From the Editor's Desk
Hi and
welcome once again to Fiction Factor! And, as always,
welcome to our new subscribers.
 Happy Halloween!
Out here in Australia, we haven't always celebrated
Halloween the same way many Americans do. But lately many
Aussies have taken Halloween as a great excuse to throw
parties. My partner and I have already attended two
fabulous costume parties and still have another to go to
before the weekend is through! I now have photos of me
dressed as Elvira and my partner as Alice Cooper (gotta
love 80's theme parties!) I now also have another with me
dressed as Morticia Addams and this weekend will see a
Cat-Woman outfit come out of storage.
In keeping with the season of Halloween, I want to offer
some of our resident Horror writers a gift. Among other
things I also write horror, so I know how difficult it
can be to search through every available speculative
fiction market listing just to find one that might accept
horror. By the time you get past the fantasy and sci-fi
offerings, it's hard to keep going.
That's when I decided to create a listing of purely
horror writing markets. I use it for my own writing
regularly. There's no need to wade through lists and
links to find exactly what you want - it's all here. As
far as I'm aware, there isn't a larger collection of
purely Horror markets available anywhere else! (yet...)
Our Halloween gift to you is the entire listing for fre*e
download. Go ahead and grab it with our compliments here:
http://horror.fictionfactor.com/horrormarketguide.html
Just wait til you see what you're getting for
Christmas...
Some of you might have noticed the changes happening in
and around the Fiction Factor group of websites. The
actual design won't be changing until we're sure all 10
sites are complete and functional, but there have been
plenty of additions to the article archives on every
site, the market listings have been completely overhauled
and the writer's forum is busier than ever!
One little annoying aspect of all the changes is that our
host is moving our 10-website group over to our own
dedicated server (bigger, faster and more room!). This
means the site will be offline for approximately 5 hours
during 30 October while the upgrade happens. Please don't
think we've gone anywhere - we're just making sure we
have enough capacity to keep bringing you even more
writing stuff.
The most notable change to date is the addition of our
newest site - Short-Fiction
Factor.
This one is dedicated solely to those of you wanting to
write short stories and get them out into the
marketplace. You'll find articles, tips & hints,
market listings and more - all about writing short
stories!
We'd love to hear your feedback and your thoughts about
the changes. You can add your feedback here:
Feedback - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?c=6
Last issue we launched a new segment in the newsletter -
the "Writer's Announcements" section.
If you'd like you post your own writing announcement and
perhaps see it listed in the newsletter, feel free to add
your news to our forum listing, along with a link to your
site or your work. What better way to let people know
about what you're doing?
Here's the link: Writer's Announcements - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?showforum=6
If you haven't voted already, don't forget nominations
for the Writer's Digest's 101 Best Sites of The Year are
now open. If you appreciate our website, please consider
nominating Fiction Factor for a listing.
Simply send your nomination, along with the following
information to: writersdig@fwpubs.com -
Subject "101 Best Sites" -
Message body: "I would like to nominate Fiction
Factor http://www.fictionfactor.com for the Top 101 Writing Sites of
the Year!"
Enough about what we've been doing. Let's get into the
writing stuff!
This issue Lee Masterson looks at getting your book
published. Marilyn Henderson look at how you can hook
your readers and Sarah Todd looks at creating characters
for your horror story.
It's time now to grab a beverage of choice, sit back, and
enjoy this issue of Fiction Factor!
Lee Masterson
Editor-in-Chief
http://www.fictionfactor.com
"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't
quit."
-- Richard Bach
Horror Short Fiction Market Listings
Written solely for horror writers, this
comprehensive listing is filled with publications
wanting to pay for your short horror!
Find the right market for your short horror
today.
FRE*E Download!
http://horror.fictionfactor.com/horrormarketguide.html
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How Do I Get My Book Published
by Lee Masterson
So you've finished your manuscript, packaged
it up and sent it out to every publishing house and
literary agent you can find a listing for.
You wait the obligatory several months for the replies to
come in, hoping that one of them will contain a contract
for your book - along with a hefty advance cheque and a
promise of heaps of royalty payments for years to come!
Does that sound like a favourite day-dream of yours? I'm
guessing it will be for most people reading this article.
It's why you're here after all.
The unfortunate truth isn't quite so appealing.
Recently, a member of the Fiction
Factor Forum asked the question: - "How
do I get published?"
The easy answer is: Find a publisher willing to pay
you for putting your book into published form. I'm
guessing that's not the answer you're looking for.
I'm assuming the real question is: "How do I
find a pubisher willing to pay me to publish my book?" That answer
is more difficult.
According to Writer's Digest, less than 5% of the
estimated total number of manuscript submissions are
published at all.
Of that 5%, only 15% of manuscripts accepted are for
debut books.
Not very promising for a new author, huh?
There is no bias within publishing houses or literary
agencies against publishing new authors. Quite the
opposite. Agents and editors hope to find a new rising
star, one in which they can build a promising backlist
and boost sales.
Why is it so few new authors manage to get a foot into
the traditional publishing door?
Most editors and many agents will tell you the
predominant reason for rejecting any work - from new or
established authors alike - is simply poor quality
writing.
The other major factor which detemines whether a book is
published or rejected is the marketability of the novel.
After all, if there are no sales, there's no profit and
no one gets paid.
Publishing is still a business.
So how do I get my book published?
Before you can submit your work anywhere, you need to
have written a great story that a publisher will want to
buy!
Look over your manuscript carefully, then edit your words
so your story gleams at a professional, publishable
level.
Learn all you can about strengthening your writing
skills. Make sure your characters jump off the page and
grab your readers by the collar with how vivid they are.
Read what other authors are writing and learn how their
stories are crafted.
Remember - an editor will happily reject a manuscript
that is poorly written, regardless of whether the author
is a professional or a complete beginner. Make your
manuscript stand out from the rest of the slush pile.
Yes, but how do I find a publisher?
Basically, there are plenty of ways to locate a publisher
and get your book published.
Here are just a few suggestions...
You can
read the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/howtogetpublished.html
Create-A-Character
Clinic
You can create a novel, short-story or screenplay
even if you don't know what you want to write
about yet!
A great course in developing great plots from
beginning to end - from an author of more than 30
published novels!
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details: http://tinyurl.com/yqqawa
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Free writing tips and techniques:
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Creating a Character for a Horror Story
by Sarah Todd
Lauren gasped when she
rounded the corner into the alley. The object of her
revulsion looked up. He was surprised by her sudden
appearance. His long hair fell in loose curls past his
shoulders. The hair of his bearded chin dripped red with
blood. He raised an outstretched hand in front of his
face. His other hand let go of the man he had been
supporting. The body fell to the pavement. Her attention
darted to the apparent victim and Lauren saw that a
stream of blood flowed from the man’s neck. It
traced a path between the cracks in the dirty pavement.
Lauren looked back to the… well, the vampire. She
knew it sounded crazy, but that’s what the guy
seemed to be aiming for. Their eyes locked for a few
brief moments. His outstretched fingers shook with a
nervous energy that she did not mistake for fear.
Anne Rice places her vampires in everyday situations,
and she gives each character very human emotions –
so human that you might want to look at your neighbour a
bit more carefully when you close the book! This article
is written to give you some ideas for creating realistic
characters to populate your horror story.
Good fiction is, by definition, credible - a lie that is
easily believed. The most important part of fiction is
the characters you create to tell your story. A good
horror story character is a fictional being every bit as
alive and as much a unique individual as anyone with whom
we are acquainted. Your readers should care about him
– or her - otherwise they won’t care about what
the character does or what happens to him – or her -
during the story. It doesn’t matter whether they
like, love, hate or fear him/her.
Readers must never feel indifferent towards any
character otherwise they will lose interest in the
story and not finish it. The uncle who gets drunk and
melancholy at a wedding or your high school history
teacher who spent most of the lessons reminiscing about
growing up in Europe before the second world war; the
individual who personified your first encounter with
“puppy-love” or the perhaps the one you dated
during your college years... every one of these is a real
life living, breathing person.
And all are absolutely perfect for any horror story.
Your story must be inhabited by characters your readers
know and understand. So that means you –
their creator – should know those characters well.
And there’s no reason you shouldn’t, because
apart from creating them you are also their closest
confidant. There is nothing your characters can hide from
you. You created them, so you know everything about them,
including information they’ve kept hidden from
themselves. In crafting a story about them you’ve
made yourself their closest friend – a psychiatrist
of sorts.
Your characters must have their own unique and distinct
traits, just as you the writer/reader are a unique
personality. If believable fiction is based on reality do
not fill your story with stereotypical characters.
Stereotypes do not to have specific personalities and
character traits – their emotions, thoughts and
actions are limited by the extremely restrictive mould
created by their role. Think of some of the real life
stereotypes you know; does your truck driver friend
behave like a typical “Truck Driver Dude”? Do
all drunks go home and beat up their spouses and kids?
Are you – the writer – a typical example of a
writer? I doubt it.
You can see
the rest of this article here: http://horror.fictionfactor.com/articles/horrorcharacter.html
(this link
will take you to Horror Factor)
 Query Tracker
• Search our massive listing
of Literary Agents
• Keep Track of your
Queries
• View advanced statistics about each
agent's query history
Get your fre*e Query Tracker
download today!
