King was careful to always aim above, but just barely above, his current skill level. His first published story was in a fanzine — the 1960′s version of a blog. He moved from fanzines to second-tier mens magazines like Cavalier andDude. After he cracked that market he moved on to top-tier mens magazines and top-tier fantasy and science fiction publications. Only once he could consistently hit those targets did he succeed in selling his first novel to Doubleday.Good stuff about honest feedback and how to stretch yourself. This is exactly what I hope to do for my writing students.
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Makes me feel like I might be doing something right, going so slowly and moving from blog to magazine to fiction in a magazine and taking my time on this current novel.
ReplyDeleteSlow & steady and all that, right? I'm excited for you about your novel.
DeleteI heard that he actually threw his first novel in the trash. Luckily his wife took it out, read it, and convinced him to send it to a publisher. Stories like that can help our students. I think many of them believe good writing is beyond their ability.
ReplyDelete