staffin-Wiebe’s Author Website

Big News!

My full market list is now, finally, fully searchable online! I am so excited about this!!!

I’ve been fiddling with the page for the last couple of weeks … mostly learning which things I can’t do using these plug-ins. So the actual updates from this newsletter are from the middle of April, and you should expect another update in the near future. Going forward, I’ll update the online version at the same time that I send the newsletter out. Of course, you can still download the complete spreadsheet and keep your own copy on your own computer.

Go ahead, go to the Online Market Listings, search for “anthology theme” and see if any of your stories match current calls!

What Does Easy Writing Mean for You?

What kind of scene is easiest for you to write, and why? I was asked this question recently, and I think it’s a good one for any writer to think about.

For me, it’s food scenes. This isn’t terribly surprising. I like to savor my food, I like to watch cooking shows, I’m the main cook for my household so I have some idea what I’m talking about, and description is one of the writing tools that I got for free. But those aren’t the deepest reason why feasts are easy for me to write, they’re just the price of admission.

Food is visceral. It draws me in. Writing about it kicks my imagination (and my salivary gland) into overtime. I hit flow faster. The movie that plays in my mind as I write becomes more vivid. And when it’s more vivid for me, hopefully I do a good enough job writing it that it also becomes more vivid for my reader. And if they are my ideal reader, they are probably drawn in by the same things that I am.

The other kind of writing that I find easy, for the same visceral reasons, is body horror. This despite the mid-writing research required to keep it physically possible. Theoretical research only, I assure you. 😉

Now, does this mean that I should put a feast scene (or a body horror scene) in every chapter I write? Well, no. Although if I did both, I could probably churn out a pretty good horror novella in a month or two (note to self). Balancing scene types and tension and plot is important. But it does mean that I can lean in when I see an opportunity for a feast scene or some good old-fashioned enucleation. And if I’m plotting a story and there’s a choice between a cannibal feast or a dramatic love scene, I know which one will fit my voice and style better.

Writer, know thyself!

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

Let’s just say there’s nothing like a 4theWords special event to get me pushing to meet new word challenges … or to leave me with a hot mess of a chapter that has a lot of “put this bit here, move that bit there, double-check this detail, did I already say this?” inline notes that I now need to go through and clean up to get a proper first draft.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

How to Pitch: 3PO Edition: http://candleinsunshine.com/musings/how-to-pitch-3po-edition/

An Open Letter to the 2023 Hugo Finalists: http://corabuhlert.com/2023/05/01/an-open-letter-to-the-2023-hugo-finalists-whoever-they-may-be/

Clock Outline: http://candleinsunshine.com/musings/clock-outline-blades-in-the-dark-style/

7 Ways to Spring Clean Your Writing: https://careerauthors.com/7-ways-to-spring-clean-your-writing/

The Basics of Crafting Terror: https://horrortree.com/how-to-write-horror-the-basics-of-crafting-terror/

Email Lists From Scratch Tutorials: https://sellingforauthors.wistia.com/projects/2nsyj3aru4

Query Shark October Newsletter-Personalization: https://tinyletter.com/QueryShark/letters/query-shark-october-newsletter-personalization

Isabel Yap’s thread: how i write with a full-time job: https://twitter.com/visyap/status/1638337852256710656

Upcoming Virtual Conventions/Workshops

(Any registration fees are noted.)

The Nebula Conference, May 12-14, 2023 ($150). Purchasing a membership also gets access to recorded panels and year-round special events: https://events.sfwa.org/

Wiscon, May 26-29, 2023 ($25): http://wiscon.net/

The Orange County Library System has many upcoming free virtual writing talks: https://www.ocls.info/writers-corner

Featured Market

Uncanny Magazine‘s novella call is still open until 5/15/23!

Uncanny Magazine is seeking passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background. We want intricate, experimental stories and poems with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs. Uncanny believes there’s still plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel.
Uncanny Magazine

Basics: speculative fiction novellas, 17,500 – 40,000 words, pays $.10/wd, no reprints, due 5/15/23.

Guidelines: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/submissions/

Market List Updates

To see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet. Note: going forward, limited demographic market listings will be italicized.

Click here to keep reading! (Best viewed on a wide screen.)

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 04/15/2023.If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

Writers describe their planning process (or lack thereof) in all kinds of ways. Plotters! Pantsers! Plantsers! Architects! Gardeners! Drum Plotters!

Wait, no, that last one is a piece of graphics equipment.

I am not going to discuss all the different approaches, but this one secret is for all the kinds of writers who plot. Ready for it? Here goes.

You. Can. Change. Your. Mind.

Changing your mind can even be part of your process! It doesn’t mean your process is broken. Maybe you need something to write towards, but when you get there, you need to stop and think for a few days.

Imagine you’re following a treasure map to a walled city. When you finally reach it and climb that wall, you see that there’s a lot of city inside and you’re not exactly sure where the treasure is. And you also see a couple of pyramids in the distance, which look like they might have some treasures you never even guessed existed. Maybe while you were following the treasure map, you picked up some traveling companions. Now you need to consider their goals and skills too. Your treasure map didn’t fail; you’ve advanced to the next stage.

