RO CROWN

amberlouigi

The image shows a close-up of Audre Lorde's face. She begins, "Don't wait for inspiration, remember?"

The image shows a close-up of Audre Lorde's face. She continues, "Do not wait for inspiration."

The image shows a close-up of Audre Lorde's face. She continues, "You don't need to be inspired to write a poem."

The image shows a close-up of Audre Lorde's face. She continues, "You need to reach down..."

The image shows a close-up of Audre Lorde's face. She continues, "and touch the thing that's boiling inside you."

The image shows a close-up of Audre Lorde's face. She concludes, "And make it somehow useful."

Audre Lorde to her students during a poetry workshop, as shown in A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde (1996) dir. by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson

eggbunni

eggbunni

Jinhao 82 fountain pens, favorites from my collection.

I've got a pinkish one i can't afford a sailor rn

writingquestionsanswered

persephones-poet-blog asked:

I looked through your FAQs and didn’t see an answer (feel free to direct me to a post if you’ve already answered); I’d love any tips you have on finding an agent. The internet has some good suggestions, but also conflicting advice. Thanks so much!

writingquestionsanswered answered:

Finding and Querying a Literary Agent
First, a quick when/why for literary agents: If you want to pursue traditional publishing for your book, it’s a good idea to secure a literary agent first. For one thing, many publishers (particularly the bigger, more famous publishing houses) do not accept manuscripts that aren’t represented by an agent (aka unsolicited manuscripts.) Some of the smaller and independent publishers do, but it can be easy to fall victim to predatory publishers without an agent who is knowledgeable about reputable publishers.
Furthermore, an agent can help you through the publishing process and ensure that your best interests are being represented in your contract with your publisher. The great thing about literary agents is they don’t cost you anything out of pocket. You only pay them if you get a book deal, and that payment comes out what the publisher pays to acquire your manuscript. So, if you want to pursue traditional publishing, agents are a win-win.
Finding literary agents to query: Before you can land a literary agent, you have to find literary agents to query. The first step in that is making sure you understand where your book fits into the publishing industry. In other words, you need a pretty good idea of your books genre, age category (if applicable), and what makes your book stand out from similar books. This will help you identify agents who are interested in representing books like yours.
Once you know where your book fits, you can start making a list of agents to query. Use sites like Query Tracker and Publisher’s marketplace to find and research potential agents. The Writer’s Digest web site also has a blog dedicated to talking about literary agents. You can also look in the acknowledgements of books that are similar to yours to see who represented that book, and research them to see if they’re still a good fit. If there’s an author who has written books similar to yours, you can also check their web site to see who represents them.
Querying potential agents: Once you have your list of agents to query, you need to look at each agent specifically to find out their submissions guidelines. There are lots of good resources online that will help you write a query letter. You will need to personalize each query letter/packet for each individual agent you’re submitting to. It’s important that you follow each individual agent’s submission guidelines to a tee to increase the likelihood of your submission making it onto their desk and catching their eye.
Many writers who pursue traditional publishing choose to query in batches, meaning that they send out a certain number of queries (most writers do batches of between 10 and 20 submissions) and wait. Potential responses:

– no response (which after eight weeks is usually a “no thank you”)
– rejection letter (with or without light feedback)
– request to revise and resubmit
– partial manuscript request
– full manuscript request
– offer of representation

If you are asked to revise and resubmit or to send your partial/full manuscript, you’re essentially back to waiting on that one and could get additional interest, an offer of representation, or a rejection. If you don’t receive an offer of representation in that batch, you go ahead and set up a new batch to send out and start the process over again.
Life in the query trenches: The reality of life “in the query trenches” is that you will receive a lot of rejections. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer or that your manuscript is bad. All writers who pursue traditional publishing get rejection letters. Some of the most famous, highest acclaimed novels in history were rejected by countless publishers. Querying is as much a balance of timing, luck, and following submission directions as it is about the viability of your manuscript. And, unfortunately, traditional publishing is a money-making game first and foremost. No matter how amazing your book may be, if a publishing house doesn’t think your book has wide enough appeal to make back the cost of publishing and distributing it, they’re not going to take the risk.
If your book doesn’t have enough mass market appeal to catch the interest of a big or mid-sized publisher, you might look more closely at small, independent publishers. Just make sure to thoroughly research your choices to avoid predatory presses. If a publisher asks for money out of pocket, they’re not a traditional publisher but rather a hybrid publisher or subsidy press, which is not the same thing. And, you can of course always look into self-publishing, as this can be a great avenue for books with more niche appeal.
I hope that answers your questions!
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if-only-we-could-read-it

anghraine

so I’m looking at short story publishers (fantasy)

