A couple of years ago, I went to an editor's and agent's panel at WFC. I'd already signed with my agent, but I went with a friend who was still looking. It was a typical panel topic, how to find an agent, get published, etc.
One of the panelists was a senior editor with a Big Name House. This editor sat on the panel and told the audience, flat out with no qualifiers, that the sure way to get an agent and sell a novel was to first make a name for yourself as a short story writer. And when asked what you should do if you just weren't very good at short stories, senior editor's answer was by god, you better learn if you wanted to be a real professional.
I knew better, my friend knew better, but we sat there and watched the faces of others in the room. You could pick out the real newbie writers by the despair on their faces or the utter panic in their eyes. This was word from on high. This must be true.
Then the real fun started. The two agents on the panel told this senior editor--politely--that he was full of it up to his bushy eyebrows. Senior editor found it difficult to believe that neither of the agents on the panel could even NAME a single SF/F short story market and that they flat out didn't care about them. All these agents cared about was a writer's ability to write novels, not shorts.
While I don't regret all the time I spent focusing on short stories, I do wish I'd spent less time trying to master the short form. Novels are what I'm good at. Novels are what I should have been practicing from the beginning.
And if that makes me an Amateur, with a capital A, in the eyes of certain people, I can live with that.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-09-09 05:02 am (UTC)One of the panelists was a senior editor with a Big Name House. This editor sat on the panel and told the audience, flat out with no qualifiers, that the sure way to get an agent and sell a novel was to first make a name for yourself as a short story writer. And when asked what you should do if you just weren't very good at short stories, senior editor's answer was by god, you better learn if you wanted to be a real professional.
I knew better, my friend knew better, but we sat there and watched the faces of others in the room. You could pick out the real newbie writers by the despair on their faces or the utter panic in their eyes. This was word from on high. This must be true.
Then the real fun started. The two agents on the panel told this senior editor--politely--that he was full of it up to his bushy eyebrows. Senior editor found it difficult to believe that neither of the agents on the panel could even NAME a single SF/F short story market and that they flat out didn't care about them. All these agents cared about was a writer's ability to write novels, not shorts.
While I don't regret all the time I spent focusing on short stories, I do wish I'd spent less time trying to master the short form. Novels are what I'm good at. Novels are what I should have been practicing from the beginning.
And if that makes me an Amateur, with a capital A, in the eyes of certain people, I can live with that.