Murky Clarity

First Interview

Sometime last month, Dash of Expanded Horizons approached me for an interview. Some of you may know that I literally sold my first story there, for USD30. Dash had given me the option of payment through PayPal or a physical check, and I opted for the check for obvious reasons. While some authors display their rejection slips, I intend to frame my first writing paycheck.

 

Anyway, Dash wanted to interview Arab/Muslim contributors for the December issue of Expanded Horizons. Of course I said "Yes!". I have to admit, being naturally long-winded, my responses were...how do I put it...elaborate. Throughout our exchanges, Dash was more than accomodating, and a gracious host. I don't care if the interview was a series of emails and not face-to-face. Let me have my 30 seconds of fame, okay? I'll call Dash a host and not interviewer, so get over it.

 

Ahem. So. Here's the link to the interview: CLICK HERE.

 

My first interview. I feel like a real writer!

Equatorial Snow at Crossed Genres

My short story, Equatorial Snow, is up at Crossed Genres. It's free to read, but please support CG by buying the print/ebook formats.

Hardcover, too

This week, God has been especially kind to me. First, I found out that my most anticipated anthology, Aether Age: Helios, is coming out on November 29, to commemorate the publisher's anniversary. I've known the anthology will be out in print, ebook and audiobook, but when I checked the website, I discovered that the anthology will be printed in hardcover, too! How cool is that?

Yesterday, when I got back from Midvalley with Reza, I received an acceptance letter from Crossed Genres, for my apocalyptic Science Fiction, Equatorial Snow. It's about geoengineering gone wrong, and the world re-enters the Ice Age, and an expecting Muslim couple faces the threat of losing their precious child. The magazine comes out in print and online formats.

Just now, after attending three patients at the emergency unit (on-call today), I received another acceptance letter, this time from Northern Frights Publishing. I submitted Visions, previously published at Expanded Horizons, for their print anthology Fallen: An Anthology of Demonic Horror. The book is coming out later this year.

So. Including A Long Sigh Goodnight at CCC Press's Malaysian anthology, Act of Faith at COSMOS and Fountain of Youth at Skive, my stories will exist in print form in 6 book titles. 14 stories published or accepted for publication so far, more than enough to make an anthology of my own. And maybe I will, later, once all publication rights have reverted back to me :).

The One That Jumpstarted My Journey

I think I've mentioned much earlier that I started writing (and publishing) in 1997, back when I was in Form 4. 'A Mother's Love' -- that's the name of the story published in Garudamas, my school magazine. A Fantasy, about a family of wolves. I still wince whenever I read the story; I can't believe I was so proud of it!

 

Stopped writing after Form 5, and restarted in 2001. Back then I had plenty to express, and writing short stories had been an outlet for all my frustrations and wants. Some of the stories were dark, but most were filled with a longing to belong. Long story, one I'd rather not delve into. I stopped writing again, and restarted in 2004. Didn't produce as much, and I have to admit, they were still amateurish. Not that my stories are any professional now, but still. After I started working, I lost touch with this facet of myself. I was happy, I was busy, I didn't have that many things to vent.

 

Then, late 2008, Tita found me on Friendster (yes, I still have the account, though I've not accessed it for over a year now). She was the one who pushed me to rediscover writing. She also pushed me to enter the MPH-Alliance Short Story Competition, whose deadline was end March 2009. I contemplated on it, but I knew I had to hone my skill first. I don't have formal training, so my earlier writings were all intuition and no knowledge whatsoever of the rules. I started buying books on writing, one after another, sometimes 2 to 3 at a time. And I have to be honest; they don't come cheap. Prices range from RM60 to over RM120. Before buying these books, I had been buying books and magazines on photography, a passion my siblings and I share. So that kind of prompted me to buy books on writing. I thought, "Hey, if I can learn photography through these books, why not writing?" Why not, indeed.

