Wishing for a Fantasy Life

I was daydreaming the other day, and I found myself wishing for a fantasy life. Not the life of a movie star, or a famous rock n' roller, mind you, but a true, honest to goodness fantasy existence. I'm talking The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter here. The lives of the characters who live these stories are more exciting than anything I've seen or heard of in the 'real world.'

Sadly, I probably won't be transported to a magical realm the next time I walk into a wardrobe full of fur coats or jump through a brick wall onto a train. And I doubt Gandalf is going to walk through my door anytime soon. So, I'm trying to figure out how I can make my life more like that fantasy life I dream of, without having to check out of reality completely. Besides, you never know what quest is waiting for you just around the corner...

This is what I've come up with so far, some of the key components to being a fantasy realm hero:

1.) Get Moving

How It's Done: I've yet to read a story in which the main character sits in the middle of a forest for the entire book, watching the squirrels gather seeds and nuts. The hero is always on the go, traversing the land on horseback, running through winding streets to escape an enemy, dodging spells or swords, or climbing the tallest tower despite an acute fear of heights.

What I Can Do: Now that Ultimate is done for the season, I need to find a new way to keep myself in shape. Luckily, the early darkness of winter days lends an extra air of excitement to dog-walking. I can almost pretend that I'm really making my way into Narnia or Middle Earth on these misty, moonlit nights... almost.

2.) Learn to Defend Yourself

How It's Done: Every hero has enemies, and the struggles of a hero to preserve life and limb in the face of all odds are what make stories exciting. Whether with a sword, a bow and arrow, or a disarming spell, all fantasy characters must find a way to protect what is precious to them - namely, their lives. How long do you think you'd last when faced with a Dark Horde?

What I Can Do: In the past, I've taken classes in martial arts, ranging from karate to tai chi. The YMCA offers courses in kickboxing (cardio kickboxing, that is) that might suit my needs, for the time being. Want to get really authentic? Why not check out the Historical European Martial Arts Club (a.k.a. swords!)?

3.) Specialize

How It's Done: Have you ever noticed how everyone in a fantasy novel has a speciality? Either your a rogue, a wizard, a talking lion, or that guy who doesn't do much besides crack funny jokes. The message seems to be this: have a skill, or you're out of the Fellowship. And no, knowing how to work the fax machine doesn't count.

What I Can Do: I've got a few handy skills up my sleeve. I'm pretty good at building fires, although my flint-work could do with improvement. I know enough about blacksmithing to forge a rough sword in a pinch. If all else fails, I bet I would make a decent storyteller. Every quest needs a storyteller, right?

Don't forget the corollary to this one: specialize, but don't be an expert. The expert is never the hero of the story. Instead, it's always the newbie, the person who needs to prove him or herself the most. Luckily, I know all there is to know about being a newbie.

By the way, if someone out there needs dangerous artifacts delivered or all-powerful warlocks dispatched, I'm your girl. Whenever you need me, I'll be ready. I've been practicing

Sunday Report: Week of November 17th Odds and Ends

Here are some of the fun/informative things that are coming up for the next couple of weeks. Time to get excited!

On the next Community Friday, November 21, I will interview Edmund R. Schubert, author of the newly released Dreaming Creek and an editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Issue 10 of Intergalactic Medicine Show has just been released, so I'm really lucky to get a chance to talk with Edmund. Stop by if you get a chance!

For those interested in science fiction and fantasy conventions in the mid-atlantic/northeast, Philcon will be next weekend (November 21-23) in Cherry Hill, NJ. Yeah, this year it's in New Jersey, for those who might be confused: Philcon actually stands for "Philadelphia Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy." I won't be able to make this one, but it's a large conference that comes highly recommended. Several authors (and great sources of information!), including Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Larry Hodges, and Jonathan Maberry will be in attendance. Good times should be had by all.

Other than that, I will be attending the Washington Science Fiction Association meeting and (possibly) the Darkover convention in Baltimore, as mentioned in last Wednesday's post.

Finally, I've had an assignment to write a Thanksgiving story, to get people in the spirit of the holiday. So I'm going to be working on that. Will it involve a contest? Reader suggestions? Me making up something completely random? Time will tell.

