Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Science Fiction And Fantasy Writer's Chat 2/2/11 with Michael Ray of Redstone Science Fiction

1:59 amBryanThomasS:Ok folks. Join us on #sffwrtcht now. With Michael Ray of @RedstoneSF
2:00 amsffwrtcht:Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Writer?s Chat. #sffwrtcht
2:00 amsffwrtcht:Our goal is to talk w/ writers, editors, & others abt the craft of writing, specifically related to writing speculative fiction. #sffwrtcht
2:00 amsffwrtcht:Our format is round table discussion. Please restrict ?s to writing craft, business of writing & the specific works of the guest. #sffwrtcht
2:00 amsffwrtcht:Please wait until your question gets answered to ask another & use the hashtag #sffwrtcht for all questions and comments.
2:00 amsffwrtcht:It?s up to the guest whether the question time will run longer than our allotted hour slot. #sffwrtcht
2:00 amsffwrtcht:I appreciate your participation and hope you find this enjoyable and informative. #sffwrtcht
2:01 amsffwrtcht:Next Wed our guest will be author @JeremyCShipp #sffwrtcht
2:01 amshadowflame1974:*knocks three times to keep the gremlins at bay* #sffwrtcht
2:02 amsffwrtcht:Tonight's guest is the editor of Redstone Science Fiction, Michael Ray. @RedstoneSF on Twitter. Mike, thanks for joining us #sffwrtcht
2:02 amRedstoneSF:Glad to be here. #sffwrtcht
2:02 amBryanThomasS:To start, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you came to want to edit a science fiction zine? #sffwrtcht
2:03 amjasonsanford:RT @RedstoneSF: I'll be on with #sffwrtcht with @BryanThomasS in less than 10 minutes.
2:03 amRedstoneSF:I began writing again a few years ago. I learned about the process of submitting etc. #sffwrtcht
2:04 amRedstoneSF:I learned there were very few pro markets. #sffwrtcht
2:05 amRedstoneSF:I talked about it with Cassondra Link and Paul Clemmons after the Scalzi article about the lowpaying markets. #sffwrtcht
2:05 amlouisbshalako:How do I learn what age group or demograhic to write for? #sffwrtcht
2:06 amRedstoneSF:We decided we might enjoy investing the time and money in a pro online magazine. and we just got rolling. #sffwrtcht
2:06 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Redstone started last summer, correct? #sffwrtcht
2:07 amsffwrtcht:Besides providing pro market, did you have other goals/focuses in mind when you founded Redstone? #sffwrtcht
2:07 amRedstoneSF:We started publishing then. We set up the site in we set things up in March and took submissions then. June was our first issue. #sffwrtcht
2:08 amshadowflame1974:was there a particular niche you wanted to fill with RedStone? #sffwrtcht
2:08 amRedstoneSF:We wanted Science Fiction as we saw it. #sffwrtcht
2:09 amRedstoneSF:Something changes society - how will people react? #sffwrtcht
2:09 amBryanThomasS:So what made you choose online as opposed to print? Was that purely cost? #sffwrtcht
2:10 amRedstoneSF:We probably have a more traditional idea of scifi. #sffwrtcht
2:11 amRedstoneSF:We chose online because it was simple (for us) to do, inexpensive and gave us complete control over the product. #sffwrtcht
2:11 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Can you give us a bit of a description of how your SF def might vary from a lot of what's out there? #sffwrtcht
2:11 amBryanThomasS:ie What do you mean by more traditional? #sffwrtcht
2:11 ampattyjansen:@RedstoneSF #sffwrtcht kudos to you for starting the mag, since many trad markets were drifting towards weird/fantasy
2:12 amRedstoneSF:I have some website experience and all of us have been lifelong SFF readers. It simply made sense. #sffwrtcht
2:12 amsffwrtcht:Obviously since you were closed to subs for a while and just opened for 1 week yesterday, you're not having trouble getting subs #sffwrtcht
2:13 amportiriszine:@RedstoneSF That's how/why we started too #sffwrtcht
2:14 amRedstoneSF:Haldeman and Heinlein, Cassondra likes Dangerous Visions New Wave-influenced stuff. #sffwrtcht
2:14 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Frankly, I read a lot of stuff and wonder how it qualifies as SF. Not slipstream or weird fan myself #sffwrtcht
2:14 amRedstoneSF:Current sub count is 51. #sffwrtcht
2:15 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Is it just the three of you or do you have slush readers and other help? #sffwrtcht
2:15 amshadowflame1974:@RedstoneSF wow and you have just reopened a week ago? #sffwrtcht
2:15 amRedstoneSF:I like Mieville type stuff, as well. But I felt we could be a place for more science oriented stories. #sffwrtcht
2:15 amRedstoneSF:Opened yesterday. #sffwrtcht
2:15 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF How hard as it been to build an audience? #sffwrtcht
2:16 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF And what are some of the ways you go about that? #sffwrtcht
2:16 amshadowflame1974:RT @RedstoneSF: Opened yesterday. #sffwrtcht -- yesterday? awesome!