The Door Opens Wider

As I said earlier, I had a patient at around 03:00. When I got back to my room around 03:20, 2 emails came my way. One will potentially change my life forever:

I'm relieved to report that your story (now retitled "Act of Faith") has been accepted by editor Wilson da Silva for the December 2010 issue of COSMOS. The fee offered is $AU 300.00. I hope this is acceptable. Sorry again for the delay. Damien Broderick

This will me my first professional market sale. I'm getting around RM750, and that's a HUGE amount for a short story, but most important is that it will open doors. Most professional markets will only look at writers seriously if they have another professional market credit. COSMOS has over 100,000 readership, and stories there get reviewed by people that carry weight in the Science Fiction market. I'm not sure if people will take it well, as the story is about a robot embracing Islam, but still. Once this story is published, I can no longer be considered a 'new writer'. Some markets will be closed for me, but a bigger pool has just opened up. Exciting times.

Publishing your work

I wrote this as post responses at Sharon Bakar's blog:

 

Writing and publishing are two separate entities, and never let the thought of publishing tarnish your writing. If the reason you write fiction is for publication (works for hire are a different story, hear?), you’re likely to get disappointed. Publishing a story/novel is hard! But if you write for the love of it, because you have the urge to write, because you want to share your thoughts, your passion, you feel this undeniable elation every time you finish writing a story, especially if you think it’s good.

 

But it doesn’t mean it’s any good. I know writers are artists, and most artists are fragile creatures. But toughen up. Grow a thick skin. Do not expect only praises; be prepared to be criticized. If you cannot accept criticism, you’ll never grow as a writer and as a person. Don’t let your mother criticize your work; she’s bound to say she loves it, just as she loves you no matter how screwed up you are. If you can get a Trusted Reader, you’re lucky. If not, join a group. With the advent of the internet, this cannot be any easier. Websites like Writing.com are littered with writers and enthusiasts, but bear in mind that there as many good ones as there are bad ones. Join groups that will help you, but be prepared to give as much as you receive. Don’t be so kiasu. Polish your work. Write more. Edit other people’s work, and you’ll learn to edit yours.

 

There isn't an easy way about it

Well, not normally, at any rate. Another of my stories has just been accepted a few days ago, a vampire short story that's not really about a vampire, but about an old woman reminiscing on her past, her youth. I wrote it for a fountain-of-youth-themed competition at writing.com (WDC) late last year, but it didn't place. Cleaned it up a bit, submitted the story elsewhere. Trust me, selling a vampire story is not easy, what with the multitude of stories written, and writers hoping to profit from the Twilight craze. Yes, I am aware that the 'saga' violates almost all aspects of accepted vampire lore, but the world in general is crazy about it -- well, crazy about Kristen Steward (Bella), Rob Pattinson (Edward), and Taylor Lautner (Jacob), but let's not get into technicalities.

 

Anyway, Skive has accepted my vampire story, after 4 or 5 rejections, I think. One of my WDC group members, Ben, even suggested for me to use a water spirit instead of a vampire. Since I love the story, and I love vampire lore, I decided against it and remained adamant about placing/selling the story as it is. And persistence paid off. I can't exactly remember how much I'm getting paid, but it's not much. What's important is that it's a print-publication, so I'll be able to hold it in my hands and show people my name as one of the contributing authors.

The Birth of an Age

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myths, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World; Book One of The Wheel of Time.

 

Ae.ther n. Greek Mythology

1. personification of the sky or upper air breathed by the Olympians; son of Erebus and night or of Chaos and darkness.
2. a medium that was once supposed to fill all space and to support the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

 

Hi, I'm Fadz, and I'm a professional writer

On February 24, I woke up (late, as usual) to find this email waiting in my iPhone's inbox:

Dear Fadzlishah, Thank you for your submission to Expanded Horizons. I have read your story, "Visions," and I really like it. I would like to include it in our upcoming March issue. I will send you a version with my (small) edits, and the contract. Do you have Livejournal or Facebook? Expanded Horizons has a presence there. Do you have PayPal? We prefer to pay electronically, but we can send a physical check where that is not possible/feasible. Welcome to the Expanded Horizons team! Dash

 

A publisher wanted to buy my story, for USD30 at that! I don't write horror stories. This one actually came about as a challenge at my online writing group, where we were given a genre/style that we're not used to writing. I write mainstream/contemporary, love stories, and a dash of fantasy, so horror is as much out of my element as funny. Ironically, I have one funny/ironic story published at QLRS, and now, a horror story to add to my credit.

