Grantville Gazette 37

section break. Trying to keep that in mind as I write amp; revise hopefully means that a story comes out tighter amp; more coherent. In general, I've learned to be more aware that just because I know what I meant doesn't mean a reader can automatically keep track. There's a balancing act where I want my characters to seem like they really do have some idea what's going on around them in the 1632verse but without needing to comment on every development in the series to date.

Karen

Before the Gazette I had made a few minor attempts at writing fiction. Now I am published and qualified for SFWA. Writing for the Gazette taught me how to be a writer. :-)

f/Russiaw/Love

It has helped tremendously. It helps to restrain all the crazy ideas into a workable mold. Also before this, I had no idea how to do dialogue between characters; it was a mystery.

3. How has your work contributed to the shared world of 1632?

virginiaeasleyd..

I nag, I correct, I post lots of notes and bibliographical references, I have a database of historical down- timers with over 150,000 individuals in it, and I keep reminding people that the real world is infinitely more complicated than any known theory of history wants it to be.

bhasseler

When Virginia made the 7G edition of the up-timer grid, I was surprised to see how many characters my story canonized. It was cool to see a business and an organization that I made up appear on the grid. But I was really surprised to see I was the first one to specifically mention the Jesuit Collegium of Grantville in a story.

4. If you submitted a story to the Grantville Gazette/Ring of Fire series as a first-time author, what made you start here?

W1PK

This community not only rectuits new authors, and pays professional rates, they actively teach writing to those willing to listen and act on advice, and respond with useful feedback within hours.

virginiaeasleyd..

I wrote in the first Ring of Fire anthology, before the Gazette started. I did that because Eric nagged me into it and the people on Baen's Bar urged me on.

dvdscar

It was here? :-) Seriously, I discovered the opportunity and developed my first story idea within minutes of each other. And once I sold, it was the greatest feeling in the world. Better than your intoxicant of choice.

jones

A challenge. I complained to Eric Flint (by E-mail) that his portrail of the European Jewish community of the era was less than accurate. His reply, paraphrased, was 'fix it, write a story'. The Joseph Hanauer series is that story. I wrote SchwarzaFalls as a crutch to support Joseph Hanauer. I had to get Joeseph into the Ring of Fire from the Soutwest, and to do that, I needed to understand the roads and geography of that side of the RoF. The crutch, being a self-contained short story, was easy to publish

GWV17

I started here because of the blurb I saw in the back of Eric Flint's 1632 (I was completely mesmerized by that novel!) that said you could work on and submit stories set in Eric's wonderful world online and they pay pro rates. I had Birdwatching half written in my head as fanfic and ended up getting to sell it, a huge boost to my career! Little did I know I would eventually become art director, which I'm pleased to say happened because I was goofing around making funny pictures and teasing Paula Goodlett, our editor extraordinaire- she saw I was fast with Photoshop and gave me the job (which no one else wanted, especially Paula!). It's been a great experience, especially the art- only a nut like me would want to take on an entire issue of diverse stories and articles single handed, its a HUGE amount of work, which I always like to take the opportunity to remind everyone of. LOL

5. If you're a beta reader, what rules do you try to follow when commenting on/editing other people's work?

kao16

Try and be constructive… and sometimes it's a real emphasis on try…

Try and read the first few paragraphs before giving up (Ignore language problems, especially if it looks like the writer is a non native English speaker (We get a few of these… the language problems are easily dealt with if the story is good))

Look for plot.. Is the story interesting? Does it further the 1632 universe?

Are the events/ situations logical/ plausible? Economically viable? Physically viable? Is the time line too compressed (a common problem)?

Did I enjoy it?

Then start thinking about 'how to make it better/ make it work'.

GWV17

Rule Number One: BE NICE! -It's easy! I believe that we should offer constructive writing critique in a helpful and positive way. If I don't think someone elses' story is working I will try to help them fix it. There's little I hate worse than people in writing groups who are snide and put other writer's work down without making any attempt to help them improve (oh yeah, it has happened), there is simply no need for that kind of poor behavior and I tend to stamp it out when I come across it, ouch for them. All in all this is a great place to write, most folks are very helpful and professional, and this uniue alternate history is a lot of fun to work in, especially if you like research.

6. Have you written/read fan fiction before visiting the 1632 forums, and for how long?

dvdscar

Nope. Had been writing on/at a novel for 15+ years at the time I sold my first story, but no urge to do fan fic before 1632.

Johnzeek

The isn't really Fan-Fic since many of the ideas of the writers of stories in GG and the RoF influnce the prime authors

GWV17

I've read a bit of fan fiction and written some odds and ends over the years, it's fun of course, but I have always felt that unless its a shared universe, like a TV series or our 163X alternate history where collaboration is intended, that you are playing with other people's toys and you can't keep them. It's much more fun to make my own toys.

7. Feel free to comment on any part of your experience that I haven't covered.

W1PK

Grantville Gazette is a unique place to learn to write and sell fiction. Because all submitted drafts are visible on-line to all members of the 1632 community who hold a log-in password, authors receive help that no print publication could come anywhere near matching. Rather than feedback from a single first reader, we get feedback from dozens of fellow writers as well as the editorial board members. Instead of a couple of sentences, we get detailed analyses that can run for pages. Instead of waiting a year to get a response, we get it in hours, sometimes minutes. In my case, I went from first attempt to write a story to acceptance in four days. The one caution is that all this is forthcoming only to those who actually make use of the advice they receive, and make the necessary