Editorial Archive 2000

The Rev-Up Editorial Archive

2000

2000 December

The Monster

There's a monster at large on the internet. Not a virus, this is a monster that stalks the ethereal corridors of cyberspace, leaving its traces for all to see.

I've long maintained, contrary to what has been presented as a common view, that the internet is on the whole a beneficial influence on the young. Many people would have you believe that a web-surfer is the epitome of the couch potato, and that the internet is everything that's bad about television, only more so.

I beg to differ. Unlike television, the internet is an interactive medium. With its webcams, email, chatrooms, and most of all, its essentially democratic structure, the internet allows everyone equal access -- and an equal chance to have their say.

Despite the preponderance of graphics, both moving and static, and of sound, the internet remains essentially a written medium. People who surf the web usually end up reading stuff. This is great news for all those concerned with public literacy.

But there's a catch. The internet's democratic, free- access model allows non-professional writers to produce unlimited quantities of online text. Consequently much of that text is, at best, amateurish. At worst, it's unreadable.

The monster at large on the internet is bad writing.

2000 November

Incredible

If you made it up, no-one would believe you. Dismissed as one of the wilder fantasies of the speculative fiction writer, such objects of natural antiquity would be seen as frauds or fakes.

Yet there they are, strewn across the open ground in a quantity that beggars belief. Located on part of a vast tract of Arizona land known as the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest is a testament to the old saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction." Here we have rocks in the shape of tree-trunks, logs that show every detail of the living timber that this inert crystal once was.

Volcanic and chemical action has, over millennia, transformed living trees into colourful but lifeless sculptures.

Fossilised bone is one thing, but this fossilised wood has to be seen to be believed.

2000 October

This Way Up

Back in June we announced the official launch of THIS WAY UP : Speculative Fiction Online, a web-zine, freely accessible at http://www.wayup.co.uk, featuring short fiction of the speculative kind.

At last we now have the first issue available, with some great fiction by authors from the UK and across the pond. Check it out. You can also leave comments on the stories; these will be forwarded to the authors.

Also check out this month:

"How to Make a Spacious Fortune" -- an essay by the Rev-Master that originally appeared in that excellent online magazine Jackhammer.

2000 September

On Editing

Maybe you're getting a little down-hearted with how your literary career is developing -- or not developing. It's great getting acceptance letters from editors, but those are likely to be far outnumbered by rejections. It can all seem a long slow process with little reward.

As a reader and writer of speculative fiction I toyed with the idea, a year or so ago, of editing my own magazine. But a hard-headed assessment of the likely costs -- payments to contributors and printers being the main outgoings (I didn't factor in my time) gave me pause.

More recently, with may web-based magazines gaining a modicum of respectability, I decided to publish a web-zine. This would cut out the printing cost, leaving only authors' fees and web-design to be accounted for.

One can charge for a print magazine, but without sufficient sales a loss was certain -- a big loss, as printing a short run, say 250 or even 500 copies, is expensive.

I decided to accept the fact that I wasn't going to break even, let alone make a profit, so my web-zine would be available free of charge. I would nevertheless pay a nominal sum for contributions.

Being a paying market gives a publication a certain legitimacy when it comes to enforcing standards in submissions. It's also a (small) extra incentive for authors to submit their work.

In June 2000 I launched THIS WAY UP : Speculative Fiction Online. Initially the site contained only an announcement, submission guidelines and an empty submission log. But after submitting the site to search engines and market listings, the stories began to arrive.

Being an editor has so far been an immensely encouraging and inspiring experience. I'm constantly amazed at how prolific some authors are, and in general the standard of submissions has been high.

For the first issue of This Way Up I've been able to select speculative fiction stories that I genuinely admire, and that I believe will give pleasure to readers.

My web-designer and I are currently putting the final touches to the first issue, and I'm already thinking about the next. Anyone who enjoys speculative fiction should take a look. Anyone who would like to submit an article or story should check the guidelines.

