Read This First
Holly Lisle's Rebel Tales e-zines have specific technical requirements that you must hit in order to sell to us.
If you do not read and follow the guidelines, EVERYTHING you submit will miss the mark, most of it by huge margins.
To be accepted as a Rebel Tales story, the story must meet my personal definition of "good story." And my definition of a good story is not a vague definition full of artistic or emotional terms with lots of elbow room for interpretation: it is instead very specific, with concrete, absolute requirements. You will find these requirements, with definitions and examples as necessary, listed in the following sections: Purpose, Characters, Plot, Theme, Style, Cliffhanger, Submission, and Specific Genres.
Rebel Tales is open to beginners as well as pros---so long as you are writing good fiction. You do not have to have been previously published to submit.
You do have to follow instructions while submitting your work, or your submission won't make it past the first sentence of your query letter.
Don't try to bluff your way through the submission process, and don't assume that I'll make exceptions to my standards because your story is somehow special. If your story does not fit the guidelines, don't submit it.
Don't assume that my guidelines are like everyone else's. They're not.
Don't assume that a story acceptable by someone else's standards will automatically be acceptable here. It won't be.
We'll be looking at the writing you send us. It is ONLY by the writing we have in our hot little hands (and your ability to follow the rules for submitting your work to Rebel Tales) that you will be judged.
Why so inflexible?
Very simple. My name is going on every issue we put out. I am promising readers who like my work and have been reading it for nearly two decades that they will like the stories by other writers my editors and I have selected.
In order for me to make that promise and know that I can keep it, I have to hold your writing to the same standards to which I hold my own.
What follow are those standards, clearly defined. I will no more make exceptions for you than I make exceptions for myself.
Holly Lisle
March 30, 2009
Writing Guidelines
The Core Principle
Rebel Tales is built around a core principle--that stories should be fun to read and about something that matters.
Definition
Fun to read: The reader should be immersed in the story, have a deep emotional involvement with the characters, and NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
This is not everyone's definition of fun to read, but it's mine, so it's the one I'm going to use.
Something that matters: The main character has to have something to lose, and it has to be something important to him ... something that would be important to us if we were in his shoes.
Characters
Protagonists
- Your protagonists (your heroes) must be people with whom the reader would like to spend time---people they would like to get to know, would want to hang out with, could care about.
- Your protagonists must have clear, specific needs, wants, hopes, loves, hatreds, and fears, and meeting these needs or wants, or conquering the source of these fears, must form the core of your story.
- Your protagonists cannot be perfect people. They must have doubts and flaws that arise from the same needs, wants, or fears that compel them to act.
- Your protagonists must be active, not passive. They must set goals and take actions to achieve them. They cannot simply react to things that happen to them. They must choose their path---they cannot be dragged around by Fate or Destiny.
- You cannot tell me what matters to to your protagonists in description, or by having another character say, "He's such an honorable man." You must show me through through your characters' actions, through the choices they make and the consequences they incur, exactly who they are.
Antagonists
- Your antagonists (not necessarily villains, though they can be)---if human*---must be fully-realized characters with their own needs, wants, hopes, loves, hatreds, and fears. You may not default to the one-note "he's evil."
- You must understand WHY your antagonists (if human) make the choices they do, and you must SHOW why in your story.
- Your antagonists must in some way stand as obstacles against your protagonists---they must act in opposition to your protagonists' needs, wants, fears, hopes, dreams, and goals, and actively (NOT passively) move to prevent your protagonists from reaching their goals.
- Your primary antagonist, if not human (a killer storm, for example, or a war zone) must have a human face---people who choose to aid and abet the force of nature or God or act of war you're using to propel your central conflict. The human faces of a killer storm might be the looters and those government officials who let busses sit in parking lots unused while people drowned without other means of rescue. The human faces of the antagonist War would be the neighbors who informed on your protagonists, the soldiers who "were just following orders" when bayonetting civilians and so on.