2:16 amsffwrtcht:Hey all, other than query questions which are not allowed, feel free to jump in with questions any time. Thanks for joining us! #sffwrtcht
2:17 amRedstoneSF:Right now it is we three. Cassondra was between semesters and handled a lot of slush, last summer & in Novemeber. Ed. grad school #sffwrtcht
2:17 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF That sounds like a lot of work. #sffwrtcht
2:18 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF But at the same time, you're doing great stuff. I reviewed the first few issues for Tangent & really enjoyed them #sffwrtcht
2:18 amsffwrtcht:So what does your ideal story look like? Hard science? #sffwrtcht
2:19 ampattyjansen:@BryanThomasS #sffwrtcht agree that stories have been consistently high in quality
2:19 amRedstoneSF:We listed at Duotrope and Ralans to get the word out as well #sffwrtcht probably the most important
2:20 amBryanThomasS:RT @RedstoneSF: I used twitter & Fb frm the beginning to let ppl know about us. Many ppl were helpful like@inkhaven at lightspeed #sffwrtcht
2:20 amRedstoneSF:As for work - we enjoy reading. #sffwrtcht
2:20 amBryanThomasS:Lightspeed does great stuff as well. Lots of stories picked for best lists this year. Pretty impressive. #sffwrtcht
2:21 amshadowflame1974:@RedstoneSF: used twitter & facebook frm the begin to let people know about us. Many were helpful like @inkhaven at lightspeed #sffwrtcht
2:21 amRedstoneSF:Stories for us? Something happens - people react to the change & we can't easily see the outcome. We like different things. #sffwrtcht
2:22 amsffwrtcht:Duotrope is a great resource for writers. Have you been influenced by other editors/zines in various ways? #sffwrtcht
2:23 amsffwrtcht:In addition to stories, do you do regular columns and other features? #sffwrtcht
2:23 amshadowflame1974:Not even a year old and you have already won some awards, tell us about those #sffwrtcht
2:23 amBryanThomasS:@shadowflame1974 Good question #sffwrtcht
2:24 amMerc_hyn_di:Oh, yay! #sffwrtcht with @RedstoneSF *settles in to read*
2:24 amRedstoneSF:Not really. We are trying to be our own magazine. I like several mags, @clarkesworld and @escapepodcast but we want to be SF #sffwrtcht
2:25 amRedstoneSF:If something is great, but is "fantastic", we let it pass because it doesn't fit us. #sffwrtcht
2:26 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF What kind of feedback do you get from other pros in the field? Has it been supportive? #sffwrtcht
2:27 amRedstoneSF:I seem to finally be lagged. #sffwrtcht
2:27 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Sorry. We deal with that every week #sffwrtcht
2:27 amshadowflame1974:@RedstoneSF no worries. :D #sffwrtcht
2:28 amBiscuitCIB:Watching #sffwrtcht with @RedstoneSF
2:28 amRedstoneSF:We have a columnist - Henry Cribbs who does a great litcrit of SF column every month. I'm hoping he'll get more notice #sffwrtcht
2:29 amRedstoneSF:Henry's column this month is great. #sffwrtcht
2:29 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF We'll check that out and pass the word. #sffwrtcht
2:29 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF New issues come out at the first of every month with two stories per issue, correct? #sffwrtcht
2:30 amRedstoneSF:From the field - nothing but support. @johnjosephadams did and interview, as did @Catrambo with us #sffwrtcht
2:30 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF They're good people @Catrambo @johnjosephadams Very supportive and helpful #sffwrtcht
2:30 amRedstoneSF:We got stories from @MaryRobinette and @Catrambo and they were giving the new guys a chance #sffwrtcht
2:31 amshadowflame1974:I always think how awesome it is that the Sf/F/Horror community is so supportive #sffwrtcht
2:31 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Did you have any Creative Writing or editing training before starting this? MFA? #sffwrtcht
2:32 amRedstoneSF:Monthly issues. We try to have a 4000 and a 1000. Unless we do a reprint. #sffwrtcht
2:33 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF That's story length? #sffwrtcht
2:33 amRedstoneSF:Our reprints from @hannu and @amendlocke were two of my favorite storiwes from the last few years. to show what I like #sffwrtcht
2:34 amRedstoneSF:Words, yes. #sffwrtcht
