Almost Halfway There!
about 4 years ago
– Thu, Oct 08, 2020 at 04:35:42 PM
Hello Backers!
We are so close to getting to the halfway mark and first off I want to say how grateful I am that we have gotten this far. We literally couldn't do this without you and I am so very glad that you have chosen to join me on this journey.
It has been an interesting trip so far because I am so excited about this book. I can't wait to read the stories R.R.Virdi, E.A Copen, Veronica R. Callisto, and L.J. Hachmeister are going to come up with for this anthology as well as the stories that I'll receive through the submissions process! From your response, it seems like you are just as excited as I am.
For that reason, I have created a survey to see which cryptid you would be, were you a mythological creature. The survey can be found here. Please feel free to share it if you find it amusing. I'll be sharing the results in an update in a couple weeks for those curious.
Once again, I appreciate your support so very much. You are the reason this project will succeed and I can't wait to share the results with you.
As always and with gratitude,
Vivian
Over 1/4 of the way there!
about 4 years ago
– Mon, Oct 05, 2020 at 03:19:40 PM
Hello Backers!
Four days in and we're over a quarter of the way to our goal! Huzzah! Your support and enthusiasm for this project has been amazing and I am very grateful for it.
I had a great question about the submissions guidelines last night and I wanted to share it with y'all because I thought it was a delightful way to address the author's concerns with cultural appropriation and cryptids.
In my submissions guidelines, I ask that the authors writing their stories be considerate of other cultures when choosing a cryptid to write about. This is because some cryptids (such as La Llorona, the wendigo, some forms of werewolf, and half of the bad guys in Supernatural) come from indigenous or non-white cultural traditions and it is often a problem when people not from those cultures write about them because they sometimes don't understand the cultural underpinnings of the stories surrounding these cryptids. When we don't have context, it is hard to approach a topic with respect, and so I do ask that people be respectful and do their research (or better yet, pick a cryptid from their own locale or culture, which they may know more about).
So this author asked me: "do the featured cryptids have to be real or existing, or can the author make up a new one of their own?"
Backers, this is a great question and I am so glad it was asked. My answer is a resounding "if you want to make up one of your own and it falls into the theme, by all means!" I think this is a wonderful idea for many reasons. The first of which is I adore author creativity. When authors come up with something new and exciting, I can't help but get excited as well. Authors are story makers and what are urban legends if not stories? Secondly, I appreciate that the author chose this question because they wanted to avoid appropriating someone else's culture without context (as I mentioned above). Finally, the more cryptids we have, the cooler the stories are going to be.
So, moral of this update is, if you're hoping to write for this anthology, please let your creativity fly and don't let the non-existence of your cryptid in folklore stop you from writing a great story. I can't wait to see all your stories come to life and I can't wait to share some of them with the world.
Of course, in order to make this awesomeness happen, we have to get to our goal first. So I wanted to thank all of your for sharing with your communities and discussing this kickstarter. The more the word gets out, the more likely we are to succeed. Let's keep up the good work and really trounce this goal!
As always and with gratitude,
Vivian
15% in one day!
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Oct 02, 2020 at 04:25:15 PM
Hello backers!
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement with this process! Launching a kickstarter is always a little nerve-wracking, especially when it's an idea that's near and dear to your heart and I am beyond thrilled with the response so far.
We still have a ways to go, but I am so excited to see where this journey takes us. When this project funds (with your help :) ), I will post submission guidelines on my website, on this kickstarter (as an update) and also on places like Duotrope, which hopefully will mean an awesome selection of stories from an awesome number of writers.
Then starts my favorite part of the process, reading submissions.
Some editors don't enjoy reading the "slush" pile as much as I do. And for what it's worth, I despise that term 'cause it implies that some of the stories aren't worthy, which makes me sad. I have very rarely encountered a story that deserved to be called "slush", rather I mostly either get story submissions that are not quite right for the theme or that need a little more polish. For the last two anthologies I did, I received over a hundred submissions each and it was incredibly difficult picking just eight (since there had already been slots taken by amazing authors). For this one, I hope I'll get even more submissions and have an even harder time picking my favorite because I want to give you the best book possible from the widest array of spectacular voices.
My only ask is that if you are as passionate about this project as I am, please tell people. Most Kickstarter campaigns succeed because the backers love the idea just as much as the creators and they tell their friends.
As always, I appreciate your support!
-Vivian
