Crits and Reading

Not getting a lot of fictional writing done lately. I've posted a few critiques into my new writers group "The Prose Nest" (TPN) but haven't had anyone take a look at my little short yet.

I've packaged up my latest assignment but decided to hang onto it until I gain feedback on my resubmitted one.

Slugging my way through the latest issue of Albedo One. I've read six or so stories and the interview so far. The interview is good and worth the cost of the mag but I've only identified with two of the stories so far. Some of those I thought not particularly great are apparent award winners. I've asked a fellow HorrorScoper for their opinion so we'll see if I'm in over my head or not. Personally, I just don't like most of the stories in the mag. :(

Tonight I have other commitments, (Cricket) so its a non-writing related night, but that's cool. I don't like to obsess and my writing was definitely bordering on an obsession. I'm slowly reigning it in again although those that are closest to me may disagree. ;)

For those of you interested, the short list for Australia's Premier Award in Dark Fiction, The Australian Shadow Award has been announced. You can check it out here.

Good luck with your submissions.

Assignment 2 Graded and Assignment 3 Done - Again

I received the second of my assignments back in the post today. Unknown to me, I have a different lecturer for this module as well.

The good news is that I don't have to redo this one - I passed with a B-. My goal is to achieve all A's and B's to make me eligible for credits and distinctions so this grade just scraps in as a minimum.

I have redone assignment 3 and will send that off later this week, although I'm tempted to wait until I receive comments from the resubmitted assignment 1. We'll see.

Now to continue the review of Albedo One....

A new week

My ability to blog on a weekend is not good at the moment. That should change in a couple of weeks with the end of cricket season fast approaching. Speaking of cricket, we won again on the weekend, chasing down the required 221 with a single wicket to spare. Nail biting stuff. I made 86 this week and am now really paying for it. The body just can't recover as it once did. Still we finished second after the home and away season and have the semi-finals this weekend.

On the writing front: my lad is home from school today - a bad case of gastro. Gives me a good excuse to work from home. This will allow me to get ahead on my assignments and catch up on some writing so I hope to be posting later on with updates on all fronts.

I have posted my first crit on Authors by Design (AbD) and put my latest short up for comment. It will be nice working with this group. If nothing else, the moderator seems nice and I think we'll get on well. Fingers crossed.

I received my advanced copy of Albedo 1 Issue #34 to review. I'll post a link to HorrorScope when I post it and then add it to my review page a day or so after that. So far it looks like a good read.

Well, that's it for now.

Good luck with your submissions

Assignment 1 Done - Again

I have resubmitted assignment 1. Fingers crossed I have done it correctly this time. It was a huge disappointment to me when the note came back that I hadn't done things right. I try to ensure everything I do is to the best of my ability and was very shocked when this was judged to be rubbish or done in correctly.

I thought about it and decided it was a wake up call.

So now if it comes back as being sub standard - then I'll be worried.

Been away on conference for work over the last two days so I've done no writing at all. I gained nothing from the conference either so I'm pretty disappointed. If it wasn't for being able to spend some quality time with my wife in the middle of the conference, the two days would have been a total waste of time. :(

Tomorrow I'm playing the last minor round game of cricketof the season. We're chasing 221. We chased down 250 last game so I'm quietly confident. Then we're into the finals. Finals are played over a single weekend - Saturday, Sunday - not looking forward to that so much. At my age, it takes time to recover from a days play. Must remember to take my time on the Sunday this time round. Last year I wasn't warmed up enough and got out because of it which lost us the game. Don't want to feel that way again in my last year.

My assignments for HorrorScope should arrive early next week so keep an eye out for regular reviews starting soon. I'll be reviewing Black Static, Gratia Placenti and possibly Albedo One.

I'll also be reviewing Book of Shadows and Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror 2007 - both from Brimstone Press.

Lastly, I've been accepted into a new critique group run by Authors by Design. This is important to me as it gives me access to other like minded individuals who are willing to critique my work. In return I will try to do my best to help them advance in pursuit of their goals within writing. Alas, this means that any crit group I thought about starting will now be put on hold.

Well that's about it. For now I think that's enough really.

May all your submissions sell and may all your nightmares be memorable.

A Set Back

I have received feedback from my first assignment - and the news isn't good.

I have on many occasions, told people on forums and mentioned it a few times through my posts, to check guidelines before submissions.

I was told during orientation that we were to treat the submission of assignments as if we were submitting to market.

The first page of the introduction booklet outlined the submission format.

I didn't double check :(

Result: I forgot to double space my submission as requested. The requirements were also a little vague on the material they wanted submitted so I sent in all three parts of my work within the first assignment, including all the markups regarding changes between the original piece and the final piece. I thought they also wanted the 200 word description of those changes on top.

It turns out I got it wrong in my eagerness to get into it.

Luckily, the lecturer has allowed me to resubmit my first assignment but I have sent him an email requesting clarification on exactly what he wants. I'm thinking it could be as little as just the 200 word description.

I'm hoping I will be allowed to resubmit my second assignment which also wasn't double spaced.

The directions for that assignment were much clearer and I believe I've submitted exactly what they wanted - we'll see.

I'm glad I held onto the third assignment. I'll be reformatting that one correctly before sending out now.

