John Woodington The official site for the author.

Dealing with (Humorous) Literary RejectionPosted by John Woodington on February 26th, 2010

Here’s a short post for you.  I got a short story rejected by The Normal School, and to my surprise, included with this rejection was something I’ve never seen before.  Check it out.

I got rejected by The Normal School, and now I have this awesome sticker to remind me of that failure every day.  Actually, this made me genuinely laugh when I first saw it.  Everyone gets rejected as a writer (or as a human being).  Rejection is all part of the game, so there’s no reason to get down about it.  And I think that’s what The Normal School is showing with their rejection sticker.  Don’t take it too seriously, it’s all part of the game.

“Dialogue Tags,” he said.Posted by John Woodington on February 23rd, 2010

A fellow writer and I were having a conversation about the use of dialogue tags in the writing of fiction.  Quick tutorial:

“I am very fond of dialogue tags,” she said.
“I am not so fond of them,” he said.

The italicized he said and she said above are dialogue tags.  They attribute the words spoken to a given speaker.  Now the conversation I had with my fellow writer (which I might say bordered upon disagreement, as illustrated in the dialogue example above) was about the use of certain words in dialogue tags.  There are many ways that a writer can attribute words to a given speaker.  The writer can make a character say them, or exclaim them, or muse, proclaim, gesticulate, or even (especially in Victorian literature) ejaculate them.  The internet has a lot to say on this subject:

You can find lists of dialogue tags like this one .

Anne Marble at Writing World does not like them, and specifically cautions against using the Victorian “he ejaculated,” especially in a sex scene.  For obvious reasons.

The Writer’s Mentor likes them, and even provides examples.

This writer calls it “Creative Dialogue Tag Syndrome.”

Ginny Wiehardt gets at my belief on this subject, saying that sometimes the tags can be omitted completely, because “The main reason for all the ‘he said’ / ‘she said’ tags is so your readers can keep straight who is doing the talking. You can throw in other business to identify the speaker.”

So there’s a lot of debate about whether descriptive dialogue tags are useful or not.  Personally, I’ll be sticking with “said” and every once in awhile “asked”, until I see something that makes me think otherwise.  And I absolutely refuse to let any of my characters “ejactulate” their words at or around other characters in my stories.  That’s just not helpful for anyone.

I’d be very much interested in hearing other writers’ and readers’ opinions on this subject, as I think it’s a debate worth furthering.

The Story of “Jasper Tilson”Posted by John Woodington on February 16th, 2010

When I was 21 years old, I came up with an idea for a short story about a young man who’s wife suddenly dies, and who then finds out that he does not have the ability to deal with it properly.  I think it partially came from a fear that I had myself.  I was going to be married a year or so later, and was terrified that something would happen to my then fiance/now wife.  I let the story float around in my head until the spring of 2006, almost a year later.  I was in a writing workshop at college, and I decided that it was the right time to write this story.

The initial problem I had was that I’d lost a page of notes that I’d written about the story, and after searching for days, I finally gave them up as lost, and pressed on with the story as I saw it in my head.  I wrote the first draft of the story, then rewrote, redrafted, reread, rewrote, until, five drafts later, I had something with which I was very proud.  I sent it off to the workshop class for critique.

The reviews from my peers were very positive, and my professor at the time said it was one of the better undergraduate short stories she’d seen.  So I figured that meant it was good enough for a strong publication, and I began sending it out to some of the top short story venues.

Two years later I had amassed a pile of rejections, and had lost hope of this story ever seeing the light of publication.  I decided it needed a reread.  I read through it, and to my surprise, saw that it had one major flaw.  It wasn’t finished.  I mean, I had thought it was finished two years earlier, and the praise of my peers hadn’t helped much in that respect.  But when I read it in 2008, I realized it didn’t have a true ending.  So I wrote one.  And I thought the story was much better for it.

I also messed with the title.  I changed it from its original title, “Jasper Tilson”, to “Intervention”, to “A Friendly Intervention”, and then back to “Jasper Tilson”.  The title changing took place over the course of two years itself.  But finally I had it back to “Jasper Tilson”, which was the right title for the story.  Surely publication would come soon.

Cut to the present day, four years after I’d first begun sending it out to publishers, and forty-six rejections later.  That’s right.  Forty-six (46) rejections.  Valentine’s Day, 2010, I get an email from Slow Trains which reads as follows:

Hi John,

Thank you for your submission to Slow Trains. We would like to publish your story in our spring issue, which will be online in late March.

Please return the information sheet below at your earliest convenience, and then we will send you the galleys link for your approval shortly before the issue is linked.

Thank you for contributing to Slow Trains!

Susannah

So now, after four years, forty-six rejections, multiple titles, multiple drafts, multiple endings, and ceasless submissions, “Jasper Tilson” will be published for all the world to read.  I can’t wait to see it at Slow Trains.  And of course, I’ll link to it here when it is up, which should be next month.

Different Ways to WritePosted by John Woodington on February 14th, 2010

When I write, I use a computer.  I’ve tried writing longhand, and it rarely works for me.  My hand can’t keep up with my mind, or something like that.  I can type much faster than I can write longhand, so I type, and usually my brain and my speed of typing are relatively in sync.  There are, however, other ways to write.  You can write entire novels on your cell phone.  Or, if you have a Mac, you can write on a snowy field with ambient nature sounds soothing you as you compose.  For the record, I’d go for the snowy field writing over the cell phone writing, one, because I like snowy fields and ambient nature sounds, and two, because I’m the only other person in the nation who doesn’t own a cell phone.  And doesn’t want one.