And anyone who's unsure whether to take the plunge and publish a web-zine: try it, you too could be pleasantly surprised.

2000 August

You Can't Write About That

"Fiction authors write stories. Non-fiction authors write articles." The idea that these 'types' of authors are opposites is, of course, ridiculous. We all know that most fiction authors write non-fiction as well. Not all non-fiction authors write stories, but the distinction doesn't really matter.

In popular fiction, many authors stick to one genre, be it crime, mystery, thriller, science fiction, horror, romance, fantasy, or a hybrid or sub-genre of one or more of these. Other authors write successfully in more than one distinct genre. Often they write under different names in each genre, whether required to by their publishers or for other reasons.

The Scottish author, Iain Banks, writes 'mainstream' fiction as well as science fiction, though the latter is apparently written by Iain M. Banks. A neat device, which lets you know in what genre the publisher thinks any particular Banks book belongs.

The question of genre is a tricky one, and you can argue about it for hours. Personally, I think genre was thought up by publishers as a convenience for booksellers. I've discussed this elsewhere -- see What is SF? -- Drawing the line for my own take on 'genre.'

What about non-fiction? There are authors who write about travel, and there are authors who write about law. There are authors who write about... well, pick any subject and you'll find an author who writes almost exclusively on that one topic. You'll also find that some authors have wide-ranging expertise, and can write in depth on all kinds of subjects.

Partly this is a matter of experience, and partly of research -- the internet can be a great help here, if used wisely. But it's also possible to write about something of which you know very little, provided the slant, or angle, is right.

Recently I was asked to review a substantial volume of literary criticism and contemporary poetry. My literary qualifications extend no further than GCE O-level English. What do I know about poetry? Very little. Contemporary poetry? Nothing.

As a reviewer for Zene: The Definitive Guide to the World's Independent Press I'd already reviewed small-press fiction magazines containing poetry. For issue 22 of Zene the editor, Andy Cox, sent me a copy of Stand Magazine -- 187 pages of obscure essays, erudite literary reviews, and incomprehensible poetry, emanating from the University of Leeds School of English.

And one week to read it, review it and email the manuscript.

Taking as my starting point that there's nothing I can't write about, I resolved to 'write without fear' from the point of view of a typical Zene reader.

Zene is a market magazine aimed at fiction writers. It lists independent publications that accept fiction submissions, and is a forum for editors, readers and writers of fiction.

No doubt amongst Zene's readership there are those for whom Stand is a haven of lucid exposition. For me it's not, and I don't think I'm alone. On that basis I wrote my review.

I read all 187 pages and wrote without fear. Some of what I wrote might be justifiably described as philistine -- by those in the know -- but I felt I was writing as a typical reader.

Stand finished up with three excellent short stories, so thankfully I was able to conclude my review on a high note.

2000 July

Hung up on the Hits

Last month I announced that I'd found a new website called Themestream, and I provided some links to some articles I'd posted there. What follows is a salutary lesson on how ones aims and goals can become subverted.

My first few articles on Themestream were reprints. As a newcomer I saw it as a good place to post articles that weren't doing anything other than sitting there. At least on Themestream they'd get exposure, and a chance to earn a little cash.

I was pleased to see the articles be viewed, and gratified to read the occasional comment. I decided to post a few more.

It seemed there was a demand for short pieces on the nitty-gritty of writing -- both fiction and non-fiction. So I decided to write some articles specifically targeting Themestream's community of authors.

I wrote a piece called "One Simple Step to Becoming a Writer." A few hours after posting, this article had been viewed more times than all my others combined. It had a four-star rating, and lots of comments.

Until then I'd been watching my revenue increase in mere cents, but for this article it was going up in dollars.

I was, of course, delighted.

Reading the article again, I wondered why it was so much more popular than my others. I tried to analyze it, to identify the secret ingredients so that I could use them again in subsequent work.

