Comments on: My Tingly Feeling Was Wrong Again

By: sunjunkie

sunjunkie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:01:24 +0000

Sorry I misinterpreted your comment - glad your outlook is better than I thought. Sorry you're thinking about quitting - glad you have other things you want to do. Have a tingly feeling of my own that if you stick with it, the quality of your work will be recognized.

As for me, expecting rejection is a simple coping mechanism that allows me to keep trying in the face of ridiculous odds. It softens the blow when bad news comes and lets me be surprised and happy when good news comes. I thought you were using the same trick. (For me, the hope is there, btw, it's just under a gag order.)

In all of this, there's an element of luck. I wish you the best.

By: Merrie Haskell

Merrie Haskell — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:59:49 +0000

I think Stackpole has three things going on at one time in his podcast:

1) he tells you how HE did it
2) he tells you how to do it one way that is more likely to get you sold
3) he's not always explicit about whether he's telling you something that will help you finish a piece or whether it will help you get published

Some of his podcasts read prescriptive when they're really meant to be descriptive, I think.

I cannot *stand* the 21 days to a novel bit he's been crawling his way through for a year or two. That's where he really just lost me. But I rather like the podcasts up to that point, mostly in--as you said--the fact that they provoke thought.

By: Anarkey

Anarkey — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:51:22 +0000

Good point, Dave. I haven’t read the whole of Martin’s series, but it’s definitely low magic. There’s dragons, and some prophecies and some other weirdnesses that border on the magical — or at least on the fantastical — but it’s definitely more of a history than a fantasy and it does do extremely well.

Also Lanf, you’re right about Kay, some of his histories have no fantasy element whatsoever. And Kay is definitely good company to be in. There’s my sales pitch: Guy Gavriel Kay, but for kids! And thanks for the complimentary words about my writing. The good news is that if I throw in the towel on the publishing idea (which I haven’t yet, but may), I have a dozen or more short stories that I can put out there for friends and family to read, some of which are (imo, of course) of publishable quality. Other possibilities open up as well, such as podcasting the stories and/or the novel. Like I said, it’s not really hopeless.

By: Lanf

Lanf — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:02:42 +0000

I like histories of imaginary worlds. Guy Gavriel Kay does those well, with and without magic. As for the pessimist/realist thread…frankly I think you’ve been writing and subbing for long enough now that we really can’t accuse you of pessimism, can we? You’d have quit long since were that the case. Anyhow keep trying; the few pieces of yours I’ve read have this dreamy quality that really appeals to me. Your brain deserves to be in print, as it were. :)

By: Dave Lartigue

Dave Lartigue — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:32:20 +0000

Does George R. R. Martin’s ‘Song of Fire and Ice’ series have magic in it? I’m under the impression that it doesn’t, and it seems do be doing pretty well. Of course, it could be the exception that proves the rule.