Musings

With the stories selected and now moving through the editorial and publication process, I thought it would be fun to talk some more about the submissions that we received. You may know, I’m a former engineer, so yes I love Excel, and yes, I wanted to gather some stats. Let’s do stats! And thoughts too, because I do have a thing for musing as well.

First, the submission period was overwhelming. The response was overwhelming. We received submissions in the hundreds. Sure, this is all a good thing, but it was so much more intense than I expected.

Another thing that really got me was the way the highly-interpretable framework I’d created morphed into a specific character. I’ll talk about this more in the intro to the book. But Hotel Stormcove has turned into its own character—sort of a weird, interdimensional anchor that serves as both a location for amazing stories but also a metaphor for refuge, compassion, and connections. Once I realized that Hotel Stormcove was now a distinct good guy, I fussed a bit with the authors (I do know that was annoying, but I hope it made a difference) to calibrate that across the collection. People can be good or they can be bad (don’t worry, there’s still crime and mayhem), but the metaphor of coming together and helping each other out is there, ever-present in the stories. I am thrilled with that aspect, one I didn’t anticipate or at least completely consciously design.

So—I have to start with my most sincere thanks to the writers. The stories I received and read were wonderful. And, as a writer, I know what heart and energy goes into writing fiction, so I know that you honored me with a piece of you. I didn’t take that lightly, and so, the number of notes I had to send letting people know that story wouldn’t be included was hard. I know that’s how it works, but also as a writer, I do understand. I really hope that people with an unpublished Hotel Stormcove story either benefited from the experience and/or will find it a different home. For some stories, that may be publication elsewhere, for others, it will be sharing it with a friend. It’s art, it’s beautiful, and I thank you so much for your time and the honor of receiving so many great stories.

Considering that our last collection was mostly submitted to by US and Canadian authors, I was excited to see that this collection had been shared all over Earth! It’s hard to explain what an honor this is, to know you wrote some goofy hotel theme, and someone is sitting in Malaysia writing a story to it.

While it depends a little how you count it, we received submissions from 24 countries on 5 continents. (Unexpectedly, we had no submissions from South America, though we did from the Caribbean.) And while I’d love to have even more of a global perspective, I had to balance a lot of factors, and the end collection includes stories from Canada, First Nations in Canada, all over the US, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Germany, Catalonia, and South Africa.

Now that’s where the writers were. Where were the characters? The locations chosen ranged from the basement to the top of the tower, including many specialty rooms, such as the Coat Check, the Janitor’s Closet, the Trash Bins, the Boiler Room, and the Switchboard. People even gave Stormcove a Conservatory, Sand Garden, Library, and Casino. One of my favorite things was how people started naming the suites and the lounges. I don’t want to reference people’s specific creative ideas here, but there was a Back Bar, Front Bar, Old Bar, Saloon, as well as Parlors, Cafés, Terraces, Verandas, and Clubs. The most popular locations by far were some variation of Ballroom or Bar, and some variation of Front Entrance, Lobby, and Check-in Desk. Both of these groupings each came in at about 15% each of the submissions. Around 7% of submissions were in the Kitchen or Restaurant. And around 5% were outside, which includes the grounds as well as in the cove itself. (One story, that I loved but did not select because we had so much great romance to choose from, took place on a boat.)

And with some exceptions, most of the others were in hallways, rooms, or suites. What fascinated me was the broad distribution of rooms selected. Very few rooms were used more than once, with Room 303 and 602 being the most popular choices. It amused me greatly (in a good way) that people would name the suites, in fact, 5% of submissions were located in a specifically named Luxury Suite, including the Honeymoon Suite. And, really, it was more than that, since many stories took place on various overlooks and verandas and I didn’t go parse out which of those were public vs. luxury spaces.

