The First Time, Again

There is, I’m told, a natural progression to dating. If a girl doesn’t like you on the first date, it’s over. A second date is a hopeful sign and, barring unforeseen circumstances, a third date is likely.

Don’t take my word for it. I was never a proficient dater, and the girl I married was one I never dated. My first girlfriend entangled me in a tragic relationship that strung over two years and came to define my senior year in college.

No, this isn’t a dating advice column—you wouldn’t want to read one by me! It’s a metaphor. You see, I used to think getting published was like dating. Once you found an editor who “got” what you were doing, you’d be able to move forward. Progress.

I think of H. P. Lovecraft, who is now being taught at universities, and how he really only found one magazine that liked his work. I thought maybe I’d found that magazine in Danse Macabre, but then they started to be less-than-enthusiastic about my work.

It takes a lot of courage for me to submit something to a publisher. I’m growing a thicker skin, but rejection still hurts. I remember senior year all too well. I’ve published in maybe six free journals, and my work has been nominated for three awards. And I thought I was dating a new publisher.

Dali’s LoveChild liked my work. It was nominated for an award. My second piece was accepted without comment. I wasn’t thinking of my first tragic affair—I was looking forward. Then I submitted a piece of which I was particularly proud, only to receive a nameless pinhead letter.

The same thing had happened with Jersey Devil Press a few years back. You see, I’ve been looking for an editor who wants to continue the relationship. I never was very good at dating. I’m shy and understated and willing to do with very little. Girls don’t like that.

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Pacing

A criticism that I’ve occasionally received concerns pacing. The short story, which today means up to about 7000 words, is a limited amount of space to establish mood. My writing partner Elizabeth was reading a Poe short story recently and commented on how long it seemed. We’ve been accustomed, by the internet, to shorten things. Flash fiction is in. Say it in 1000 words or less. What’s the correct pacing for a 300-word story? I’ve been editing a number of my complete, but unpublished, stories lately. I’m trying to bring the word counts down. I don’t want to be thought of as a plodding writer. At the same time, I’m no action writer. My stories are thoughtful. Some time ago I started reading Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire . Dark, moody, and sensuous, this is a slow-paced novel. Focusing on subtleties and emotions, she paints a writerly picture of the inner life of the undead. If I were an editor to...

Creativity

Maybe you’ve noticed this too. When you step away from fiction writing for a while, your creativity becomes flaccid. I’ve had to step away from this blog for a while because I was writing my sixth nonfiction book. God, I’ve missed fiction! Now that I’ve entered that phase of waiting for publishers to respond, I’ve turned my limited writing time back to fiction. I submitted a couple of stories this week and am waiting to hear about those as well. When you’re a writer, waiting is a way of life. Opening my software where I store my fiction stories, I was amazed by how many I found. Some of them are bad—so bad that they’ll never (rightfully) be published. Some are surprisingly good and have been sitting around while I finished up my nonfic. The vast majority, however, are unfinished. Some years back I realized that when I’m writing in the heat of inspiration but don’t have time to finish a story that I need to write down where I...

Patterns

There’s a pattern I’m noticing. For fiction publishers. Even if you aim low you’ll find it a struggle. Part of the reason is the pattern. Lots of websites list publishers. The smaller, hungrier presses either eventually close or get to a place where they require an agent to get in. That’s the kiss of death. Although my stories have won prizes, and been nominated for prizes, I can’t get an agent interested. I’ve queried well over a hundred, so the agent route is one of diminishing returns. This too is a pattern. Back to the smaller presses. I check many lists. What I write, you see, is highly idiosyncratic. It’s literary but it’s weird. Publishers don’t know what to do with it. If a smaller press published stuff like this, I’d find it. The pattern includes writers who never get discovered. Ironically, a number of editors of fiction literary magazines (mostly online) tell me they enjoy my wor...

K. Marvin Bruce

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