In the lead-up to the release of Hope: The Thing with Feathers, I’m going to be posting mini-interviews with my fellow ToC-mates! You can pre-order Hope: The Thing with Feathers here.
Stunning in its pain and empathy, “When an Angel Molts,” begins when the daughter of a sorceress helps to gather the magic feathers of an angel her mother has captured. But angels can’t live in dark basements, not for long, and daughters grow up and grow wiser, no matter what their mothers want. When the angel is near death, the daughter must decide if freedom for herself or freedom for him is what matters the most.
Writing can be a tough profession, and authors of all stages tend to get “no” more often than “yes.” How do you cope with rejection?
So fun fact: the first story I submitted to the Hope anthology was rejected–which is usually the end of the road; however, the submission guidelines allowed for submitting another story if rejected and I had a reprint that fit the call, so I sent it in. And that story was held and eventually accepted.
There are so many more rejections than acceptances. So many. But…you only need one Yes (unless we’re talking reprints.) So persistence helps. And confidence–to send out a story I have to believe that someone will buy it. I never know who or when, but if I still believe it’s saleable I will continue to find places to send it. Which brings us to hope. It helps. (although it can also make a particular rejection sting a bit, but well, that’s hope for you.)
And speaking of reprints…a published story has already proven saleable; the difficulty there is finding markets that will consider reprints.
Is there a book, TV show, or movie you consistently return to because it just makes you happy? Or what’s your go-to strategy to feel better when life or the state of affairs gets you down?
Lately, I’ve been relying on stand-up comedy specials and I’ve gone from watching any I hadn’t seen previously to re-watching those with bits that still make me laugh because when things are crap, you have to get your laughter somewhere. And the ephemeral nature of it is particularly appealing. For reading, I’ve been mostly borrowing mysteries because I know there will be a resolution at the end and I need to see someone solving something somewhere.
What’s your favorite non-writing hobby?
I refinish furniture from secondhand shops or tag sales. I even have some pieces I’ve re-refinished to fit in my current space/vibe. I recently found an old sideboard that I’ve refurbished into a TV consul and started on a curio cabinet that was a deal I couldn’t pass up. The cabinet is still being stripped down and I haven’t decided on its final form yet, but I sometimes stare more at my consul than what’s playing on the TV. I think there’s a lot of overlap in the process for how I approach writing and refinishing and how there’s so may different possibilities at the start and pick and refine your idea as you go along.
H.L. Fullerton writes fiction—occasionally about about angels, sometimes about small hopes carried defiantly into the dark; uses words instead of emoticons; likes semi-colons and the occasional interrobang; might be in trouble with prepositions; loves lists and bullet points; believes apostrophes are commas gone wild; saves dangling participles (sometimes); has upwards of 75 short stories published in places like Mysterion, Tales to Terrify, Lackington’s, Underland Arcana, and Kaleidotrope. On Bluesky as @HLFullerton.bsky.social