Writers of the Future

[Silk]

Horror is still spec fic. Then again, the rules do state "science fiction and fantasy"... maybe they're branding yours as dark fantasy?

I have to admit, I'd be very curious to see your story, Steve. I'm also curious as to what RC did to his before he sent it in.

[Recovering_Cynic]

I'll send it to you again   Go ahead and tell me if you see any glaring errors so I can get the crying over before I ever have to deal with the rejection letter

[ErikHolmes]

Horror is still spec fic. Then again, the rules do state "science fiction and fantasy"... maybe they're branding yours as dark fantasy?

I don't think I'd call all Horror Spec Fic.

Scream IMO wouldn't be spec fiction, it's just a crazy guy in a Ghost suit. Nightmare on Elm Street though has some killer dream ghost guy.

[Silk]

Thanks RC! I like making people cry.

I mean, uh, thanks for assuaging my curiousity and I'm sure there are no huge errors in it.

True enough, Erik, though as an umbrella terms I think speculative fiction usually does include horror. Always exceptions and blah blah blah.

[Bookstore Guy]

You could loosely term mine Urban Fantasy/Horror...if you squint and tilt your head a little to the right. There is a spec. element to it, but 90% of the novel is creepy horror with no spec element. It all becomes a matter of them (the judges) being drawn in by the story long enough to get to the spec part so they cheer. But yeah, since they haven't rejected mine yet, it must not be terrible.

[Recovering_Cynic]

So, um, yeah, I want to get a read on it so I have an idea of what other people are submitting.  Granted, you are competing in a different quarter, but I'd still like to know.  Can you send it to me?  Emails on my profile.

[Silk]

*grins* I almost think we need a new genre: slightly speculative fiction.

I've been known to write a piece or two in that vein myself.

(PS: Elizabeth Bear had a story on Tor.com in which the speculative element was pretty slight, and took a long time to show up at all. Then again, it was also a very important element, and she's also Elizabeth Bear.)

[Bookstore Guy]

If I turned mine into a full novel (with my short story being the prologue), it would be very spec.

And yes, Erik, horror is considered spec. fic. Urban Fantasy is nothing more than a version of horror. Horror often has magical elements, demons, vampires, weres, phantasms, myths, etc. Hack'n'slash horror isnt really horror, imo. It's just shock-value with no real intelligence behind it. It is just a really bloody thriller, nothing important.

[Slamel]

I read BG's short and it was pretty full of awesome.  I think he needs therapy though.

[Silk]

I could totally make some crack along the lines of, "well yeah, that's why we write". Just, uhh, nobody tell my (fictional) agent I said that.

[Bookstore Guy]

Yeah, ever since some people at work read my story, they look at me a little funny. Luckily the girl in HR who read it really liked it, so I guess I won't get fired yet.

[Silk]

Or maybe, given the evidence, she just thought it was the most prudent thing to say.

[Chaos]

Well, I'm doing a final revision of my short in anticipation of the September 30th deadline.

[Recovering_Cynic]

Did you ever hear anything back on yours Bookstore Guy?

[Bookstore Guy]

Nothing yet. They just announced the first set of Q3 Honorable Mentions. Neither WriterDan nor myself were honorable mentioned in the first list. So, we can still cross our fingers. Those of you that have read my story know that the Spec element is really light until the end. Hopefully it was present enough for them not to reject it due to the unspoken "Spec element on 1st two pages" rule. WriterDan and I discussed this. I decided I was screwed.