Still Alive...New Location

Chris B. asked me to post this here. Static Movement Online is still a valid market and seeking submissions for upcoming issues. It can still be found HERE

Unfortunately, Chris cannot post anymore on this blog for some unknown technical reason, but she has started a new blog

Her new blog should be considered the 'offical' one for all things Static Movement Online related.
Please update your bookmarks and/or feeds accordingly.

Thanks, and check out the October issue if you haven't already...

~ KvN

Print issue delayed

My computer is still not working, I am waiting for a power supply.

For those of you that read the blog but don't visit the forum, there have been changes. I have withdrawn the print issue from Steel Moon...Pete has left again apparently, if it was ever Pete in the first place and this is just plain bad business. I am sorry for those in the issue, but I am working on getting another publisher. I will let everyone know what's what when I have news. When my own computer is working I'll email everyone that was slated for that issue and tell them what's going on.

I am unable for the time being to update static, because of the computer trouble and my computer is the only way in. When I am able to get in I will replace the forum with our old one and take Steel Moon and Ragged Edge off of the site. The dedication will also be changed, and no matter what happens I will no longer support either site.

We have a lot of stories and poetry slated for the September issue, but that will be put off until October, as I haven't been able to get all of the works to the proof reader. The contest will also go longer, and I do have some contest stories for the site when we get back.

Thank everyone for sticking with me, I see there are still lots of visits to the site, I only hope everyone or at least most people will find my messages somehow to know that we have not quit. We get submissions daily and I respond the same day so apparently, even though the site says August, people know we are alive, well, and coming back!

Chris

Jumping Through Hoops

Last week on my day off I picked up a copy of E.E. Knight's book, Way of The Wolf. Overall, I am enjoying it. It's not normal for me to read authors that are published in the ''big press''. Why? well mainly because I just don't find anything that interests me any more. A lot of the same ideas are rehashed/repackaged. Seems like everyone out there and their brother is writing a clone of Anita Blake/Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or the atypical ''ancient evil awoken in a small town."

The ''big press'' fantasy books aren't any better.

Of course, there are some exceptions, but it seems like I have to ''dig'' through the BS a lot more these days.

The same reason why I mainly watch independent movies, or B-movies more these days.

But, like I said there are exceptions and EE Knight's book is one of them. No, its not the greatest book I've ever read, but it is entertaining.

Yet, I can't help but notice something. Here's a guy that signed a major book deal, and ended up published four more books in the series - I believe he's gotta deal to write 3 or 4 more. And as I read through it I can't help but notice some mistakes that I've been led to believe are the cardinal sins of writing. Or at least ones editors like to get online and rant and rave about.
The one that sticks out in my mind the most is the fact that he'd have sentences that started with the first name of a character, and then the next sentence would start with the same name.
Also, instead of using ''he'' the author would insist on using the prorper noun, even though you'd be able to easily follow the writing without it.

I realize editing is a subjective thing, and that each editor is different, but it just surprises and rather disgusts me when I see things like this. Yes, the author has talent and has good things in his writing, but I really don't get how editors can whine about one thing and then publish something that violates these ''sacred'' rules.


I've seen it in the small press too, quite often.

Yes, no one's writing is perfect, but why harp about something if you aren't going to follow up on it?

My computer crashed...

My computer quit this morning. This means that I can't get into Static Movement at all so we are going to be stuck with the August Issue until I can get another computer and the stuff to do the site with.

To everyone who was accepted for the September issue (and there were/are a lot since I was doing a tribute to 911) we will publish as soon as I can get back.

Well, this is really stupid of me since I knew it was a matter of time before it quit, but I lost all of my writing, every single bit of it so let this be a lesson to you...copy your files, email them to yourself, anything but don't risk losing it all like I have!

See you soon, I hope!

PS...staff, please keep the blog going...

~Chris

Back Seat Writers?

So, this morning I had MSNBC on, and was half paying attention to it while checking up on my email and such. When they finally took a break from the Mel Gibson report (Don't you know that its the most important story in the world!) they had a brief report on JK Rowling and whether or not Harry Potter was going to die. Apparently, Stephen King and John Irving met with JK and are attempting to persuade her not to kill off Harry.

Now I'm not a fan of JK Rowling, I've never read her books or seen the movies. I simply have no interest in them. But I do respect her as a writer. But I can understand what it is like to be a fan of a series and/or fictional characters as a spectator. I think the readers have the right to be upset over the idea of Harry possibly dieing, and they even have the right to send letters, pettitions, and etc to the author about this matter within reason.

However, I do have an issue with King an Irving trying persuade her to not kill off the character. It comes off as highly inappropiate and unproffesional. Like standing over her shoulder while she writes and say, 'Tsk, Tsk...take that part out." As if they know better then her in regards to how she should handle her own creation. An editor doesn't even have that right at this point. Considering she's already finished the manuscript, and she has a brain in her head its highly unlikely that she'll change anything just because of these back seat writers' attempts.
I just found it highly messed up for two established writers to do something like this to another writer. Unheard of really and rather pathetic. If it was me I probably would have laughed in their face and told them in colorful language to leave me alone. I give JK props for having more class then that. LOL

I don't know, and don't care if Harry is gonna die, but that's not the point. The point is writers should have enough respect to not try and do what King and Irving did. I wonder how they would feel if someone did that to either of them.

~ KvN

Everyone seems to be enjoying the August issue of Static Movement. I went over to Ragged Edge Publishing - the Ezine and it's looking very cool too! My column The Fountain Pen
is back up too, go see!

John D. Stanton's photograph is well received on the intro page of Static, and I thank John for it, very nice. Lee Kuruganti did the inside (I still say it's a cover) and Paul Campbell will be doing the September cover, with Kevin James Hurtack doing October. I think it will be interesting to see what these talented guys come up with for the issues. Lee will be illustrating a story or poem somewhere along the way. We are freeing her up to work on a project she's involved in right now.

Happy reading and of course, writing!

~Chris

August

I'm experimenting a little with the format at Static Movement, and am going to have an entrance page that will take you to the story page. John D. Stanton is letting me use a photograph that he did for the entrance page cover, it's very good and I think everyone will like it. Then another cover by Lee Kuruganti on the stories page.

The August issue is shaping up nicely, it's going to be another big one. We have a tribute to Robert Brian Newbill, he died in his sleep this month and we thought it would be nice for his family to recognize this writer, as he's had poetry published in Static Movement.

We are still having trouble with people sending in submissions without regard to our guidelines but I hope if I continue to complain about this, maybe everyone will listen some day.

Chris

Time Might Change Me...But I can't Change Time

It's pretty amazing how much can happen in a relatively short span of time. I can remember when I first met Chris back in December of '05 and she was still assembling the staff and content for the first issue of Static. Back then there was a certain amount of uncertainity, expectations and dreams. I remember there was a bit of a panic when one staff memeber, I think the 'web master' jumped ship for personal reasons rather late in to the game. Chris with the help of some others stepped up and got the issue and magazine launched.

And now seven months late I look at this magazine and am proud to see that not only does it still exist, and has not only retained the original staff, but also gained new staffers, but has managed to put out a new issue relatively on time and presented strong original material that spans the genres. It is not uncommon for a new small press publication to bite the proverbial dust early on, but Static has grown in scope and remained dedicated to presenting a good selection of authors. Now that a print anthology is in the works it goes to show that everyone's hard work and dedication to the magazine and to the vision of what Static is has paid off.

Some small press magazines cater to a small collective of friends/acquantinces but I can honestly say that Static's doors are open to everyone, as long as they take into regard the guidelines and have solid writing abilities, and it is great to see the variety of people that have contributed to Static.

Personally, I think it is great to be involved with the people here at Static and their side projects. It is hard to find passionate people in everyday life, and to find genuine non-game players in the online literary/art world. But the folks at Static are genuine about the magazine and the small press in general.

With the recent rebirth of REP and the collaborations that will stem from that I think Static has a very promising future. It'll be interesting to see what changes come with Time.

Submission talk

Running an ezine is really (to me) like getting ready to throw a big party...and wondering if anyone will come.

It's not that we don't get submissions, we do. We aren't getting enough though, when you consider that most of them are declined. I thought it might be good to write a little about why subs are turned away, for the lack of anything better to talk about today.

Format: I work from three in the morning to about eleven. I'm really tired when I get home and the last thing I want to do, and indeed no longer even try, is re-format a submission because the submitter didn't bother to read the guidelines. We want the site to be uniform, meaning all of the stories need to have the same look, so it doesn't look like a two year old published them. Some of the stories have taken me hours to fix...and it's not fun. I like for this to be fun, so please for the love of everything good, read the guidelines and send accordingly.

Tense Problems: The biggest problem I see is tense. If you aren't sure whether you mix tenses or not, please go here and check.

Clarity: Here is another biggie...when you write, you have to write so that the reader understands what you are talking about. We are getting lots of stories where the writer is skipping here and there and by the end, we don't know what we just read. There are fragments (parts of sentences), wandering thoughts, thoughts that are random. Don't use flowery words unless you know what they mean and can put them into the story where they go. I'm serious, we have read submissions where there are all kinds of sentences thrown in randomly and if this is the experimental stuff...we don't like it and we won't publish it.

Timing: Are you being lazy and not submitting to Static Movement until late in the month? Do you want your story illustrated??? If you don't, fine, wait till the end, but if you would like for us to try to get an illustration for your story you should give our illustrators time to do one. You probably won't like hearing this, but our staff have lives too and they don't love to sit there and get something to illustrate two days before we publish your story.

Print issue: We are doing a print issue of Static Movement, and if it does well we will do another, if you'd like to be considered, you should be in touch with me...otherwise you won't be included, to be honest, I can't find everyone. If you don't have a story in any of the issues, you can't be considered for a future print issue either so maybe you should submit something.

Well, guess that's all for now.

~Chris