Published??

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April 20, 2007

Published??

An Opportunity

I am involved in a writing community online, and have been since last year. You post your material in your online portfolio and others can review it, talk about it, etc- you can also review others. I ran into a fellow who is a freelance editor, and also works as a publisher for a press group in Florida- as well as in the works of preparing a magazine. He read a concept I had shared in a writers group about a science fiction work I had created when I was 15 years old (1995) and then gave up on when the Matrix came out (I think around 98, 99?) and many of the core parts of my story were shockingly the same as the Matrix. He said he was interested in reading a short sample of my work, so I gave him a short story (8 pages) I had written. It was a stand-alone science fiction with a unique, relational and family type twist and concept. I have written two parts of it, what will be a three part novella, but the first part is also stand-alone as a short story.

I got this response today:

Patrick,

I got around to reading “Come Back to Us” this morning. It’s good. It’s also

definitely publishable. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t some

areas where it could be edited. If you’d like, I can just give you some of my

general comments and reactions; or I can make some editorial marks and comments

on a hard copy and send you a scan of it. Whichever you’d prefer.

Boone

Well, this is a pretty good sign I think. I’ve had various writers, a few published writers, on there give very good reviews of my work, even some reviews assuming that I planned to publish. However, I’ve never had someone who is experienced in the publishing industry themselves actually say my work could be published. More importantly, until now, I’d really thought of publishing as more of a fantasy (like my stories ) than anything else. It’s a competative world, and it is NOT easy to get published… there is a lot of competition. I haven’t bothered with going to writers workshops, spending my days doing this, that, and the other to figure out how to get published or hone my ideas.

I just write, and I love to do it. My babies, of course, my passion, is fantasy and (either mixed with, or occasionally by itself) science fiction. I tried posting something of that sort on here (Xanga) once, years ago, but it fell flat… seems most of the folks on here who do read my site didn’t find it worth commenting on. Guess it is true that you really have to find the right crowd and nitch to be appreciated. I put up a story on xanga, and it falls flat… I put up a far sillier poem on the writing site, and BOOM, I get published poets telling me to publish it, and an editor and publisher encouraging me to publish my science fiction novella.

God’s hands

Well, it’s in His hands. I know that if I do indeed get to be published, I would like to use my fantasy and sci fi stories to infuse the genre with a Christian perspective. No, not “Christian” labelled stories that have direct parallels like C.S. Lewis or even more overt- but stories that have a Christian mindframe to them. Anyone who reads fantasy will know that it can be VERY clear, very quickly, the political and religious viewpoints of the author without them ever having to say it directly. The way the fantasy world is set up, the religious systems, everything… it all reflects that, and most good fantasy these days you can tell comes from the typical, liberal perspective and is based on some weird pseudo-Christian view or something completely anti-Christian.

God gave me my one, truly extraordinary gift of creativity, imagination, and writing (I could just say ‘writing’, but they all kind of go together). So if He wills it, I will use it this way- a way I never really thought I would use it. And I’ll use it as a chance to give ALL glory to God, and to share my faith when the right moments come.

-Patrick