I'm Not A Reddit, But I Can Play One On TV: Ask Me Anything Day
(NOTE: Based on time elapsed since the posting of this entry, the BS-o-meter calculates this is 15.678% likely to be something that Ferrett now regrets.)
My blog-trawl shows that it’s been at least five months since I did this, and it’s always a fun game to play when I a) have no energy but b) want some internet interaction.
So today is your day to ask me any question you desire. If it’s personal, as in if you want advice or to confess something, email me at theferrett@theferrett.com. If not, post your question here – any question about any serious topic – and I shall answer true. (Please don’t waste my time by asking nonsense like “Who put the bomp in the bop shoo bop?” It’s never as funny as you think it is, and it leads to boring answers like “Barry Mann.”)
Still. I’ll answer any question, personal or professional, to the best of my blinkered abilities. Simply ask.
You mention often about how attending Clarion led to greater success in writing and selling short stories. Can you tell us more about the application process for Clarion, and what the Clarion admins are looking for in their applicants?
Specifically, what sort of publication history/investment in fiction are they looking for?
I couldn’t tell you that because I’m not one, but I do know they tend to value people who strive for great stories and fail. One of my submission stories was close, and it later got published, but the one they concentrated their efforts on was a story so ambitious that, four years later, I STILL can’t figure out how to make it fit into 5,000 words. Truth.
What they want are ambitious writers with talent. Publication history doesn’t matter; infamously, Kat Howard’s first story she’d ever written got her in.