WRITING GREAT SHORT STORIES Elizabeth Kadetsky who teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and at Columbia University’s School of Journalism serves up some advice.
CRAFTING CHARACTERS THAT JUMP OFF THE PAGE Punching up your fiction? Where there's a tipster, there's a way. Discover Robert Gregory Browne's secrets to getting multiple book deals.
BIOFICTION INTRODUCED Even as she receives 5 stars on Amazon for Trine Erotic while editing/publishing Entelechy: Mind & Culture, Alice Andrews takes time to chat about the esoteric world of this mind-bending read.
NOVEMBER: National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1.
The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Hello, Shalla here, sometimes I get emails that sure, I'll post on here :)
Hey Shalla!
Have you read the critically acclaimed new novel, "The Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size 12" (Penguin Group USA) yet? It's a great summer read that'll make you laugh! Yours sincerely,
Mount Arrowsmith Novel Writing Contest, theme open. Grand prize $1000 Cdn. Entry fee: $20. Deadline: August 15, 2007. Info: www.albernivalley.biz/arrowsmith07.html.
Whisper Poetry annual (schools and open) poetry competition; up to 32 lines. Entry fee: ₤5.00 per poem for the open competition and ₤1.00 for scholars. Deadline: September 30, 2007. Info: http://www.whisperpoetry.com/
Bards and Sages 4th annual speculative fiction writing contest. This year's contest will benefit the nonprofit Donorschoose.org. The theme of the 2007 contest is Legendary Horrors. Submissions should focus on traditional monster archetypes found in legend, myth, and folklore. Aliens, serial killers, and angst-ridden quasi-vampires need not apply. Awards: $150—$10 plus publication in a future Bards and Sages anthology. Entry fee: $5. Deadline: October 1, 2007. Info: www.bardsandsages.com/2007contest.htm
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SHALLA CHATS with Robert Gregory Browne
“Crafting Characters that Jump Off the Page”
by Shalla DeGuzman
First of all, who ’s Robert?
Robert Gregory Browne began his career by selling a two-part mystery story, "Nothing but the Cold Wind," to EasyRiders magazine. Shortly thereafter, he won the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and found himself in the Hollywood fast lane.
His first screenplay, Low Tide, was picked up for production by Showtime only to be shelved after two years of “development hell.” On staff with Fox Kids/Saban, he wrote the hit animated TV show Diabolik and Spider-man Unlimited, then turned his back on the business to return to writing fiction. The result is the February release of Kiss Her Goodbye, the first of a two-book deal with St. Martin's Press. Robert recently signed another two-book deal with SMP.
New York Times bestseller Gayle Lynds (The Last Spymaster) calls Kiss Her Goodbye, "A first-rate novel that will glue you to your chair until you finish the last satisfying word." And Tess Gerritsen ( The Mephisto Club) declares it "A smashing good read."Shalla: Hello Robert. Congratulations on the success of Kiss Her Goodbye--looks like a winner--and you winning prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, what a great accomplishment.
Robert: Thanks, Shalla. It's been awhile since I won the Nicholl, but it certainly changed my life. For about a month after I won, my phone rang off the hook – agents and producers asking to read my script. After years of dreaming about it, I had finally arrived. It was an amazing experience. Shalla: Please tell us about your two-part mystery story, "Nothing but the Cold Wind," that was published in EasyRiders magazine. How long have you been writing short fiction before it got published?
Robert: That story was actually one of the first short stories I'd ever completed. I'd had a few false starts and was mostly concentrating on music at the time – my second love – but suddenly had this idea for a “biker” mystery pop into my head and I figured, what the hell, I'll see if I can sell it to EasyRiders.
I sent them a draft and they turned it down. Then, a couple of years later, I decided to trim it and send it to them again. This time they went for it. Published it as a two-parter.
Literary Agents reads submissions for SHALLA Magazine.
Can your work really make it to these top lit agents' desks? Sure! Preliminary reading will be done by our acquiring editors, if it passes that, our Guest Assistant Editors will read it. The top 12 will be read by our special Guest Editor.