I posted an article titled "You Know Who," written in what I felt was a similar style, and sat back to watch the comments pour in. But "You Know Who" lagged way behind "One Simple Step" in both views and comments.

I went back to "One Simple Step" and analyzed it again. This time I thought I'd cracked it. A further article, "In Popular Fiction, Only One Thing Really Matters," incorporated -- I was sure -- all the attributes that had made "One Simple Step" such a success.

But "In Popular Fiction" lagged behind "One Simple Step," just as "You Know Who" had.

I was flummoxed. I began to doubt the validity of the rating system. Then I had a sneaking suspicion that I might have peaked too early, and my presence on Themestream would be downhill from here onward.

Once again I went back to "One Simple Step." Surely there must be some reason why this article was rated so much better than my others. If only I could find the magic formula, I'd be on the road to total Themestream success.

I found I was thinking about this problem at times when normally I'd be mulling over ideas for other articles. Rather than concentrating on the writing, I was trying to work out what would maximize views.

It's true there's a correlation between the mechanics of a well-written article and what will hook and keep Themestream readers. But that's a narrow viewpoint, in my opinion. I'm not saying that Themestream is a narrow readership. (Far from it -- you only have to look at the list of topics to see how wide-ranging the readership is.) But to write with the major intention of increasing your Themestream revenue is to miss the point -- not of Themestream, but of writing.

I'm grateful to have found Themestream. In the short time I've been a member, it's been a great stimulus and focus of some of my writing efforts. But I don't want it to take over my life. Writing, itself, has already done that.

My instinct tells me that a preoccupation with 'hits' is likely to lead to formula writing, without any real commitment to content, and therefore the writing will suffer as a result.

So from now on I shall forget the analysis. If an article of mine is successful, then that's great, and the money is a bonus. But there are other ways of making money from writing. I prefer to treat Themestream as a forum within which I can express myself to the best of my ability -- while obtaining virtually instant feedback.

Whether that feedback is positive or negative, it's far better than nothing. Rather than the payment, it's the feedback authors get from their readers that is Themestream's real strength.

2000 June

This month we have a couple of announcements to make. The first is by far the more momentous of the two -- the official launch of THIS WAY UP : Speculative Fiction Online. This is a web-zine, freely accessible at http://www.wayup.co.uk, featuring short fiction of the speculative kind.

The website is at present not much more than an announcement and submission guidelines; the first fiction issue will be online in August 2000. If you write speculative short fiction, in particular science fiction check out the guidelines. This Way Up is a paying market, and accepts email submissions.

The other announcement is that the Rev-Master has stumbled across an interesting web-phenomenon: a website that allows you to publish your own work, and pays you every time someone reads it. This is Themestream, and currently the Rev-Master has about a dozen articles online there. You can see a complete list at the Rev-Master's Themestream Author Page.

If you're a Rev-Up Regular (I like that -- maybe I'll make it official) you may recognise a few of the articles as being adaptations of some that have appeared in editorials here. For the writers among you, the Rev-Master has penned a number of articles under his subject-heading Advice from the Scribe. These appear in the Themestream topic Writing Tips and Advice.

2000 May

Welcome to the new look! Okay, so it's not a major redesign, but we do have a new logo, courtesy of Phantom Graphics Web Design Services, and the home page has been rearranged. This won't be the last redesign -- there are more changes coming in the months ahead. Watch this space...

And at last we have our own domain name:

http://www.rev-up-review.co.uk/

Bookmark it now!

2000 April

Graphic Sex

Have you looked at any computer games recently? Or magazines about computer games? I'm including consoles, such as Sony's PlayStation, Sega's Dreamcast and the Nintendo 64 in my definition of 'computer' here.

A disturbing trend seems to be emerging, given the demographics of these machines' users, and it's all because the technology is advancing at an ever-increasing rate.

Computer graphics have developed to the stage that your average games console can display fast-moving high-resolution images with ease. Whereas in days of old the rendering of complex objects -- especially objects with fine textures and curved surfaces -- tended to produce blocky graphics with jerky movements, these days it's possible to display smooth texture, realistic shading and convincing lighting, all in fast and fluid motion.