It seems being away from academia for twenty something years has had its draw backs. But I learn quickly. The format of submissions won't be a mistake I'll make again - ever.

So now I'm waiting on a reply from my questions on assignment one. Then I'll sit down and get caught up again.

Good luck with your submissions (check the guidelines before sending)

Assignments, Crit Groups and Synopsis

Been a busy morning.

I have finished critiquing a query letter and a synopsis for a friend in the states for her YA novel. I have sealed up the latest assignment to go off for my diploma, posted a quick news item on HorrorScope and exchanged emails with the moderator for a new critique group I hope to join.

I'm about to start the next assignment to be sent out latter this week. Unfortunately I haven't received any response back from the assignments I've already sent in so I'm still flying blind. Hopefully I'm not doing things terribly wrong and have to resubmit everything. This is definitely a draw back of doing a course of study externally.

Last night my wife critiqued two of my stories, the fifth installment of "Too Late the Rain" and "Drinkers", a new short story I've just written. Her feedback was concise, honest and surprisingly good. I have read everywhere that family and friends do not make good critiquers as they will only give you positive feedback, not wanting to hurt your feelings.

Not so in this case. Her suggestions and questions were very good and allowed me to see things from the readers POV that I hadn't considered. As a rule, family and friends aren't the best to judge your work but give them a chance, they may surprise you.

Oh - my membership has come through for the Australian Horror Writers Association. Payment was made this morning so I should be a fully fledged member before the week is out.

Lastly - thank you to Amy. When I changed the layout to better reflect my writing on both this blog and my web site, I didn't check the documents in the Free Writing Tips section. I checked all the other pages, which looked good, but the type within the documents was in black font which doesn't show up very well on a black background. This has all been fixed.

Time to get back to work on my assignment. Good luck with your submissions and keep on writing.

Review: Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror 2006

Edited by Angela Challis & Shane Jiraiya Cummings
ISBN: 0 9802817 0 9
13-digit ISBN: 978-0-9802817-0-5
240 pages - B Format paperback

The Blurb

The dark age is here. For years, Australian dark fiction writers have toiled in the shadows at their craft. Australian dark fiction is now stronger than ever. This anthology features the very best Australian short stories, novelettes, and essays published in 2005 — including many award winners and nominees.

The Review

If you haven't had the opportunity to yet read this, get it - now!

I was blown away by the stories contained within its pages. It is a remarkable collection of the adjudged best of Australian Dark Fiction from those published in 2005.

"The Memory of Breathing" by Lyn Battersby is the first story. A tale of the future where those found guilty of murder or suicide are sentenced to a life as a reanimated corpse. This particular tale follows a young girl through her reanimation after she was particuarly naughty. It is an excellent story that involves the reader emotionally through to its surprising end.

Many more great short stories follow with different slants on old tales involving vampires, time travel, purgatory, Peter Pan and many others.

Combined with insightful and pertinent non-fiction pieces from some of Australia's best known dark fiction authors such as Robert Hood, Josephine Pennicott and James Doig, I found this anthology to be a great read from beginning to end.

I now eagerly await the arrival of (just ordered by me) the follow up book from 2006, and the 2007 edition which has just been released by the same publishers, Brimstone Press (which I have also just ordered).

- - - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I urge you to do yourself a favour and order your copies now of all three.

Adelaide Writers Week 2008

(As posted on HorrorScope)

Adelaide Writers Week 2008 is fast approaching.

I went into a local Dymocks store today and purchased a very nicely produced programme for $6 to eagerly check out what sessions I would be interested in attending. The same program of events can be found here for free.

I brought the program hoping it had more detail than the web version in regards to the sessions and the authors. It was advertised on the Festival web site as; “A detailed program of events with full information on sessions and participating writers.”

Unfortunately, the reality is much less inviting than the glossy 50 or so page programme, at least less inviting for genre writers among us.Out of the 61 authors listed as attending and being involved in a specific event, none are from the horror genre.

The agenda is full of crime writers, poets, playwrights, biographers and other non-fiction writers. A few have dabbled in the fantasy realms but none in science fiction or the darker side.It seems the Adelaide Writers Week is for the "so-called" literary elite, not the lowly genre writer.

I’m sure there is still information to be learnt from writers who have succeeded in their chosen field but it would have been nice to have heard from one of our own.For those of you who would still like to attend:

Adelaide Writers Week (Part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts)
2-7 March 2008
Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens
Free Admission

Anthologies

Just a quick note: While reading a transcript of an online chat session between AHWA and Ellen Datlow (full transcipt to be found here) I found this absolute gem piece of advice.

[Ellen Datlow] Actually, the first one, Salon Fantastique was a bit scarier for Terri and me. Because it was our first time out (for both of us I think)...but like any anthology, the editor is more open at the beginning than later in the process...

[AHWA Member question] So submit early?

[Ellen Datlow] anything goes at first but as an anthology of any type fills up, your "needs" change and narrow as you try to balance everything. So {AHWA Member} yes, submit early.

So there you have it folks - straight from the editors mouth, as soon as you hear about an up coming anthology you think would be good to get into, start writing. As soon as it opens, get your submission in as soon as humanly, or inhumanly, possible!

Rules to live by :)

Good luck with your submissions....now back to updating the web site.