Watcha Writin'?

[Zkribbler]

So...I'm at 17,000 words...I can't submit it to the Writers of the Future contest . There's a few other zines I could submit it to, but from a newbie writer, most publishers think the shorter the better. Longer works are reserved to big name writers who'll pull in lots of readers.

I'm wondering if I can't extend this into a novel. Amazon was taking 40,000-word novels for awhile but no more. I'll need at least 50,000 words, triple my current length. Quadruple would be better.

I've reread Baum's book, and there's a lot of his stuff neither I nor the '39 movie used. But the reason the movie didn't use these parts was because they didn't advance the plot, or didn't advance it sufficiently quickly. Moreover, for my purposes, the symbolism of the stork, the field mice, the fighting trees, the porcelain dishes, the hammerheads, etc. isn't apparent.

 

[Zkribbler]

I'm wondering if I can't extend this into a novel.

Nope. Can't be done.

 

[Zkribbler]

I'm taking a whole new tack. My POV/narrator is the silver shoes.

The story has reduced down to 14,000 words. Currently, I need a song for the Wicked Witch of the West.

 

[Zkribbler]

At this point I'm a little brain-fried from NaNoWriMo (today was the last day of 30, of working on my ongoing story),

So? How'd it go?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'm composing my NaNoWriMo wrap-up post now...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

My buncle powers point out that Silverberg is beyond caring, alas.

Your "buncle powers" are seriously mistaken. Robert Silverberg posted to his Yahoo! group less than 12 hours ago, regarding one of his novels that was adapted as a movie (he reports that it's in post-production and he's not sure when it'll be released; the important thing to him is that he got paid).

 

[Zkribbler]

My first draft of the silver shoes version is now done. 14,726 words.

The working title: "Silver Slippers O'er a Golden Road"

 

[Zkribbler]

My first draft of the silver shoes version is now done. 14,726 words.

The working title: "Silver Slippers O'er a Golden Road"

My second draft is done, working in a lot more emotion. 15,100 words.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

And I'm back to my very slow pace of adding to my story. I got a whole two paragraphs and one sentence from a previous paragraph done. I need to decide on a name for the character I just killed off (he was caught in a landslide; I haven't decided if he died before or after his body was washed away in the river below the slide site).

 

[Zkribbler]

After literally years of work (on and off), "Silver Slippers O'er a Golden Road" is finally done. Now, what shall I do with it? Most publishers won't accept a story as long as mine.

What remains are:

The Writers of the Future Contest for unpublished science fiction and fantasy writers has the potential for being the most lucrative , but it expands its definition of plagiarism to include another writer's world without that writer's written permission. Alas, Baum is long dead.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is next highest in pay. However, once I sell a story there. I can never again submit to Writers of the Future.

The same can be said of Clarke'sWorld. In addition, they have a very long list of things, the inclusion of which makes it very hard to sell your story. One of these is a wicked witch.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

After literally years of work (on and off), "Silver Slippers O'er a Golden Road" is finally done. Now, what shall I do with it? Most publishers won't accept a story as long as mine.

What remains are:

The Writers of the Future Contest for unpublished science fiction and fantasy writers has the potential for being the most lucrative , but it expands its definition of plagiarism to include another writer's world without that writer's written permission. Alas, Baum is long dead.

What about getting permission from his estate or literary trust? Or if the Wizard of Oz is in the public domain, you don't need permission, as it's not owned by anyone.

 

[Zkribbler]

What about getting permission from his estate or literary trust? Or if the Wizard of Oz is in the public domain, you don't need permission, as it's not owned by anyone.

The book is in the public domain (but not the movie).

I think I'll try a spin off of what you're suggesting. I'll contact the contest and ask that, to use a world of a book in the public domain, do I still need to get the written permission of its long-dead author.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

I'd submit that you should swing for the fences, and try to lose your amateur standing. F&SF is prestigious enough, and you've got more stories in you - Writers of the Future is no reason to stay unpublished on purpose. You're Ribtickler, darnit. You can DO it!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The book is in the public domain (but not the movie).