I call this the Replot Point, and I hit it about 3/4ths of the way through every writing project of sufficient length and density. Then it’s time for me to stop and think and scribble connections in my writing notebook. My subconscious has been leaving me breadcrumbs and making promises to my readers all the way along. It’s my job to follow those breadcrumbs and fulfill those promises, while getting from where I am to where I want to be. I plot from both ends to the middle. I make lists of all kinds of possible connections and outcomes. I think really hard about all of my characters’ goals and drives. I think about the emotional effect I want to produce in the reader.

And then I make a really detailed plot for the last quarter of the story. Did I change my mind about my initial plot for this part of the story? Maybe. Did I go from a big picture map to a city street map? Absolutely. Is there treasure at the end?

Well, that’s for the readers to decide.

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

I have created a detailed plot for the last 1/4 of my Altered Carbon meets The Expanse, as written by T Kingfisher* space opera/SF horror work-in-progress, and I am chugging along on it happily.

* Obvs, my pitch still needs a hell of a lot of work. But that’s a job for Future Abra.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

Estate Planning Tips for Authors (video): https://authorsguild.org/resource/estate-planning-tips-for-authors/

SFWA Members Weigh in on AI & Machine Learning Applications & Considerations: https://www.sfwa.org/2023/03/03/sfwa-members-weigh-in-on-ai-machine-learning-applications-considerations/

Upcoming Virtual Conventions/Workshops

(Any registration fees are noted.)

Flights of Foundry (highly recommended! – ASW), April 14-16, 2023: https://flights-of-foundry.org/

The Nebula Conference, May 12-14, 2023 ($150). Purchasing a membership also gets access to recorded panels and year-round special events: https://events.sfwa.org/

The Orange County Library System has many upcoming, free virtual writing talks: https://www.ocls.info/writers-corner

Featured Market

Deathcap & Hemlock wants dark speculative flash fiction written in recipe format, pays $10.

What are we looking for?: Recipes that hint at a deeper narrative without violating the recipe structure will catch our eye. We are looking for short pieces, formatted like actual recipes (ingredients list, steps, measurements (metric, imperial; weight or volume—you decide!)). A short introductory paragraph to the recipe is okay, but optional.

Themes that are likely to mean you have a lot of competition in the slush include: revenge poisonings, transformation magic (eat something and it turns you into x), unwitting cannibalism.

We are not looking for stories about food or prose descriptions of how to make something. We are also not looking for anything that threatens actual people or real recipes for a poison that could be followed by readers. This is not a how-to site: we want speculative elements, we want recipes that ignite imagination (not felonies). Think outside the box of cereal killers.
Deathcap & Hemlock

Basics: dark speculative flash fiction, up to 1,000 words, pays $10, no reprints, due 3/31/23. Guidelines: https://www.deathcapandhemlock.com/submit

Market List Updates

Click below to see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for. For hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet. Note: going forward, limited demographic market listings will be italicized.

Click here to keep reading–Best viewed on a wide screen.

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 3/15/2023.If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

Nothing on the Internet Lasts Forever, Plus Market List Updates

Don’t fall victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is if you put something on the Internet, it’s there forever. But only slightly well less-known is this: nothing on the Internet lasts forever.

We’ve had a reminder of that recently–and no, I’m not just talking about the Fowl Site. Those who’ve been submitting short stories for a minute might have started out using Ralan.com to learn about the latest SFF market listing updates. Recently Ralan closed their doors, replacing their website with a thank-you to everyone for the last 26 years and 57 days. Wow. That is a truly impressive accomplishment! I learned a lot about following SF and fantasy publications from watching Ralan. So long, Ralan, and thanks for all the fish.

So, what does “nothing lasts forever” mean for writers?

Keep your own records. Track your submissions. I use a spreadsheet to track my submissions, because I’m old school like that. If you use an app or an online website for that purpose, make sure it allows you to download a backup. And do keep that backup updated! Once or twice a year, just save it to your computer and back it up along with all your other writing files. Pair the habit with something memorable, like tax time or Halloween, and add a reminder to your calendar.

Plan to be rejected. If you see a submission call that seems like a good fit for a story that is already currently out on submission, make a note. If/when you get rejected, go check it out.

If you submit to an anthology or a contest, save the submission guidelines. You can just save the webpage as html. The vast majority of the time, these submission guidelines go *poof* the second the submission call closes. You might want to reference them later. For example, to see what they said their submission reading process would be, or to find the name of an editor that you can stalk on the internet to see if they’ve mentioned how progress on the anthology is going. (Stalking only, do not contact directly!)

And finally, once you get a story published, save the good stuff about being published. Save a copy of the published version of your story. Save the story illustration (you can’t use it, but it’s pretty, right?). Save positive reader comments. Not only are they an ego boost you can look at when writing feels hard, but you might be able to use those quotes sometime.

