Hi.

My name’s Gerard Houarner, Fiction Editor for Space and Time Magazine.  I’m one of the people responsible for the fiction in this publication, and usually the last guy you have to get by before a story is sent to Hildy Silverman, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher for this publication.  I’m the one who recommends a story as a “buy.”  If Ms. Silverman agrees, you see it.

Ms. Silverman asked those of us who work for the magazine to contribute something to the spanking new and fresh web site that might be relevant to readers and writers.  At first, I stalled out like a jet engine starving for air.  I write stories.  I very rarely do non-fiction.  It’s not my thing.  I don’t need to do it to make a living (I have a day job).  I also have another non-fiction gig, a cooperative collective blog called storytellersunplugged.com (more on that later) focused on writing, which sometimes kicks my butt.  So I’m already committed to the one thing I’m interested, if not good, at doing - writing.  Now what?

Fortunately, Space and Time’s Poetry Editor, Linda Addison, who happens to also be my wife, was talking about Walter Mosley’s book on writing recently and her enthusiasm gave me an idea - a review column for writing books.

And, immediately, I started to feel the engine choking and the plane gliding down like the one that recently did so over the borough I live in on its way to a safe splashdown in the East River.  Yes, I wanted to look and talk a little about Mosley’s books, and there are a few other books I could think of right off the top of my head to bring up, but an endless series of them kind of depressed me.

Then I remembered a colleague on storytellersunplugged, whose experience and clarity of presentation were both impressive, preparing to teach an online course for very little money, and I thought, hey, maybe I can mention that.  And I thought of other great teachers on the blog, and other resources on the net, and then I had an idea.

Resources.

Inspirational, practical, whimsical.  Could be anything, really.

My heart lightened.

So this is what I offer to you, whoever you are, dropping by for whatever reason: occasional directions to resources I find that might be helpful to writers, specifically, and to creative types, in general.

First off, a word about resources.

There’s no magic formula for writing, or any other art form.  Special programs, computers, 1001 Story Ideas, a graduate degree in creative writing - none of that will guarantee paid publication at professional rates by a magazine, web site, or book publisher not run by your mother.

You, the writer, are the instrument.  The creative force.  You are the first and last resource, the only one that counts.

Your experience, your perception of the world, your inner life, emotional reactions, perspectives, insights, observations - these are the unique elements that shape your creative expression into something others will want to experience.

You are all you need to be a writer.

Well, you and at least a typewriter.  Ribbon.  Some paper.  Or access to a computer and a printer or, these days even more importantly, an internet connection.

It sounds easy.  But all too often, that “you” is missing, even if the manuscript is in the right format and there’s a beginning, middle and end and perhaps an emotional throughline.  Even technically good stories can suck.

Because the “you” is not there.

So that’s one resource we have out of the way, already.

Hah.

And before I go on, and while I’m in my writing pontification mode, let me add the old saying, there’s no right way to write.

I’m a firm believer in that observation.  There are, however, things you need to pay attention to if you expect someone to give you money for what you’ve written.

Somewhere between no right way and a publisher’s guidelines/reader’s expectations for a good time, there’s you.

Oh, yeah, and there’s the bit about putting one’s butt in a chair and typing.

Stir and follow as needed.

What follows are, I hope, a few helpful signposts to creative inspiration and technical insight.  None of them are the right way to write, or the keys to the magic kingdom of publication.  They’re twists and turns on your path.  Maybe you’ll pick up something useful.  If not, leave it alone and keep moving.  Maybe you’ll find something at the next crossroads.

Let me offer first this blog: www.storytellersunplugged.com

Thirty writers, many of them pros making a living at the game, talking about what they do, how, and why, each day of the month.

Free insights, advice, humor, pain - the real deal.

It may not make you a better writer.  But it won’t make you a worse one.

For immediate release, one of the contributors, Alexandra Sokoloff (a professional screenwriter and novelist), talks a great deal in very concrete terms about story structure on her blog, http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/

She’s running an online workshop in February 2009 that some folks might be interested in, more information at:

http://shocklinesforum.yuku.com/topic/9035/t/Screenwriting-Tips-for-Authors-and-Screenwriters-Workshop.html

And finally, during the last reading period, I ran into a number of contributors who didn’t seem to know a great deal about how to find markets for their stories if I or one of the other editors passed on their work.  So:

www.ralan.com is one of the bigger free, genre-oriented online fiction market sites that are reliably and frequently updated.

www.duotrope.com has a wide variety of markets that take genre-oriented fiction, and allows subscribers access to a submission tracking feature, if you feel the need for such support.  The information it offer is, however, free.

(By free, I mean both sites are updated regularly by volunteers who would really appreciate users to contribute to the costs for keeping the site up.)

Douglas Smith has done a terrific job putting together a list of active resources.  I particularly appreciate the foreign markets:  http://www.smithwriter.com/more_links_for_writers

If you prefer email market reports, Kathryn Ptacek produces The Gila Queen (http://gilaqueen.us/) newsletter which arrives irregularly but remains very thorough, and includes a very wide array of fiction and non-fiction (not necessarily genre-bound) markets.

So there are a few resources to get people started.

If you’re an old hand, or a young gun, and know of something terrific that you’d like to share, please drop me a line at oddist55(at)aol(dot)com.  I’ll give credit, don’t worry.  I’d just like as many different points of view, and to learn a few things myself, so don’t be afraid to send me something for next time.