As always, let me know if I missed anything!

Interview with Larry Hodges on Community Fridays

Welcome to Community Fridays!

During Community Fridays, I interview authors, editors, publishers, and pretty much anyone else who I can get my hands on from the writing and publishing community. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to suggest new participants. Check out current and past interviews here. Only have a minute? Click here for interviews at a glance.

Today's guest is Larry Hodges, author and semi-retired table-tennis coach.

You're working on your first novel, a science fiction story about politics in the future. At Capclave, you mentioned that you already had an agent lined up. How did you manage this? Many people have difficulties finding an agent even after their novels are finished!

Technically, the agent isn't lined up, but he's asked me to send him the novel as soon as it is done (first draft will be done by December). I went to the six-week Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2006, where I met Canadian SF writer Robert Sawyer (Hugo, Nebula and John Campbell award winner), the writer in residence for a week. He became familiar with my work and recommended me to the agent. So it helps going to workshops and conventions, and meeting people. However, first you must make sure your work is up to snuff, and (usually) make some short story sales. Here's a great article on finding a good agent by Chuck Rothman. However, before signing with any agent you might want to check them out at Writer Beware.

Your list of science fiction and fantasy sales (sales of short stories) reads somewhat like a Who's Who of the SFF magazine industry. Can you tell us a bit about submitting stories to magazines? How is it different from submitting novel manuscripts? Can you provide some pointers about which magazines seem to be interested in which kind of story?

I've sold 23 short science fiction or fantasy stories (most in the past year), although I haven't yet been in many of the really big ones - still working on that! (Here's my science fiction page). I keep track of my submissions and sales on a simple Word document. It's important to keep close track - if you lose track, you'll have great difficulty in getting back on track. I currently have 26 stories on the market, 23 sales, and 12 stories that I no longer am submitting (plus about 40 from long ago). I can tell you the submission history of every one of them in seconds, including every market it went to and when, and when and what the response was.

For most submissions, I have a standard cover letter. You do need to read the guidelines for each market as many tell you specifically what they want in the cover letter, as well as how the manuscript should be formatted. Always use standard manuscript formatting, unless told otherwise. This is covered, along with lots of other stuff you should read, in the SFWA Writing Page. Here are the three parts to my cover letter:

Paragraph one is the intro: "Enclosed [or Attached] is my story, "[The Greatest Story Ever Written]." It was workshopped at [Critters/Odyssey/Tao's Toolbox/other].

Paragraph two is the bio paragraph. Here's mine: "I'm an active member of SFWA with 23 sales, including recent ones to Weird Tales, Abyss & Apex, and On the Brighter Side. I'm a graduate of the six-week 2006 Odyssey Writing Workshop, the 2007 Orson Scott Card Literary Boot Camp, and the two-week 2008 Taos Toolbox Writing Workshop. In the world of non-fiction, I have three books and over 1100 published articles in 79 different publications."

Paragraph three reads, "Enclosed is a SASE. Manuscript is disposable. If you would like me to email the text, let me know. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you." [If it's an email submission, then "I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you." is all that goes here.]

There's a huge market out there for short stories. However, very few pay well, and those that do are extremely difficult to get into. The major ones often receive 500 or so manuscripts per issue, and can only publish 3-4, if that. (Other slots are reserved for "name" writers.) Even the low-paying ones typically only print at most 10% of what they receive, usually far less. That's why the "real money" is in novels - except they don't pay that well either, until you develop a "name."

If you want to sell short stories, don't fall for the trap of writing a single story, and hoping it sells. Keep writing!!! As noted, I have *26 stories on the market; I'd have more if I hadn't sold 23! Keep writing them, and keep sending them out. However, don't rush them; typically, after writing a story and spending time rewriting it, put it aside for a time, and look at it again a few weeks later, and if possible get others to critique it. Eventually you can do them in almost factory mode, with stories in various stages of progress. All of my stories go through the following stages: outline, writing, rewriting, proofing, critiquing, second rewriting, second proofing, and submission.

(*I'm about to unleash #27, so I'll have an even 50 sold or on the market.)