Tor, cream of the crop. 25 cents a word. Stories can be read for free (YES). Slowish response time at ~3 months. Prefer under 12k, absolute maximum is 17.5k. Don’t bother if it’s not highly professional quality. SFWA qualifying.
Crossed Genres. 6 cents a word. Different theme each month (this month’s is “failure”). Submissions must combine either sci-fi or fantasy with the theme. Response time 1 month. 1k-6k, no exceptions. SFWA qualifying.
Long Hidden, anthology from CG. 6 cents a word. 2k-8k, no exceptions. Must take place before 1935. Protagonist(s) must be under 18 and marginalized in their time and place. Must be sci-fi/fantasy/horror. Deadline 30 April. Response by 1 October.
Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Sci-fi only right now, author must identify as queer (gay, lesbian, bi, ace, pan, trans, genderfluid, etc, just not cishet). 7.5k max. Deadline 15 February. Responses by 1 March. You can submit one flash fiction and one short story at the same time. (My network blocks the Lightspeed site for some reason, so I can’t get all the submission details. >_>) Probably SFWA qualifying?
Women in Practical Armor. 6 cents a word. 2k-5k. Must be about 1) a female warrior who 2) is already empowered and 3) wears sensible armour. Deadline 1 April. Response within three months.
Fiction Vortex. $10 per story, with $20 and $30 for editor’s and readers’ choice stories (hoping to improve). Speculative fiction only. Imaginative but non-florid stories. 7.5k maximum, preference for 5k and under. (I kind of want to support them on general principle.)
Urban Fantasy Magazine. 6 cents a word. 8k max, under 4k preferred. Must be urban fantasy (aka, the modern world, doesn’t need to be a literal city).
Nightmare. 6 cents a word. 1.5-7.5k, preference for under 5k. Horror and dark fantasy. Response time up to two weeks. SFWA and HWA qualifying.
Apex Magazine. 6 cents a word. 7.5k max, no exceptions. Dark sci-fi/fantasy/horror. SFWA qualifying.
Asimov’s Science Fiction. 8-10 cents a word. 20k max, 1k minimum. Sci-fi; borderline fantasy is ok, but not S&S. Prefer character focused. Response time 5 weeks; query at 3 months. SFWA qualifying, ofc.
Buzzy Mag. 10 cents a word. 10k max. Should be acceptable for anyone 15+. Response time 6-8 weeks. SFWA qualifying.
Strange Horizons. 8 cents a word. Speculative fiction. 10k max, prefers under 5k. Response time 40 days. Particularly interested in diverse perspectives, nuanced approahces to political issues, and hypertexts. SFWA qualifying.
Fantasy and Science Fiction. 7-12 cents a word. Speculative fiction, preference for character focus, would like more science-fiction or humour. 25k maximum. Prefers Courier. Response time 15 days.
Scigentasy. 3 cents a word. .5-5k. Science-fiction and fantasy, progressive/feminist emphasis. Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. 15 cents a word. 3k maximum. Any sci-fi/fantasy, they like a literary bent. (psst, steinbecks!) They also like to see both traditional and experimental approaches. Response time two weeks.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 6 cents a word. 10k maximum. Fantasy in secondary worlds only (it can be Earth, but drastically different—alternate history or whatever). Character focus, prefer styles that are lush yet clear, limited first or third person narration. Response time usually 2-4 weeks, can be 5-7 weeks. SFWA qualifying.
Clarkesworld. 10 cents a word up to 4000, 7 afterwards. 1-8k, preferred is 4k. Science-fiction and fantasy. Needs to be well-written and convenient to read on-screen. Appreciates rigour. No talking cats. Response time 2 days. SFWA qualifying.
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. 6 cents a word. Any length. Science-fiction and fantasy (along with fantastic horror). Good world-building and characterization. Clear straightforward prose. Response time three months. Yes, OSC is editor-in-chief. SFWA qualifying.
Interzone. Sub-pro rates if anything (but highly respected). 10k max. Short cover letter. Science-fiction and fantasy.

minutia-r

Whenever I see a post like this, I feel like I have to tell people about the Submission Grinder. I just did a search on it and it came up with 135 markets that pay for fantasy short stories. You can search by genre, pay rate, length of story they accept, etc, and it’s constantly being updated, which a post like this can’t be, and you can also use it to keep track of what you’ve sent where and when, and since a lot of people use it for this purpose it’s got a lot of good data about response times and so on. If you are trying to sell fiction or poetry on the regular, it is such a useful tool and I encourage everyone to use it.

miggylol

https-chaos

One of the hardest parts of writing gay anything is that they (often) use the same pronouns. Balancing names and pronouns so that I'm not overusing either of them is maybe THE hardest part of writing for me, because if you use 'he' too many times in a row you'll lose track of who's doing what, but too many names is repetitive and awkward to read!