TriadaUS Literary Agency was incorporated in April 2004.Our Founder, Dr. Uwe Stender, has a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. He also studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the Universitaet Goettingen, Germany. He taught at both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh and has been widely published in scholarly journals and books. Uwe was a guest speaker at several major conferences including the SCWC in San Diego, the “Crimebake” (Mystery Writers of America New England Chapter), CAPA-U in Hartford, Connecticut and the Novels in Progress Workshop in Louisville. TriadaUS has established strong relationships with all the major publishing houses. We also have strong Hollywood contacts and are working very closely with Principal Entertainment for TV and Motion Picture rights.
Our best known clients are former CNN anchor Daryn Kagan, bestselling author and relationship expert Dr. Joel Block, Today show and ivillage contributor and nutrition expert Amy Hendel, legendary NBA referee Bob Delaney, and popular Romance author Jennifer Horsman.
SHALLA CHATS with Literary Agent Caren Johnson
“An Insider’s View on Agenting and Publishing”
by Shalla DeGuzman
First off, who’s Caren?
Caren Johnson recently began her own literary agency, Caren Johnson Literary Agency. She began her agenting career four and a half years ago when she started an internship at Peter Rubie Literary Agency. She stayed at the agency for three years, the first year as an intern and two years as an agent. She then left to join Nadia Cornier at Firebrand Literary where she stayed for a year. She recently made the switch to agenting on her own so she could work more closely with her authors in building their careers. She would like well organized, well crafted stories in the areas of romance (particularly romantic comedy in the vein of Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jenny Cruisie and Kelley St. John; and historical in the vein of Susan Carroll, Diana Gabaldon, and Lauren Willig—high concept only please!), Teen fiction (in the vein of Caridad Ferrer/ Adios to My Old Life, Scott Westerfeld/ Uglies Trilogy) and commercial fiction (in the vein of Christopher Moore/A Dirty Job, Carl Hiaassen/ Nature Girl). For the moment she’s full up with wonderful paranormal romance (Caridad Pineiro, Lee Roland) and romantic suspense (Caridad Pineiro, Dianna Love Snell) authors so if an author submits in this genre, she will be more critical than she normally is.
SHALLA CHATS with Literary Agent Kelly Sonnack
“Actively Building A List”
by Shalla DeGuzman
First off, who’s Kelly?
Kelly Sonnack is an agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, known for establishing and guiding the careers of many fiction and nonfiction authors, including Amy Tan, Janell Cannon, Lisa See, Diane Mott Davidson, Kevin Starr, Mike Davis, and many others.
The Los Angeles Times dubbed the Dijkstra Agency "the most powerful literary agency on the West Coast" and, in its 20+ years, it has developed a reputation for discovering new talent and representing quality work with great commercial potential. Kelly began her career with the publishing giant Elsevier, under the Academic Press Imprint where she quickly worked her way up to Acquisitions Editor. At the Dijkstra Agency, she manages the submission cycle and also assists with foreign rights and PR. She is actively building her list and is especially interested in all areas of children's literature (YA, MG, picture books, graphic novels) and international women's fiction.
Dave is the publisher of Palari Publishing, a traditional, royalty-based publishing company that has produced fiction and nonfiction titles since 1998. Dave started as an editor for other publishers and soon formed Palari Books to produce interesting titles by deserving authors, especially first-time writers.
TriadaUS Literary Agency was incorporated in April 2004.
Our Founder, Dr. Uwe Stender, has a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. He also studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the Universitaet Goettingen, Germany. He taught at both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh and has been widely published in scholarly journals and books. Uwe was a guest speaker at several major conferences including the SCWC in San Diego, the “Crimebake” (Mystery Writers of America New England Chapter), CAPA-U in Hartford, Connecticut and the Novels in Progress Workshop in Louisville.
TriadaUS has established strong relationships with all the major publishing houses. We also have strong Hollywood contacts and are working very closely with Principal Entertainment for TV and Motion Picture rights.
Our best known clients are former CNN anchor Daryn Kagan, bestselling author and relationship expert Dr. Joel Block, Today show and ivillage contributor and nutrition expert Amy Hendel, legendary NBA referee Bob Delaney, and popular Romance author Jennifer Horsman.
SHALLA Magazine features high quality fiction (experimental, literary, genre, multicultural, etc), poetry, essays, excerpts from screenplays, one act-plays, etc.
