The Long and the Short of it

I seem to be inclined to update this blog at times when I really ought to be sleeping. Hm.

While at the moment I'm primarily concerned with polishing my novel, Ichor, I've also thought that I really ought to be working on writing some short stories. If I can get some of them published in reputable venues (admittedly rather a large if), it could (a) make me eligible to join the SFWA, (b) give me some credits I can list when querying my novel, and, of course, (c) make me a little money.

I've never really focused much on short stories. That's not to say I've never written any, but I've only finished a few, and those that I have finished I've only sent out to a handful of markets. And... looking back on my submission history, the last one I tried submitting was very nearly five and a half years ago. Hm. Yeah, I think it may be worth trying my hand at them again.

I've just looked over some of the short stories I've written, or started writing but not finished, though, and... huh. I don't know that I'm too thrilled with them. There are some unfinished ones that have potential, if I get them done, but I don't know if even they would really be highly marketable. (Which isn't going to stop me from trying... one I think would be perfect for Weird Tales, if not for the unfortunate fact that this august publication is currently undergoing a change in ownership and not accepting new submissions... though of course that may change by the time I finish the story.)

The thing is, though, short stories don't come as easy to me as novels. I like broad canvases and detailed plots, with plenty of time to explore characters. I have a hard time thinking of concepts I want to write short stories about. Though admittedly part of this may be because I don't spend much time actively trying to think of concepts I want to write short stories about.

It has recently occurred to me, however, that there is another possible factor contributing to my difficulty with short stories—a factor which, again, is in retrospect blindingly obvious. Said factor being that I haven't actually read all that many contemporary short stories. Oh, I've read some, certainly; I briefly had subscriptions to Asimov's and Analog, and I've read some issues of some other periodicals. But I've never been a big reader of short stories. So maybe it's not surprising I'm not terribly comfortable writing it.

While it's easy to say I ought to read more short stories, though, there's the little matter of periodicals costing money. If I had the money for it, sure, I'd subscribe again to Asimov's, and Analog, and Realms of Fantasy, and F&SF, and so on, and so forth. But money's very tight right now, tight enough that even the relatively small expenditure of subscriptions to those magazines could make the difference between being able or not to pay rent and put gas in my tank. So, while I know I probably ought to be reading more short fiction, at the moment I'm not in much of a position to do so. (On the other hand, I suppose I can see if there are any recent anthologies at the public library... that might be worth looking into.)

All that aside, I'm still going to try to finish and send out some short stories, in between working on the rewrites to Ichor (and all the other myriad projects I have going on). The worst that can happen is they'll be rejected. And that's something I ought to get used to anyway.

(Speaking of the SFWA, that's... interesting. The SFWA eligibility rules mention that a writer can also qualify by a "professionally produced full-length dramatic script". As it happens, I currently have an opportunity to write a low budget science-fiction feature screenplay for a group that will very likely produce it. Whether or not this would count for the SFWA guidelines, I'm not sure; the more detailed requirements only say vaguely that the production must have "credits acceptable to the Membership Committee." The group I'll be writing the screenplay for has some connections and has an excellent chance of getting the film into at least a festival or two, which means it can get listed on the IMDb, but whether this is sufficient for it to qualify for SFWA eligibility I do not know. In any case, if all goes well it will be a moot point, since it would likely be at least a year before the film is finished and makes it to festivals, and I hope by then to have sold either a novel or enough short stories to have qualified anyway. Still, it's an interesting possibility...)