a bit disgusted with the witch hunting

[erastes]

http://jessicaverday.blogspot.com/2011/03/wicked-pretty-things-running-press-and.html

http://sparkle-project.blogspot.com/2011/03/update-on-wicked-pretty-things.html

If you are an editor of an anthology, then pretty much you say what goes into it. I'm not saying I agree with Telep's misguided decision to ask for a m/m story to be converted to a m/f – but if that's her comfort zone, so be it.  Perhaps she didn't (very probably didn't) have any precise guidelines from Constable and Robinson as to what they would accept or not, and if Telep was more comfortable with m/f stories then that's her choice.  The lesson here, I think is to make sure the original call for submissions is clear clear clear clear clear. That being said, just because the submission guidelines don't say that they don't accept (for example) incest, it doesn't naturally follow that if you sent them an incest fic they'll accept it. While – OF COURSE – i would like all publishers and anthologies etc etc to be entirely inclusive, I'm hard headed enough to realise that's not going to happen. It's a shock to the system but some people don't want to read glbtqi stories. Just like I don't want to read het ones.

Would anyone call me heterophobic if I only wanted m/m stories in an anthology? When some editors only want gay male writers, or only female writers—that's their choice.

I understand that Telep and the BOTH publishers have said that they will accept the story as is, and the author concerned is refusing to let the story go into the anthology on princple—she doesn't want Telep to benefit financially. That's her choice—but it does seem a little like cutting your nose off to spite your face, particularly as she has won the battle. it would be far far better to get the m/m stories included and have a mixed anthology, surely? Telep has said that she will never again cut a m/m story out of an anthology, and yet authors are pulling out of every anthology she's editing.

Internet witch hunts are not pretty and Telep, Running Press and Constable and Robinson have all posted statements and apologies. This "Omg I will never allow anything I write to be tainted with Telep" vendetta by authors not even part of the pretty wicked things anthology leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Let's move on and start destroying someone else.

Comments

Soooooo....

[tharain.livejournal.com]

...I had no idea this was still going on. How very odd. I have deep, dark, cynical suspicions. Seriously.

Re: Soooooo....

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes me too. Bandwagons are so much fun.

Re: Soooooo....

[tharain.livejournal.com]

And such remarkably good publicity, both for the hounds and them what started it.

[edit] Although on consideration, is it such good publicity? If I were an editor, I would be very hesitant to even look at the original writer's work in the future, for fear of a similar brouhaha. Once again I wonder if posting such commentary in a very public forum is a good idea.

Like you said, bandwagons are so much fun, but once you get them started they're damn near impossible to stop, and you never know if you will get caught under the wheels yourself.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

More importantly - the hubbub around it will make other editors think twice about pulling the same stunt. Which is a good thing. Regrettable for the editor, and I think her apologies should be accepted in good faith (then again, the story in question is already sold elsewhere, so it's not like Verday can go back). That is, unless the editor has a history of homophobia (which doesn't appear to be the case, or they'd have dug it up by now).

Might be time for an editing pseudonym though. :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely--it can only help publishers be more clear, and hopefully-perhaps--more accepting, although I'm not holding my breath on that one. I'm more likely to see a rash of "m/f stories only" rather than no guidelines at all. I just think that it's not the law, and ommission shouldn't necessarily be a pointer to fact.

What the author should have done, of course, and what every author should do, who isn't sure whether their story fits the guidelines, is to QUERY. I don't think anyone's mentioned this--and it's a tried and tested method of "I have this story and could you let me know..." if you aren't sure.

I agree - what the editor will do is swiftly change names, and not make the same mistake again!

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Truth be told the first reply from the editor was pretty stupid, but the second, along with that of the publishers, were sincere I think. I would suggest to take the good (next time this will not happen) and leave the bad (authors removing their stories from that and other anthologies)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Nod nod. Humans are humans. We make mistakes. Not every editor is clued up to inclusiveness and I seriously think think was a sincere error (or at least I have as much right to think that as anyone who's tearing her a new one!!) Good will probably come of it, and the grave stamping is unnecessary! :D

[beckyblack]

There does seem to be a certain outrage one-upmanship going on. Like who can be the most outraged while having the most tenuous connection to the whole business?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

feel my outrage!

(that's not my outrage, but you can feel there, anyway.)

Btw - I've been seeing a lot of Rebecca Black wank in the news recently. anything you wish to share?

