A Reptile at the Reunion

"A Reptile at the Reunion": From Start to Sale

I promised a few months ago that I would write a "Passing the Pen" essay about this story, so as I'm updating some other sections of my website, I figure it's time to update this section too and keep my promise.

I got the idea for this story a few years ago; I think it was in 2002, though I'm not sure anymore. Actually, as I discussed in a previous essay ("Where Do You Get Your Ideas?"), this story is the result of two ideas colliding. The first idea was a story challenge from the magazine Say.... They publish two issues a year, and every issue has a theme centered around a question which leads from the magazine's title. One of their issue questions was "Aren't you dead?" When they posted the call for submissions for this issue, they listed so many qualifications for this question (no vampires or undead creatures, no celebrity sightings, etc.) that I wondered, "Well, what would they accept?" Around this time, I also received an invitation from my graduate school program to attend a reunion conference. I'm no longer working in the technical/scientific communication field, so it didn't make sense for me to go. But then the two ideas came together: what if I wrote a story about someone who had been presumed dead and then came back to her school reunion? The idea intrigued me enough to want to write the story.

It still took me a while to flesh this story out. I knew I wanted to give it an science fiction/fantasy twist, so I decided to make the school a University of Magic. It took me longer to develop the main characters. Since my most successful story prior to this had been "Move Over Ms. L," I wanted to reuse a few elements from that story, like a first person narrator and a main character with an attitude, to see if they could make lightning strike twice. I'm not sure anymore what I originally had Sybil, the protagonist, do for a living, though her final job of veterinary tech was inspired by my husband's profession of veterinarian. Since this was a reunion story, Sybil had to meet up with old friends of hers. One of them, Kit, wound up playing a bigger role in the story than I had initially given him. I can't say too much more about the third character without giving the plot away. As for the reptile in the title, I knew as soon as I decided to include a dragon in this story that it couldn't be a "typical" dragon, though I won't say what's different about it here.

I worked on this story off and on, since I had a couple of other stories, like Catalyst in the Crucible, also competing for my attention. In May 2003, I took an online writing course character emotions, and I used some of the workshop exercises as lines in this story. Also during this time, I learned about the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror through BroadUniverse, an organization devoted to promoting women writing in these genres. I decided as soon as I finished this story that I would workshop it here, and the very evening I completed the first draft--which was called "Reptilian Resurrection" at the time--I started my trial OWW membership in July 2003. My very first critique convinced me to change the nature of the story slightly and drop the "pretend to be dead" angle. This meant that the story would no longer be suitable for Say..., but I'd already missed the deadline for the "Dead" issue anyway. I also sent this story out to some other reviewers who weren't on the workshop and got some good suggestions from them as well. I rewrote the story and asked other people to look at it at least once more, though I may have done two cycles of revisions and reviews; I didn't keep enough notes to say for certain. Some of the reviews were helpful, while others offered suggestions that would have taken the story in directions that didn't match my vision of it. I used what worked for me, even if that meant taking a suggestion and twisting it, and discarded what didn't.

With all of the revisions, it took me until January 2004 before I decided the story was ready to submit. I chose Strange Horizons for my first market. It was rejected a month later with no explanation--which is typical. My second market was Realms of Fantasy. Their slush reader is kind enough to provide explanations for her decisions if you ask her to, so I did when I sent in my story. She also keeps a submissions log on a website so you can track how long it takes her to get to a story. She read mine on my birthday, April 28, but that didn't stop her from rejecting my story. In her note, she had good news and bad news. The good news was that there was nothing wrong with my writing; the bad news was that they received too many dragon stories.

I sat on the story for a while as I debated what to do next. I considered changing the dragon into another animal that would fit its habitat, such as a bat. I even asked one of my reviewers if that would bother her, since one of her trilogies had been inspired by bats. She didn't mind, but the bats didn't excite me, so the story lay neglected for several months as I returned to other projects.

I remembered it again in February 2005, when the editor of a dragon anthology posted a call for submissions on the BroadUniverse mailing list. As I read the description, I became convinced that this story would be a good match for the anthology, and since I was a member of BroadUniverse, I was eligible to submit my story. I did so that very evening. I received an acknowledgement that the editor had received my story, but then I heard nothing for several months. When I Googled for information about the anthology and learned another author had sold her story, I was convinced mine had been rejected. I was already feeling a little bummed about not being at a Ringo Starr concert that night, even though I'd chosen not to go to save money for the wedding. So I gathered up my courage and e-mailed the editor. To say I was pleasantly shocked to learn she had accepted my story is an understatement. The first person I called was Eugene, who was driving home and had to pull over to talk to me. He was still very happy about the news. And yes, it made up for missing Ringo play with the Roundheads--but not much else would.

(Updated May 13, 2006) Well, it took quite a while, but I finally received word last night that the anthology has been sold to a Canadian small publisher called Dragon Moon Press. It's scheduled to be published in 2008. You should be able to order it directly from the publisher or from online stores like Amazon.com. I'll have more information as we get closer to the publication date.

(Updated August 12, 2008) The anthology, Firestorm of Dragons, is out! It's only available online, however. You can order it through Amazon or directly from Dragon Moon Press. So far, the reviews have been good. In November, the other authors and I will be doing a series of blog posts to promote the book. See my blog, Dual Citizenship in SpecFic and Mundania, for more details.

So, what can other writers learn from my experience? I think there are several things in my personal story that can help others. First, keep a lookout for story ideas; the most mundane element in your life, like correspondence, can inspire you, especially if you combine it with another idea. Although it's important to figure out what makes a particular story work, you shouldn't write the same thing over and over once you find a winning formula but push yourself to another level. (I feel that the online writing class about emotions helped me here.) A salable story can't just be "good enough" anymore; there are so many other writers and stories competing for slots that the story needs to have a certain style or another angle to make it unique (which is what I tried to do with my sardonic character's viewpoint). When you find good reviewers, work with them and be ready to revise your story as necessary, while keeping in mind that reviewers can suggest, but ultimately you're the one who decides how to use the suggestions. Finally, keep your eyes open for market opportunities and continue to submit the story even after a few rejections. I'll admit I should have kept sending the story out after the rejection from Realms of Fantasy, but I only held onto it because I was unsure of what I wanted to do with the story. Once I found a good potential market for the story as it was, I submitted it right away.

Patience, professionalism, and perseverance are all necessary to succeed not just in writing, but in general life. I feel like I've come a long way already (and I didn't even have to smoke to do so), but there's still room for improvement. That's why writing is a life-long journey, with stops along the way to reflect where you've been and where you're going. One story may be done, but there are plenty more to write yet.