Variations on a Theme

The farther a person is from the mainstream, the more likely their writing is to say something unique and fascinating. So I wouldn't give up on your potential to contribute something original, if you're quirky enough to be hanging around me.

If all you've seen of mermaids are the safe stories ... you haven't seen much. Check out some of cadhla's lyrics, for example. I've done some mermaid poems that are dark, and some that are sassy; I don't think I've done any I'd describe as "safe" or "gentle." Well, maybe the one about the musician with repetitive-stress injury.

If you don't like the examples you've seen, feel free to ignore them and devise something totally different. But I would suggest that you read more widely. A good starting point is to look for fairy tales outside of European traditions.

I should add, if you want to see examples of fiction that is so far out, you can hardly even see here from there -- read anything by Bard Bloom. sythyry is a fictional journal that's a good place to start, but the recently published A Marriage of Insects is also highly recommended. And there are other novels coming that are even more far out, if he can find publishers with a jot of brains to buy them.

Yay! I love turning people onto good books. You might also check out crowdfunding where writers and artists are connecting directly with audiences ... much of that stuff is too exotic for traditional publishers. Oh, and shadesong has been doing beautiful, bittersharp retellings of fairy tales, in conjunction with her daughter.

I'm glad to hear it!

Please make a post on crowdfunding so people will know who you are. We have creative people, donors, and curious onlookers among our membership so far. Often people span more than one role.

Glad I could help. For plot-dominant fiction, try Stephen Gould. The original _Jumper_ (not the movie version) and _Wildside_ both take a single concept and play through all its ramifications very methodically. Some of haikujaguar's stories are dialogue rich; and Lois McMaster Bujold is also brilliant at dialogue ... _The Curse of Chalion_ is a good starting point. There's some epic dialogue in her Vorkosigan series but it takes a while to go from good to great to epic.

I have read some scripts and made some explorations at writing scripts, and concluded that script is not an ideal style for me. I could proofread one. I could comment on the story being told, whether it made sense or not, whether the characters were believable, etc. But serious editing of the script itself ... probably not. I'm not the only editor at ACE though; my partner may have more script experience than I do. Post your query to the site, give us an idea of what you want done, and we'll let you know if it's within our range.