So instead of your Amazon warrior being depicted as an assembly of crudely coloured planes, she can now be shown curvy, with smooth, realistically simulated skin tones. In fact, it seems that the depiction of skin and flesh is more advanced than the rendering of difficult and unpredictable surfaces like clothing. It's easier, in programming terms, to show a girl in the scantiest bikini than it is to show her fully clothed.

The magazines exploit this, of course. If the latest crop of games includes any that contain nubile young women as characters, it's those games that feature on the magazines' covers.

The gadget magazines seem to have a similar philosophy, and this is where it appears to be a trend. They know that their readers are mostly men aged 18 to 35. The mags and the ads reflect this; sex is used blatantly in the magazines' advertising. A recent ad in a hi-fi magazine shows a young woman sitting on a wooden floor, her back against a wall. She's wearing a short, tight dress, and she has her feet up on the edge of a sofa. A micro hi-fi system (TEAC, in case you're interested) is positioned below her calves. The caption reads, "Personally, I Prefer Smaller Knobs."

2000 March

Soft Soap

Some time ago I rambled on about why I found soap opera unsatisfying. I recall that I didn't come up with any particular reason, only that it didn't move me in any way.

I've thought about this since, and come to the conclusion that the special virtue of soap opera is also the reason I don't watch it. That virtue is sameness. You can miss many episodes of any soap opera and still come back to it, pick up the details, and carry on as if nothing has happened. Often, nothing has happened. In that respect it's like many people's lives. It carries on from day to day, and nothing much changes. That's how soap opera is supposed to be -- reassuring, familiar, comforting. And addictive. The little plot-lines keep you hooked from one episode to the next, but nothing's ever really resolved (again, pretty much like life).

Fiction of quality is different, or at least should be. Characters develop. Things happen with some kind of logic, whether that's the logic of everyday life, the logic of science, or the logic of the who-done-it, supernatural, psychological or fantasy world, depending on the genre. Most important, there's resolution, whether epiphany or acceptance. Characters come to terms with something, or maybe they don't, but always the resolution is there at the end of the story, and unlike with soap opera, you know it's the end.

The main difference, as I see it, between quality fiction and soap opera, is one of structure. The former has essentially a closed structure -- beginning, middle, end, or some variation. The latter has no structural pretensions other than cyclic: a hook at the end of every episode. It has no purpose, other than to sell soap.

2000 February

Another One Bites the Dust

This month I learned of the demise of the magazine Science Fiction Age. It's a sad loss, as not only was SF Age a source of a wide variety of high quality short science fiction, it was also, as far as I'm aware, the highest-paying dedicated short SF market in the world.

Scott Edelman, the editor, did a good job with his mix of media and written SF, and his magazine was always colourful (at least from May 1996, when I started reading it), but his major focus was always on short SF. He never accepted any of my stories, although he did print a letter of mine in the January 1998 issue. I suppose there's a chance that some other publishing enterprise will snatch up SF Age, after its scheduled final issue in May, but Scott Edelman has already left for another job. Science Fiction Age will be sorely missed.

2000 January

New Year Celebrations

On New Year's Eve I was on the top of Portsdown Hill, with my camera and tripod, overlooking the City of Portsmouth. Half an hour before midnight there were thousands of people up there, and the fireworks had already started. I could see the full length of Portsea Island, with many small fireworks being set off in people's backyards, and large displays just starting on the distant sea-front.

As midnight approached, the fireworks became more frequent. With ten minutes to go, everywhere I looked there were fireworks in the sky. As the last half-minute counted down Portsmouth erupted in cosmic fire. On the stroke of the new year everyone cheered, while across the smoke-shrouded landscape the city blazed in celebration. It was spectacular, the like of which I'm unlikely to witness again, ever.

I've got some great photographs, but somehow nothing equals being there on the night.

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