2:35 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Any ongoing goals you are shooting for other than the usual growth and such? #sffwrtcht
2:35 amlouisbshalako:@RedstoneSF What age group reads Redstone SF? #sffwrtcht
2:35 amBryanThomasS:@louisbshalako Good question. Welcome, Louis. #sffwrtcht
2:35 amRedstoneSF:I minored in English/Creative Writing, but I'm a teacher. I grade essays a;ll the time ;-) #sffwrtcht
2:35 amBryanThomasS:@caseysays Thanks for joining us! #sffwrtcht
2:35 amBryanThomasS:@Merc_hyn_di Good to see you here! #sffwrtcht
2:36 amBryanThomasS:@jasonsanford Wanna have you on sometime too. Thanks for the support and being here #sffwrtcht
2:36 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Ah, there you go. What level/grade do you teach? High school? #sffwrtcht
2:36 amWyld_Dandelyon:#sffwrtcht @RedstoneSF Do you prefer near future or distant?
2:36 amRedstoneSF:@louisbshalako your first one - I'd say write and then figure out the market. As for age, I think we don't think age, but adult #sffwrtcht
2:37 amBryanThomasS:@Wyld_Dandelyon Thanks for joining us. Good question. #sffwrtcht
2:37 amBryanThomasS:@pattyjansen Thanks for joining us! #sffwrtcht
2:37 amRedstoneSF:Teaching: AP History and AP Economics. #sffwrtcht
2:38 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF Do you get feedback from your students at all about Redstone? #sffwrtcht
2:38 amRedstoneSF:As for type: both I like @doctorow a lot and I like stross and Reynolds & Scalzi. Good in any time is the real answer. #sffwrtcht
2:39 amRedstoneSF:We just took a story from @pattyjansen . It is excellent. #sffwrtcht
2:39 amsffwrtcht:Keep the questions coming everyone. Still 20 minutes to go in #sffwrtcht
2:39 ammbranesf:Patty is brilliant. RT @RedstoneSF: We just took a story from @pattyjansen . It is excellent. #sffwrtcht
2:40 amRedstoneSF:The students who are SF fans are tickled by it. Particularly my hackers. #sffwrtcht
2:40 amBryanThomasS:@mbranesf Nice to see you. Thanks for joining us. Gotta have you on sometime to discuss MBrane #sffwrtcht
2:40 amJ_GriffinB:@RedstoneSF Any military SF? #sffwrtcht
2:41 amRedstoneSF:@J_GriffinB Our story by @Vylar_Kaftan is adventure, but not quite Mil. SF. I'd love to have some, a few were very close. #sffwrtcht
2:41 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF Any plans to release a print antho with the best of Redstone at some point? #sffwrtcht
2:42 ampattyjansen:@mbranesf #sffwrtcht thx for heads-up. I'm also an editor for ASIM
2:42 amRedstoneSF:We expect to go that way. I've started investigating it and will see how it pans out. There will definitely be some print. #sffwrtcht
2:43 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Great! Look forward to that! #sffwrtcht
2:44 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF One of the issues ppl face in pro rates is the cost of doing the zine. Can you make a profit doing a pro ezine? #sffwrtcht
2:44 amJ_GriffinB:@RedstoneSF And you may have already covered this, but how long do you believe you'll be taking open submissions at this stretch #sffwrtcht
2:44 amBryanThomasS:@J_GriffinB Feb 1 through 7 #sffwrtcht
2:44 amRedstoneSF:@jaymgates and @jenniferbrozek were helpful in discussing a future anthology, excellent folks #sffwrtcht
2:45 amshadowflame1974:@RedstoneSF another great set of people! #sffwrtcht
2:45 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Yes. Both have given me advice as well. #sffwrtcht
2:45 amRedstoneSF:Real Profit - I doubt it for a while. If we can build a name and get soldid ads, maybe. Subs - open for a week. #sffwrtcht
2:45 amJ_GriffinB:@BryanThomasS Thanks. Probably not this time. #sffwrtcht
2:45 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Do you offer writers any feedback on stories you reject? I realize that's time consuming. #sffwrtcht
2:46 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Relatedly: do you ever send stories back for revisions and ask them to resub? #sffwrtcht
2:46 amBiscuitCIB:@RedstoneSF Towards An Accessible Future was interesting and successful. Any plans to do themed issues/contests #sffwrtcht
2:46 amRedstoneSF:We have an amount we're willing to spend. We also have a Kickstarter fundraiser coming up. #sffwrtcht
2:47 ampattyjansen:@RedstoneSF #sffwrtcht are there any grants you could apply for?
