November 2, 2014
Another magazine of speculative fiction has closed its doors only a few issues after it launched. In explaining why, the people behind it complained that there had been little take-up from advertisers and readers, and that people seemed more interested in writing stories than reading them. This may be correct. However, they went on to say that writers and would-be writers should spend $10 a week (around £6) on subscriptions to magazines.
Ideally, writers should always read at least one issue of any magazine they want to submit to. If you are registered as a writer with the tax office, you can probably claim the money you spend on such publications as expenses. If not, $10 a week adds up to $520 a year (around £312). That isn't peanuts. Add to that the cost of equipment and sundries such as paper, ink cartridges and broadband, and the chances of making a profit, let alone making a living, from writing recede into the realms of dreamland, especially as so many magazines hold on to your story for months, and have been known to fail to pay you as promised if they do eventually publish it. You could enter quite a few writing competitions for the same amount with the prospect of receiving a bigger reward for winning.
Yet if writers aren't prepared to buy the magazines they're interested in appearing in, who will be? Is the answer to limit submissions to subscribers? This would probably simply result in the magazine receiving fewer submissions rather than more subscriptions. I don't really have an ideal solution, but with writers expected not only to provide the content for publications, but to market them and provide financial backing in this way as well, it's hardly surprising that so many writers are choosing to self-publish.
Incidentally, in addition to paid print subscriptions, the publication concerned was also available free online. No possibility that this had anything to do with its lack of sales, of course.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 27, 2014
I've made a dreadful discovery: I've developed an addiction to 'as if'. It happened while rewriting the latest incarnation of Discord's Apprentice. Every other sentence has 'as if' in it, and the ones that don't, have 'seems' or 'like'. It's funny how you can fall in love with certain words or phrases and not notice how often you use them.
I suppose 'as if' is a result of wishing to 'show not tell'. Instead of writing: 'He gestured as if grabbing something out of the air...' I could put: ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 19, 2014
Woohoo! At last I've started the next stage of the rewrites of Discord's Apprentice. This novel's turning into a real marathon. I thought it would take six months at most, but fate has a way of making your plans look silly. Setting myself unrealistic goals doesn't help. I inevitably think I can get more done than I can. The result is, I miss the targets I've set myself and if I'm not careful, I feel a failure. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Before I go further, I'd like to say that I ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 6, 2014
Sometimes life is strange. I've had the privilege of being interviewed several times lately. They've all been internet interviews. Okay, so the Alfie Dog ones were questionnaires and by no means exclusive to me, but it's the same principle. The questions were emailed to me, so I had time to consider my replies. Not only did I have a chance to try to come up with interesting answers, but I had the opportunity to review what I put. Hopefully, I haven't said anything that might come back to haun...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
September 14, 2014
This has been one of those weeks when it's been time to catch up with a few bits and bobs.
I was given the opportunity to have a poem ('Bare the Body and Hide the Soul') on
Songs of Eretz Review, which required a short bio and 'poet's notes'. I'd no sooner sent them off than Steve Gordon put them online for the Poem of the Day on 9th September.
There were proofs to go through for my feature in
Thresholds about Samuel Beckett's story, 'Ping'. That should be online tomorrow (Monday 15th S...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
September 8, 2014
People who don't write usually don't understand how those who do can agonise over a word. Would it be better to use a name or a pronoun? Is 'indicate' a better choice than 'show'? It isn't only a matter of getting the grammar right, or even of making sense, but a need to convey a mood, capture character or to be beautiful or striking. Does a word have the right rhythm? Will it maintain the pace and flow?
A single word might have to fulfil several functions, such as showing a character's at...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
September 2, 2014
The good news this week, is that my entry was a runner-up in the Haynet and Lavender & White Equestrian Short Story competition. 'Horse Sense' is about a man who tries to reignite the spark in his marriage by taking his wife on holiday in a horse-drawn caravan. When things go wrong, it takes horse sense to save the day. All the runners-up will be published on the organiser's site at
http://www.hay-net.co.uk in the near future, and you can already enjoy the winner, 'Be Careful What you Wish Fo...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
August 25, 2014
One of the drawbacks of the school holidays is that the choice of films in the cinemas is restricted to blockbuster action movies targeted at teenagers, or animations aimed at children. There's little depth or humour, and when these are used, there's a tendency to batter the audience over the head with them.
On the face of it, Guardians of the Galaxy is no different, and my expectations of it were low. I looked forward to 90 minutes of fairly mindless action and noise with caricatures inst...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
August 18, 2014
I've had one of those weeks where I feel I've been rushing around without really getting anywhere. I think everyone has them from time to time. They're frustrating because you think you've achieved nothing, but is that really true? I've made a list of what I've been doing since last Monday.
I've written: blogs - 3
tweets - 6
notes for features - 3
doggy diary (the things my bichons get up to) - 2 A4 sheets
Discord's Appren...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
August 11, 2014
Twiction Addiction has accepted another two of my tweets in response to its regular prompts. The most recent one went online on 9th August. So far, I've submitted tweets on paper, custard, collar and congregation. Not only has the man behind Twiction Addiction, Mark Connors, invited me to be its featured author for October, he's also introduced me as "the fabulous Karla Dearsley". I'm dead chuffed. Now, all I have to do is live up to it.
Check out @TwictionAddict to read lots of twiction fro...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
