Submission Statement: March 2022
March was a pretty good month in submission land. Here’s how it went down.
March 2022 Report Card
- Submissions Sent: 11
- Rejections: 9
- Acceptances: 2
- Publications: 2
- Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0
Like I said, pretty good month. Eleven submissions puts me at 27 (the 28th went out today) for the year, which is right where I want to be in terms of hitting my goal of 100. I landed two acceptances, one pro-paying, and had a couple of stories published. Nine rejections is a fair amount, and there were a couple of heartbreakers in there, but taken against the positives for the month, it’s not too bad.
Rejections
Nine rejections in March.
- Standard Form Rejections: 5
- Upper-Tier Form Rejections: 1
- Personal Rejections: 3
Most of the rejections were simple form rejections, and even the personal no’s weren’t too exciting. The toughest one was a shortlist rejection for a story I’ve been trying to sell for a while now. There was another rejection for an anthology I thought I had an excellent chance of cracking, but it was not to be. Anyway, both stories are out there again under consideration with other publishers.
Publications
I had two flash fiction publication last month, one with The Arcanist and one with Flash Point SF. You can read both by clicking the images/titles below.
Mixed Signals – Flash Point SF
“What You Pay For” – The Arcanist
The Rejectonomicon
The second volume of THE REJECTONOMICON, my Q&A column over at Dark Matter Magazine, went live in March. You can read it by clicking the banner below.
The questions are coming in pretty steadily, but I always need more. If you’d like to see your question appear in the May volume of THE REJECTONOMICON, then follow the guidelines below.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it brief.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a Tabletop RPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
Got it? Then send me those questions!
That was March. How was your month?
A Week of Writing: 3/21/22 to 3/27/22
Another week of writing. Here’s how it went.
Words to Write By
Today’s quote comes from novelist Jodi Picoult.
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
‒ Jodi Picoult.
This is a pretty straightforward quote, and I’m sure I’ve used it before, but it’s another of my favorites. Get the words on the page, even if they’re terrible. Get the words on the page, even if you have zero confidence in them. Get the words on the page, even if you have to rip each one kicking and screaming form your brain. Do that, and I guarantee that when you come and look at those words the next day, they won’t be so bad, and you’ll have something to work on, something to edit and make better.
Short Story Submissions
Solid work in submission land last week.
- Submissions Sent: 3
- Rejections: 2
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 1
- Shortlist/Hold: 0
- Withdrawn: 0
- Pending: 14
- 2022 Total Subs: 27
I sent three submissions last week, which is a good number. The interesting thing is all the submissions were for the same story. I rarely send simultaneous submissions, but this time there just happened to be three appropriate publishers all who allowed sim-subs, so, well, I fired away. The three subs last week gives me 12 for the month and 27 for the year, right on pace for my goal of one-hundred. I might get one or two more out in March, though.
Both rejections were personal, but one was a final-round rejection. I’ll show you that one below.
Dear Aeryn,
[Story Title] made it through to our final round of consideration, but unfortunately it’s not quite the best fit for us in our next two issues, and so we are going to pass on it. We wish you the best of luck in finding a home for it elsewhere.
Thank you for thinking of us at [publisher] again. We hope you’ll continue to send us more of your stories in the future.
These kinds of rejections are always a mixed bag. One one hand, they’re encouraging because you likely have a publishable story. On the other hand, the sting of disappointment is sharper because, well, you probably have a publishable story. 🙂 Such is the gig. The only thing you can do is what I did–send that story somewhere else.
Publications
I had another publication last week. This time it was with Flash Point SF. You can read the story by clicking the title or image below.
Mixed Signals
The Rejectonomicon
The second volume of THE REJECTONOMICON, my Q&A column over at Dark Matter Magazine, went live recently. You can read it by clicking the banner below.
As always, I need your writing and rejection questions. Here’s how to send them to me.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it brief.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a Tabletop RPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
Got it? Then send me those questions!
Goals
Same as last week: more short stories, more submissions, more work on long-form fiction.
That was my week. How was yours?
