{"id":44,"date":"2013-09-26T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/2013\/09\/26\/farsider-my-first-sale-as-an-author-dont-give-up\/"},"modified":"2013-09-26T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T16:00:00","slug":"farsider-my-first-sale-as-an-author-dont-give-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/09\/26\/farsider-my-first-sale-as-an-author-dont-give-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Farsider, my first sale as an author – Don\u2019t give up"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m honored to be able to re-post this from one of the authors featured in Space Jockey. Ethan talks about that point that most aspiring writers reach — when you’ve been rejected so many times, you think you should just give up. I know he he felt… I’ve been there too. If that’s where you are now, don’t give up. I’ll let Ethan tell you why….<\/p>\n

Farsider, my first sale as an author – Don\u2019t give up<\/a>
\nby Ethan Rodgers<\/p>\n

In March of this year I told myself that it was time to face facts. I\u2019d always written casually \u2014 it\u2019s been a favorite hobby of mine since grade school \u2014 but nothing had ever come of it. I\u2019d started novels and given up. I\u2019d written short stories and let them collect dust in the deep, untouched folders of my laptop. I\u2019d entered writing contests, wasting 15$ a pop to hear someone say \u201cSorry, this just isn\u2019t what we\u2019re looking for.\u201d
\nThere were plenty of negative thoughts overwhelming me. \u201cThis is a waste of time,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019ll never be successful,\u201d \u201cThere are probably millions of authors out there who are better writers than you.\u201d This all may be true. Actually, the latter is absolutely true. But I read something very interesting in a short story magazine. One of the authors of the short stories stated \u201cI often find that hopeful authors don\u2019t lack talent or ability. They simply lack doggedness.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I made myself finally commit. I wasn\u2019t going to half-ass it anymore.<\/p>\n

The deadline I set for myself was August of 2013. I wanted to be published \u2013 I didn\u2019t care how or in what, but I wanted my name in a magazine, a blog, a quarterly\u2026 something\u2026 anything. I joined an online writing workshop. I started reading books focusing on what I was interested in writing and books focused on creative writing and editing. I took down every idea that came to my mind, morning noon and night, in a journal. And I wrote. Nearly every day I either wrote or conceptualized.<\/p>\n

Months passed. I started with magazines like Clarkesworld and Asimov\u2019s. That was a mistake. I now know that my manuscripts were, more than likely, relegated to a pile filled with unwanted stories and never really given a chance. They probably never were even read. The rejection letters came in faster than spam emails. No critiques or feedback, just pure rejection. I started a collection in a folder titled \u201cMotivation\u201d and put every rejection letter in there. I think there is at least two-dozen.<\/p>\n

Just before Summer, I started casting my line out a bit farther. I\u2019d started with the most popular publications with the greatest circulations. Perhaps this was vanity or maybe laziness, but I realized that, barring a miracle, I was never going to get noticed. I started looking for every single SF and Horror magazine I could, joining mailing lists and finding out who was holding open submissions.<\/p>\n

By early July, I realized it was going to take me a lot longer than six months. Most publications were taking 12 or more weeks just to get back to me, and all of them were bluntly saying \u201cNo thanks.\u201d I had an interesting decision to make.<\/p>\n

While my ultimatum had been completely unrealistic, it was an ultimatum. I promised myself I\u2019d stop wasting time if this didn\u2019t work. I promised myself I\u2019d make it just a hobby and quit pretending that I\u2019d like to write some day. But then I got an interesting comment on my online workshop.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d posted the second draft of a short story titled \u201cFarsider\u201d <\/em>on the Online Writing Workshop for Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror<\/a>. The story revolves around a woman named Kendra that flies a cargo ship far in the future. I wrote it from personal experience, to a degree, since I\u2019m a pilot, and tried to make the writing simple, crisp, and similar to what I was reading in SF magazines. The third review simply said \u201cPlease contact me, I\u2019d like to talk with you more about your story.\u201d It was the publisher of \u201cMisque Press\u201d and an accomplished author, Tara Maya.<\/p>\n

For some time prior I\u2019d be insistent that the style I\u2019d grown to enjoy writing was what I was going to write. Period. Changing wouldn\u2019t be true to myself. Now, when I hear some of my friends say they don\u2019t want to \u201csell out,\u201d I sort of chuckle. I realized, after receiving the email and the praise for the piece, that I wasn\u2019t \u201cselling out.\u201d I was just writing better.<\/p>\n

I look back at what I wrote as little as twelve months ago and cringe. The sentences are long, confusing, and filled with useless adverbs. The past tense is wordy, inefficient and boring (sort of like this blog post). The descriptions were lengthy, cliche and useless. I could pick out a pitfall that every young writer falls prey to in each and every paragraph. It had only taken me six months to completely improve my writing style just by reading, learning, and listening. And all that junk I used to write in, all the fluff and \u201cstyle\u201d I thought was part of my writing, was just my misconception of what people thought was good writing. It was bloated, it was boring, and it was stupid.<\/p>\n

So now, if you\u2019re reading this still, my word of advice would be: stick with it. As long as you enjoy it, don\u2019t let anyone tell you to stop. Join work shops, listen to critiques, and keep writing. But, most importantly, don\u2019t think you\u2019re anything until you\u2019re something. You may think the 3000 word piece you finished last evening was the best thing you\u2019ll ever write. You may tell yourself \u201cIf this isn\u2019t it, than nothing is.\u201d But I can tell you, with near certainty, that there is probably no author on the entire planet that has ever finished his first work and realized it was a manifesto, a gift to humanity, or the apex of his career. That piece will only be your best piece if you settle for continuing to write what you\u2019re still writing, which is probably crap (just like what I write).<\/p>\n

Perhaps this will be the only thing I publish ever. Perhaps when you google \u201cEthan Samuel Rodgers\u201d the piece \u201cFarsider\u201d<\/em> will be the only one that pops up. Perhaps I\u2019ll look back when I\u2019m older and wonder why I wasted so much time on such a fruitless hobby.<\/p>\n

But my deadline was August 2013, and today I received a contract to publish my first short story in a Science-Fiction magazine. And if I can do it, anyone can.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Tara adds: Space Jockey will be released tomorrow! You can read Ethan’s story, Farsider, as well as many other mind-blowing science fiction stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m honored to be able to re-post this from one of the authors featured in Space Jockey. Ethan talks about that point that most aspiring writers reach — when you’ve been rejected so many times, you think you should just give up. I know he he felt… I’ve been there too. If that’s where you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,189,261,503,579],"tags":[604,663],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dont-give-up","category-first-story-sales","category-inspiration-for-writers","category-submitting-to-sf-magazines","category-writing-advice","tag-author-interview","tag-inspiration-for-writers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}