marlinspirkhall

#here comes the third guy with a steel chair-

marlinspirkhall

https-chaos:
One of the hardest parts of writing gay anything is that they (often) use the same pronouns. Balancing names and pronouns so that I'm not overusing either of them is maybe THE hardest part of writing for me, because if you use 'he' too many times in a row you'll lose track of who's doing what, but too many names is repetitive and awkward to read!
“Alright,” Josh said, pushing him into the wall. “But it's really not that hard to navigate.”
“Who are you talking to?” Jayson replied.
“Shh,” he stroked his face, and studied his face like he was seeing it for the first time. “New speaker new line. They'll figure it out.”
He laughed nervously. “Are you seriously giving them a writing lesson right now?”
“Is it working?”
“I don't know,” he said. “Which one of us is speaking?”
“Obviously me,” Josh said. “It's not as if there's a third guy in this scene or anything.”
“Actually,” said the third guy.

epithets don’t have to be clunky if you use them right which means sparingly it’s all about naturalism and cadence and too often they stick out as awkward I think it’s integral not to make them purely descriptive like ‘the blonde’ but make them indicative of character like a nickname the other useful trick is to use descriptive passages as indicators and most importantly know your perspective even in third person there tends to be a perspective character and knowing that and how to use that to your advantage helps another trick in dialogue is to use description/action/tags before dialogue for one character and after for the other literally create a back and forth between them which then makes standalone pieces of dialogue really hit hard it’s all about pursuing clarity

wilwheaton

wilwheaton

““The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is seeking to secure AI scans for Schedule F performers—guild members who earn more than the minimum for series regulars ($32,000 per TV episode) and feature films ($60,000). The companies’ suggested clause would require studios and streamers to pay to scan the likeness of Schedule F performers. SAG-AFTRA is seeking to attach a compensation for the re-use of AI scans as AMPTP member companies would also need to secure consent from the performer. The language currently in the AMPTP’s offer would see the studios and streamers secure the right to use scans of deceased performers without the consent of their estate or SAG-AFTRA.” Basically, while actors are alive there’s some consent across the board, but that ends once they have died, allowing the studios complete ownership of their likeness—which is truly some ghoulish villainy right there.”

—

SAG Strike Continues After AMPTP’s Horrifying AI Proposal

Are you serious, AMPTP?

How about no. Come back when you’re serious. We all want to get back to work.

Source: Gizmodo

secret-third-abernant-sister

mr-frump-in-the-iron-lung

i asked the server to help me out with this and we kinda went overboard lmao

mr-frump-in-the-iron-lung

heywriters

keepcalmandwritefiction

Threads user dylaniswriting post saying: If you need motivation to hit your NaNoWriMo word count, then I want you to write as if these guys will finish your story for you if you don’t write it fast enough." A photo of Game of Thrones creators David Benioff & D. B. Weiss at a premiere event is attached.

If you need motivation to hit your NaNoWriMo word count, then I want you to write as if these guys will finish your story for you if you don’t write it fast enough. (x)

5 Tips for NaNoWriMo

As a professional writer, these are my top tips for writing a novel in a short amount of time.

Plan Ahead or Plan After - Obviously, right? Planning can take some pressure off of you when all you’ve got to do is execute the plan. But if you’re like me and just like to jump into things, try planning at the end of each writing session. Make a small outline of what happens next.
Take Notes as You Write - Instead of making changes or adding things to previous scenes, worrying about ideas, concerns you’ll forget details or kick-ass lines you want to use but can’t yet—WRITE IT DOWN! Either open up a document for notes or have a notepad nearby and keep lots of notes.
Move On - This is probably the most useful and often given advice you’ll see. With good reason. If you’re struggling on a scene? Move on. If you can’t get a description right? Move on. Don’t feel like writing a particular scene right now? Move on. Leave a blank space with some sort of indicator like [Add Character Description Here] and keep truckin’. Also, don’t be afraid to write scenes out of order. If you know something has to happen and it excites you to write it, skip ahead and write it. Make sense of it all in the next draft.
Use Scenes and Sequels - There are a lot of great techniques for writing fiction but when you need to compose a story quickly, this is great because it provides a built-in structure and allows you to advance a plot, know what’s happening next and build momentum.
Relax - NaNoWriMo can be great motivation but its stakes are not life or death. Don’t work yourself to the point of exhaustion. Don’t hold tension in your body and don’t hold anxiety or stress in your mind. Be loose. Let things flow. And use rest wisely. Downtime is as important as writing because you’ve gotta recharge mentally and emotionally from the creative work. You need to let your brain think about other things or nothing at all. That way you can return to work with your batteries fully charged.