- Your antagonists cannot be driven by Destiny or Fate---they must make their own choices, and live with the consequences. (More on Destiny and Fate in Plot).
Secondary characters
- Secondary characters have to have a reason to exist in the story. They can either:
- Illuminate the character of the protagonist or antagonist.
- Help the protagonist or antagonist achieve a goal.
- In some other way move the story forward.
- If the secondary character exists only for purposes of adding comic relief, being mysterious, or explaining ANYTHING, kill him and eliminate all traces of him BEFORE you submit the story.
* With the understanding that vast subgenres of F&SF depend on the existence of non-human characters in stories, my definition of human is as follows:
A human is a sapient, volitional being, capable of making choices and understanding the consequences of those choices, and capable of understanding good (that which creates, that which preserves his own life and values) and evil (that which destroys, that which destroys his own life and values).
Plot
What Plot Is
Your story must be a story. That is, it must be plot-driven.
So what is Plot?
Plot is the series of events created by your characters' actions and choices that move the characters and story through obstacles and conflict forward to their goals.
In order to meet the requirement of Plot, your story must have a clearly set-out beginning, middle, and end.
- In the beginning you must establish your main character, what compels him to act, the setting in which his actions take place, and the antagonist against which (or whom) he must struggle to achieve his goal.
- In the middle you must work out the actions the protagonist and antagonist take, and the escalating consequences of each action.
- In the ending, you must bring the results of these consequences and actions to a satisfying, logical, and unexpected conclusion that arises directly from the actions and consequences of the beginning and the middle.
- All character studies, vignettes, slice of life, meta-fiction, deconstruction, and "experimental" fiction will be rejected summarily and with prejudice. This means if you submit these, not only will you get a form rejection letter, but you will significantly decrease the chances that I or my editors will even look at your next submission, no matter how much better it might be. I don't appreciate having my time wasted, nor the time of people I value. I value my editors.)
- KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN. If you have written any of the above, you have NOT WRITTEN A STORY.
- Rebel Tales only publishes stories.
Destiny & Fate
I want to spend a moment on the common fantasy elements of destiny and fate, because if you use them, your work will be rejected, and I want you to understand why.
Destiny and Fate remove the elements of choice, responsibility, and volition (free will) from characters---characters who are subject to the caprices of destiny or the leash of fate do not control their outcomes. Such characters have no volition. They cannot choose their goals or their paths, because Destiny/Fate has already chosen for them, and no matter what they do, their outcomes will be the same.
THEREFORE, characters subject to Destiny or Fate do not meet my definition of human* characters. They are puppets---incapable of meaningful choice, not responsible for the consequences of their actions, and living in a universe in which good and evil can have no meaning for them because they are powerless to affect either. Writing fiction about puppets is a waste of time.
Stories about characters subject to Destiny or Fate do not meet my definition of stories, because to tell a story, you must have a plot, and plot requires characters who set goals, take actions, and live with the consequences of their actions---all things that puppets cannot do.
So whether your story is about a young farmer who is the Chosen One whose destiny is to become king and who is moved by the magical forces of the universe until he reaches that destiny, or about a hapless woman of science who is battered by the cruelty of Fate through no action of her own, and who eventually rises to prominence through the decree of destiny through no merit of her own---your story will be rejected. It's that simple.
Rebel Tales has a strict No Puppets rule.
If, on the other hand, you want to create a character who was born to a specific destiny, but who chucked it out the window through monumental struggle and against huge odds to create the life HE wanted, I'm in.
Theme
Your story must have a theme, and you will be required to know what this theme is and to state it plainly in your query letter.
A theme is the core premise around which your characters make their choices and take their actions.
A theme can be:
- Might makes right.
- Love conquers all.
- History is told by the winners.
- The ends do not justify the means.
And so on.
Your theme has to matter to you. It has to matter to your characters. If it doesn't, your story will suck.
Don't write about themes you don't care about. It will show.
Style
The purpose of fiction is to tell a story, the purpose of language is to communicate meaning, and the purpose of style in fiction is to communicate in a recognizable, functional human language the elements of plot, characterization, action, and dialogue that present your story to your reader.
This eliminates from consideration here deconstructionism, obfuscation, wordiness, leaning on your thesaurus to find all the big words, and anything else that makes what you have written a morass of incomprehensibility.
- Respect your reader.
Know what you mean, say what you mean, and be clear about it.
- What style is not.
Style is not polysyllabic nonsense, grammar-free babble, or content-free logorrhea parading as art.
I am not impressed by big words, obfuscation, and breathless unpunctuated paragraphs that ramble on for three pages.
I am not amused by 'tone poems,' by word salad, and by 'positional fiction' where the placement of the words on the page is supposed to add to or subtract from the story meaning.
English is not hieroglyphics, lists are not characterization, deconstruction is not language, and fiction is not a form of visual art. Words mean specific things, and if you are using them correctly, you will not need to play games with them to impart meaning.
I do not mistake the writer's failure to state something clearly for being "artistic," and I do not confuse the writer's failure to say anything that means anything with being "deep" or "profound."
(For example, Gertrude Stein wrote meaningless noise, not some sort of magical language that only initiates can 'get'.)
Odds are, if you can't (or won't) say what you're trying to say, it's because you don't KNOW what you're trying to say (or because you're trying to get away with saying nothing).
Writers fail the language. Language does not fail writers.
If your style gets in the way of your meaning, rewrite until it doesn't.
If your writing doesn't have meaning, or your objective in writing is to blur or deconstruct meaning, or to write subjectively without taking any stand or making any point other than general pointlessness, write for someone else.
Selling to Rebel Tales
The purpose of Holly Lisle's Rebel Tales e-zines is to publish longer short fiction and serialized long fiction in an accessible online format, in complete units called seasons.
Rebel Tales also aims to reach for two separate groups of readers in each of the genres we'll pursue: casual readers, and serious readers/writers. Two version of each season will be available---the Stories version, which will include just the fiction and letters to the editor, and the Back-Stage Pass version, which will include a lot more, all noted below.
Accepted Categories
Accepted fiction will fall into one of two categories: Short---complete in one issue; and, Serial---spread out over two to six issues. (This may change after the first season.)
Each short must be complete in itself, meeting all the criteria for good fiction set out below. However, you may use a short story as a way to introduce a character you would like to write about again as a serial character.
Each serial will be broken up across two or more issues in a season, and must incorporate cliffhangers.
Definition of Cliffhanger
Cliffhanger: A scene which ends with a central character in the story in a situation where the reader is left desperately wondering "What happens next?"
You may have as many cliffhangers as you like: the cliffhangers may come at the end of each scene or chapter, or most scenes or chapters, but you MUST have cliffhangers at the logical breakpoints in your story: that is, if you are submitting a story of the serial triple word-length, you must have two cliffhangers, one about a third of the way through the story, and one about two thirds of the way through the story. Stories spread out over six issues will need five breakpoint cliffhangers. And so on.
For purposes of Rebel Tales, the definition of a breakpoint cliffhanger is:
The main character (primary or central protagonist) must be left in a position of extreme conflict, with his choices and his fate uncertain.
All other cliffhangers are entirely up to you, but break-point cliffhangers may NOT star secondary characters or antagonists. They MUST star the character about whose fate we have the most reason to care.
Because we are primarily interested in longer stories that can be broken up over several issues in the season, it is the job of the writer to figure out where logical breaks in the story can occur, and end each logical break with a cliffhanger.
You may, if you wish, end each scene or each chapter with a cliffhanger, but you MUST, for your story to be considered, end each section except the last one with a cliffhanger. The last section of your story must resolve all questions and bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Rights Purchased And Payment
Rebel Tales will purchase only First World serial e-pub rights.
Here's how it will work. You'll receive a percentage of the gross (not net, gross is WAY better) of each month's sales, figured on the number of issues in the season your story will occupy, and the number of authors in the season. And you'll be paid monthly.
How does this work?
SAMPLE PAYMENT STRUCTURESay your season has six episodes, and your story is in all six. There are 19 other participants in the season.
Each installment in each issue would therefore contain the following:
Each issue then, would contain 10 points of material, and all writers, plus the editor and the publisher, will be paid a percentage based on the number of points they have in the season. The whole season would be worth 60 points. Issues may sell both individually and as seasons, but because first issues are always free, and all writers must be paid, all sales count into the season as a whole. All income will be divided monthly according to the individual author's points. If the season has $1000 in monthly subscriptions that month and $1000 in individual issue sales ($2000.00), you'll receive $33.33 per point you have in the series that month. So for your 6-point season-long story, you'll receive $200 that month. Authors of 3-point stories would receive $100, authors of 2-point stories would receive $66.66, and authors of 1-point stories would receive $33.33. Publisher and editor would each receive $200. These numbers are examples to demonstrate how the system works. They are not guarantees of income, or promises that this will be the number of stories per season, the number of subs and sales per month, the way they will be broken up, or actual final percentages. I'll be paying for cover art, audio transcription (if included), the author interviewer, plus other expenses (web hosting, etc.) and my points plus whatever I can make from advertising will go toward that. If I can't make enough to cover expenses, I'll have to increase my own number of points. I'm not where I need a big business loss to offset profits for income tax purposes---I have to make some money at this in order to afford to do it. However, if I can do a little better than break even, I'll be happy. I'm not looking at this as my ticket to riches---I'm looking at it as an opportunity to do something I think is worth doing. Where this payment model is unique is that,
I like paying people for their work. It's deductible. I love deductions. :D |
Each season will remain available as long as it remains profitable, and all authors in each issue of the season will be paid monthly for every sale. More information on payment is available here (link and downloadable contract pending). Contracts have not yet been set up; the payment model as stated is still being worked out and is non-binding in nature.
Authors will be free to sell their work elsewhere in non-competing (print, voice, comic, movie, etc.) markets, or self-publish non-competing versions.
Submission Lengths
Acceptable submission lengths for the first season are:
- 4,000-12,000 words (short, complete in one issue)
- 13,000-22,000 words (serial double, will split across two issues)
- 23,000-42,000 words (serial triple, will split across three issues)
- 43,000-90,000 words (serial sextuple, will split across six issues)
There are---by my intent---some fuzzy spaces in my definition of story lengths. Editors have significant latitude to fit stories into issues based on logical plot breaks, and not just on word length. Within reason, shorter stories can be spread across more issues, longer stories can be squeezed into fewer issues.
NOTHING OVER 90,000 WORDS.
Additional Material
If your story is accepted, we will also request any additional material you've created for the Back-Stage Pass version of the season. Back-Stage Pass materials can consist of:
- Earlier drafts
- Revisions
- Your query letter and synopsis
- A phone interview with you
- A written interview with you
- Character sketches, maps, outlines, or other materials critical to your personal writing process
- Outtakes, side materials created specifically for the Back-Stage Pass version (like character interviews) and so on
We'll be very happy to work with you on Backstage Pass stuff.
Submission Process
All submissions must be of already-completed work. Though we publish and specialize in serials, we will not accept any uncompleted stories. We will be building our seasons all at once, not one issue at a time, so there will be no time interval between which we need the first installment and the sixth of any story.
Do not submit incomplete work.
A submission package will contain:
- A query letter in our format
- A single-page, single-spaced synopsis in our format
- Your completed manuscript
You'll upload these to the submissions desk (when it's ready to go, the link will be right here). Use the following format for file names:
LASTNAME-TITLE-DATE(Year-Month-Day)-[q/s/m].rtf
So you'll submit, in unzipped format, three files:
EXAMPLE:
LISLE-Wolves-2009-02-25-Q.rtf
(Q for Query)
LISLE-Wolves-2009-02-25-S.rtf
(S for Synopsis)
LISLE-Wolves-2009-02-25-M.rtf
(M for Manuscript)
Just use one or two words from your title, not the whole thing, especially if it's long.
Make sure you have your e-mail address correct, because if we want your story, that's how we'll contact you. Triple-check it. The phone number is for author interviews, or if we don't hear from you via e-mail because your spam catcher ate our acceptance letter. You don't have to include it if you don't want to.
Your submission package, properly submitted, will help us know that you understand what we're looking for, and that you have written something we can use. Done really well, it could encourage us to create a special themed season in your genre centered around your story.
It will also help us to weed out inappropriate submissions by failing to meet our criteria.
Use RTF Format
RTF, or Rich Text Format (.rtf at the end of your document file name) works on all platforms. Word now comes in so many flavors and formats and with so many incompatibilities that it has become unreliable.
If you use Word, you can easily change your document format to RTF by using the Save As function, and scrolling through the list of supported document types until you come to Rich Text Format. All your formatting will be preserved.
You MUST Query
A query letter to Rebel Tales follows an exact, specific format that imparts information we need in order to decide whether we can use your story or not.
Download this sample query letter and instructions (these downloads are still pending), and follow the guidelines exactly. The majority of submissions we will receive will be rejected at the first sentence of the query letter, because they will have been submitted by writers who think they don't need to follow this step.
Your rejection letter will state "You failed to follow submission instructions." Nothing else. If you miss on the first sentence, WE WILL NOT READ FURTHER.
You MUST Include A Synopsis
The synopsis of your story must fit onto one page, single-spaced, with one line between paragraphs, and with no more than four hundred words on the page.
In that 400 words or less, you must tell your complete core story (the story that centers around your primary protagonist)---beginning, middle, and end.
Download the sample synopsis to see how this is done.
Include Your Completed, Revised Manuscript
Click this link to download the PDF showing you the accepted manuscript format.
Don't use goofy fonts, don't use colored fonts, don't include photos, illustrations, maps, or other extra material. If we accept your story, we'll ask for all the cool extra stuff later.
Do check your spelling. If you're dyslexic, have a friend who isn't go over your manuscript and make sure everything is correct.
The editor's job is not to correct writer errors. The editor's job is to reject stories from writers who do not respect the editor's time enough to correct their own errors. While you don't have to be perfect, you do have to be as close as you can get.
Specific Genres
Rebel Tales Fantasy & Science Fiction (F & SF) uses the following definitions to determine suitability:
Definitions
- Magic: The physics of a world that exists outside of logic, reason, and repeatable results. That is, if ordinary people follow the same procedures as special people, the ordinary people will not get the same results as the special people. For example, the intelligent mortal who understands the principles of transportation magic or shape-changing still cannot do transportation magic or shape-change.
- Fantasy: A story in which magic occurs or exists: magical creatures, magical powers, or paranormal/supernatural elements, and where the magic is presented with a sense of wonder.
- Science: The physics of a world in which logic and reason will allow normal people to create repeatable results following the techniques of special people. For example, an intelligent layman who understands the principles of quantum physics, who has the necessary equipment, and who follows the instructions of a brilliant quantum physicist can build a quantum door.
- Science Fiction: A story in which science exists and occurs, and where science is presented with a sense of wonder.
- Sense of Wonder: The presentation of the central science or magic element of a story in a way that leaves the reader thinking, "Oh, wow, that's cool."
Fantasy
You must meet every criteria for good fiction presented in the guidelines above.
Furthermore, for fantasy, you must have a "magical" element that forms a part of the central plot of the story.
And you must provide a sense of wonder.
Science Fiction
You must meet every criteria for good fiction presented in the guidelines above.
Furthermore, for science fiction, you must have a "science" element that forms a part of the central plot of the story.
And you must provide a sense of wonder.