Well, I just talked to…

Well, I just talked to Francois, and he loved my first draft thesis manuscript, so I'm feeling rather ecstatic and floaty at the moment. He also strongly recommended that I start sending it out to the major book contests for new writers; he thinks the $25 reading fees are well worth it, since he says winning one can make a writer's career, and he think I have a decent shot. Oof. He also says I shouldn't worry about the manuscript being unfinished -- just to send it in as is, it's enough finished, and if it wins, they'll let me finish it before publication. I'm a little concerned that I may not qualify as a 'new writer' by some of their standards, but I guess I'll go peer at the guidelines and see what they say. It's true I've never published a novel, at any rate. Of course, this book is only sort of a novel. Guess I won't know for certain until I look (and I suspect I won't really know then either -- I suppose I can write to the contest administrators and ask, if necessary).

I'm finding this all a bit disconcerting. I wasn't really planning on finishing the book until mid-March at the earliest -- possibly six months or a year later. Suddenly I'm being asked to actually do stuff with it now. But he knows what he's talking about, and this is what advisors are for, right? To advise the ignorant? So I guess I go research writing contests. The four he told me to definitely hit were: Iowa, Flannery O'Connor, Drew Hines (sp?), and AWP. He thought the Poets & Writers website would have a more comprehensive list with more details.

Oh, one more note from the discussion, for those of you sending out literary fiction -- he says that C. Michael Curtis at The Atlantic strongly favors stories with plot. This was in the context of Francois explaining that Curtis has published several stories from Francois's students, but tends to pick the ones that Francois likes the least. :-)

4 thoughts on “Well, I just talked to…”

  1. Some of us feel that needing to qualify that an editor “strongly favors stories with plot” is one of the signs of the apocalypse. A story without a plot is not a story. Maybe it’s not the most important thing in the story, but christ, I’m getting tired of reading works by people who think it is altogether dispensable.

    OK. Sorry about that. Off soapbox now.

    And congratulations, yes.

  2. Sometimes plot is altogether dispensible. Although apparently not at The Atlantic, so I guess now you know a safe place to do your reading…

  3. Just to update — I did the research, and I’m not eligible for Iowa (too published), but I am for the other three (and btw, it’s Drue Heinz, I got the spelling completely wrong), so now the deadlines are in my calendar, so here we go.

Leave a Reply to Columbine Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *