1. GazingAbyss

    GazingAbyss Member

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    Bio with no previous publications

    Discussion in 'Traditional Publishing' started by GazingAbyss, Dec 5, 2012.

    I'm trying to get a short story published, and although some magazines don't ask for a biography, quite a few do. There's definitely an emphasis on telling them about your publishing history, but I'm not sure what to say if I haven't been published yet - it seems like kind of a Catch-22, where you have to have something published previously to get a chance to get something published.

    Most of what I write is speculative fiction, so I think the biggest thing I should mention in a bio is that I'm working on a graduate degree in science (specifically bioinformatics). Besides that, I'd like to emphasize my personality. This is what I've got so far:

    "[My name] functions on a diet of pure caffeine, and, between bouts of writing fiction, is attempting to explain the mysteries of high substitution rates in the vicinity of low-complexity protein-coding regions of DNA."

    A good start? Terrible? Any suggestions are appreciated.
     
  2. swhibs123

    swhibs123 Active Member

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    I don't think it's bad at all. The last bit's obviously going to be over a lot of people's heads, but that was the point and it's kind of witty. But you might want to try replacing it with something like less over someone's head like ...- "... when he's not hunched over a microscope examining DNA, he's writing fiction." I would make sure you know why they're asking for your bio. Is it for addition to the magazine? Or is it so they can know who you are? If it's the latter, my suggestion would be to be a bit more direct: "I'm a scientist specializing in ..." - If it's for addition to the magazine, the witty version might be better. Also, I would look at the requesting magazine and see what kind of bios exist in their publications.

    Those are my thoughts.
     
  3. GazingAbyss

    GazingAbyss Member

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    Thanks! I can't exactly mention microscopes, since I work in a dry lab (it's all on computer and I've never had my hands on a single sample; they're actually all downloaded, believe it or not), but I see your point.
     
  4. MindTheGap

    MindTheGap New Member

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    Definitely reword the DNA bit into more layman's terms. :) I got a bit lost reading it!
     

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