DWPFF: Silver-Hair & the Three Xairs

[jrod]

Originally Posted by chris stevens

as to the fairness of the process, you spent enough time trolling through these threads to find jamal's comment so it's a shame you missed a post by jason rodriguez describing the notion of 'fairness' in a process like this. you might have learned something.

I'm getting a taste of the bigger picture here and I'd like to point out that I spent a shit-ton of my time commenting on stories that seemed interesting from complete strangers and, honestly, everyone here but Chris is really a complete stranger to me.

Hell, I'm even taking a couple of writers under my wing, ones that are a bit raw but had good ideas, in order to teach them while getting a good story out of them for this book. And this was at the request of Chris. I usually get paid to do editing and teaching, my current one-on-one is at an hourly rate that I think some of you would find offensive, so I think it's kind of silly to say this is all entitlements and people we know can do the job.

Anyway, this isn't an entirely fair process, that is always true, but it's the folks that learn to, you know, work like this is a comics system that are getting in and getting extra help. And I just looked back at lovecraft's one pitch and, c'mon, seriously, Lee gave good suggestions and the writer stopped the conversation when he realized Lee "wasn't part of the editorial staff."

That's just nuts.

[jrod]

..

[Pixelpushing]

good lil revisions goin on in this story, i wasnt too keen on it at first but i think it will come together with some good story telling and visuals.

and i guess i learned a life lesson too in this thread - life isnt fair, who knew ?

everyone has friends and so on that they like working with, i could see how feeling outside of a click that you disagree with would suck on a project like this, I find egos on both sides of the fence can sour a fun project.

i think its key to take anyones advice with a grain of salt no matter how "great" the person is and let the love of your craft be greater than the love of your ego.

[ehobbs]

It sucks that Lee's submission thread has been taken over by this stuff, but I wanted to add something (and don't feel too bad considering Lee's great pitch as already been accepted)...

As unfair as you might find this process, it is BY FAR one of the most fair processes you are going to find.

When Jason was putting together POSTCARDS I desperately wanted to be a part of that book. Now, sure, I wish I had been a part of that initial fifteen guys who got an invite to contribute...but I wasn't. Oh well. When he started accepting submissions for the last story I was one of the first in line.

Mine didn't make it in, and rightfully so, but I didn't bad mouth the process (a submission process that was far more difficult to crack than this one). Instead I did my best to ensure I was ready if given an opportunity to be in a similar project somewhere down the line.

If that's your attitude you're going to find a lot more success than if you sit around saying everyone is wrong for not taking your submission.

Just saying.

[L Jamal]

Originally Posted by Pixelpushing

i think its key to take anyones advice with a grain of salt no matter how "great" the person is and let the love of your craft be greater than the love of your ego.

You clearly don't love your ego enough. Send it over to me as I have enough ego love to spare.

[r nelson]

Originally Posted by ehobbs

...If that's your attitude you're going to find a lot more success than if you sit around saying everyone is wrong for not taking your submission.

Totally agree with that sentiment.

I remember about five or six years ago, the first time I ever pitched anything was for a story in Hero Happy Hour, in a contest over at Scryptic Studios (I think). The story was supposed to take place entirely inside the bar where the heroes hang out, but the winner was about a hero telling a story that took most of the story "technically" outside the bar.

I made a snide comment about it "breaking the story guidelines," or something and it took me some time to realize that I never got a response from Dan Tayolor to that post because he took the high ground that I was to newbish to take at the time.

I've often wondered since about the possible doors I may have shut the moment I hit "send" and posted the comment, and have tried not to repeat it. If anyone around these parts still talks to Dan, tell him I'm sorry for being an ass that day.

- Richard

[r nelson]

Originally Posted by Lee Nordling

We discover later that the bowls of food aren't really foods, they're beds.

So I'll make the things she THINKS are beds something other than beds, maybe bath tubs. I may or may not even identify what the other things are, which also gets around the problem.

The mistake was ME calling the "beds" beds; easy not to do that, or to identify them later as something else.

Might be funny on the last page where she's getting arrested to have somewhere (maye one of the cops is showing one to the readers) a Xair primer: "This is a BED, not a BOWL." "This is an EXCERCISE MACHINE, not a BED." Something for flavor text.

[jrod]

Originally Posted by r nelson

I've often wondered since about the possible doors I may have shut the moment I hit "send" and posted the comment, and have tried not to repeat it. If anyone around these parts still talks to Dan, tell him I'm sorry for being an ass that day.

I think I publicly called Dan out for giving the story to someone who was already published (and his friend) at the time which wasn't my finest moment but, don't worry, I've since shared beers (and hotel rooms) with Dan and he's a classy guy.

[Iron Syndicate]

Originally Posted by r nelson

Might be funny on the last page where she's getting arrested to have somewhere (maye one of the cops is showing one to the readers) a Xair primer: "This is a BED, not a BOWL." "This is an EXCERCISE MACHINE, not a BED." Something for flavor text.

Or one of the arresting cops to the other: "What was she doing in the toilet, anyways?"

With the other saying "Humans..."

[Pixelpushing]

Originally Posted by Iron Syndicate

Or one of the arresting cops to the other: "What was she doing in the toilet, anyways?"

With the other saying "Humans..."

that just made me laugh lol

[Lee Nordling]

Originally Posted by Iron Syndicate

Or one of the arresting cops to the other: "What was she doing in the toilet, anyways?"

With the other saying "Humans..."

I'd been thinking a cop says, "We found her in one of the baths!" because I don't want too much of a gag before the payoff.

But that's for later.

My first chore is to sort out the "voice" for the story, how much of it is narrative, how much dialogue do I use, what's the best pace? I'd been think pantomime (or pantomime with minimal narrative) so that the first actual words in the story when the reader turns to the last page are the mother crying: "She drank my baby!"

That'll have a lot of impact if there isn't a word of dialogue prior to this.

And yep, this is all the crap I think about before scripting; just discussing the process.

--Lee

[RonaldMontgomery]

Would be cool if you drew it too...

[Lee Nordling]

Originally Posted by r nelson

I've often wondered since about the possible doors I may have shut the moment I hit "send" and posted the comment, and have tried not to repeat it. If anyone around these parts still talks to Dan, tell him I'm sorry for being an ass that day.

This is something far too many new writers don't ask themselves, because this is all chatty and sometimes fun.

But as I wrote in the recent thread about editing, THIS is something everybody working in the business will ask themselves when they read your posts: Do I want to work with this guy?

It's the business side of what we do.

And I know there are a lot of guys who don't care, and that's fine, as long as they realize there are reasons (five years later) that they haven't gotten where their talent should have left them.

--Lee

[Lee Nordling]

Originally Posted by RonaldMontgomery

Would be cool if you drew it too...

Naw, we already got the artist, and he's MUCH better than I ever was on my best day.

--Lee