Hello, dreamers. October is approaching, and my querying mission is entering its fourth week. Aside from my fourth rejection, it was quiet on the querying front last week. But as week four begins, I expect to hear something definitive from at least a few of my target agents.

With October approaching, I am entering another transition phase in my annual writing schedule. October is a mixed month for me. Usually I pause work on my active novel project at some point for a final round of short fiction. This “break” allows me to sit back for a few weeks in preparation for National Novel Writing Month in November, when I’ll be doing the bulk of my work on the current WIP. But for now, Aquarius 1 remains my focus. So with that in mind, here’s what I’ll be up to this week:

Aquarius 1

So last week, I was reminded once again that writing isn’t an exact science. Sometimes you just have to follow the words. Early last week I abandoned the background sketch I was working on and began writing one for my secondary POV character. It went surprisingly well; I was able to fully encapsulate her complex characterization as a devoted scientist and a failed spouse.

Then, I began working on the background for my primary POV character.

I like main characters with tragic histories. And I love to make my character suffer. Knowing I wanted to write each sketch about a pivotal moment that set the character on the path leading them to the novel’s plot, I decided Karen’s story would deal with the death of her father.

The result, thus far, has been one of the most devastating pieces I’ve ever written: a twelve-year-old girl who dreams of being an astronaut must deal with the death of the most important person in her life. Not only that, but knowing her father died in space shakes the very foundation of her world. And her mother, practically an absentee parent, is emotionally unavailable to her.

As painful as this has been to write, it’s given me tremendous insight into her character. While the other sketches take place months, or at most years prior to the actual story, this one deals with a child enduring life-altering tragedy. I’ve found myself writing about the destruction and rebuilding of a person. And I’ve come to realize just how much this aspect of her past, originally a footnote in my character notes, comes to define the course of her life.

At present, I’m about halfway through. But once I’m finished, I’ll have at most one more sketch to write before I’m ready to start work on the actual story. And already what I’ve done over the past two weeks has changed my vision for the opening chapters.

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

I’m approaching the four week mark, and as I mentioned earlier, four rejections. Not unexpected; disappointing perhaps. But I’m not done yet. I still have six outstanding queries. And while I’m unlikely to hear back at all from two of them, at least a few seem to have found their way into agents’ “maybe piles”.

In any event, the fact is the fall query window is already closing. Over the past week I’ve seen a growing number of tweets about agents closing to queries for the year. And as I’ve said in the past, even agents who technically remain open are unlikely to be receptive. For the time being, all I can do is wait. At least until late October.

Amid querying, drafting a new WIP and dozens of other things, I’ve abstained from recent pitch events. However, there is one left I plan to participate in: the first-ever #SFPit, a pitch event exclusively for science fiction writers. I’ve decided this event will serve as the official end of my querying efforts this year. Among the things I’ll be doing during my October break is prepping for the event, getting ready to put my best foot forward and hopefully snag some agent likes. I plan to polish my agent’s guide, and put together a few more interesting posts for the event.

If, however, I don’t attract any interest from agents I might query, that will be that. I’ll be stepping away from querying for the rest of the year to focus on Aquarius 1. In December I’ll be back at it, revising my manuscript and query letter, in preparation for Query Season after the first of the year.

Short Fiction

Another pair of unsurprising rejections, and my window for short story submissions is nearly closed for the year. I plan to make one final submission on Wednesday, though the turnaround rate of my last several rejections suggests the window may already be closed. That leaves me to do the same with short story subs I’m doing with queries: sit and wait.

At least one of my outstanding submissions will be resolved before the end of the week (depending on the results, it may knock out another, as well). I still have four active submissions to literary markets. Three have now passed the estimated response time from Submission Grinder, though I suspect one of them is due to backlog (it’s a market I’ve never subbed to before).

The longest of these, which is approaching the 160 day mark, could be resolved any day now. For a while I’ve suspected that either 160 days or the beginning of October would trigger movement on that submission (the latter expectation is due to my understanding of their editorial process). Hopefully, by the end of this week I’ll have some happy news to share with my beloved readers.

Upcoming Content

First, a quick note: over the coming weeks, I plan to sunset all of the short fiction I have available on this site. This was a difficult decision, but because it’s been some time since I regularly posted short fic here, I’ve come to realize none of it properly represents the current state of my writing. I got my start here, and much of my earliest short fiction work was originally posted to this site. And though none of it really measures up to my current standards of storytelling, it’s sad to see it all go. But life is growth. And sad as it is to say, I’ve outgrown my early stories.

Moving on, as October begins I’ll finally be resuming my customary monthly posting schedule. From this point forward, I’ll be posting my latest “Sci-Fi Reviewed” on the first Friday of the month. That will be followed by “On Writing”, then “The Cutting Room Floor”, and I’ll end each month with my long-running and popular “Science in Fiction” posts. In months with a fifth Friday (as will be the case in October), I’ll be ending the month with a new feature: “DNF”, reviewing books I didn’t finish reading and explaining why.

So now that that’s out of the way, here’s what you can expect this week here on my site:

Wednesday: “WIP Wednesday”

In my next “WIP Wednesday” post, I’ll be discussing my ongoing background work for Aquarius 1, and why I find value in tormenting my characters.

Friday: “Sci-Fi Reviewed: Babylon 5”

I’ll be taking a closer look at one of the unsung innovators of sci-fi television: a series consistently outshone by its Star Trek contemporaries, but which nonetheless laid the foundations for the modern sci-fi series.

Sunday: “Dear Sir or Madam”

This week on my Sunday post, in addition to an update on my querying mission, I’ll be explaining query windows: when they happen, how they work, and the difference between an agent being open to queries and open to queries.

It’s going to be another busy week. So read on, and dare to dream. – MK