K.D. Wentworth Crit

At last I got my long-awaited crit from SF writer/WOTF judge K.D. Wentworth of my 1st qtr WOTF story, "Ra-Gho-Zu."

She packed a lot of info into one page.

I expect to model my short crits after this one.

My story received consideration as a Finalist, but the second half didn't quite mesh well enough with the first half.

Doh!

I'll rework the story a bit and then shop it around to likely markets.

I'm working now on a fantasy YA story for WOTF, and aiming to make it good as others of its kind go. It's doing better than I expected, especially since I'm not a fan of this genre. But I thought it'd be good to stretch my wings a bit rather than confine myself to favorite territory.

It'd be something if my YA story placed higher in WOTF than my SF story, which is also the pilot for a planned saga of mine. My YA tale may also be my last short story for a while, since I want to get started on novels that I've put off for way too long.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Zen Pen Critique

This past weekend, I got a critique on my "Ra-Gho-Zu" story (formerly "For Kimi") from The Zen Pen, run by Carina Gonzalez, the former slush editor for Realms of Fantasy magazine.

She gave me an editor's view of the story and offered a few tips on further tweaking the story during an ongoing dialogue these last few days.

Her scoring scale is 100 maximum points achieved in three parts.

The first is 75 points for good writing and telling. The second is 15 points for the story itself. The third is 10 points for luck, researching publication personalities, and being at the right place and the right time.

I got:

~ 73/75 for the writing and telling.

~ 14/15 for the story.

~ Assuming I target the right market and the gods are with me, I have the highest possible score of 97/100.

Woohoo!

I'd already been working on the story for a while before subbing it to her. Earlier drafts wouldn't have scored so high.

Once I do make some final adjustments, my top 3 choices for my opus are WOTF, Jim Baen's Universe, and Analog.

I'm looking forward to WOTF. :-)

Larry Hodges Critique

This past weekend, I got a critique on my "The Way of the Peacemaker" opus from an emerging fantasy writer, Larry Hodges. Someone whom I met by chance on Critters in 2005 and have had the fortune of dealing with. He's had several short stories published and is working on his first novel. I'm looking forward to seeing what he turns out down the road.

Anywho, Larry pointed out some strengths and bugs that helped me fine tune the story for Critters and Taos before I shoot it off to WOTF. A few small changes, and it's so much better. I feel really good about this draft.

Thanks Larry!

WALTER JON WILLIAMS CRITIQUE

Today I received comments on my "The Way of the Peacemaker" short story from mil SF writer Walter Jon Williams.

The story has some good points, but I have to go back to the drawing board.

Again...

Starting up a new space saga and figuring out its rules is no small task it seems.

I knew that going in, but I didn't really know it.

I've worked on different drafts of this story.

And now it seems I'll have to work on another. I do feel that I'm crawling in the right direction, though.

That's something.

JEANNE CAVELOS CRIT

Today I received a crit from Jeanne Cavelos, my first pro fiction mentor on my story "The Way of the Peacemaker" (formerly "Honor and Justice").

Jeanne's crit was an unexpected bonus.

After being sundered from the Odyssey fold for the last few years, I joined the Odfellow discussion group for the first time late last year. Then I signed up for my third stint on the Odfellow critique group a few weeks ago when Jeanne sent a missive saying that the group needs new blood and she'll be participating. I couldn't sign up soon enough, and I submitted my space opera tale, which I'm prepping for the Writers of the Future SF/F Contest (WOTF).

"The Way of the Peacemaker" is about a galactic guardian in the future who learns the true cost of his oath to protect the innocent. The guardian comes from a line of samurai sworn to protect the innocent of the ages.

I've written a film script based in this Peacemaker universe, but before I market the script, I thought I'd establish the series in fiction and comics first. "The Way of the Peacemaker" is the pilot story. Hopefully, it'll launch in WOTF.

GREGORY FROST CRIT

Today I got a crit from Greg Frost on a short short story of mine.

My story's called "The Automatic Pen" in which a genius inventor builds a wormhole to contact aliens and seek their help with fixing another invention of his, the automatic pen.

I wrote it as a short tall tale set in the present written a la some classic American southern writers like Mark Twain and O. Henry.

My experiment didn't appeal to Greg Frost.

Nichevo.

It was good practice, though.

To paraphrase someone whose name I forget: "One has to dare to be bad."

LESLIE WHAT CRIT

On Sunday, 10-8-06, I got a crit from Leslie What on a teen fantasy tale of mine I dubbed "The Dance." Saying that I'm "fortunate" doesn't begin to cover it. I'm no teen fantasy guru and she did a fantastic job, outlining an easy and hard choice for me to take when I rewrite the story.

Unfortunately, I'm going to pick the hard choice. :-(

"The Dance" is about an ugly duckling teen girl who competes with a beauty queen classmate for a boy with a love potion that's not a love potion.

I'm preparing it for WOTF. An alternate market at Leslie's recommendation is Cicada.

I wrote "The Dance" based on 3 writing prompts: an unattractive person, a distinct smell, and a bowling ball.

I went with a teen girl and geraniums and made the ball magic. I'll be curious to see how the story turns out when I finish rewriting the story of mine that James Patrick Kelly commented on.

JAMES PATRICK KELLY CRIT

I got comments on my short story SF "Honor and Justice" from JAMES PATRICK KELLY on Saturday May 13, 2006. Woohoo! I think I've gotten that final break through that I need to take it to the next level.

Market choices are Writers of the Future, Asimovs, and Baen's Universe. I'm going with WOTF.

I'll have to make some generous offerings to the writing gods for pairing JAMES PATRICK KELLY with my story.

All I have to do is rewrite it now. Easier said than done. But it'll be worth it.

And I'm busy on some Trek short tales now for Dean Wesley Smith's consumption.

Must get back to writing and doing all the maintenance stuff in my life.

UPCOMING JAMES PATRICK KELLY CRIT

Being an alum of Clarion (the original, not Clarion West), I've got the great luck of getting crits on a story of mine that I'm grooming for WOTF/Asimovs from some published Clarion alums.

I've already gotten two: one from Tracy Taylor and another from Nancy Etchemendy. JAMES PATRICK KELLY is moderating the critique thread on my tale for the next two weeks. He'll offer his crit in about a week.

What can I say besides AWESOME!

My story was already at a high pitch and if it's not up another level once I get all my crits and process 'em, something is seriously wrong.

Now I've got to keep eking out my current Trek short tale, write up some crits for a fiction group I'm exploring, read the EXPERTS novel, and write up my Mission Impossible III review.

Not to mention work and take care of chores. Ughhh.