The Way I Write Part 6: Shorts, Flash, & Media Tie-In
This is the sixth post in a series titled The Way I Write. I’ve been looking at my writing style over the last twenty years largely used the Flesch-Kincaid readability scores to get an idea of what my work looks like in an admittedly nuts-and-bolts fashion. Last time, I focused on long-form fiction. This go-around, I want to look at my published short stories and flash fiction, as well as compare it to the media tie-in work I’ve done for Privateer Press.
So, a few definitions. A flash fiction piece is anything under 1,000 words. For me, that generally means between 800 and 999 words. A short story is, for most markets, anything 2,000 words and up. I rarely go below 3,000 words, and most of my shorts fall between 3,000 and 5,000 words. The sampling of media tie-in fiction I’m using, about twenty stories, ranges from 1,500 to 10,000 words and just about everything in between.
Before we dive into to this post, here are the other posts in this series.
- The Way I Write Part 1: The Early Years
- The Way I Write Part 2: Evolution
- The Way I Write Part 3: Refinement
- The Way I Write Part 4: Something Resembling a Style
- The Way I Write Part 5: Novels & Stuff
Flash Fiction
Let’s start with flash fiction. These numbers are derived from published pieces, over fifty of them, so we’ve got a good sampling to work from. This is an average of all the flash pieces.
- Passive Sentences: 2.5%
- Flesch Reading Ease: 81.7
- Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.7
Yeah, that looks about right. My work is straight forward, uncluttered, and to the point. I use a lot of dialogue, and the types of characters I tend to write aren’t exactly eloquent or wordy. Let’s look at outliers, though.
“News From Home” – This story has the highest grade level (7.8) and the lowest reading ease (65.2) of any of my flash fiction. Why is that? Well, these posts have taught me that genre can have a big impact on your readability scores. In this case, the story is science fiction, which tends to deliver denser readability scores. Some of this is due to word length. Science fiction includes, you know, science words. In addition, I find myself getting a little more verbose when I stray into sci-fi.
“Where They Belong” – This horror story sits on the opposite end of the spectrum from “News From Home”. It features the lowest grade level (2.8) and the highest readability score (93.8). This is a case where the readability scores can help you nail down a character’s voice. This story is told from the POV of a six-year-old boy, so the language is simplistic, which is reflected in the readability scores.
Short Stories
Now on to short stories. I’ve published fewer of these than flash fiction, but still enough to give us a good overview and a reliable average score.
- Passive Sentences: 2.3%
- Flesch Reading Ease: 81.7
- Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.7
Nope, not a copy/paste error. My short story stats are nearly identical to my flash fiction stats. That says my style doesn’t change with length, and I think that’s a good thing. Like with flash fiction, let’s look at the outliers.
“Caroline” – This is a straight-up horror story and boasts a grade level of 5.4 and a reading ease of 76.5. That’s not exactly James Joyce, but it’s on the higher end for me. The reason, oddly, for this is lack of dialogue. This story is told from a third-person limited POV and is fairly introspective. It also features elements of sci-fi, which might be affecting the scores too.
“The Scars You Keep” – This story is almost one-hundred percent dialogue, which is reflected in the readability scores. It sits at a grade level of 3.1 and a reading ease of 88.5. That’s some simple prose, but it works, I think, because of the isolated nature of the story and the mater-of-fact way in which the two characters speak.
Media Tie-In
Ready to get weird? Let’s take a look at the readability scores of the media tie-in stories I write for Privateer Press. These mostly fall into steam-punk-esque fantasy and space opera sci-fi. Here are those average numbers.
- Passive Sentences: 5.1%
- Flesch Reading Ease: 70.9
- Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 6.4
Quite a difference, huh? Reading ease is a over ten points lower than my flash fiction and short stories and the grade level is almost two points higher. That’s a huge difference. Why is that? Well, genre is one part of it. As I’ve said, fantasy and sci-fi tend to feature slightly denser prose on average. Additionally, since this work is based on tabletop gaming, the stories include game language that can be, well, wordy. I mean, you don’t generally see words like mortitheurigical and necromechanikal on the regular. Long, multisyllabic words affect readability scores. Finally, there’s house style and what readers of media tie-in expect of their fiction. I tend to stray a bit from my own style to conform to theirs, which is wordier. Not in a bad way, just in a different way.