2:48 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Kickstarter's something I just learned about. Could you tell us a little about that? #sffwrtcht
2:48 amRedstoneSF:We have asked for a few rewrites. I Love our story from @rahkan, british highseas in space, and he worked with me on it. love it #sffwrtcht
2:49 amRedstoneSF:Kickstarter supports the arts, and you submit a plan and explain what you are going to use the funds for. #sffwrtcht
2:49 amsffwrtcht:Get those questions in. 10 minutes to go on #sffwrtcht
2:49 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF And then people can contribute to help you reach financial goals, right? #sffwrtcht
2:49 amshadowflame1974:@RedstoneSF do you know when your kickstarter will begin? #sffwrtcht
2:50 amBryanThomasS:The publisher is using Kickstarter to help fund an anthology I am editing. #sffwrtcht
2:50 amRedstoneSF:@pattyjansen There may be. We want to get in our year and be SFWA and then we re going to explore more funding. #sffwrtcht
2:51 amMetafrantic:@BryanThomasS @crossedgenres has used @kickstarter twice to successfully fund publishing projects. #sffwrtcht
2:51 ampattyjansen:@RedstoneSF #sffwrtcht yay for SFWA accreditation ;-)
2:51 amBryanThomasS:@Metafrantic Nice to see you, Bart. Interesting. That's great to hear. #sffwrtcht
2:51 amRedstoneSF:Our Kickstarter should go up this week. We want to do 8000 words an issue for the last three months of our first year. #sffwrtcht
2:52 amJ_GriffinB:@RedstoneSF #sffwrtcht That's a great step in the right direction.
2:52 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF That's an awesome goal. #sffwrtcht
2:52 amRedstoneSF:@Metafrantic @crossedgenres is from whom I got the idea. #sffwrtcht
2:53 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF @Metafrantic That's encouraging. The SF community at large (even readers) are very supportive of zines, etc #sffwrtcht
2:54 amsffwrtcht:Last three months would be March April and May, FYI #sffwrtcht
2:54 amBryanThomasS:Last three months would be March April and May, FYI #sffwrtcht
2:54 amMetafrantic:@RedstoneSF Glad to hear that! Kickstarter has been a great tool for @crossedgenres, we'll be using it again. #sffwrtcht
2:54 amRedstoneSF:From the beginning we set out to be SFWA. I followed @scalzi 's lead on paying writers a pro rate & we followed their guidelines #sffwrtcht
2:54 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF What's your editorial lead time? #sffwrtcht
2:55 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Besides Kickstarter, what else can we do to help/support your efforts? #sffwrtcht
2:55 amRedstoneSF:If you mean from acceptance to publish - right now 4-6 months, but we want to clear the decks this spring. #sffwrtcht
2:56 amBryanThomasS:RT @portiriszine: I also heard of Kickstarter from @crossedgenres and will be using it within the year to create a print volume #sffwrtcht
2:57 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF Yeah, that's what I meant. #sffwrtcht
2:57 amsffwrtcht:Ok, 4 minutes. Final questions anyone? #sffwrtcht
2:57 amRedstoneSF:Support - visit read, download the PSF's and EPUB's nominate our good stories. #sffwrtcht
2:57 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF In case anyone doesn't know, where can we find you online? Do you charge subscription fees? #sffwrtcht
2:58 amRedstoneSF:We are new, but we want our stories to be on lists next year at this time. #sffwrtcht