Our submissions system is open to all forms of writing that have been previously published.
That’s right, we only like reprints. Please tell us where and when it has been published before. By submitting to SHALLA Magazine, you are guaranteeing that all rights to the work have already reverted back to you.
• Please include a cover letter with the following information: Full name (as you wish to be credited in the magazine), contact information, and a brief bio citing previous publications.
• Please title your email: SUBMISSIONS: “put the title of work” –“word count”
• You can address your submission to: Shalla
General Guidelines
Fiction/Non-Fiction Including (but not limited to) short fiction, flash fiction (100-500 words), short-short (500-1,000 words), short story (1,000-10,000 words) commentary, essays, and experimental works• Maximum length: 10,000 words • Manuscripts should be in block form o This means: no paragraph indents, single-spaced with double-spacing between paragraphs • Acceptable file formats: .doc, .rtf, .txt o We will only accept submissions copied into the body of an email message, for works under 1,000 words • Preferred file format: .rtf
Poetry Including (but not limited to) free verse, haiku, lyric, concrete, narrative, and experimental works• Maximum length: 1 single-spaced pages • Acceptable file formats: .doc, .rtf, .txt o Please send as a .rtf file. • Preferred file format: .rtf Please, no simultaneous submissions
Seamus Cashman was born in Conna, Co Cork in 1943. His latest poetry collection, That Morning Will Come is due from Salmon Publishing in June 2007. Previous collections are Carnival (Monarchline, Dublin, 1987); and Clowns & Acrobats (Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 2000). He has edited, with Bridie Quinn, The Wolfhound Book of Irish Poems for Young People, (Wolfhound Press, 1975; still in print today).
In 2004 the O’Brien Press published his award winning Something Beginning with P: New Poems from Irish Poets, for young readers. He also edited and translated, with Sean Gaffney, Proverbs & Sayings of Ireland (Wolfhound Press, 1974; still in print today). He established Wolfhound Press in 1974 and it became a leading literary and cultural publishing house, and he was publisher there until 2001.
He now writes, gives poetry and creative writing workshops, and advises writers and publishers. He lives in Portmarnock, Co Dublin.
Dave is the publisher of Palari Publishing, a traditional, royalty-based publishing company that has produced fiction and nonfiction titles since 1998. Dave started as an editor for other publishers and soon formed Palari Books to produce interesting titles by deserving authors, especially first-time writers.
SHALLA CHATS with Nonfiction Publisher, David Smitherman
“Writing and Publishing Nonfiction Books”
by Shalla de Guzman
First of all, who’s Dave?
Dave is the publisher of Palari Publishing, a traditional, royalty-based publishing company that has produced fiction and nonfiction titles since 1998. Dave started as an editor for other publishers and soon formed Palari Books to produce interesting titles by deserving authors, especially first-time writers.
Plus!
SHALLA CHATS with Seamus Cashman
“Advice to Writers: from an Editor/former Book Publisher”
by Shalla de Guzman
First of all, who’s Seamus?
Seamus Cashman was born in Conna, Co Cork in 1943. His latest poetry collection, That Morning Will Come is due from Salmon Publishing in June 2007. Previous collections are Carnival (Monarchline, Dublin, 1987); and Clowns & Acrobats (Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 2000). He has edited, with Bridie Quinn, The Wolfhound Book of Irish Poems for Young People, (Wolfhound Press, 1975; still in print today). In 2004 the O’Brien Press published his award winning Something Beginning with P: New Poems from Irish Poets, for young readers. He also edited and translated, with Sean Gaffney, Proverbs & Sayings of Ireland (Wolfhound Press, 1974; still in print today). He established Wolfhound Press in 1974 and it became a leading literary and cultural publishing house, and he was publisher there until 2001. He now writes, gives poetry and creative writing workshops, and advises writers and publishers. He lives in Portmarnock, Co Dublin.
Writer's Digest is no longer accepting entries in its 7th Annual Short Short Story Competition. Winners will be notified by February 9, 2007. Look for a list of winners in the June issue of Writer's Digest.
Biofiction is not a neologism. (See below for its other uses and meanings.)