I gotta say, it was interesting to put all these numbers together and see the results. The flash fiction and short stories didn’t surprise me, but I did raise an eyebrow when I saw the media tie-in scores. Just goes to show how malleable a thing like style is and that you can indeed change it when you need to. 🙂
Questions or comments about these numbers? Ask away in the comments.
A Week of Writing: 3/14/22 to 3/20/222
Another week of writing. Here’s how it went down.
Words to Write By
Today’s quote comes from novelist Zadie Smith.
“It’s such a confidence trick, writing a novel. The main person you have to trick into confidence is yourself. This is hard to do alone.”
—Zadie Smith
Love this quote because, at least for me, it’s so true. I find that I do trick myself into writing a novel, especially the first draft. In order to get all the words on the page and complete a manuscript, I recite the following mantra: I can fix it in post. I say this to myself so I’m not overwhelmed by the mistakes or the perceived mistakes I’ve made in the nascent book. It allows me to get the whole thing down, all 90,000-words or more without slowing or stopping. Then, well, I do in fact go back and fix it in post.
I struggle with revisions, so I need to come up with a confidence trick for that too, but that’s a subject for another post. 🙂
Short Story Submissions
Not much going on in submission land last week.
- Submissions Sent: 1
- Rejections: 1
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 1
- Shortlist/Hold: 0
- Withdrawn: 0
- Pending: 14
- 2022 Total Subs: 24
Just one new submission last week, but that story was a new one I completed and revised to make a very short submission window for a prestige publisher. Got the story submitted just in the nick of time too.
The one rejection was a personal rejection and it was interesting because I have never seen a clearer example of an editor telling me that my particular style is not for them. I don’t think that was the intent; they were just remarking on the story I submitted. That story, however, is extremely indicative of what and how I write, and the editors comments took issue with those exact things. This is excellent information because it means I don’t have to waste my time or the editor’s again. It’s important I note that I am not offended or salty about this rejection, and the editor was absolutely NOT rude or condescending. This information will help me dial in my submission targeting in the future.
Other than one submission and one rejection, I did have a publication with The Arcanist last week, which I’ll link below.
Microfiction
Let’s try something new with this weekly thread. I’ll list all the #vss365 microfiction I wrote last week, and you tell me which one you like best (in a poll after the stories). Thinking about putting together a collection of these things, so your feedback will be very helpful.
March 14th – Exacerbate
When Daddy had his spells—that’s what Momma called them—she’d keep us away from the special room with the big metal door. “If he smells you, it’ll just #exacerbate his condition,” Momma would say. I never understood why we smelled different to Daddy when the moon was full.#vss365
March 15th – Switcheroo
I had a big orange cat named #Switcheroo when I was a kid. During the day, he was all purrs and snuggles. At night, though, his eyes changed from green to gold, and he’d sit on the end of my bed. A little lion who hissed at the slithering dark . . . and the dark retreated.#vss365
March 16th – Mud
I got #mud on my soul. The kind that won’t wash off. The kind that splatters you with each pull of the trigger, each twist of the blade, each time someone begs for mercy, breathless and terrified, and you don’t listen. Hell must be a damn muddy place. Guess I’ll find out. #vss365
March 17th – Whiff
A haunted house has a specific scent. Go from room to room and breathe deep. You’ll get dust and wood and old cooking stinks, of course, but beneath that, there’ll be a #whiff of something sour, like spoiled milk. That smell is not death. It’s worse. That smell is regret. #vss365
March 18th – Joker
Saw a gunfight at the saloon today. Two cowboys were arguing about poker. One said the best hand is five-of-a-kind. The other said no it ain’t, because you need the #joker, and the joker is bullshit. The shooting started when they got to one-eyed jacks and suicide kings. #vss365
March 19th – Pack
There’s a pack of wolves near the place we settled. Not many zombies—too far from civilization and food—but a few occasionally wander through. I caught one, tied it down, and painted it head to toe in deer blood. Turns out you can train wolves to eat just about anything. #vss365
The Rejectonomicon
The second volume of THE REJECTONOMICON, my Q&A column over at Dark Matter Magazine, went live recently. You can read it by clicking the banner below.