2:58 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF I hope they are. They should be. #sffwrtcht
2:59 amRedstoneSF:Free - http://redstonesciencefiction.com/ We happily accept paypal donations.;-) #sffwrtcht
2:59 amsffwrtcht:@RedstoneSF Awesome. Anything final you'd like to say? Thanks for coming on, Mike. It's been a great chat. #sffwrtcht
3:00 amRedstoneSF:for twitter http://bit.ly/rsfmag also works! #sffwrtcht
3:00 amsffwrtcht:Next week, same time, with author @JeremyCShipp Then we have @MaryRobinette and @jay_lakecoming up on #sffwrtcht
3:01 amsffwrtcht:All right everyone! Thanks for the great questions & participation tonight & for joining us. Let's thank @RedstoneSF for joining #sffwrtcht
3:01 amsffwrtcht:Ok, so Mike's here for a bit if anyone has left over questions. #sffwrtcht
3:01 amJ_GriffinB:@RedstoneSF thanks much! #sffwrtcht
3:02 ampattyjansen:#sffwrtcht thanks to everyone
3:02 amBrandonLayng:RT @RedstoneSF Free - http://redstonesciencefiction.com/ We happily accept paypal donations.;-) #sffwrtcht #SupportTheLittleGuy
3:02 amjolantru:RT @RedstoneSF: Free - http://redstonesciencefiction.com/ We happily accept paypal donations.;-) #sffwrtcht
3:02 amBryanThomasS:@BrandonLayng Thanks for RTing that #sffwrtcht #SupportTheLittleGuy
3:04 amsffwrtcht:Don't forget writers, you still have 5 days to submit to @RedstoneSF before they close for subs! #sffwrtcht
3:04 amBryanThomasS:Don't forget writers, you still have 5 days to submit to @RedstoneSF before they close for subs! #sffwrtcht
3:04 amBryanThomasS:RT @RedstoneSF: Thanks so much for having me in Guys. You have some topnotch people coming up. @sffwrtcht #sffwrtcht
3:05 amBryanThomasS:@RedstoneSF We do. Been lucky and grateful for the support of the SFF community for #sffwrtcht
3:06 amRedstoneSF:You do a great job. @BryanThomasS and @sffwrtcht Thanks for having me. I'll stick around for a few minutes #sffwrtcht
3:06 amRedstoneSF:Thanks so much for having me in Guys. You have some topnotch people coming up. #sffwrtcht
3:07 amBiscuitCIB:@RedstoneSF Towards An Accessible Future was interesting & successful. Any plans to do other themed issues/contests? #sffwrtcht reasking :)
3:07 amRedstoneSF:Thanks for having me. Always love to hear from SF lovers like us. #sffwrtcht
3:08 amsffwrtcht:Tonight's transcript will go up at the blog in an hour or so. http://bit.ly/a7fKZ5 Working on an #sffwrtchtsite. Past transcripts also up
3:08 amBryanThomasS:Tonight's transcript will go up at the blog in an hour or so. http://bit.ly/a7fKZ5 Working on an #sffwrtchtsite. Past transcripts also up
3:10 amRedstoneSF:@BiscuitCIB We will probably do another this summer. The contest really sparked a lot of talk. It did a little good I think. #sffwrtcht
3:11 amRedstoneSF:@BiscuitCIB Thanks for mentioning that! I meant to. It was great @SarahEMC2 really gained us some attention early on with it. #sffwrtcht
3:11 amRedstoneSF:RT @BryanThomasS: Tonight's transcript will go up at the blog in an hour or so. http://bit.ly/a7fKZ5Working on an #sffwrtcht site. Past transcripts also up
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

New comments are not being accepted since the blog has been closed and moved to www.bryanthomasschmidt.net. Please visit us there to comment. The posts have all been transferred. And thanks much for taking time to visit!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)