Slow and Steady 🐢
Sep. 8th, 2025 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingPeople who have been accepted by Clarkesworld or have been slush readers, what exactly does Clarkesworld look for?
https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/1mi8uym/people_who_have_been_accepted_by_clarkesworld_or/
Generally the two traits I've noticed among the authors we've published is that they steadily improve over time and persist long enough to cross the line. How long that can take is wildly variable. Some manage to land on their first try, but others have sold stories after 80 or more. Most authors give up before the third submission.
Words of wisdom from Neil Clarke himself. I love that he's not only active on Reddit but genuinely supportive of emerging writers. What a legend.
I think there can sometimes be a lot of buzz around "under 25" writers, but I've gradually come to realize that most of this is idiotic marketing bullshit. I'm not saying that younger writers can't be talented, but rather that persistence and craft are far more important than being a photogenic young person who comes from the sort of family that can afford to send you to an MFA program.
People like to encourage younger writers facing rejection by saying that Toni Morrison only published her first book at 39 years old, but that's young for a novelist, and her success was only possible because she herself worked in the New York publishing industry and had the assistance of several supportive editors whom she knew personally. I mean, she was definitely an amazing writer of course! But also, she had help, and 39 isn't old, relatively speaking.
Anyway, the point is to keeping working, and to keep pushing your craft forward.
https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/1mi8uym/people_who_have_been_accepted_by_clarkesworld_or/
Generally the two traits I've noticed among the authors we've published is that they steadily improve over time and persist long enough to cross the line. How long that can take is wildly variable. Some manage to land on their first try, but others have sold stories after 80 or more. Most authors give up before the third submission.
Words of wisdom from Neil Clarke himself. I love that he's not only active on Reddit but genuinely supportive of emerging writers. What a legend.
I think there can sometimes be a lot of buzz around "under 25" writers, but I've gradually come to realize that most of this is idiotic marketing bullshit. I'm not saying that younger writers can't be talented, but rather that persistence and craft are far more important than being a photogenic young person who comes from the sort of family that can afford to send you to an MFA program.
People like to encourage younger writers facing rejection by saying that Toni Morrison only published her first book at 39 years old, but that's young for a novelist, and her success was only possible because she herself worked in the New York publishing industry and had the assistance of several supportive editors whom she knew personally. I mean, she was definitely an amazing writer of course! But also, she had help, and 39 isn't old, relatively speaking.
Anyway, the point is to keeping working, and to keep pushing your craft forward.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-13 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-14 03:22 pm (UTC)At the same time, though, I also wish the industry weren't so inhospitable to outsiders. I'm getting a little tired of "working hard" and "putting myself out there" in the hope that something good will finally happen.
And it's exactly these moments of doubt when I'm grateful for the kudos email I get every morning from AO3. On my stupid Bowser/Luigi stories, of all things. At least the furries appreciate my writing lmao
no subject
Date: 2025-09-18 05:45 pm (UTC)I know the industry is both an entrenched power structure and that there literally is a limit to the audience's time and attention, so *some* degree of filtering makes sense, but sometimes I look at things that someone got paid real American dollars for [as much as money can be considered real] and then I look at the things written by my friends and I truly wonder.