[beckyblack]

I wish I was getting as much exposure as my near-namesake. :D Okay, maybe not the same kind of exposure.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely with you on your comment about if you aren't sure, ask. I know I write stories that don't fit neatly into boxes, and submissions calls, when they inspire me at all, tend to inspire me to go off at a tangent. But I just write what I want to write, and generally ask before and after I write a story whether it's going to fit the anthology. If it isn't going to fit, but the idea is insisting on being written, then I'll just have to find another different home for that story.

Your post reminds me that I wanted to write about queer anthopomorphic mice. I must add that to my spreadsheet of random story ideas.

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

I think in the original author's place I'd probably walk away too. I would have grave doubts about my ability to work with the editor in question in any meaningful fashion. By knuckling under to public pressure (and probably pressure in private from the publishers, who are sending hugely mixed messages in their public statements), she's surely feeling that she's been over-ruled. Unless she's a saint, that's going to result in one very thoroughly poisoned professional relationship between editor and author.

This does make me wonder about another aspect of the question, that seems to be getting little focus. The editor here asked for what I would consider a fairly major change in the story. Is it normal to ask for that sort of thing after a story has been accepted and a contract signed?

I would have thought really major changes to the story would be things that would be discussed before a decision was made to accept the story. "Yes, we want to buy your story, but only if you do X". Then the editor and author can determine up front if there are irreconcilable differences on the point.

If the editor really thought that changing the gender of one of the major characters wasn't a big change, then I'd be running, not walking away from that editor, because she clearly wasn't getting the dynamics of the story at all.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I don't know if if became a problem before or after the contract was signed. I admit that I assumed before--because who would offer a contract to someone whose story was obviously not what you wanted.

But--as I said, just because this editor is working for larger publishers, it doesn't mean that she is any more wise than you or more--possibly less, and I don't hold her to any higher responsibility because of that.

I think I would put my story back in, if I was her. She achieved a big deal, got the anthology to be multi sexual persuasion. I don't think I would judge the editor's performance because of that mistake, but of course every author must make their own decisions. I'm probably more hard headed. I've disagreed with editors--and fallen out with authors, but making it personal is not the way to go. It's a business, and I say this over and over. When you work in an office environment you have to work with people whose ethics you may despise, or who is bigoted, and you simply have to work with them for the good of the company. In the writing world, the company is the author, and I have to work with many people I dislike or whose idealsdo not mesh with mine, but the bottomline is that I want to sell my books--and there comes a point when I cannot afford to martyr myself on ethics!!!

but as I say, each author has to find their own line and where they cross it.

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

On rereading the blog post you linked to, it looks like the contract was in place before the story was written, and that the editor had approached her and invited her to submit. So it may have been just a case of both sides failing to communicate up front.

I do see the analogy regarding working in an office environment with people you dislike or disagree with strongly. If everyone involved is prepared to act professionally and leave their personal differences at home, you can indeed work together for the good of the company. I've done it.

I've also seen it fail horribly when only one side was acting in a professional manner. At that point the only option is frequently to walk away and find another position. That's something you have to judge on a case-by-case basis.

I suspect this may be a business decision for some of the other authors too - once the matter has been cast firmly in the light of supporting or not supporting perceived homophobia on the part of the editor it becomes a no-win scenario. They may well feel that the income they'd derive from the stories they've pulled would be outweighed by the negative perception of going forward with them in the on-line community.

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

Absolutely she should have been clearer in her original call for submission--and, when she realized she hadn't been clear enough, ought to have been graceful enough to consider the stories on their own merits, as they were written and submitted. A gender or orientation change is enormous when it comes to characterisation; I don't know about you, but when I write a GLBTIQ character, something about being queer has become a part of hir identity. I might as well swap in a different character if I have to change gender or orientation.

(To say nothing of the privilege issues, and I'm not normally an OMG PRIVILEGE sort of person. Something just hit me wrong about Ms Telep's statement to Ms Verday, and it did smell like relegating Teh Gay to the "issue" anthologies, or m/m being automatically racier than m/f. In terms of romantic content, I'm given to understand the piece was quite tame; the protagonists just happened to be of the same gender.)

[wikdsushi.livejournal.com]

As I'm not yet awake enough to respond clearly, I'm just gonna say that if someone made me change an m/m story to m/f, there'd be a strap-on involved.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

lol - love it!