NEWS:

A fellow writer once made a comment in her blog that she preferred the small press arena and felt a bit like she was selling out when she submitted to the majors. At the time, I thought, “Not me! I’m shooting for the majors. Small press is okay only as an adjunct.” Recently I’ve grown to feel differently.

Last year I had a story in the small press anthology Triangulation: Taking Flight. When I first submitted the story, I got an response from editor Pete Butler who said they were interested in the story, but there were a few things they felt should be changed before the story was acceptable. Now, in all frankness, I didn’t completely agree with all the changes he suggested. In particular, I had devised what I thought was a clever method for naming the creatures of the primary alien race in the story, but he thought they were too similar. However, while I might not entirely agree with the suggested changes, I still felt that it was his book (hence the “editor” title) and so he was perfectly within his rights to ask that the story meet his own standards. To make a long story short – I made the changes, he published the story. In fact, this particular story got the best reviews I have received so far. The fix-online called it “an excellent piece of science fiction...one of the best in the anthology.” Djibril Alayed at Future Fire said it was “one of the most innovative stories I have read this year…this piece manages to be scathing, tragic, philosophical and optimistic in equal measure and is a tour de force of a short story.”

I mention this not just to throw my arm out of joint patting myself on the back (although my fragile ego does appreciate the occasional boost). My point is that some of the credit has to go to Pete Butler for suggesting changes in the story that allowed it to be published and made it better.

Pete’s editing one last volume of Triangulation before he moves on. This one uses the theme, Dark Glass.I really haven’t been writing much short fiction lately, instead devoting all my time to the Good Guys book (argh! Agents and rewrites! This book may never see the light of day – but that’s another blog!). However, I really wanted to work with Pete one more time and so I worked up a story that I thought fit the theme. I submitted it and Pete responded that while the story had merit, it also had problems, particularly in the ending. So I reworked it, completely changed the ending and resubmitted it. This time I got back some even more specific feedback. Namely, they thought the protagonist was a bit weak, the villain was sketchy, the setting was cliché and the ending still wasn’t there. I looked at the comments and thought “Was there anything they liked about the story?” Apparently there was, because he still encouraged me to give it another go.

So I rewrote the story two more times before sending it back to him. After the second rewrite, I looked at the story and thought “This is good. I’m finally happy with this one.” I sent the story in and Pete agreed. So, happily, I will be in the next Triangulation anthology and I owe Pete a lot of credit. You see, most editors simply shoot back a form rejection if there is anything they do not like about your work. I understand why they do this – writers can be a prickly sort and have been known to take great offense at simple explanations of why a story might not work. So the average editor usually just fires back a vague “this story didn’t grab me” note. End of submission.

Working on Triangulation was a pleasure both this year and last. I really didn’t have time for the rewrites, but in both instances the stories were made better. So, I no longer have any aversion to small press. The extra mile that Pete Butler went to bring my writing up to a higher standard is invaluable. With publishing in the doldrums and magazines folding up with alarming regularity, it’s more important than ever to support small press publishers.