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Spaceways, v. 3, issue 5, whole no. 21, June 1941
9
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SPACEWAYS 9 HOW TO BE HACK an editor sends you a personal rejection slip, thank him most kindly instead of casting reflections on his origin. Lack of time and guys who called them liars and other nasty things were the reason editors started using printed rejection slips. Be thankful for frank and constructive criticism; it's very hard to get on a story. A few words about editors-of them all I consider Pohl the most helpful and obliging to beginning writers. He invariably goes out of his way to give criticism and encouragement on any manuscript. Wolheim is secod, and Lowndes is third. These latter two lads are forced to pay such low rates they have to develop all the new material they can. Pohl is in a better position, paying a half-cent per word and up, andbeing backed by a publisher well-know in the pulp field for prompt and reliable payment. Miss Gnaedinger I haven't had any dealings with in a professional way, but she's my nomination for the most friendly and likable of all the editors in the field. Miss McIlwraith of Weird Tales is a nice person, too, though I've never had a personal rejection slip from her, and she's very slow in reporting. If you've gotten a personal note from Campbell, hang on to it Bud, and cherish it with many a joyous noise. You've got the goods. Tremaine has invariably personalized his rejection slips for me by underlining the "Won't you try us again soon?" and signing his name, but I've never had a note from him, and of all editors in the field he is invariably the slowest in reporting. Reiss of Planet runs him a close race on lack of speed, but I do have a rahter decent note from him. And Standard-ptha! If you can write professionally smooth slop, you might have a chance here, but you can be pretty darn sure that it's a billion to one chance, that you have a better opportunity competing with the pros in the other mags, and that you probably will never get anything but a cheap printed slip. I've never had any dealing with Ziff-Davis, so couldn't say about Palmer. The best way to learn to write is still to write. Keep at it. Read, too. Unknown, Astouding, and the better stf. mags, and note how an author gets across an effect. The master of pulp mechanics is a guy named Lester Dent. He wrote the old Doc Savage magazine, and read them through. For some genuinely fine and masterly writing, Wells is your man. My critic said that of the two Dent was best to study if you wanted to learn to write. And that's not as silly as it seems at first sight. In fact, it's very sensible. The lid is off Dent, you can see the machinery running right in front of your eyes and you can see what makes the wheels go 'round. wells is a genius, and covered up the mechanics, as all great writes do. But study both: absord Dent consciously; Wells unconsciously. It's good practice. To sum it all up, permit me to paraphrase an old biblical quotation: "for now abideth, to make the successful writer, faith, work, and restraint, and the greatest of these is restraint." To wish you luck is quite useless. If you've got it in you, it'll find its way out, and nothing can stop you from writing and learning and writing until eventually you're selling, too. But, anyway- Good luck! ................................................................. TO MR. FORT (concluded from page 4) Weird and horrible thoughts cross and crisscross one's mind as he rends these facts. Are they true? Can they be true? To appreciate fully Charles Fort one must read from his books. Brief accounts concerning him touch only lightly upon the magnificence of this man. The tide of time flows swiftly, and as the years drift by his books wallow upon the surface. One by one they begin to drop off and the finger of time hastens the day when only a few shall have any record of these happenings. As these persons are removed, as Charles Fort was, there shall be fewer to challenge the forces of the occult.
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SPACEWAYS 9 HOW TO BE HACK an editor sends you a personal rejection slip, thank him most kindly instead of casting reflections on his origin. Lack of time and guys who called them liars and other nasty things were the reason editors started using printed rejection slips. Be thankful for frank and constructive criticism; it's very hard to get on a story. A few words about editors-of them all I consider Pohl the most helpful and obliging to beginning writers. He invariably goes out of his way to give criticism and encouragement on any manuscript. Wolheim is secod, and Lowndes is third. These latter two lads are forced to pay such low rates they have to develop all the new material they can. Pohl is in a better position, paying a half-cent per word and up, andbeing backed by a publisher well-know in the pulp field for prompt and reliable payment. Miss Gnaedinger I haven't had any dealings with in a professional way, but she's my nomination for the most friendly and likable of all the editors in the field. Miss McIlwraith of Weird Tales is a nice person, too, though I've never had a personal rejection slip from her, and she's very slow in reporting. If you've gotten a personal note from Campbell, hang on to it Bud, and cherish it with many a joyous noise. You've got the goods. Tremaine has invariably personalized his rejection slips for me by underlining the "Won't you try us again soon?" and signing his name, but I've never had a note from him, and of all editors in the field he is invariably the slowest in reporting. Reiss of Planet runs him a close race on lack of speed, but I do have a rahter decent note from him. And Standard-ptha! If you can write professionally smooth slop, you might have a chance here, but you can be pretty darn sure that it's a billion to one chance, that you have a better opportunity competing with the pros in the other mags, and that you probably will never get anything but a cheap printed slip. I've never had any dealing with Ziff-Davis, so couldn't say about Palmer. The best way to learn to write is still to write. Keep at it. Read, too. Unknown, Astouding, and the better stf. mags, and note how an author gets across an effect. The master of pulp mechanics is a guy named Lester Dent. He wrote the old Doc Savage magazine, and read them through. For some genuinely fine and masterly writing, Wells is your man. My critic said that of the two Dent was best to study if you wanted to learn to write. And that's not as silly as it seems at first sight. In fact, it's very sensible. The lid is off Dent, you can see the machinery running right in front of your eyes and you can see what makes the wheels go 'round. wells is a genius, and covered up the mechanics, as all great writes do. But study both: absord Dent consciously; Wells unconsciously. It's good practice. To sum it all up, permit me to paraphrase an old biblical quotation: "for now abideth, to make the successful writer, faith, work, and restraint, and the greatest of these is restraint." To wish you luck is quite useless. If you've got it in you, it'll find its way out, and nothing can stop you from writing and learning and writing until eventually you're selling, too. But, anyway- Good luck! ................................................................. TO MR. FORT (concluded from page 4) Weird and horrible thoughts cross and crisscross one's mind as he rends these facts. Are they true? Can they be true? To appreciate fully Charles Fort one must read from his books. Brief accounts concerning him touch only lightly upon the magnificence of this man. The tide of time flows swiftly, and as the years drift by his books wallow upon the surface. One by one they begin to drop off and the finger of time hastens the day when only a few shall have any record of these happenings. As these persons are removed, as Charles Fort was, there shall be fewer to challenge the forces of the occult.
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