Click here for more details: http://QueryTracker.net
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Writer's Answer Book
Learn
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experience, has written this book with you in
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With 30 years experience - any question you could
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Writer's Announcements
If you have any writing news or
announcements about your successes with writing, we'd
love to hear about it! Post your publishing announcements
on our forum and we'll get them in the newsletter for
everyone to see!
You can add your Woo-Hoo to our Announcement Forum Board
here: Writer's
Announcements - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?showforum=6
This week's news:
Alice
Wisler of http://www.alicewisler.blogspot.com writes: "I
have just signed a two-book deal with Bethany House and
my first book, RAIN SONG, will be published fall
2008."
Mark Orr writes: "My first horror
ebook "Howling in the Park" is now
available from Renaissance eBooks (http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook51303.htm?cached)."
Judith Woolcock Colombo writes: "My
short mystery, "The Death of Betty Pinto"
was published on August 13th, 2007 by Amazon.com as an
Amazon Short (http://www.amazon.com/shorts). This is my
second Amazon Short. My first "The Gasman",
about the life of a morally challenged but very likable
arsonist, was published in January 2007.
Congratulations everyone! Keep the great news coming!
~ "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used
by mankind." -- Rudyard Kipling ~
Writing
Courses
You can see the full list
of available courses here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/courses.html
Fantasy Writing Course
Fantasy is all about the strange, the fantastic, the
beautiful and the amazing. Here is your chance to delve
into creating a great fantasy novel. This intensive
course looks at everything from world building to
creating races and cultures, from plotting to
characterization, from questing to role playing –
you name it, if it’s Fantasy related, we’ll be
looking at it, in depth, up close and personal.
http://fantasy.fictionfactor.com/course.html - (this link will take you to Fantasy Factor)
Thriller Writing Course
Learn how some of the masters of the modern thriller get
readers' spines tingling. Masters like John Grisham, Dan
Brown
Michael Crichton, James Paterson, Patricia Cornwell and
more. Join our thriller course today and get your
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http://www.fictionfactor.com/thriller.html
Romance Writing Course
Increase your chances of writing a great romance
manuscript and having it accepted for publication. Join
our romance course today and launch your romance writing
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http://romance.fictionfactor.com/course.html - (this link will take you to Romance Factor)
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|
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Lee Masterson's step-by-step ebook can show you
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|
Paying Market Listings
You can find the complete
Market Index here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/markets.html
Happy Market Hunting!
(Disclaimer: Mention of a market/ contest in Fiction
Factor is not necessarily an endorsement. Check all
guidelines in full before submitting)
Polyphony 7
Print anthology, seeking magreal/surreal/literary with a
genre sensibility/hard-to-classify literary stories
(fic). Payment is 4¢/word to a maximum of $400. Word
count: 2,000 -10,000. Opens 1 December 2007. Deadline: 15
January 2008.
Submission Guidelines: http://www.wheatlandpress.com/
Pod Castle
http://podcastle.org/guidelines
PodCastle is looking for fantasy stories. We’re open
to all the sub-genres of fantasy, from magical realism to
urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and
everything in between. Fantastical or non-real content
should be meaningful to the story. Pays $100 for 2,000 to
6,000 words. Pays $20 for flash fiction up to 1,000
words.
**Prefers REPRINTS only!!**
Submission Guidelines: http://podcastle.org/guidelines
Intergalactic Medicine Show
http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com
We are looking for stories of any length in the genres of
science fiction and fantasy. "Science fiction"
includes hard sf, sf adventure, alternate history,
near-future, far-future, psi, alien, and any other kind
of sf you can think of. "Fantasy" includes
heroic fantasy (based on any culture's mythology), fairy
tales, contemporary fantasy, and "horror" in
the sense of supernatural suspense (not gory bloodfests,
thanks).
Pays 6 cents/word up to 7,500 words; 5 cents/word
thereafter.
Submission Guidelines: http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=content&article=submissions
Omega Room Press
http://www.omegaroom.com
We will consider all genres and literary submissions but
our focus is Sci/Fi and fantasy. Omega Room will only
consider complete and edited manuscripts. There are many
fine editors out there. Check the Editorial Freelancers
Association (http://www.the-efa.org/) if you need help.
We are interested in lengths of 80,000 words to 150,000.
Please submit cover letter (including author's bio), two
to three page synopsis and the first 50 pages to omegaroom@yahoo.com Acceptable formats are anything
that can be opened in Word.
Please read full guidelines and FAQ before submitting.
Submission Guidelines: http://www.omegaroom.com/ORBsubmit.htm
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