I think I'll try a spin off of what you're suggesting. I'll contact the contest and ask that, to use a world of a book in the public domain, do I still need to get the written permission of its long-dead author.

My point is that even though the author is dead, his heirs or whatever legal entity might still be collecting royalties could grant (or withhold) permission. It's like if I wanted to publish my Hulzein fanfiction - I know that both F.M. Busby and his wife are dead. I don't know who legally owns copyright to his novels, but it must be someone (or some legal entity).

 

[Zkribbler]

I don't know who legally owns copyright to his novels, but it must be someone (or some legal entity).

It's no one because it's in the public domain.

My plan is now this. The next contest deadline is the end of next month. I'm going to try to finish my Pizza Delivery Guy story. In not, I'll submit "Silver Slippers" instead.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It's no one because it's in the public domain.

My plan is now this. The next contest deadline is the end of next month. I'm going to try to finish my Pizza Delivery Guy story. In not, I'll submit "Silver Slippers" instead.

Strictly speaking, I was talking about the Hulzein novels. I don't think they're public domain because Busby has been dead for less than 30 years (I met him and his wife in 1989). But if The Wizard of Oz is public domain, go for it. People will mentally fill in movie details anyway, since they're more familiar with that then the novel.

 

[Zkribbler]

I've been toying around with various unfinished works.

The latest is "Pure Evil," a high-fantasy thriller which I started writing maybe 10 years ago. Here's a back-of-the-book blurb:

The peaceful sylvan world of elfin gemsmith Oakstaff Hawk and his goblin buddy Nikk is intruded upon by Solomon Champion, High Bishop of Donne, the world’s richest and most holy man. Prying behind his exalted veneer, they discover he lies, cheats, steals, and murders to sate his lust for gold. Now, he’s preparing to gamble all of civilization.

 

[Zkribbler]

I've resurrected my work on the Count of Monte Banco.

I had run afoul of my own over ambition. Originally, I envisioned this as an epic tale, even going so far as to open with the traditional invocation to a muse. But it looks as if my story will naturally wind down at the end of Chapter 16. Epics are known for their length, which would dictate and ending around Chapter 24. It was when I tried to stretch the length that I lost both the humor and the pacing.

So, I'm now abandoning the epicness of it, and will settle of 16 chapters, approximately 65,000 words.

 

[Zkribbler]

After literally years of work (on and off), "Silver Slippers O'er a Golden Road" is finally done. Now, what shall I do with it? Most publishers won't accept a story as long as mine.

The Writers of the Future Contest for unpublished science fiction and fantasy writers has the potential for being the most lucrative , but it expands its definition of plagiarism to include another writer's world without that writer's written permission. Alas, Baum is long dead.

I just said what the hey and sent it off.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've resurrected my work on the Count of Monte Banco.

I had run afoul of my own over ambition. Originally, I envisioned this as an epic tale, even going so far as to open with the traditional invocation to a muse. But it looks as if my story will naturally wind down at the end of Chapter 16. Epics are known for their length, which would dictate and ending around Chapter 24. It was when I tried to stretch the length that I lost both the humor and the pacing.

So, I'm now abandoning the epicness of it, and will settle of 16 chapters, approximately 65,000 words.

My Kingmaker project has passed 150,000 words written since last November 1. I hate to think of how many tens of thousands of them are unnecessary and will have to be cut from the final version that will some day be posted. But since I'm constantly thinking up more to add (remember the alternative version I mentioned? It's three years later, in-story time, and my protagonist doesn't like the things he's had to do to defeat the villain that set everything in motion 30+ years before), the deleted words will be made up with different words.

Stories do eventually find their natural length. At least yours is divided into chapters. Mine's in the form of scenes here and there and all over - prequel, interquel, sequel, alternative version, original, and a crazy crossover I dreamed up where my two computer game protagonists meet (Kingmaker: Rise to the Throne crossed over with Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger; I actually did figure out a way for the characters to be connected, but when you have an 11th-century man popping up out of nowhere in a 21st-century campground, the only sensible way to explain him is to say he's part of the Society for Creative Anachronism group that's renting part of the campground for their war games and this guy just takes authenticity to the nth degree).