Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Where to submit (and how)?

This is topic Where to submit (and how)? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by uberslacker2 (Member # 1397) on :

I'm working on a story that is about 18,000 words. I've finished the rough draft, made it to the end of the story (sort of, you'll see what I mean later), and resovled the C of MICE. It's not going to get much longer (and especially not any shorter, it's already feeling a little bit short, but I don't want to bog the story down to bad). So my problem is that it's not long enough to be considered a novel, but it's to short to be a considered as a short story. I was originally going to try and get it published in a fantasy magazine but I realize this will be incredibly hard if the story is four times longer than what they normally look for. How should I go about trying to get it published?

The reason I even care about trying to get it published is because it sets the scene for my, to quote OSC, "the much more powerful" 'Dune Runners.' Dune Runners takes place three years after Unforgiven (and it might even be in 3rd person instead of first like Unforgiven).

Does anybody have any advice about this, should I query even though it's not a novel? Another thing, what's something that length even called? Novella? Novelet? I'm so confused. :-D I know a little about writing but I know admittedly nothing about publishing said writing. Thanks in advance

The Great (albeit a little confused) Uberslacker

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Any story can be streched into a novel, any story can be compressed into a short.

My feeling is that you want to make Unforgiven into a series of vingette chapters that lead your main character from being a bit of vulture kibble to being a fairly influential and valuable member of a warrior society. First chapter, he acclimates to the new and very strange culture, later, he secures his position in this culture by proving himself in pitched battle (you can have as many chapters as you actually need in between the first chapter and this, like surviving his first serious challenger, recieving his own weapon, whatever) later, shows some value as a leader in battles and arbitrator of disputes (peacemaker might imply that he was somehow blessed, which doesn't seem to be the point of the story). These are essentially short storys, but they are tied together not merely be logical sequence but by the role they play in the pivotal character transition that has to occur for him to play his part in "Dune Runners".

You need to have the individual stories highlight and increase the central thematic tension of his alienation from the society that he has joined. Although he must accept (or simply tolerate) this culture to survive, his intrinsic revulsion against the values and ethics of those around him lead him on an inward journey opposite his outward integration into surrounding culture.

I take it that the character comes out of self-exile at the beginning of "Dune Runners". In this case, the climactic release of tension can be achieved in "Unforgiven" when he comes the point of choosing that exile (perhaps as a result of a final incident of conflict, or as a result of a more internal epiphany). With a final epilogue to resolve the story (i.e. his mastery of the culture he was in conflict with gave him the mental-emotional and physical tools to enable him to survive independently, and so he is able to transcend his need for survival and thus resolve the conflict {not in those words, and not in so few, either}) you will find that individual chapters can be tweaked later to bring them into conformity with the overarching dramatic structure.

At least, in theory.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

Uberslacker2, the way story lengths are divided up into categories for the Hugo awards (SF/F awards that might be considered equivalent to the People's Choice awards for movies and tv) and for the Nebula awards (SF/F awards that are more equivalent to the Oscars for movies) are as follows:

short story -- up to 7500 words
novelette -- 7500 to 17500 words
novella --17500 to 40,000 words
novel -- over 40,000 words

Most professional science fiction and fantasy magazines publish an occasional novella, but I would strongly recommend that you see if you can't tighten your story down into the novelette category. They buy more novelettes than they do novellas.

Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :

It would make more sense to me if you would just churn on your story for a while and see if you can't add a couple twists or maybe a subplot in order to make it into a novel - or consider perhaps condensing it into a short story. Because, if you try to publish a novelette, you are seriously triming your chances. Most magazines will only devote that much page space to a writer that they've either seen before, or know will do well. If you haven't published with them before, or ever before, then it will be an enormous task.

So, think about another idea you've been spinning around your head, and see if you can't mesh it together with the one you have. Afterall, you've got quite a few words to work with. Just beef it up, and add some new stuff.

Posted by uberslacker2 (Member # 1397) on :

I'm gonna do that actually. I've written a short story (it's sci-fi, not the fantasy that my novella/novellete is) and I'm going to try and get that published. For my fantasy I'm going to just ignore the length limitations and just finish the story and make it the story I want it to be. Then I'm going to take that story (think the EG novellete/novel transformation) and write a novel out of it. I've already started writing little bits of it. I've got that basic story but in order to have the story make sense I had to come up with enormous amounts of backstory and for fun I came up with a bunch of afterstory. Thanks for the advice all the same. This helps.
Uberslacker