As always, I need your writing and rejection questions. Here’s how to send them to me.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it brief.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a Tabletop RPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
Got it? Then send me those questions!
Goals
Finish more short stories, send them out, and work on some long-form fiction projects.
That was my week. How was yours?
A Week of Writing: 3/7/22 to 3/13/22
One more week of writing in the books. Here’s how I did.
Words to Write By
I’ve used this quote before, but I like it, so here’s some writerly wisdom from W. Somerset Maugham.
“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
—W. Somerset Maugham
Go to social media—any platform will do—and search on “writing rules” or “how to write a novel”. You will come up with hundreds, if not thousands, of rules and regulations on how you must go about writing a novel, or writing for a specific genre, or how many adverbs and and exclamation points you can use. These proclamations will come from everyone from folks writing their first novel to people writing their fiftieth. Here’s the thing. These rules-makers are right about one thing. There are indeed rules for writing a novel. I’ll tell you what they are. Ready? They’re whatever it takes for you to complete a manuscript, get it revised, and get it out into the world. That’s it.
Now, some of my own writing rules coincide with the writing rules of others (that adverb and exclamation point thing, for example), and others do not (one of my finished novels has a prologue), but I have, for the most part, figured out what it takes for me to finish a novel—my rules, if you will. So, it’s okay to listen to other writers when they tell you how you should go about writing a novel, but if their rules don’t match up with yours, that’s okay too.
Short Story Submissions
An active and productive week in submission land.
- Submissions Sent: 4
- Rejections: 3
- Acceptances: 2
- Publications: 0
- Shortlist/Hold: 0
- Withdrawn: 0
- Pending: 14
- 2022 Total Subs: 23
Last week I sent 4 new submissions, collected 3 rejections, and received a pair of acceptances. That’s a pretty good week. One of the acceptances was from The Arcanist, and that story will be published later this week. The other is with a new publication, and I’ll share more info about that one in the near future. Of the three rejections, two were of the form variety, and the the third was a personal no. I still have 14 submissions pending (though two of those are novel subs). I also sent out two brand new stories this week, and I have high hopes for them.
Novel
Worked on revamping the outline to Hell’s Aquarium, and I’ll start writing new material for it soon. Had to deal with some real life issues that kept me away from my keyboard a bit more than I’d like, which has delayed my long-form fiction writing. That’s okay, though. Life happens. Everything’s fine, though, and I’m looking forward to writing new material in the very near future. 🙂
The Rejectonomicon
The second volume of THE REJECTONOMICON, my Q&A column over at Dark Matter Magazine, went live last week. You can read the latest article by clicking the banner below.
As always, I still need your questions. Here’s how to send them to me.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it brief.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a Tabletop RPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
Got it? Then send me those questions!
Goals
Same as usual: send submissions and keep working on the outline for Hell’s Aquarium..
That was my week. How was yours?
From Draft to Acceptance: One Story’s Journey
I often talk about rejection on this blog. I mean, hell, it’s called rejectomancy, but I think acceptances can shed some light on how we as authors can and should deal with rejection. So lets look at the path one of my stories took from first draft to acceptance. How long did it take? How many times was it rejected? And, more importantly, what does it mean, if anything?
Part One: The Draft
Well, the first thing you gotta do with a story is, you know, write it. This particular piece was written in response to an open call from Flame Tree Publishing for their newsletter. They publish two flash pieces per newsletter with a wide array of sci-fi, horror, and mystery prompts. This particular prompt was memento mori. An idea came to be pretty quick, and I dashed off a 1,000-word tale. I liked what I had, I thought it fit the theme, an since I’ve been published in the newsletter a couple of times before, I thought I had a decent shot. .
