 Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertWith a name like Edmund Schubert, you might not have guessed it, but my family comes from Germany. No, really, it does. This heritage comes particularly in handy at a moment like this, because the German phrase “auf wiedersehen” very nicely captures what I want to express. Literally translated, “auf wiedersehen” means “until we see each other again.” And I say that because it’s time for me to step back from Magical Words for a while. Not a forever-sized goodbye, but a Catie Murphy-sized break (which is how I described it in an email to the MW team last week). So I’m stepping back from MW for an indeterminate time. A few months, a few years; I don’t know. I just know it’s what I need to do right now.
Being part of the team here at Magical Words has been a blessing in so many ways for [...]
Continue reading Auf Wiedersehen, Magical Words
Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertI know that most of the time we talk about novel-related matters here on Magical Words, but today (and through the weekend) I want to spend some time talking about short stories. Specifically, I’d like to talk about your short stories…
The first 200 words of any short story are often all that get read when submitted to magazines, because you can tell a lot about the writing, the writer, and the story itself in that span. So what I’m offering today is to review the first 200 words of up to 20 short stories this weekend. Post it in the comments section below, and I’ll get to all them as quickly as I can.
So that we’re clear, I’m going to post my comments about your short story (and it has to be a short story, no novels opening (the correct way to open novels and short stories is [...]
Continue reading Short Fiction – The First 200 Words
Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertOver the summer I met up with James Maxey (who’s guest-posted here for us several times before) for dinner. Spotlight Publishing had just released his short story collection, There Is No Wheel, and since it was the first book I had acquired for Spotlight, I wanted to to give James his copies personally. The fact that we live less than an hour apart made it easy, and while we were waiting for our table at the restaurant, James mentioned that he was in the middle of trying to write a novel in a week.
“Seriously?” was my reaction. “A whole novel in one week?”
His reply?
“Well it’s just a short one. Maybe 60,000 words.”
Well that put things in perspective. Since it was just a short novel, he could easily afford to take a few hours in the middle of that to go out to dinner with me.
Seriously?
[...]
Continue reading Write Fastest: Only a Lifetime, Plus a Week
Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertA quick word to address a question that was raised yesterday: the new MW schedule, as I understand it, is as follows (Misty or whoever, should feel free to correct me as necessary): David on Monday; Misty on Tuesday; Faith on Wed.; Catie alternating Thursday (with various guests?); AJ and Ed alternating Friday; Kalayna on Saturday; Sunday we all rest.
On with the post, then…
As some of you know, I’ve been working with Spotlight Publishing this year as an acquisitions editor, creating and overseeing a line of sf and fantasy books for them. The relationship started when they published my short story collection, The Trouble With Eating Clouds, and now we are about to release the fourth book in the line, a collection of IGMS stories headlined by Peter S. Beagle and the other winners of the 2010 InterGalactic Awards (which is basically IGMS’s annual readers’ poll).
The [...]
Continue reading To Short Story or Not To Short Story
Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertMuch of what we talk about here at Magical Words is about stories and characters in a big picture sort of way, all of which it is absolutely necessary to master. But today I’d like to talk about some of the little things that can influence how your writing flows. A few years ago I heard a writer say that he thought the 20th Century would be remembered for “the best writing about absolutely nothing,” and I have to say I’m inclined to agree with him. Much of what is defined as “literary writing” in the last hundred years has heavily emphasized style and voice and ignored the need to actually tell a story. However, while I believe it is a HUGE mistake to ignore story, it is equally wrong to ignore the little things that can make your prose flow like water in a clear mountain stream instead of [...]
Continue reading On Writing Well: Repetition
Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertEudora Welty was a brilliant writer of short stories who also won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Optimist’s Daughter’s, and her autobiography, One Writer’s Beginning, was to her generation/fans what Stephen King’s On Writing was to his. One Writer’s Beginning is a brilliant combination of Welty’s life story combined with subtle, well-placed bits of writing advice, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is also very short, so now you have one fewer excuse not to read it than you did a sentence ago.
There’s a quote attributed to Ms. Welty–the title of this post, actually: “There is no story until there are two stories.” I don’t know if that quote comes from One Writer’s Beginning or from somewhere else, but maybe when one of you reads the book, you can keep your eyes open and let me know if you spot it (it’s been a few [...]
Continue reading Telling Stories: There Is No Story Until There Are Two Stories
Edmund Schubert
read all posts by Edmund SchubertMost writers I know lead a comparatively solitary existence, which is why we, more than the average person, need our friends. I don’t mean we ‘need’ our friend—I mean we need our friends. DragonCon was a few weeks ago and to be perfectly blunt about it, 99% of the reason I went was to spend time with friends. The costumes are fun and the panels are interesting and the opportunity to do some professional networking never hurt anyone, but for me, DragonCon (and most other smaller cons, too) have turned into a convenient gathering place to find and spend time with my favorite people. And as much as we need to get out of the house more and interact with our fellow humans in general, we especially need our writers friends for certain things.
A few years ago a writer friend of mine called me up to tell me she [...]
Continue reading Our Writing Friends
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