[personal profile] mabfan
I am pleased to announce a new sale to Analog. I'm particularly pleased about this one, as it's a collaboration with Bob Greenberger ([livejournal.com profile] bob_greenberger).

Bob shares his version of the events leading to our collaboration on his own blog, but I thought I'd give my own version as well. A few years back, I had asked Bob to look over certain things I was writing, and I found that quite a lot of his comments were right on the money. He seemed to know exactly what issues I was having with certain works of fiction, and how to correct them.

About a year ago I saw an article in New Scientist magazine that I thought would be a good seed for a story. I wrote the story, but I was dissatisfied with how it turned out. I showed it to Bob, and he gave me some excellent constructive criticism. I now knew what I needed to do to fix the story, but I had moved on to another project and so couldn't quite get the impetus I needed to fix that one. Furthermore, I realized that fixing it properly would really require another writer's viewpoint.

So I asked Bob if he wanted to collaborate. He says he was surprised by my suggestion; to me it was obvious. Bob rewrote the story and sent me the new version, which was much improved over the original. I made a few more changes of my own, which I ran by Bob; and then, as always, Nomi read over it before she would let it leave the apartment. (She also gave the novelette its title.)

Knowing that it would be a good fit at Analog, I sent it to Stanley Schmidt, and shortly afterwards he replied with questions about our scientific extrapolation and a request for some more changes. Bob tackled most of those changes while I took care of justifying the science to Stan (since I'm the one with two degrees in Physics).

Last week he informed us that contracts are on the way. He also requested sequels, and I have a rule, called the Ray Stantz Rule -- when an editor asks you to write a sequel, you say yes. So Bob and I have started bouncing new ideas back and forth, and with a little luck we'll end up with a whole cycle of stories, based on that one original idea.

In the meantime, look for "Things That Aren't" by Michael A. Burstein and Robert Greenberger to appear in Analog sometime in 2007.

Copyright © Michael Burstein

Date: 2006-07-11 06:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madwriter.livejournal.com
Woo-hoo! I was hoping I'd get to read another one of your stories in Analog again soon.

Date: 2006-07-11 06:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
So was I. :-)

When there are so many projects one wants to write, it can be difficult to decide what to work on next...which is why I haven't had anything in Analog in a while.

Date: 2006-07-11 06:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jamietr.livejournal.com
Defintely looking forward to reading it when it's published. Luckily my subscription to Analog goes through 2009 or so.

Date: 2006-07-11 06:30 pm (UTC)
bluepapercup: (Default)
From: [personal profile] bluepapercup
congrats!

Date: 2006-07-11 07:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] twitch124.livejournal.com
congratulations!

Date: 2006-07-11 07:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellameena.livejournal.com
Congrats! I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Date: 2006-07-11 07:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] affinity8.livejournal.com
Congratulations! I look foward to reading it.

Date: 2006-07-11 07:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenwrites.livejournal.com
Congrats to the two of you!

Date: 2006-07-11 08:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vg-ford.livejournal.com
Congrats to you and Bob on the sale!

Date: 2006-07-11 09:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] time-shark.livejournal.com
Shweet! Congratulations, and double congrats on getting a collaboration to fly. I know how fun it can be and how hard it can be.

Date: 2006-07-11 10:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crackboy.livejournal.com
congratulations.

any clues on what that article was about?

Date: 2006-07-11 11:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blzblack.livejournal.com
Verry cool! Congrats to you both.

Date: 2006-07-12 01:17 am (UTC)

Date: 2006-07-12 01:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sleigh.livejournal.com
Great news! Congrats to both you and Bob!

Date: 2006-07-12 03:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kuroshii.livejournal.com
neato! i look forward to reading it. :)

Date: 2006-07-12 05:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vettecat.livejournal.com
Very cool! I'll be curious to see what your idea was...

Date: 2006-07-13 03:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vettecat.livejournal.com
Fascinating... I don't think I'd want to try it, though.

Date: 2006-07-13 12:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabfan.livejournal.com
Ah, but what if you don't have a choice? :-) (And that's all I'll say for the moment regarding the story.)

Date: 2006-07-14 03:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vettecat.livejournal.com
Hmm, that raises all kinds of interesting possibilities... guess I'll have to wait and see which way you went!

Date: 2006-07-12 01:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lisafeld.livejournal.com
Cool! It's great to collaborate with someone you're so in synch with.

Date: 2006-07-12 03:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jblaschke.livejournal.com
Most excellent, Michael! As it is doubtful my work will ever grace the pages of Analog, I will happily live vicariously through yours!

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