There are a number of online sites that give info on the SF/fantasy/horror markets; my favorite is http://www.ralan.com/, which gives info and links to the guidelines of just about every market. I generally browse over them nearly every day. If you are serious about being a SF/fantasy/horror writer, I strongly suggest spending some time reading over the guidelines for the many markets listed, starting with "Semi- & Pro Markets," then "Paying Markets," then "Anthology Markets." Then you might consider the "4theLuv Markets" and "Contests," and if applicable, "Humor Markets," or others that might fit.

The higher-paying markets, recognized by SFWA as "pro" markets, are listed at the SFWA website. Generally you should start by sending your stories to these. Typically it can take years for a story to go through all the markets; some markets get back to you in a week, but the more typical one is about two months. I have one submission I'm still waiting on from January! There's also a couple from June, but most of them are split roughly evenly from July to present. I've sold stories on their first submission; I sold one story on its 19th submission. I have one story that's now at its 29th market, dating back to July of 2005. (It's a good story, gosh darn it!)

From talking to editors and writers at conventions and workshops, and of course from reading the guidelines, you begin to get a feel for what type of story each magazine tends to like. You learn that F&SF tends toward more "literary" stories, while Baen's is more action-oriented. Realms is a bit literary, doesn't do much humor. Analog is more hard SF (it has to be a good story in the usual respects, with technology or science of some sort central to it), with a liking for linguistic angles and some humor. Weird Tales likes, well, weird stuff. Fantasy Magazine tends to have a mostly female audience, and so likes women protagonists (but not always). The overlap between the markets is large, so the main thing to do is make sure not to send a fantasy story to a strictly SF market, and vice versa. Send horror to those that want it, such as Cemetery Dance, Brutarian and Chizine, and not to SF & fantasy markets, unless they say they want horror as well.

I'm sure people will be interested to know that you spent years as a successful table-tennis coach, which turns out to be a surprisingly lucrative profession. People often talk about leaving a 'desk job' for the glory of a writing career, but you left a decidedly un-desk job. What made you decide to do this? Did your experiences as a table-tennis coach help you get to where you are today in your writing career?

I was a table tennis player, coach and writer for 32 years. In 2003, at age 43, I became the youngest person ever voted into the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame as a contributor (primarily for my coaching and writing, though as a player I've won numerous national and state titles). USATT has been around since 1933, and has 77 players and 41 contributors in their Hall. I've coached Olympic athletes (yes, table tennis is in the Olympics), and during the 1990s coached more gold medal winners at the Junior Olympics and Junior Nationals than all other coaches in the U.S. I also chaired the USATT Coaching Committee for four years and was named the USOC Table Tennis Developmental Coach of the Year in 2002. Plus I've had over 1000 articles and three books on table tennis. (What is a table tennis article? Coaching articles, player profiles, tournament write-ups, equipment reviews, etc. I even wrote a few table tennis fiction stories, such as "Death of a Backhand," where my backhand and forehand were characters.) Here's my table tennis page.

However, after 32 years, I became frustrated by the lack of development of the sport by the sport's leaders. Meanwhile, I was beginning to write SF and fantasy again. In the late 1980s, I was the manager, director and/or coach for table tennis at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for four years. Training took place in the mornings and late afternoons. Since I was free in between, I began to write stories. After two years of rejections they began to sell, including four to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, the top fantasy market at the time, sort of the precursor to Realms of Fantasy. By 1991, I'd sold eight stories. However, after I was hired to edit USA Table Tennis Magazine (the national magazine for table tennis, 8000 circulation), I focused on table tennis, and didn't write any fiction (other than a few table tennis fiction stories) for 13 years. Then, in 2004, I saw a note about a SF class taught at The Writer's Center in Silver Spring, MD, taught by SFWA member Brenda Clough. I signed up, and I've been writing SF & fantasy ever since.

Around March this year, I decided to take a sabbatical from table tennis so I could focus on writing one or two novels. I'm currently living on savings (table tennis coaching pays surprisingly well!) and a few writing sales until I finish my novel, "Campaign 2100." Sometime after it's done (and possibly one other book), I'll have to return to making money, either in table tennis or possibly as a free-lance writer/editor. I'm not sure which yet. (I have twelve years as editor of USA Table Tennis Magazine and all the published articles and books, so there must be something out there I might qualify for that might be interesting - hopefully in SF & fantasy. Any offers?)

