I think that's important to note. A lot of beginning writers don't realize
how much work it might take to get to the point where your first story
gets published. What sort of advice would you offer them?
Well, it's the classic advice. It's a little different today, because a lot of people start with novels. And as I say, I was starting at a time when there are a lot of magazines. And you know, the procedure was well understood.
What I would tell them is you write that first story. And as soon as you get it done, you send it in and you start the second story. And you've got to keep two things in mind. One is it's probably going to take you several years to make your first sale. The other thing, though, is you've got to write for publication right from the beginning. I think it's very important. You've got to sit there thinking, with everything you write, this could be your first sale. Because that means that you will be putting your best effort into it. It's like if you're practicing a musical instrument, if you practice sloppily, what you're doing is learning to play sloppily. So only practice to do it well.
What you want to learn to do is to write for audiences, for publication. Therefore, everything you write should be written for publication, with publication in mind. And somewhere in your heart, you should believe it, even though you know it may take years, this could be it. Give it your best shot every time.
I was going to ask you about how you built your relationship with the magazines like Asimov's and Analog, really high prestige science fiction magazines. Probably part of it is what you were just saying, that you write knowing who your audience is.
There is some value in writing for non-paying things like fanzines and all that. And so I think if you're going to write nonfiction, for example, writing for non-paying markets like the fan press and all that, that's very good. But you must always write for an audience, and it has to be a real audience. That means they must have the privilege of not having to read you. That means usually there ought to be an editor in there who can say, "Well, I don't think our audience will like that. Or if we publish everything, you should be able to get some feedback that tells you they didn't read that. You've got to feel like you're in there fighting for that audience's attention, everything you write.
Now, have you learned that on your own? Are you a self-taught writer? Have you done workshops?
No I never did any workshops when I was starting. But my feeling is most writers at some point will probably get some help somewhere. And sometimes it's an editor. If you write a lot and you're really working at it, and you keep circulating it, editors will begin to notice you. And if you reach a certain level of quality, and they can see you're serious, they will begin to give you advice.
In my case, what I did was something that most people are told not to do, which is I hooked up with a fee reading agent. They tell you not to do it. And the reason is you get these people who say, "Oh, yes, you're great. Just send me some more." And they're just collecting your fees. They're not trying to sell. The fee reading agent that I hooked up with, though, was Scott Meredith. And Scott Meredith has many flaws as an agent. And my feeling, myself, was if you want some help, you pay for it, right? So I gave it a try with Scott Meredith.
And in fact, in my case, they put their finger on what I was doing wrong, which was I had great openings and good middles, but my endings weren't satisfactory. And so I kept working with them, and eventually, they took on some stories, and they sold them. And so I stayed with them for about 20 years.
Nowadays, if I were talking to a writer or somebody who wanted to be a writer, I'd say try to get into something like Clarion. Because that seems to have become the recognized way nowadays to not only learn but to make contact with the editors and build up some connections so they know who you are and maybe take a more serious look at your work.
But I think the principle is, if you want to be an engineer, you go to school. If you're serious about being a writer, then you ought to be willing to put up the money for a really good workshop like Clarion.
Now, you've had a lot of novelettes published, primarily in installments. Do you prefer the novelette over the novel? Why or why not?
I'll say. Actually, what happened was I wrote five novels and then for some reason I couldn't sell any more. I was working on chapters and outlines. And I actually thought that I was never going to write any more short fiction, because it seemed like books were the thing.
And then my wife and I had this little joke about an imaginary couple named Harold and Millicent, who have these funny dialogues with each other. And I just thought wouldn't it be fun to write a story about Harold and Millicent? When I got the idea, I thought about it, and I worked up a story idea. And I knew it would only have two possible markets, F&S and Asimov's, it was really more just fantasy. But I decided I wanted to write it, just for the fun of it. So I wrote it, and Gardner bought it. And then I decided to write another short story.
And the way I got into novelettes was I started writing a story, and
the longest thing I'd ever written was 10,000 words, and I'd only done
two of those. This one started getting long. It got up to 13,000. But
I liked it, so I went ahead and did it. And it sold. And since then
I've mostly been writing novelettes.
I don't like big, long novels. A lot of stuff today seems very padded and I don't want to spend that much time with these characters. And I feel like there's a stage out there, and there's this audience. And there's other people coming out I want to listen to. And that's how I feel as a reader, you know? So I appreciate it if a writer is concise. And I think that the novelette is a good length for me. It's a good length for science fiction, because you can develop the background of the characters more than you can in a short story, and the plot. And so I find that length really, really does suit me. And it's always been considered a classic length in science fiction.
