That Open Call From Tor

4 CommentsUncategorized

I got the news bulletin–via one of the writers’ forums I belong to–that Tor will be open to unsolicited novella submissions starting October 16th. Here’s the link. 20-40,000 words, high fantasy, set in a world that isn’t modeled on European cultures.

Well… I’m not all that sword-and sorcery to begin with. Kriss and sorcery? Panga and Sorcery? (The page from Tor says “sword”.)

I like a little tech mixed in with my fiction.

Well, never mind. They’re going to rotate through other genres in the future.

The thing is, 20k really isn’t that much. Less than half of a nano-novel. And Tor will be open for three months. If I were organized (I’m not.), and really good at revising (getting there). I might be able to write specifically for a call like that.

It sounds like the kind of challenge that might help me to write in a more organized, more linear fashion. Not… honestly, that I’m thinking of making it a high-fantasy spur-of-the-moment novella.

4 Comments

  1. Erica D

    Reply

    I’m right there with you, not on this specific one as high fantasy isn’t my thing. But when I see new open calls for specific genres I get all excited and think ‘oh yeah Ill just knock that out.’ Sometimes I end up with something good, but most of the time it ends up just being a distraction from what I should be working on … the dreaded revision. I will be checking in to see what else they make calls for though!

    • Karen

      Reply

      I don’t know if this works for other people, but for me, I have to feed a certain number of words in before I start getting anything good back out. My stories start to “click” with my muse around twenty thousand words, so I’m just used to the idea that I’m going to throw away… well, a lot.

  2. Nick Wilford

    Reply

    Sounds like an interesting one, I like entering shorts for contests but something like this does call for a bigger commitment. The angle of not being modelled on European cultures is thought-provoking, though, because it makes you realise how much fantasy is European-y medieval-y in feel!

    • Karen

      Reply

      I’m really drawn to the idea of picking a new culture, learning about it, and writing something about it. (probably not a fantasy, but you know…) I’m not sure how good the end result would be.

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