 

I have been paid to do something I love (well, I love being a doctor, but that's a different story). I'm talking about something Mother dear wouldn't let me even dream of taking up professionally (with good reason, upon reflection). I mean, Kasha has her graphics, and she's making money out of it. Faiz has photography, and he's making money as well as earning accolades for it. I've dabbled in graphics, photography, figure drawing, oil painting, scriptwriting, movie-making and some other forms of Art that I can't recall right now, but fiction writing has always been my Great Love. I dream up complete movie-like dreams at night, and I imagine stories while I people-watch. I love reading fiction, and I dissect movies and TV series while watching them.

 

I have to admit, though I'm always told that my writing is good, I'm not good at coming up with original storylines (even in rejection letters they say that though my writing is good, I clearly have talent, but they have to reject my work because [fill in the blank]). Back when I was 16 and 17, I took rejections personally. Why didn't my stories win? I wasn't good enough, was I? Was there something wrong with me, with who I was? You get the idea. I had been devastated and entered a self-imposed writer's block. I tried writing again, but never more than a paragraph or so. Then I started writing again. To express myself, my situation, my anger and frustration, my hopes and dreams. I couldn't run away from writing, even though I knew no one else would read the stories I wrote. Then work got the better of me, and I put writing on hold.

 

When Tita stumbled upon my Friendster account, she got me writing again. I think it's true that you have to mature as a person before you can write well. I didn't even make the longlist to MPH-Alliance's National Short Story Competition last year. I didn't win the Commonwealth Short Story competition. But that didn't stop me from writing. I devoured book after book on how to write. The blessing behind not attending formal writing courses is that I'm free to experiment, to explore the rules and bend or break them. I write and review other stories at WDC, especially within my group, Let's Publish! Then Sarah recommended that I submit my stories to QLRS. I'd never heard of it before. So I did. I submitted 3 stories, and they published "Mother". I submitted again in December, but all three were rejected (not enough plot). I submitted other stories elsewhere, and they too were rejected.

 

Then I got the mail from Dash, editor of Expanded Horizons. She wanted my story. She paid me for it, even. And that's not all. I also received another acceptance letter on Monday morning, for my spiritual science-fiction stories (one is confirmed, another is pending further contemplation, and may need a major revision). I was asked not to make it public, so I won't talk about the details yet. But it's going to be a massive project, with print, ebook and audiobook publication -- plus a soundtrack. I'm talking about print publication. My name in a physical book. I'm talking about my life-dream coming true.

 

So what happens when your dream comes true? I grinned the whole day. When I couldn't do it outwardly, I did it inside. And I ran to Mother dear to tell her the news. I messaged Tita (yep, I'm guilty of not contacting her a long time). I shared it with my WDC group. And I emailed Reza, who's in Aberdeen at that time. I'm still feeling elated, even though things are not finalized yet. I can't wait to hold the book in my hands! So, more about that later, once I get the green light to make it public.

 

For now, please visit Expanded Horizons and I hope you'll enjoy the story, as well as other amazing stories they have there.

Published Author in the House!

Finally, I'm a published writer! I got an email from one of QLRS's publishers earlier tonight:

 

From: Kai Chai

 

subject: QLRS Oct Issue

 

Dear Fadzlishah, I'm Kai Chai, the short story editor of QLRS. I'm happy to tell you that we have selected your contribution, Mother, for the October issue, which will be ready in a couple of days' time.

Have a good weekend,

Kai Chai.

 

That's a big first step. QLRS carries substantial weight in the Southeast Asian region, for future print publication. Now I have something to write for the credential part of a query letter. And that's the aim, to have my name on a cover of a book! Will post the link once it's out. HAPPY! I bet I'll fall asleep grinning tonight. A big shout-out to Sarah, who told me to submit the story to QLRS.

 

Cha cha cha cha cha, cha! Cha cha cha cha cha, cha!