Here's a rather strange claim to fame. I'm fairly certain I'm the top science fiction writer in USATT (8000 ranked players), and I know I'm the top table tennis player in SFWA (1400 members). Any challengers? (Oh please . . . bring large sums of money!)

You've attended a good number of writer's workshops of the several-weeks-long variety. I've never been to one, so can you give me some details? How long do these tend to be? How intensive are they? Are food and lodging generally included in the price? What are the benefits you've seen from attending?

I went to the six-week Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2006. It was an incredible experience, very intense, and impossible to describe, so I'll now briefly describe it. Basically, you spent mornings and afternoon in classes or critiquing other classmates work (or listening to their critiques), and nights writing and reading/critiquing stories from others. It's an intensive workshop, not for the faint-of-heart. But if you are serious about writing SF/fantasy/horror, I strongly urge you to go to Odyssey or one of the Clarions writing workshops. Here are links to write-ups by other graduates of their experiences there. (If you are looking to get published, see the list of publications by graduates.)

If you absolutely, positively can't get off six weeks, there is also Tao's Toolbox (two weeks), Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp (one week), Center for the Study of Science Fiction Workshops (varying lengths) and Viable Paradise (one week). There are also online workshops where others critique your work, and vice versa; I was active with Critters for years, and strongly recommend it. There's also Seton Hill University's "Writing Popular Fiction" Master's Program, which I've heard a lot of good things about. It's an MFA program that takes two years, most of it done at home.

You never know what you will learn at these workshops. I learned all sorts of writing stuff from Jeanne Cavelos, the Odyssey director/instructor. From Robert J. Sawyer, the writer in residence for a week, I learned to write with a theme. Previous to that, I'd come up with a story idea, then characters, and then I'd write the story. Now I start with a theme, and from that come up with a story idea, characters, etc. Without a theme, a great story is basically great fluff. There's a place for fluff - mindless entertainment - but it's not memorable.

One of the things that allowed you to take these workshops was leaving your day job behind. I imagine this took a lot of careful plotting and planning. How did you manage to do this? Would you encourage others who want a career in fiction writing to follow your lead? Do you have any advice for would-be job-quitters?

At the time I went to Odyssey in 2006, I was editor of USA Table Tennis Magazine (a near-fulltime job), and coaching full-time. To get time off, I did one issue of the bi-monthly magazine early, scheduled the next one late, and hired someone to do some work on it while I was gone. During my stay at Odyssey, I only had to spend a few nights on magazine work. As to my table tennis coaching, it was put on hold while I was away - so there are a lot of table tennis players out there who will never be as good as they could have been. :)

A workshop like Odyssey, if you are a serious writer, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you'll never forget. Talk to your boss (or husband/wife), bribe them, blackmail them, and try to get the time off. You won't regret it. (Though once there, you'll curse my name during those late-night working hours. I'll be laughing at you in spirit.)

Lastly, because this feature is about establishing bonds within the writing and publishing industries, can you name one author, editor or publisher who's doing great things right now, and why?

It's hard to limit it to one. I'm going to mention three.

Jeanne Cavelos is the force behind Odyssey. While Clarion brings in different instructors each week for six weeks, Jeanne is there all six weeks of Odyssey, and so gets to know all the writers, their strengths and weaknesses, and so you get better and better feedback from her. She's probably done more for SF/fantasy/horror writing than anyone else this past decade or so.

I'd also like to mention Walter Jon Williams, who started up Tao's Toolbox, a two-week workshop in New Mexico. He always brings in a second writer to assist. This year it was Kelly Link; last year it was Connie Willis. I attended it this past summer, and it was another memorable experience.

Finally, there's John Scalzi and his "Whatever" blog. The key thing there is his "Big Ideas" feature, where he regularly features novels with a big central idea to it. I'm looking forward to submitting the idea for my novel, once it's ready. (The big idea in "Campaign 2100"? The theme is moderation in politics, as portrayed in a third-party challenge in the election of 2100 for president of Earth.)

