Speculative fiction, broadly, includes the stories that are typically classified as science fiction and fantasy, but if you've written in the genre realm for long, you may have noticed that the terminology employed by libraries and other sources to classify genre fiction is somewhat limited. Maybe we genre writers aren't as "serious" as the "real" authors, but that hasn't stopped us from developing our own terminology to help describe our works. Since I think that many of these terms would be useful for both readers and writers to know, I've sought to describe some of them below.
Business Musings
There is a reason that this site is called "IGC Publishing." Despite the online format, I'm largely modeling my efforts after traditional publishing methods, wherein I go through the steps of writing a story, advertising it, formatting it, building the front and back matter, and then selling the story as a stand-alone piece of work, available for download at a prescribed price point. That is, I am treating my stories as products.
Writing Updates
Formal world building for the Blood Magic series is slow going, not helped by the fact that it is far more exciting to write new content for stories than it is to dig through existing stories and write up what is essentially a textbook on my imaginary world. However, I made some good progress this past weekend, completing the rough draft of the Blood Magic world map, and a second draft to follow on.
Cartography
One of the distinguishing features of the speculative fiction genre in its published form is the maps. Avid readers of fantasy and science fiction are known to pour over the maps included in the books they read, maps describing fantastical worlds and universes in vivid detail. It was perhaps inevitable, therefore, that I would at some point be obliged to create maps to go along with the stories I've written or am in the process of writing.
Brevity and Music
Specifically, I enjoy music that tells a story. Whether that's a story spun of my imagination through classical music, or a more explicit telling through words, music that tells some kind of tale is fascinating to me. Songwriters can fit entire sagas into a few verses and a refrain, capturing character, plot, setting, conflicts and resolutions, all without the advantages I have as an author: namely, thousands and thousands of words, as well as grammar and punctuation.
Updates
There are really some interesting considerations going into this Blood Magic project. Since it has this episodic nature, the project as a whole requires a great deal more pre-planning than I tend to do. Not that I don't plan out my writing; I just tend to do it in my head, and then revise my plan as I write. Fo'Fonas, for instance, began as a single chapter exploring an idea for a magic system I liked, which blossomed into my first, complete novel (it's now in the review process).
What’s Next?
With any luck, you enjoyed my debut short story. I'm working hard to get more stories revised, formatted, published, and released for you, but since this isn't my actual job just yet, that process can sometimes be a bit slow. However, I have a couple of good prospects for our next publication.
Ads
I need to initially sell 15 copies of a short story to recoup the ISBN cost. I'll further need to sell 50 additional copies of short stories a year to fund the website in its current form, or 150 additional copies of short stories a year for the plan that would let me set up a nicer storefront.
The Truth
I don't remember precisely where I heard the phrase, or if I came up with it myself, but I've long enjoyed referring to myself, in a writing sense, as someone who tells lies and gets paid for it. Admittedly, I haven't managed the getting paid for it part yet, but hopefully that will come with more effort on my part. Unfortunately, this would-be professional liar is now confronted with the difficult task of being truthful.
A Place to Start
Maybe, if I were some kind of amazing author, a writing protege, with nothing to do but labor lovingly over my works of fiction, I could think about doing this the "normal" way, if such a thing even exists. There's something attractive about traditional publishing, mostly that the publisher usually takes care of all of the logistics, advertising, and social media outreach. In other words, the traditional publishing route (at least as I imagine it) would allow me to hide in a cave and write, without worrying about all of this publicity and business.
IGC Publishing 