Part Two: The Revision
As with all my new stories, I sent this one to my critique partners for an in-depth review. I got some excellent notes and revised the story accordingly. I don’t remember the revision being particularly in-depth. Just a few minor plot points to shore up. After the revisions, I proofread the piece, formatted it, and got it read for submission. I started the story on 7/20/21 and I had a submittable draft on 8/6/21. As you’ll see below, I didn’t waste any time.
Part Three: The Submissions
I submitted the story to the Flame Tree Publishing newsletter on 8/6/2021. It was rejected on 9/1/2021. Now, this is not surprising. The Flame Tree newsletter gets a lot of submissions for a grand total of two slots, so you’re up against some pretty stiff competition. Still, I thought I had a pretty good story on my hands, so I started looking for other places to send it. The second submission was to a new semi-pro market, one I knew nothing about. They paid a decent rate and looked like a professional outfit. I submitted there on 9/8/21 and was rejected on 9/21/21. Strike two! I set my sights a bit higher for the next submission and sent the story to a pro market on 9/29/21, and it made it all the way to the final round of consideration but was ultimately rejected on 10/31/21 with a very nice personal note. Galvanized by my close but no cigar, I sent the story to another pro market on 11/7/21. Unfortunately, they were less enthused about the tale and rejected it with a form letter on 11/24/21. Still, I had high hopes for the story, so I sent it to another pro market on 12/20/21. The months passed, I sent out other submissions, celebrated a new year, and then, a few days ago, on 3/8/22, I received an acceptance. Yay, happy ending.
Part Four: The Publication
Ah, the fun part. This story will be published on 3/18/22, and I’ll certainly point all of you at it so you can read it and see which of the five editors who read the story you agree with. 🙂
What Have We Learned?
So, what is there to learn here? A few things. One, I knew this story was pretty good when I finished it. It had a unique take on a familiar theme and premise, and I thought that might fly with some pro publishers. It almost did with one and absolutely did with another. Trust that instinct. It’s not always wrong, and if you have faith in a story, keep sending it out. Second, as you can see, two pro markets and a semi-pro market rejected the story. Editorial taste is a thing, and it can be the difference between acceptance and rejection many times. Even a story I thought was sellable, and it turned out it was, was still rejected four times. Be patient, even good stories get rejected, sometimes a lot more than four times.
Thought on this story’s journey? Care to share an acceptance tale of your own? Tell me about it in the comments.
Weeks of Writing: 2/21/22 to 3/6/22
Another couple weeks of catch-up here. Let’s see how I did.
Words to Write By
This week’s quote comes from novelist Mercedes Lackey.
I always work from an outline, so I know all the of the broad events and some of the finer details before I begin writing the book.
―
Mercedes lackey and I are kindred souls in this regard. I am a definite plotter, and my thirty-chapter outlines hit all the major events in the novel. Chapter is a bit of a misnomer, though, as what I really do is outline story beats. They often end up at chapter-length, but sometimes they’re a bit shorter or they may comprise two or more chapters. Where Mercedes Lackey and I differ is the finer details. I don’t generally put those into an outline. I kind of like to “pants” those. It’s a discovery process for me. I definitely want to have the big pivotal events figured out ahead of time and a roadmap for how I get from the beginning of the novel to the end, but the little things I like to figure out along the way. Now, of course, there isn’t a right way to outline. The right way, of course, is the way that gets you a completed novel, and that’s gonna differ for just about every author.
Short Story Submissions
I’ve been pretty active with subs in the last two weeks.
