Author: Scott William Carter

This Blog Entry Retold by Another Writer

Made a nice sale the other day to Asimov’s, my first to that magazine, and I’m still feeling a buzz about it. “The Tiger in the Garden” is set in the same world as “The Liberators,” which appeared in Analog last year. And like that story, this one also has a lot of parallels to current events. I’m starting to think there’s a novel waiting for me in that world.

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So I was perusing a bargain book table at a Rather Large Retailer Who Shall Remain Nameless and I came across some very nice hardback editions of some classics — Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and other wonderful books that have entered the public domain. I’m always on the lookout for handsome books to add to my collection at affordable prices, especially if I can replace an old paperback.

I picked up Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and thought it odd that the book was a little light in terms of the number of pages. And here’s the shocking the part, the part that both saddens and disgusts me: when I opened the book, I saw, under Mark Twain’s name, a line that read “as retold by . . .“ followed by a writer I’d never heard of.

I couldn’t believe it. I can at least fathom an abridged book (though I never read them if I can help it), especially if it was approved by the author, because that’s generally just taking out some of the author’s own words. But when someone takes a book and actually retells it, recasting it in a different style or voice, that’s nothing short of abominable. Further inspection revealed that these books were geared toward children, but come on, folks, this book was written for young adults as it is! If you don’t think your kids are ready to tackle it on their own, read it to them, or better yet, steer them to books they are ready to read. But don’t have them read some butchered version of one of the great classics of American literature. I would never have wanted my first experience with that book to be anything other than what Samuel Clemens intended it to be.

What’s next, Shakespeare?

Divergent Paths

I read somewhere, I forget where, that getting what you want out of life is quite simple. You decide exactly what it is you want, exactly how you’re going to get there, and then you make it happen. Simple, right? Goal, plan, execution. I’ve never doubted this as a truism for a moment, and yet it’s also obvious how hard it is for most people to implement. I’m certainly no exception. Most people have only the vague sense of what they want to accomplish in life, and of those that have a concrete goal, most either lack a plan or the commitment to make it happen. That’s why it’s so striking when you meet someone who has all the ingredients.

This weekend I went out to dinner with my friend Michael Totten, a writer who’s about to embark on a six month stay in the Middle East. Great things have been happening for Michael lately. He’s been a self-employed writer for over a year, and his blog gets over two thousand unique visitors a day. He writes mostly about politics and travel, both on his blog and in his published articles, and he always has fascinating things to say. I’ve known him since we met in a writing class at the University of Oregon in 1992 (strangely we went to the same high school, but since he was several years older, we never met), and he’s the one who introduced me to the weekly fiction writing workshop run by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. Kris and Dean have been great teachers and mentors to me (much more so than any of my college professors, but that’s another story.) In fact, even though Michael writes mostly nonfiction these days, he still calls Kris and Dean his most important teachers as well.

On the way home, I was musing about all those late nights we spent at coffee shops talking about something related to writing fiction — something that seemed of vital importance to us at the time, but would probably seem pretty silly now. We took very divergent paths from that point, but we still both reached a critical juncture where we decided it was time to get serious about writing. My own commitment came at the end of 2001, spurred by my wife’s pregnancy, and I think that’s about the time Michael started to get really serious about his writing as well. His goal isn’t to be a full time fiction writer (although I’m sure he’ll write fiction again), but he does have a goal. He wants to become a renowned travel writer along the lines of Paul Theroux. Not only that, he has a plan. He’s putting himself in a place where few travel writers will go, a place that also allows him to write about politics, which he is already paid to do.

Michael and I don’t see each other much these days — in fact, we were both surprised that a year had elapsed since our last visit — but I’m still glad to count him as a friend. I’m very happy for his success. He decided exactly what he wanted, exactly how he was going to get there, and he’s making it happen. I have little doubt he’s going to get there.


P.S. Sale to Postscripts

A nice short story sale to the cool British magazine Postscripts, edited by the esteemed Peter Crowther. Really happy with this one, partly because of the magazine, but also because it’s my twentieth short story sale. It also made me realize, once again, how important it is for me to do my best to completely forget about my work once it leaves the house. I found myself slipping lately, worrying about things I can’t control, and I’m much happier person when I just focus on producing the very best stuff I can. The sales come, sometimes in torrents, sometimes in dribbles, but they always come, and often from places you least expect.

And speaking of work, I’m excited about the new novel, a mystery with one of the most unique characters I’ve come up with so far. It continues my genre-hopping tendency, but I’ve made my peace with that. If I end up having to publish under five or six pseudonyms, fine, because I just can’t make myself write in the same genre over and over. I think I’m prolific enough that I can handle three to four books a year under different names. There’s just so many stories to write, and I don’t want to limit myself.

Recent Reads: The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald. The first of the Travis McGees, and it’s a great one. I’ve been reading more mysteries lately, as I gear up to write my own, and I’m definitely going to be reading more MacDonald. McGee is one of the seminal figures in modern mystery fiction, and it’s easy to see why. Even from the first book, he’s a provocative character — one that I want to spend more time with. Here’s hoping I can capture a little bit of that feeling with my own mystery.

Third Time’s The Charm — I Hope

Finally finished the young adult fantasy this weekend and mailed off a package of sample chapters and synopsis to an editor who asked to see it. Finishing a novel is a wonderful feeling as it is, kind of like finishing a short story times a hundred, but finishing this one is really gratifying. It was my third run at this book. The first I tossed without giving to anyone because I knew it wasn’t anywhere close to what I wanted it to be. A handful of people read the second draft, and while I got some pretty enthusiastic responses from most of my readers, I also got a pretty good consensus on what the book needed. It was much more painful throwing away that draft, but I knew I needed a fresh start, and that I didn’t want to be tied to the old manuscript in any way. Now I think I’ve really got something. Of course, that feeling doesn’t always gaurantee people will share my enthusiasm, but it’s not a bad sign either. I can say that when I believe a manuscript is bird poop, editors usually agree with me. And I don’t think this one is bird poop. Hmm . . . Not exactly the pitch I’d use in an elevator with an editor, but you get the drift.

And in the department of the weird, I used a search engine I’d never used before and came across a college student doing an assignment based on my stories:

http://thewaterinmyear.blogspot.com/2005/01/fiction.html

And then getting reprimnaded by the instructor for not following the instructions:

http://thewaterinmyear.blogspot.com/2005/01/citation.html

Since I’ve sold about twenty short stories, only about half of which have seen print, I found this very weird. The best I can guess is that this student read my story, “The Red Scarf,” in Cicada, then did a search of me and read the two stories I had up on Chizine. I did like what she had to say about my stories being very readable, as accessbility is something I work very hard at.

Recent Reads: Trouble in Paradise, by Robert B. Parker. The novel follows Police Chief Jesse Stone in the town of Paradise, Massachusetts as he investigates the grisly murder of a teenager who had been something of a nymphomaniac. The murder is almost an afterthought, because the book works best when it’s focusing on Stone dealing with his tumultuous life. Nothing spectacular, but a good solid read, and I like his prose style.