Thanks for the choosing me for this interview!

© Emma Larkins and Larry Hodges

Capclave Recap

Just got back from Capclave. Here are my thoughts on the science fiction and fantasy literary convention.

First of all, I want to thank all of a the wonderful people at The Washington Science Fiction Association, the panelists and speakers, the other attendees, and all the volunteers who made the convention a reality. A convention is a lot of hard work, and the organizers even stuck around at the end to hear people (constructively) complain!

And now, a breakdown.

Panels: Excellent! Great information, well-delivered, and good audience participation. I attended panels on YA Science Fiction, working on your fiction-writing career, working in a writing-related field while trying to launch your fiction-writing career, and magic in a mundane world (among other things). I think they're planning on increasing the amount of time between panels next year, which was the only qualm I had. I liked how they had three to five panelists at each talk so that we got to listen to some great discussions. The panelists all played off of each other well, and the talks were never dull.

Workshops: I attended the writing workshop moderated by Allen Wold. Allen is quite a force to be reckoned with! I received some great insight into my writing.

Socialization: I felt a little more comfortable meeting people at the GLVWG writers' conference I went to last March, mainly because the meals were in the hotel and shared by most of the conference attendees and speakers. But I did get to talk to some wonderful people at Capclave, including editors, gamers, authors, and librarians (librarians are quickly becoming one of my favorite types of people!). I only wish that I had known that the parties written on the board were "open parties" - I probably would have met even more interesting people!

Here are some of the people I did meet, in no particular order:

Allen Wold - Author, panelist, moderator, taskmaster. A man deft and encouraging in his criticisms who left the writers with the feeling they could make something good out of their writing. If you ever get a chance to take a class with him (he teaches at conferences and cons all throughout the year) I strongly suggest you take it. Allen is a multi-published science fiction and non-fiction author.

Edmund R. Schubert - Now, here's an interesting story. I found out that Edmund was editor for Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, which sounded familiar. I realized that I had heard about that magazine through my interview with Jason Sanford, and I asked Edmund if he knew Jason. He said yes, then I said I'd interviewed Jason, and THEN Edmund said he'd read my interview! I checked my blog later, and I realized that, in his interview, Jason actually recommended Edmund highly. Talk about coming full circle! Anyway, Edmund was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about the subject at hand and all things science fiction. I'm very lucky to have met him in person. Check out his website to see his new book!

Larry Hodges - Now here's a guy who would make a great character in a story. Larry is working on is first science fiction novel. He also maintains a blog about politics, AND he's a retired table-tennis coach. Which is actually turns out to be a fairly lucrative profession. Did you know that table-tennis players in Europe can make more than a million dollars a year? Larry is the only person I know who can write, coach table-tennis, and recite the histories of every single president complete with terms of office. His frequent participation in workshops and overall enthusiasm about the writing industry make him a great resource.

Danielle Ackley-McPhail - Danielle is a woman who knows a lot about creative promotion! Her launch parties are apparently legendary in this part of the industry, and she gives away great candy. She's a fantasy author and an anthologist. She's also a great person to know, who really, truly gets joy out of her work.

Danny Birt - Danny is trying to single-handedly destroy the fantasy formula of 1.) person meets sage 2.) person quests for magical object 3.) person destroys the Great Evil. He's also a composer of both classical and filk music (a type of science fiction folk music), and an adept manuscript critiquer.

Davey Beauchamp - Davey likes to use his art for a good cause. He's an anthologist who has compiled science fiction stories to provide relief from natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Davey is also a YA librarian, and he provided some great insight into the kind of styles that would interest a younger audience.

Conclusion: Terrific convention. Great information. Beautiful location. Very accepting of and willing to help newbies, once they figured out I was one. :) If you're in the MD/DC/VA area, and you're at all interested in reading, writing, or learning more about science fiction and fantasy, put Capclave 2009 on your calendar!

Update: I also wanted to mention Darcy, who was one of the leaders of the writing workshop, and gave me excellent advice about dancing. She didn't have a nametag, but I'm guessing that she's Darcy Wold, Allen Wold's daughter. Thanks Darcy for your help!