That’s just the actual submission process. There’s a lot more that you might want to think about saving your own copy of–useful articles, ebooks you bought, etc. And of course, there’s the whole “when social media goes away” and “why we should control our own newsletters” thing, but that’s a separate editorial all by itself (psst, I’m over at https://wandering.shop/@abracanabra).

What I’ve been up to lately, writing-wise:

I’ve hit that sticky spot where I have to stop and plot the ending of my WiP, in exact detail, before I can write further. Uggggghhhh! I have a bunch of things that need to happen, and some of them seem mutually contradictory. I will figure it out, but in the meantime I’m writing a lot of curse words in my writing notebook. You know. For posterity.

Things Shiny or Useful

Archive of all shiny or useful links: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/shiny-or-useful-writing-links/

Covers, Costs, and Artists: https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2023/covers-costs-and-artists

Random Name Generator: https://www.behindthename.com/random/

Ask the Editors (of SFF Magazines): https://industry.metaphorosis.com/ask-the-editors/

You Should(n’t) Be Writing: https://medium.com/swlh/you-should-nt-be-writing-8a3da5c44794

How to Build an Amazing “About the Author” Page: https://kindlepreneur.com/build-about-the-author-page/

Scrivener Alternatives: https://alternativeto.net/software/scrivener/

How to Become a Professional Writer (humor): https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how-to-become-a-professional-writer

Novel Subplots: http://candleinsunshine.com/musings/novel-subplots/

Melissa Caruso on main characters: https://twitter.com/melisscaru/status/1613169173513003009

TV Tropes Story Generator: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/storygen.php

Indie Author Project: https://indieauthorproject.com/authors/

Christie Yant’s Writing Tools 2023: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R9IRbolmTr42z-9l7kN9tN0De7WTDGmXv3jbVhM_kXk/

How to (Maybe) Get Out of Your Contract When Your Scam Re-Publisher Ghosts You: https://writerbeware.blog/2022/12/02/how-to-maybe-get-out-of-your-contract-when-your-scam-re-publisher-ghosts-you/

Upcoming Virtual Conventions/Workshops

(Any registration fees are noted.)

The Nebula Conference is over for 2022, but purchasing a membership now ($75) still gets access to recorded panels and year-round special events: https://membership.sfwa.org/event-4563942

The Orange County Library System has many upcoming, free virtual writing talks: https://www.ocls.info/writers-corner

Featured Market

The Beauty in Blood-Drenched Circuits (Starward Shadows) anthology wants dark speculative fiction written by ChatGPT (with prompts from you).

All submissions must contain speculative elements, and we prefer stories with a dark and contemplative tone. For this anthology, we’re particularly interested in exploring the relationships that humans form with those different from themselves–be it AI, aliens, or even their own kind. We’d also like to see some space-age twists on the classics we’ve always loved. The weirder and less mainstream, the better. Bonus points if you can prompt your writing partner to write a Sword and Sorcery for the ages. We’d also love to see if you can get your new friend to open up and share a laugh. (Black humor only, of course).
Starward Shadows

Basics: dark speculative fiction, no word limit, pays $35, no reprints, due 3/30/20023. Guidelines: https://starwardshadows.com/submissions-open-beauty-in-blood-drenched-circuits-an-ai-only-anthology/

Market List Updates

To see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet. Note: going forward, limited demographic market listings will be italicized.

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 01/15/2023.If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Aswiebe’s Market List newsletter: https://aswiebe.com/marketlist/subscribe-to-market-list/

What Can Writers Do for Awards Season? (And Best of the Year Anthologies)

tldr; Make an awards eligibility post on your website/blog. Post a thread of your publications this year on social media. Don’t forget to pay the cat pictures tax. 😉

You can call it an awards eligibility post, or an end of year post, or you can just say “This is what I got published this year.” If self-promotion makes you uncomfortable, think of this as an opportunity to reflect on what you’ve accomplished this year and what you’re happy about. John Wiswell’s post is a great example of this (and his stories are also good! go read them!): https://johnwiswell.substack.com/p/all-the-short-stories-i-published. With each story include the link (if available), the wordcount, the date published, and a quick description of what the story is about and why someone might want to read it.

Keep an eye on social media for people who are keeping lists of awards eligibility posts. Don’t be shy in sharing yours! And after you’ve made your eligibility post, remember that this is also a great time to talk about stories that you’ve really enjoyed reading that were first published this year. A rising tide, etc.

Okay, you say, but what else can a writer do? That’s where it gets more complicated. There is definitely a decreasing return on investment at this point. But yes, for many awards, there are other things you can do to increase your story’s visibility.

This is not true of all awards. Notable awards where authors can not offer their work for consideration include the Arthur C. Clarke Award (unless you’re a UK self-publisher), the British Fantasy Award, the BSFA Awards, the Locus Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the Mythopoeic Awards, and the Shirley Jackson Award.

For a list of awards (and Best of the Year anthologies), click to view the full-size table of award info and the rest of the market list updates: