Out of the Gate, Catching the Reader Quickly

As an editor, I am constantly amazed at how many stories come across my desk that fail to catch my eye early. For those writers who are already well established, this is not such a great problem, though I can tell you that they generally do not have an issue with this (hence the reason they are well established). But for new, and maybe even not so new, writers who are submitting to the dreaded slush pile, this can be particularly problematic.

Allow me to explain how the slush pile works. The slush pile is the general unsolicited submission queue that continually builds up over time. There is no end to this heap of stories, as most pro or semi pro market will get hundreds of submissions each month. It is up to the slush editors to review this pile and forward those stories that are crafted especially well to their senior editors, who then, while considering their small space for publication, choose from the shortlisted stories. The slush editors will most likely only read a paragraph or two from a short story and a page or two from a novel manuscript, and if the piece of fiction does not grab their attention, then they will reject it, most often with a form letter rejection note.

It’s a harsh reality, but the truth, nonetheless.

So, as a writer whose work goes into the slush pile, we all have to ask ourselves what it is about our particular story that makes it stand out against the endless hordes of other works already awaiting review, especially when the editor is only going to look at such a small portion. I can personally tell you that the concept of your story is not that original; someone has already written a story similar sometime in the past. So, it is all about presentation.

I will paste some examples below of first paragraphs from stories; some are classics and some are from Aberrant Dreams:

• I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate. When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess, though never fully realise, why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death (Lovecraft, 1919).

• Tucker Juergenson woke up screaming, hands clutching spasmodically at clinging, salty sheets, just as he did every morning (Sutter, 2007).

• ...A young woman in a shapeless overcoat, clutching a brown paper bag of little red caplets, stuck in the revolving door of a tall glass building: Miranda Martineau suddenly found herself on the street with no home and no memory (Somtow, 2007).

• Over shadowy spires and gleaming towers lay the ghostly darkness and silence that runs before dawn. Into a dim alley, one of a veritable labyrinth of mysterious winding ways, four masked figures came hurriedly from a door which a dusky hand furtively opened. They spoke not but went swiftly into the gloom, cloaks wrapped closely about them; as silently as the ghosts of murdered men they disappeared in the darkness. Behind them a sardonic countenance was framed in the partly opened door; a pair of evil eyes glittered malevolently in the gloom (Howard, 1932).

As you can see from the above examples, each of these writers adds enough mystery and intrigue to force a reader to read further. We know from the text that something is going on, and that mystery will be revealed if we continue reading. Though this does not guarantee a sale, in and of itself, it is by doing such as this that we catch the slush editor’s eye.

That is perhaps the first and most important step, in the end.

Sincerely,

Joe :-)

Sources
H. P. Lovecraft, "Dagon", The Vagrant, 1919
James Lafond Sutter, “Dreamcatching”, Aberrant Dreams, 2007
S. P. Somtow, “Little Red Caplets, Aberrant Dreams, 2007
Robert E. Howard, “The Phoenix on the Sword”, Weird Tales, 1932

The Definitive Lovecraft!

Few writers of speculative fiction can say they have never heard of H. P. Lovecraft. The truth is that his fiction has molded strange imaginative fiction since the the early 1900's, and when you read it, you'll understand why.

What is it about his work that makes it stand out so well? In my opinion it stands out because Lovecraft understood one undeniable fact: our own imagination can conjure fear better than the words of any other person. In his tales, the descriptions of the ultimate horrors are muted and slight, and just as the protagonists come to the realization of the truths of the universe, Lovecraft masterfully removes the reader before anything too specific is revealed.

This unknown endears his work to his fans. To borrow a quote of his, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." I couldn't have said it better myself :-)

Over the holidays, I managed to get my hands on the current Arkham House editions containing much of his work: The Dunwich Horror and Others, At the Mountains of Madness, Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, and The Horror in the Museum.

Before purchasing these books, I must be honest, I had already read most of the tales within, with a few exceptions (The Other Gods, for instance), so this is primarily about Arkham's books, themselves. On a whole, the quality shines--very solid tomes, indeed. One thing that stands out to me the most is that while Arkham House is considered a specialty press, the cover work is leaps-and-bounds above that from other small publishing houses (well, except for HD-IMAGE, but I'm biased). It was a pleasant surprise. In fact, if there is anything that i could comment on as being a negative, it would be the fact that the books are printed as a 5x8 format instead of the more common 6x9, but that is mostly semantics.

My final verdict, they are really great editions for any library.

Sincerely,

Joe :-)

Bygone But Not Forgotten

Well, the holidays have slipped by for yet another year; all I can say is "whew!" 2007 was one of those extraordinarily busy years that manages to weigh on a soul. And I'm not talking about all the crap happening in the rest of the world! :-)

Let's see, accomplishments from 2007 include, HD-IMAGE publishing our first novel, Gate of Souls. This is a major milestone for us, and marks things to come. My long time friend Lonny and I have spoken about founding a small press publishing company for some time, and, to be frank, it feels good to see it come to fruition. Verna McKinnon, the author, is a very talented lady whose grasp of characters and characterization is already far beyond many of today's professionals. She is also a very nice lady and is easy to work with. I look for great things from her in the future. I'm glad we were there to help in the beginning. Speaking of great things, Verna sent the manuscript for Gate of Souls's sequel just before the new year, and I must say, it is pretty good so far. Yes, I know...cruel :-)

Another accomplishment is the successful redesign of the site (http://www.hd-image.com) using Flash animation, and it's well regarded acceptance from our readers. It feels a bit strange to have the website focus so completely on Aberrant Dreams, but I cannot deny the end result. Now that we have novels in publication, I plan to add a link for details about our novels, new, old and upcoming.

Aberrant Dreams has now been transitioned from a quarterly printed magazine to a yearly anthology--well, that was the plan anyway :-) To be honest, I actually expected the anthology to be a little less work than that of four consecutive magazines. What I failed to realize is the overwhelming amount of additional work needed to ensure its completion. This anthology is now a monster, with a page count over 400. Also, the various different editions (normal trade paperback, hardcover, and a signed limited edition) have shown me the reality. I'll paste an image of the cover so you can see. Behold, I present Aberrant Dreams I, The Awakening:

The funny thing is that over the past year, I have also come to miss the printed version of the Aberrant Dreams magazine. We have discussed it, but, right now I am unsure in which direction we will go for the future. Look for a final decision at a later date.

Now, what does 2008 have in store. Hmm...to be honest, my schedule is booked at present. I have two novels to edit, one anthology to finish editing, several short stories to complete (not too big of a job), a "non-fiction" book on hauntings to write, the website to maintain and update (speaking of which, a new update is coming very soon!), and various other projects that will arise throughout the course of the year.

Ah...it's good to be the king (*sighs*)

Sincerely,

Joe :-)