These new forms of writing bring up the question of whether or not one kind of writing produces a better quality of work than another.  Obviously writing on a typewriter or computer has been shown to be successful.  Writing long hand has also proven its worth.  Just as Neil Gaiman–he initially wrote The Graveyard Book in longhand, and that one eventually snatched up the Newbery Award.  As for the cell phone writing, the writer of the above article admits that the quality of the writing is poor, though that doesn’t seem to matter to the general purchasing public, as the most popular cell phone writer (a young girl in Japan) has amassed over $600,000 in profits from her thumb-typing endeavors.

In the end, I figure you just have to use the medium with which you are the most comfortable, in order to write the best work that you can.  Which means I will have to hire scribe to take down my dictations.  Or maybe not.

Humane Society Walk for AnimalsPosted by John Woodington on February 11th, 2010

This May 1st, my wife and I will be doing the Humane Society Walk for Animals to raise money for cute little puppies and other pets that need homes.  We have set ourselves a challenging goal of raising $1000.00 for this walk, all of which will go to the Human Society, of course.  If you would like to donate to this cause, just go to our website and click the “Make a gift!” link just beneath the little progress thermometer.  If donating money isn’t your thing, maybe you’d be interested in buying a handmade toy for your own dog.  My wife has handmade dog toys for sale on her Etsy site, and the proceeds from the sales of these toys will all go to the Humane Society.  Please consider making a donation.  As you can see, my little dog Oscar (a mini dachshund) is begging for your support:

Oscar pleading for donations. What a beggar.

My New Favorite (Pop-up) BookPosted by John Woodington on February 8th, 2010

You may not know it, but one of my favorite books is Moby-Dick.  At least, it was, until I was given a generous gift by a friend.  That gift was a book, and now it may be my favorite.  That book is Moby-Dick: A Pop-Up Book by Sam Ita.  It is truly beautiful.  The description on Amazon says that it is suitable for readers aged 9-12.  This is quite false.  It is very suitable for readers aged 9-26, and maybe older, especially if those readers are English Majors who love Herman Melville.  Or even those who just like him.  Or even those who like pretty colors.  ‘Cause this book has plenty of ‘em.  It is surprising the level of detail that Ita has gone to in creating this book, which is not only a pop-up book, but a short graphic novel as well.  Would you call a short graphic novel a comic book?  I would, unless it was in a wonderful hardcover presentation with the Pequod popping up in all its glory, including the rigging.

There is no eReader version available.  I wonder why?  Muah ha ha.

In even more serious news, there’s an interesting (albeit short) article at the L.A. Times about the books behind several of the films which are nominated for Best Picture at the 2010 Oscars.  I thought the changing of titles mentioned in this piece was quite interesting.

Apparently, for you writers out there, the title of your novel isn’t all that crucial to landing a literary agent.  Unless you pick a really bad title, of course.

Super Important Writing Contests. Or Not.Posted by John Woodington on February 6th, 2010

Just got an email about a few writing contests that are oepn for submissions now, though I kinda feel only one of them is worth entering.  The first is a contest for younger peeps through the Ayn Rand Institute.  Write yourself an essay about how you are better than everyone else in the world, and you could win $2000.00.  The second one is the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, in which you can write a story that will create a religion that charges its members an entrance fee to make them think we’re all made out of alien spirits that floated around volcanoes way back in the day.  For accomplishing this feat you can win $5000.00.

Note to self and rest of world: Shouldn’t a contest from the Ayn Rand Institute offer the greatest monetary reward?  Isn’t the almighty dollar the greatest achievement in their world?  And to be beat out by a guy who created a religion?  That’s what I’d call a Double Rand Whammy.

The third contest, and the only one I’d consider entering (because I’m too old and too nice for the Rand contest and too sane for the Hubbard) is the New South Writing Contest, which rewards good prose and good poetry in the amount of $1000.00.  I think this contest holds the most prestige for me, so I may check it out.  Either that, Or I could write up a quick sci-fi story and see what the L. Ronners think about it.

In a significantly unrelated topic, I do not care about who wins the Superbowl, so long as it is a good game, and I’m not waiting for Payton to run out the clock throughout the entire fourth quarter.  Naw meen?

One other thing that popped up in my head this week:  I am currently working on a novel.  I also have realized through the reading and rereading of said novel, that there are various portions (chapters, really) that could be published separately as short stories.  Has anyone tried this and found it successful?  Will it help chances of novel publication later on?  Or hurt them, for that matter?  I’d be curious to hear your thoughts, experiences, and feedback.

Rejection, eBook Costs, and NeologismsPosted by John Woodington on February 2nd, 2010

We’ve talked about rejection here before.  Many types of rejection, but mostly rejection of the literary kind.  Terrence Cheng has some very good words about rejection (and not just the literary kind) over at Glimmer Train.  I like the Glimmer Trainers.  They’ve always published great writing, but they’ve also made a big effort to publish writing about writing, especially in their Writers Ask mini-magazine thang.  I’ve gotten a couple of these juicy tidbits, and they never disappoint.

Apparently eBooks will be costing more in the near future.

The new Puzzler at Narrative is a good one.  Finally.  Invent your own words.  I love it.  I’m always inventing my own words, because, as we all know, the ones that are already out there just don’t cut it sometimes.  Check it out: Gidottta.  Yep.  That’s a word of mine.  Gidotta.  You know, like, “Hey, gidotta my face, bra!”

So I’ll have to work on that.  Because “Gidotta” prolly won’t win me some Narrative competition points.

Finally, I’m about 50 pages into my editing of my novel AlieNation.  That title will change, don’t you worry.  Luckily, the book seems to get better as it goes, so it’s got that going for it.  That also means I’ll have to pump up that beginning a little more before I call it done.  The goal is to get it done in time to pitch it to an agent or three at a writing conference this summer at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania.  Should be fun.