In the sense that I am using it, however, it is new; it refers to fiction or creative nonfiction that uses biological, neurological, psychological and/or evolutionary language and/or lenses. That is, a work of biofiction might explicitly deal with biological and /or evolutionary ideas, or it might incorporate biolanguage (see below). It may also do both, as my writing often, but not always, does.
For a while I used the term evolutionary fiction when writing about my own fiction and that of some others; but I soon realized that that term was too limiting (though I still use it in specific instances). At the same time that I felt evolutionary fiction was too restrictive, I was engaged in thinking about literature from a Darwinian and cognitive perspective and doing so primarily through a list called biopoets.
As well as accepting open submissions throughout the year we also hold a regular competition for short stories of up to 3000 words. Top prize is £100 sterling, second £30 and third £10, and all of these stories - plus the best shortlisted ones, which earn their authors £5 - are published in the magazine. Entries, as with general submissions, are invited from anywhere in the universe..
12th Annual Jane Cunningham Croly/GFWC Print Journalism Contest for Excellence in Covering Issues of Concern to Women. Award: $1000. Entry fee: $50. Must enter three articles published during calendar year 2006 that meet contest criteria. Deadline: March 15, 2007.
AlienSkin Magazine® publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror tales that possess a speculative element
We ONLY accepts Email submissions.
Submissions can be made 3 ways: 1. As a Plain Text Format (.txt) attachment; 2. As a Rich Text Format (.rtf) attachment; or by, 3. Copying and Pasting the story into the body ofan email to us. Submissions are to be made via email to: Submit@AlienSkinMag.com
Sharpen your pens and ungum your keyboards! Flashing Swords is a new quarterly E-zine dedicated to publishing the finest heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, sword and planet, and swashbuckling historicals we can lay hands on. We're very specific with our definitions--look below to find out exactly what we mean by the terms Sword and Sorcery or Sword and Planet, or peruse the articles about Sword and Sorcery.
FLASH-FICTION Now actively seeking flash fiction. Fantasy fiction up to 1k. Payment $10.00 USD maximum. Send all flash-fiction submissions to Joseph A. McCullough, Flash-Fiction Editor at:
What We Want: Speculative fiction, which includes sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and their various subgenres. Manuscripts that tell stories, not those which overwhelm us with inflated prose and flamboyant descriptions. Micro-fiction from 55 to 200 words. Flash fiction from 200 to 1,000 words.
Apollo's Lyre welcomes submissions from experienced and/or new writers.
We are looking for: - Articles pertaining to the business of writing. We occassionally run serialized articles pertaining to the writing field. Please query first if you would like to submit a serialized article. - Tips & Techniques on the craft of writing - Fiction stories (no erotica, please.) Keep crude language confined to the context of the story/character, and keep it to the minimum amount possible -- no vulgarity just for vulgarity's sake.
- Creative non-fiction. NO first person narratives in this category, please. - Flash Fiction: We accept literary, speculative and genre flash fiction. - Micro-fiction consists of 100 to 200 words - Flash fiction consists of 201 to 1,000 words - Reviews of books
The Harrow seeks stories, poems, and art that fall within the fantasy and supernatural horror genres. The plot should contain or imply the presence of the magical or supernatural. To count as "horror," the work must also evoke an emotion such as apprehension, dread, anxiety, and fear. Horror does not need to shock or disgust; if it evokes a quieter sense of the eerie or uncanny, it still counts as horror.Conventionally structured and character-driven plots are preferred.
Richard Peabody, a prolific poet, fiction writer and editor, is an experienced teacher and important activist in the Washington , D.C. community of letters.
He is the founder and co-editor of Gargoyle magazine and editor (or co-editor) of fourteen anthologies including Mondo Barbie, Conversations with Gore Vidal...
As well as accepting open submissions throughout the year we also hold a regular competition for short stories of up to 3000 words. Top prize is £100 sterling, second £30 and third £10, and all of these stories - plus the best shortlisted ones, which earn their authors £5 - are published in the magazine. Entries, as with general submissions, are invited from anywhere in the universe..
12th Annual Jane Cunningham Croly/GFWC Print Journalism Contest for Excellence in Covering Issues of Concern to Women. Award: $1000. Entry fee: $50. Must enter three articles published during calendar year 2006 that meet contest criteria. Deadline: March 15, 2007.
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