- Submissions Sent: 7
- Rejections: 5
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 0
- Shortlist/Hold: 0
- Withdrawn: 0
- Pending: 14
- 2022 Total Subs: 21
A combination of finishing up some new pieces and getting others back via rejections resulted in a fairly active two weeks. Seven more submissions gives me 21 for the year, and I need to be somewhere around 27 to stay on pace for 100. There’s plenty of days left in March to get out six more subs, and I’m finishing up two =new pieces that should put me over the hump. Five rejections, all of the form variety, also came in in the last couple of weeks. Other than that, not much else to report. I have hopes for some of the stories that are pending, but don’t I always? 🙂
Novel
So, in the last two weeks, I have read through the 35,000 words of Hell’s Aquarium, the novel I set aside in 2016. I don’t usually say this about my own work, but I think this is good book (my critique partners agree). I still have to write acts two and three, though. There are some things I’m going to need to revise, however. I wrote this portion of the novel back in 2016, and, well, the world has changed a lot since then. Let’s just say that certain events in my my book currently hit a little too close to home for readers in 2022, so I’ll need to make a few changes. They’re not major changes, but they are necessary. Anyway, I’m reworking the outline at the moment, and I think I’ll actually start adding new words to the manuscript next week.
The Rejectonomicon
Once more, let me draw your attention to my new Q&A column, THE REJECTONOMICON, over at Dark Matter Magazine and invite you to submit questions about submissions, rejections, and writing in general.
The first article went up a few weeks ago, and the next will go up later this month. Check out that first article by clicking the link in the banner below.
So, how do you submit questions to me? Easy. Here are the submission guidelines.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it relatively brief. Around a paragraph.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a TTRPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
- I might make very slight edits to your questions but only to fix obvious typos and whatnot.
- If I choose your question for an installment of THE REJECTONOMICON, I’ll respond via email and let you know.
Got it? Then send me those questions! 🙂
Goals
Goals this week are finish up short stories, send submissions, and keep working on revising the outline for Hell’s Aquarium..
That was my week. How was yours?
Aeryn’s Archives – Acts of War: Aftershock
Last week, we discussed the first novel I wrote for Privateer Press, so now we’re going to discuss the second. Acts of War: Aftershock is the direct sequel to Acts of War: Flashpoint, and, you guessed it, the second book in the Acts of War trilogy. This is without doubt my favorite of the novels I’ve written for Privateer. Before we get into why, check out this bad-ass cover by Néstor Ossandón. (Seriously, folk, check him out. His stuff is ridiculously good.)
War Has Come Again to Llael
On the heels of inflicting defeat on the Khadorans at Riversmet, Lord General Coleman Stryker marches deep into enemy territory for a major assault. But he is unprepared for a massive Khadoran counterstrike. Empress Ayn Vanar and Supreme Kommandant Irusk send their nation’s most fearsome warcasters to retaliate against the invaders. Hope comes in the form of Ashlynn d’Elyse, warcaster and leader of the Llaelese Resistance, a woman with no love for Cygnar but who could make a powerful ally. Along with Asheth Magnus, Stryker’s enemy-turned-ally, this unlikely team must fight on despite being outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and cornered with only their wits and a few warjacks to save their cause from annihilation.
I had so much fun with this one. In the first novel I was finding my footing with the characters, especially Magnus and Stryker, in this one, though, I really got comfortable with my heroes, and I think that comes across on the page (it certainly does in the reviews!). The addition of warcaster, sword master, and Llaelese noble Ashlyn d’Elyse was just icing on the cake. I LOVE this character, and she’s a bit of an archetype for characters I’ve written in my own works. One interesting fact about this book is that I wrote the first draft, all 105,000 words of it in exactly 60 days. That’s the fastest I’ve ever written a first draft. Another interesting fact about this book is that I blogged the entire process of writing the first draft (and beyond), once a week, including snippets of the prose in progress, art, and anecdotes. So, if you have any interest in really getting an in-depth look at my novel-writing progress, well, here you go. 🙂
Questions about this book? Or questions about writing media tie-in, especially for tabletop game companies? Feel free to ask in the comments, and I’ll try to impart what little knowledge I possess. 🙂
Submissions Statement: February 2022
Technically, February is not over, but I’ve put in all the writerly work I’m gonna for the month. So here’s how I did.