Morphemes: Inventing Words for Speculative Fiction Authors

Authors of speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, etc.) often need to describe people, places, and things outside the normal realm of experience. There are three basic ways to do this:

1.) Use a combination of standard English words. For example, if your characters use bodies of water to travel between different dimensions, you can call them 'waterwalkers' or 'water-walkers.'

Pros: It's easy for your reader to know what you're talking about.

Cons: Limits creativity. Also, these terms don't necessarily call attention to themselves, and can be lost in the rest of your prose.

2.) Make a word up from scratch. In this case, you might call the water-walking characters 'lisorbb.'

Pros: Absolute creative control.

Cons: Many readers abhor the made-up word. Used too frequently, they can turn all but the most dedicated reader away, as I talked about in my post on different types of fantasy novels.

3.) Use the basic building blocks of the English language to invent a word more or less within the accepted boundaries of word formation. In order to do this, you can parse a word into morphemes, a.k.a. basic units of English taken from the ancient languages (usually Latin and Greek) that originated English. Say you wanted to create a new word to mean 'waterwalker.' Water has a Latin morpheme of 'hydr' (as in 'hydropower') and walk has a Greek morpheme of 'ambl' (as in 'amble'). So we could call the waterwalkers 'hydramblers,' if we'd like.

Pros: High level of creative control. Works best if you use easily recognizable morphemes.

Cons: Still might throw some readers off.

And no, I'm not fluent in either Greek or Latin. I use an excellent book that I bought as a textbook for a class on the origin of the English language. The book is English Vocabulary Elements by Keith Denning and William R. Leben. (William Leben actually taught the class I took.) I mostly use the list of Greek and Latin morphemes at the back of the book as a reference guide. And yeah, I know I'm not following the 'rules' for word formation, but that's my creative license at work!

The book is also handy if you're interested in learning why certain words are the way they are. Did you know that the 'hyster' in 'hysterical' actually comes from the Greek morpheme for 'womb?' Because back in the day, 'hysterics' was an actual disease women were diagnosed with. Grrr.

I think that inventing words has the potential to add another dimension to speculative fiction. We do it all the time in real life: how long has 'vloggers' been around? So why not use it in our writing?

Norwegian Fairy Tales

Today it's time for a trip into the world of fantasy and fairytale. One of the inspirations for my writing is A Time For Trolls, a wonderful little book of Norwegian fairytales. I received this book as a small child from my Norwegian relatives, and I've read and reread it countless times since.

I'd like to try and incorporate some of the techniques and themes from these fairytales into my own fantasy stories. One of my favorite devices is the frequent use of repetition, left over from a time when the fairytales belonged to an ancient oral tradition. In the stories, the protagonist often reaches one goal, only to learn that he or she has been given a new, similar task. For example, a heroine will climb to the top of a hill to find a wise woman, and then be told that the wise woman doesn't know the answer she seeks. However, if the heroine climbs up the next hill, she will find another wise woman who MIGHT know the answer. I think it helps involve readers in a story when they see that the characters also struggle with reaching their final goals.

Anyways, I think I'll read the book again sometime soon, and hope that it inspires my fantasy to new levels of depth and creativity. Skål!

Lovely Language

While looking at a large wall-map the other day, I was struck by an interesting place name I had never noticed before. Kalaallit Nunaat. According to Wikipedia, in the language Kalaallisut (natives of Greenland), it means "Land of the Greenlanders."

I just love the sound of it Kalaallit Nunaat, Kalaallit Nunaat. As a fantasy writer, I'm always looking for ways to name things that don't exist in our world, so I started to play with this as a place name in The Hidden Land of Gre. Sadly, I didn't think I could get away with using the real thing...

Kaliit Nanuut... Kallalu Niinat... Kaliilu Nanuud... Kaluut Nuunad! That's it! Well, that's it for now. The City of the Crossroads will be called Kaluut Nuunad. The owner of the inn, Hadrosep Bakkar, will say "Tula Kaluut Nuunad" when he greets the children. The translation will be, "Welcome to the land of those who live there." Of course, at this rough stage, everything's likely to change, but I love having little background tidbits like this to flesh out my story.

I wonder if other people are as interested as I am in messing around with words like this?