What is Success? A Primer (and possibly pep talk) for my Fellow Young Writers

If there is one topic that writers are generally obsessed with, it is success, and it seems to mean different things to just about everyone. Success is a mythical being to some, or taken for granted by others. A lot of writers experience angst about how to "make it" and be a "success."

I do not preach to be an astounding "success" (at least not yet) in the writing world. I consider myself a capable writer, I have multiple professional sales under my belt and other self-published works. But one of the demons that every writer must wrestle with is the self destructive attitude that a quest for success (and an intolerance of failure) can have on the mind of a young writer.

Let me back up, this post came in response to a conversation that I was a part of in a professional writer's group. Some writers were struggling to find what the outside world might consider "success." The discussion centered on the nature of success, and what it means. I added to the discussion, retelling my own personal journey to figuring out what it means to be a success. My words were well-received in the conversation, and so I have structured this post around them. What I said went something like... 

Many people define success as monetary success. Your writing becomes insanely popular and puts you on easy street. You know, your George RR Martins, things like that. However, for the vast majority of writers, success comes from a combination of writing money and money from a "day job." The relative contributions of the two may vary, but you can be "successful" as a writer long as you can sustainably do the writing that you love, and keep the rest of your life in order.  

Personally, I think that's a great way to look at it. If you love to write, then you are a success as a writer as long as you can do it and take care of your responsibilities.

A problem that writers who are early in their pro careers face is that even a small modicum of success brings higher expectations. I made a somewhat prestigious pro sale of a short story on only the 2nd short story I had ever written, on only the second rewrite of said story, to the first market that I sent it to. That gave me a much higher expectation of myself, and a much lower assumption on the ease of getting published in big markets. It took another year of rejection hell and 6 months of time off due to "writer's block," or more correctly "failing writer's sadness" for me to be able to write again. My expectations had me all out of whack. Turns out, even publishing one story is hard. Almost indescribably hard.

Eventually, I made another small sale, and it upped my confidence again, and suddenly my craft began to improve with the confidence. I was no longer thinking about getting published, I was letting it flow. I took additional comfort in the fact that if you believe the subtext of Heinlein's Rules, then by making a pro sale you are already better off than 99%+ of the people who claim they would like to write. That effort- to write, to edit, to submit, to sell, to be perseverant- is admirable in itself, and a "success." The accolade of being published is just the cherry on top.

However, I am not saying that this laid back attitude about success is a license to accept mediocrity. I think we all owe it to ourselves to be honest with our benchmarks, and never be satisfied. To be hungry is healthy. The trick is just to avoid the self destructive behavior that feeling a failure can bring to one's psyche and careers.

Time to party! Book release party, that is. I will be doing a live reading!

I am happy to report that I was recently invited to read aloud my first pro sale, The Exterminator, at an upcoming event for the magazine in which it was published, Daily Science Fiction.

Daily Science Fiction Book Release Party "Rocket Dragons Ignite: DSF Year Two"

They are releasing their latest anthology which I feel is one of the best values in all of sci fi. You get over 200 stories in the huge volume for a very reasonable price.

I look forward to meeting any fans of the magazine, as well as my fellow authors who will be attending this event! Details are in the link above.

Teaser Spotlight: Upcoming Publication

Want to read more of work by @Erik_B_Scott ? A work of my flash fiction will appear in upcoming themed anthologies. Publication details to follow!

Lava planet, and the trope of the certain nature of death/entropy.

The astronomy world (and my facebook feed) was all atwitter today regarding the discovery of a new world. Kepler-78B is 400 lightyears away, and possesses extreme temperature conditions and a surface composed of molten rock (lava) due to its miniscule distance from its sun. In fact, it is so close to its sun that it completes its orbit completely in about 8.5 earth hours.

But it is this proximity that also signs the planet's death warrant. Like a terminal patient, this proximal orbit will, according to astronomers, eventually cause the planet to be drawn towards and eventually become engulfed by the sun.

This planetary fate stirs many emotions in me as a writer of speculative fiction. Something about situations of certain death stir within me feelings of the inevitability of not only my own demise, but also of the universe itself. You can't beat entropy.

This concept is far from a novelty in science fiction. Isaac Asimov wrote one of the most famous treatments of the certain death of the universe due to entropy, in a story titled The Last Question. This story, and its twist ending, is my single all-time favorite science fiction story.

I like stories like this because although there is something undoubtedly scary about certain doom, entropy or human mortality, there is also beauty. The universe, and indeed life itself, are spectacular, precious and limited. Instead of fearing inevitable demise, use it as an opportunity to cherish what you do have.

Back to Kepler-78B, I wish the planet well and sincerely hope that it can escape its unhappy fate. Hopefully, whatever unusual form of life is living amid the lava of that world shares this sentiment and wishes us well amid our own inevitable demise.

Ecclesiastes 1:9. Nothing new under the (spec fic) sun.

I don't delve into matters of religion very often- I am somewhat theologically neutral, despite a Catholic upbringing. The biblical verse quoted in the title above is not meant to preach. On the contrary, it is meant to draw attention to the preaching that is being done by some editors to myself and other authors.

For those that have no idea what I am talking about, Ecclesiastes 1:9 reads as follows:

That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.

This quote about nothing new under the sun is remarkable given that it was written thousands of years ago. If there was nothing new in biblical times, then surely there can be nothing new now, right?

The short answer, when it comes to science fiction, is: well, yes and no. 

On the one hand, most if not all plots have been done before. I'm sure you have heard it said that there are only X numbers of possible plots, and every story out there is a variation on one of those themes (I use the variable X because the number varies depending on the source). A popular episode of Southpark brought this fact to a satiric climax, as anything that episode attempted to do, The Simpsons had already done. Simpsons Did It!

This has led to some frustration on the part of writers, who are constantly challenged to be new, fresh, different. I began writing this post as a reaction to the words of an editor (of an SFWA market) who told me that my premise was not new and in fact had been done before. He said that even if my story was the most technically sound he had ever read, he would not buy it because the premise aired on a Star Trek episode 30+ years ago.

But therein lies the rub.

Literature, especially science fiction, has to be new, has to be exciting and different. It is a genre that pushes the boundaries of humanity and the very possibilities of the universe. But that does not excuse this fiction from the immutable law posited by Ecclesiastes 1:9. Just because we have to push boundaries and be novel, that does not mean we can do something that no one has ever done before in all aspects. 

So when an editor sees a story and says "Gee, I've seen that story where the guy walks on Mars 1000 times- REJECT," he is ignoring the possibility of new twists on an old theme, or even the artistic rendering of a tired theme that makes it new in and of itself. 

Still, it is an Editor's prerogative to publish interesting pieces, and so true innovation indeed has to be rewarded. But an editorial hard stance against using certain tried and true themes, regardless of their technical competency, emotional depth or other factors that make great fiction, seems a bit short-sighted to me.

EBook Preview: My new novella entitled "Genesis" now live on Kindle!

I could not be more proud to announce that my latest EBook (a novella), entitled Genesis, is now available on Kindle and Amazon.

The Novella Can Be Found Here

From the time he was a child, Dr. Ludlow dreamed of unraveling the mysteries behind the creation of life. As an adult he became one of the most respected researchers on the very same topic. However, life throws him a curveball, and a dissolved marriage and subsequent nervous breakdown leave his career, and his dream, in ruins... until...

The military offers him a chance at redemption: The Chronos Project. New technology allowing scientists to go back in time to study early events in human history. Who better to send back to study the origins of life than the world's foremost expert on the subject, regardless of any issues? But when the mission goes awry, did Ludlow's mental problems follow him into the past?

What is creation? Who is God? What is real and what is not? These are some of the big questions addressed by Genesis, a powerful novella that not only tells the story of Ludlow's journey but also posits its own creation mythos.

Zine Plug: Eretz Songs

Old friend Steven Gordon has spun off his very popular blog into a new market for science fiction poetry, entitled Eretz Songs. 

Science Fiction poetry is not what most people think of when they think about the genre, but it can convey just as such powerful images of future darkness (or light) as prose. 

The current issue's poetry is a quick read skimming the surface, but there is a lot of rich, deep substance. I don't profess to be a poet, but evocation of emotion is the goal, and these hit the mark.

So if you are curious about a robot's perception of the changing of seasons, or of forced marriage of a not-so-perfect perfect mate, check it out.