betsy dornbusch: writes mostly epic fantasy, used to buy flash
anna yeatts: flash fiction online owner/publisher, also writes flash
caroline m yoachim: just launched collection with fairwood press
flash: definition varies greatly; over 1,500 wordsis definitely not flash; something you could read in five minutes
yeatts: want a full complete story in a coffee break; still want a complete story arc, pared down to the essence
vonallmen: looking for the pop of “oh, wow” in just a five minute read
wowell: couldn’t write GoT in flash
yoachim: now i want to write that
wowell: customer service call for death ray works really well in flash format; sci-fi comments thread works really well as flash
dornbusch: don’t do vignettes about the sun, they don’t get bought
yoachim: great focusing on small piece; focused emotion, etc; great for putting hints of the larger world in the story, rest up to reader’s imagination
favorite stories?
yeatts: grobnak ama
running of the robots
first story from daily science fiction: story with three substories, and the meta-story, all in 1,000 words
strain of sentient corn writing to monsanto
if you were a dinosaur, my love
six names for the end
what skills are important?
dornbusch: editing; revision; the shorter the length, the more powerful
dornbusch: likes humor in flash, but not the punchline
wowell: need to recognize how many plots and subplots you can fit into each story length
vonallmen: ability to focus on tone
send mothership zeta your cat stories (joke)
yoachim: so much needs to happen in the first paragraph: need to tell reader what they’re in for, little about their world, the action, tone, everything
dornbusch: try telling story where reader knows the secret, usually it’s better than hiding the secret from the reader
wowell: if you like twists, do it at the beginning, not the end; starting with the twist will get me reading
yoachim: remember can play with your title, do a lot of setup there
current markets?
flash fiction online; daily science fiction
unsung stories (uk)
fantasy and science fiction takes some flash
mothership zeta
vestal review
lots of calls for flash, but don’t give it for free
yoachim: targets markets that specialize in flash fiction
uncanny magazine does flash
fireside fiction does flash and shorts
nature runs flash fiction
flash one of the few markets where second person won’t overstay its welcome
The Art of Worldbuilding
amanda downum: necromancer chronicles
luc peterson: runs civic innovation office
peter tieryas: fiction where japanese won world war ii?
downum: need fresh ideas, sense of wonder, in showing this new world
bear: burroughs first to do world-building in science fiction
downum: likes to start with character and scene, let world unfold from there; likes characters to pick up and interact with objects in the world, rather than just moving on a sound stage
patel: starts with what a society values most, and what they fear most; what do they invest in, what do they build walls and defenses against
bear: receives a vision; might take years to stitch visions together into a story
what do you need to know? How many doctorates?
bear: english major, don’t know anything
downum: ditto
patel: need to know what touches your characters; need to have lots of prior work done to know what this is before writing
downum: has someone ask her questions, to reveal those things she hasn’t thought of, those pieces she hasn’t built out herself; really good if someone that doesn’t read genre, they come at it from a completely different angle
tieryas: even things (research) that don’t show up in the book can be valuable
bear: history of asia a target-rich environment for mining world-building ideas
how do you put limits on the research?
downum: hard, but do a little at first to get started; when come across detail to fix later, mark in brackets and keep going; do more research afterward to fill in details, etc
patel: timebox your research time so you push yourself back into writing; can be iterative, don’t have to answer all questions at beginning, questions that come up during writing can give you chance to do focused dive into research again
patel: shorter work is, less research you’ll have to do, but you may have to do very detailed research into a single focused topic
downum: likes first person for short form, but at novel length it’s like being stuck in an elevator for a very long time, so prefers third person multiple perspective
patel: look for opportunities for drama and conflict in all worldbuilding; how would your characters tell their history? How would their enemies tell it?
How to Handle Rejection
gail carringer
wallace: stopped counting at 1,000
worst rejections: ones that are really really close to acceptance
wallace: never count on money until the check clears
carringer: rejection is evidence that you’re trying, that you’re sending stuff out
best rejection?
carringer: rejection was so nice, went back with later work, has been her agent for ten years
carringer: don’t fall in love too much with a particular book, be willing go move on and write more and try something else
reader reviews are not for you, they’re for other readers
carringer: would tell younger self to try different genres and styles earlier
carringer: never ever ever respond to a rejection
wallace: btw, anything you post online, anywhere, is a response, and is a bad idea
carringer: some agents/editors will be full up with authors in your genre, and so will reject you because they don’t want to take on any more
remember that they’re rejecting the product, not you
