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| SFReader Forums > Book, Magazine, and eZine Publishers > Ricasso Press > Black Dragon, White Dragon: Updates | Forum Quick Jump
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
      
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1842
| Posted 4/12/2007 7:02 PM (GMT -4) |   | | | |
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Sara K. Michael
writes to live, lives to write.
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 4
| Posted 4/12/2007 7:36 PM (GMT -4) | | Hey, Rob, I was just checking up on my rewrite of Shandango Dance... Did you recieve it? I sent it to your personal email, as we've had problems in the past - but I first sent it to myself on accident, and then to you, so I'm not sure if it got there in one piece. I was kind of... zoned, I guess.
Thanks!
~Sara | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Santa
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 1669
| Posted 4/13/2007 1:40 PM (GMT -4) | | I've been fielding a lot of e-mails concerning the speed with which the table of contents is filling up. Mostly they go something along the lines of "I have a concept for your anthology and want to finish-it/polish-it-further/submit-it-to-my-critiquing-group before sending it off to you. Should I wrap-it-up/send-it-as-is in order to beat the deadline or do you anticipate actually making it through the August 01 reading period?"
The short answer is...there's no short answer.
Yes, my preference would be to see a fully polished work. I have rejected several manuscripts that I felt held promise but seemed rushed or inadequately conceptualized. I have also requested several rewrites from pieces that I felt held promise but seemed rushed or inadequately conceptualized. Which one an author got probably depended on my mood more than my skill at evaluating stories.
Is the table of contents filling up quickly? Kind of. I'm up over the halfway mark, but that comes with an addendum. I feel what I've received in the first 6 weeks or so are the stories authors had "lying around." Whether I've seen the majority of these remains to be seen, but there's no doubt the number of submissions has slowed. The acceptances certainly have. I have rewrite suggestions out to two submitters, stories that have a total word count of around 7,000 words. If they come back the way I would prefer, then the ToC would stand at about 52,000 words. I plan on stopping the submission process at around 75,000 words, fully expecting authors to continue to send me their work anyway. The guidelines for BDWD state the antho will have 85k to 100k words. This is allow for "wiggle room," the kind that comes from knowing many writers who may have missed the cutoff time but want to send me their work "just in case." I'm not encouraging it, but I'm expecting it. It's also to allow for that great novella that just has to be in the ToC, with several smaller works of equal skill following close behind.
Doing the math, if I accept the rewrites, then the ToC has 52,000 words with another 23,000 words before the cutoff and another possible 20,000 words of space beyond. That is, in all honesty, a lot of room.
What should an axious author do? Aside from avoiding alliteration (  ) I would recommend giving your submission a long hard look, a thorough edit, and then another thorough edit. Send it my way when you feel it's the best it can be, and don't worry about the cutoff date. It's a little more arbitrary than you think.
Thank you and still looking forward to reading your stories.
Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO of Ricasso Press | | Back to Top | | |
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Sara K. Michael
writes to live, lives to write.
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 4
| Posted 4/13/2007 2:46 PM (GMT -4) | | | Okay! :) Sorry to bother - I've discovered that I sent the wrong email addresses with some submissons, and others sent to myself instead of the intended recipient, so I was just making sure it didn't go astray. | | Back to Top | | |
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1842
| Posted 4/14/2007 5:35 PM (GMT -4) | | | There are tons of non-Doyle Holmes and Watson stories out there, they are most definitley public domain. | | Back to Top | | |
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Sara K. Michael
writes to live, lives to write.
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 4
| Posted 4/15/2007 4:24 AM (GMT -4) | | *victory dance*
This has been a very good day. :) | | Back to Top | | |
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narrativium
Stablehand
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 12
| Posted 4/15/2007 9:39 PM (GMT -4) | | Rob: the first post in this thread said you were lacking in "down and dirty action"; have the stories you've accepted since then redressed that balance, or is it still a gap? And has the rate of submissions involving "D&DA" increased since that comment?
Just curious... my stories may or may not be in that area, but the descriptions of the accepted stories don't make it clear what the balances are at the moment, or even what balance you might be looking for. Anything which helps in writing to your specifications :D | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Santa
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 1669
| Posted 4/15/2007 10:36 PM (GMT -4) | | Going back and looking at the ToC, the stories I have with some real action scenes in them are "Li T'ien," "Travelers Four," "Otrossius," "Bala Worm," "Dragon's Hide," "Lesson Learned," "Ordinary Dragon" and "Western Front."
However, only "Otrossius" is an action "story." The other stories contain their own D&DA, though limited in scope (some limited to only a few paragraphs). I would love (love, love!) to see another story where the action starts about one sentence below the byline and finishes about one sentence above "THE END." But as I've said many times before, the action alone isn't the story. I rejected a story that had some of the best action writing I'd seen in a long time because the rest of the story didn't wow me.
I want more action in the submissions. Am I full with stories that have virtually no action? Well, "Hardcastle's," "Griffons," "Let Me Explain," "Shandango" and "A Pet of Her Own" have zero direct action (some is implied, though three in this list have nada). Does that mean the ToC is full with regards to actionless submissions? Not at all. Good writing will get into this anthology. My preference is for good stories. My top preference is for good stories with action. My tippy top preference is for good action stories.
Did that help?
Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO of Ricasso Press | | Back to Top | | |
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narrativium
Stablehand
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 12
| Posted 4/16/2007 5:50 AM (GMT -4) | | | It did. I hope a) what I've got won't disappoint and b) that I can finish the damn thing... | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Santa
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 1669
| Posted 4/17/2007 11:57 AM (GMT -4) | | In another thread ("Swimming in the Slush Pile" over in the Gripe folder) I mentioned how I found myself in a strange position: quickly skimming several submissions before I went to bed, I found I liked almost all of their opening pages. I wasn't looking forward to a good night's sleep, with the excitement of several good stories looming.
Well, I did have a good night's sleep and approached the newest batch of submissions eagerly. Go figure, I accepted the first one I saw. Sean Melican's "The Elephant and the Dragon" is set in the late 19th century, with British colonialism having swept the globe. Dragons and elephants co-exist in a war-like state in abundance in Africa, and the story revolves around a British gentleman (though from colonial Georgia) hiring an African guide to bring back a live elephant to his plantation. Solid imagery, unique in all ways, I enjoyed this piece from the first paragraphs and rode it all the way to the end.
I have not read through any of the other submissions, so more updates may follow quickly.
Current Table of Contents: 15 stories, 50,000 words
Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO of Ricasso Press | | Back to Top | | |
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glutton
Neophyte
Date Joined Mar 2007
Total Posts : 136
| Posted 4/20/2007 12:32 AM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Jim Stratton
Acolyte
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 376
| Posted 4/20/2007 12:50 AM (GMT -4) | | Thanks for the update, Rob. And no offense taken.
For me, the worst part of writing is the submission process, because of the uncertainty involved. You send a story out, and often hear nothing for months, or even 1-2 years in several cases I've experienced. And you risk being branded as a pain in the ass or worst if you nudge the editor. I've heard one editor at a con talk of refusing to read submssions from certain writers who'd been "difficult" in the past, and tell other editors ". . . to avoid that one, he's a problem."
So I find it truely refreshing that you're willing to not let the slush pile back up, and provide updates so the folks submitting aren't left in the dark. BTW, I heartily recommend your plan of setting up an online submission tracker. I've seen this at a couple of venues, far too few IMHO. I can't imagine it would be too hard to set up, especially since publishers do keep track of the stories submitted (I assume). Why that can't be done on an online forum is not clear.
Once again, thanks for the update, and enjoy San Diego.
Jim Reichert | | Back to Top | | |
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