February 2022 Report Card
- Submissions Sent: 6
- Rejections: 4
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 0
- Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0
That, my friends, is what you call an uneventful month. Six submissions puts me at 16 for the year, which an average of 8 per month. That places me just a tad off-pace for my yearly goal of one-hundred. Other than a smattering of rejections, not much else happened. The month was primarily devoted to figuring out what I needed to do with my novel, which I did, so I’ll chalk that up as a win.
Rejections
Four rejections in February.
- Standard Form Rejections: 2
- Upper-Tier Form Rejections: 1
- Personal Rejections: 1
Nothing too special in any of the rejections. The personal rejection had some good feedback, which I’ll put to use in the next revision of that particular story. I recently published a blog post about the specific editorial feedback I tend to get, and it includes some of the notes from this particular rejection. You can check that out here. The other rejections where just your garden-variety form rejection from pro markets.
The Rejectonomicon
I shall, once more, point you toward my new Q&A column, THE REJECTONOMICON, over at Dark Matter Magazine and invite you to submit questions about submissions, rejections, and writing in general.
The first article went up last month. Check out that first article by clicking the link in the banner below.
So, how do you submit questions to me? Easy. Here are the submission guidelines.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it relatively brief. Around a paragraph.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a TTRPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
- I might make very slight edits to your questions but only to fix obvious typos and whatnot.
- If I choose your question for an installment of THE REJECTONOMICON, I’ll respond via email and let you know.
I’m getting some great questions, but I need more, so send ’em in! 🙂
And that was February. How was your month?
Aeryn’s Archives – Act of War: Flashpoint
It’s probably about time I talk about the novels I’ve written for Privateer Press in a more detail. I mean, I’m always telling you people I have written novels, so I guess it’s time to put my cards on the table. Today, I’m going to talk a bit about the first novel I wrote for Privateer after I left the company and began working with them in a freelance capacity. It’s the first in a trilogy called Acts of War, and it’s titled Flashpoint. Here’s the snazzy cover.
So, what’s the book about? Well. here’s the back cover text.
An Untrustworthy Ally Is More Dangerous Than a Known Enemy
Lord General Coleman Stryker is one of the greatest heroes of the Iron Kingdoms. As a warcaster, Stryker leads the armies of Cygnar and commands the power of the mighty steam-powered automatons known as warjacks.
Chosen by his king to liberate the conquered lands of Llael from Cygnar’s long-standing enemy, the Empire of Khador, Stryker finds himself forced to work with one of his bitter enemies—the exiled mercenary Asheth Magnus, a man to whom Cygnar’s king owes his life. Unchecked, Magnus could easily betray Stryker, undermine the mission, or even bring Cygnar to its knees. But to claim victory for his king, Stryker will have to find a way to put his faith in a man he can’t trust.
As the war against Khador and its own fierce commanders looms, Stryker’s success or failure will become the flashpoint that determines the fate of the Iron Kingdoms.
That’s a whole bunch of names and places and stuff, huh? Well, the reason for that is this is a media tie-in novel, which, if you’re unfamiliar, is just a novel that’s based on an IP where fiction is not its primary expression. Often times, that primary expressions is a video game. a movie, a TV show, a comic book, or, in this case, a tabletop miniature game. Being a media tie-in book, all the major characters mentioned in the sell text are not my creations, they are existing characters that are represented as playable figures in the game of WARMACHINE. Sure, I put my own spin on their personalities, and the book is written in my style and voice, but, at the end of the day, this book belongs to Privateer Press, not to me. I am absolutely fine with that, by the way. It’s the name of the game in media tie-in, and I was paid well, and I got to write two more books. I still write for Privateer Press, though I’m more focused on their new sci-fi setting WARCASTER, and I’m having a blast with that. That said, I wouldn’t mind returning to the steam-powered fantasy world of the Iron Kingdoms one of these days. 🙂
Questions about writing media tie-in, especially for tabletop game companies? Feel free to ask me in the comments, and I’ll try to impart what little knowledge I possess. 🙂
Effectively Wild – A Baseball Horror Story
Night Walk & Other Dark Paths
Acts of War: Flashpoint
Acts of War: Aftershock
Acts of War: Stormbreak
Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 