All of these numbers, I should say, are approximate, and only reflect the initial, formal submissions, not an additional grouping of rewrites and otherwise-considered stories. (There’s been a lot going on…)

Now, when, did stories occur? By year, we received submissions ranging from 10,000 BCE to (specifically) 3933. These did include some in alternate universes or timelines. What I was most happy to see was a full distribution of 20^th century stories. I mean, I saw the 20s noir coming in, but was really happy to see stories in the 60s and 80s, for example. Ok, so this isn’t precise for a number of reasons (including that sometimes stories were a little more surreal and/or ambiguous as to whether they were on an alternate timeline) but the years submitted were roughly:

• 5% Before 1900
• 10% Early 20^th Century
• 20% Late 20^th Century
• 8% Post-Millennial
• 28% Present Day
• 25% 2020-2999
• 4% 3000+ or Submitted Alternate Timeline

The stories occurring in earlier eras were more complicated to include for reasons I don’t want to fully parse here, and I’ve actually worked to address that through a separate effort, as I think adding that sense of Stormcove’s legacy is important. And you’ll be happy to know (at least I am) that in addition to some futuristic sci-fi, there are a couple of stunning far future pieces that really play organically on the concept of Stormcove. I’m also really happy to report that the distribution in the final collection of historic, present, and future is really well-balanced, with not too much meddling on my part.

So that’s by year. But these are five-minute snapshots, so what about time of day? Well, I can safely say things are going on at Stormcove all day and night. I was really happy to see how many times people selected and how broadly distributed they were. Stories were submitted really all across the day and night, and while it was a bit more common to be on or around a half-hour interval, they really did vary a lot. Writers, thank you for being delightfully thoughtful. Or random. Or both. It worked. : )

Overall, 2:30 – 8:30 PM was the most written-about time range. Sunrise (and to a lesser extent, Moonrise) were popular. The least popular times to write about were the couple of hours before sunrise and the time period just after noon. Which all makes sense. One sort of odd note is that I got the impression when an author really didn’t have a specific time in mind, they just put 10:00 AM. I suppose this was considered a quite generic time. And, of note, none of the 10:00 AM stories were included.

So, I think it’s safe to say that there is always something of interest going on at the Hotel Stormcove. And yes, those numbers are all based on the submissions, not the final product. As for the final product, while it doesn’t appear to stray too far from that distribution, I’d prefer to leave the exact mix for you to experience organically. Also, as much effort as I put into crafting a balanced collection, I did that at a higher-level, not through overengineering. I think that’s important. You know, the sauce should be balanced, but you should leave some lumps in it, too.

Regarding that balance, I was pleased by the diversity of background of the writers that submitted. I’m not going to get into statistics because we didn’t ask for background factors, we simply said we welcomed writers to tell us about them, if they wanted to. So, I can’t do much quantifying that would be accurate or even appropriate on demographics.

However, I can discuss two things of interest.

First, is gender, because we did ask for a writer’s pronouns, both as showing unequivocally that this project is a safe space for trans or gender non-conforming writers (and characters), but also as a practical matter of not having any misunderstandings in referring to people. We received about 20% more submissions from women than from men, and about 4% of total submissions were from people using they or ze pronouns. (I actually expect there were more submissions from non-binary authors; not everyone is ready or in a place to openly publish under a non-gendered pronoun.)

Second, is a more qualitative assessment, especially of the end publication. It was my goal to have a collection that reflected the diversity of the population, mostly as measured here in our part of the world. And by my rough estimates, we have done that across many key categories. I call it a multi-genre collection, but I also want that range reflected in many other factors that are reflected in the art. Different writers of different ages, backgrounds, perspectives, and writing styles, all coming together (yes, in the hotel) to present their art to an equally diverse reading audience. To me, that’s just…beautiful.

If you’re getting the sense that I’m really happy about the diversity of the collection, I am. It was pointed out to me by an expert on psychology that Hotel Stormcove reads as a metaphor for bringing people and art together, in a place where all are welcome. If I didn’t fully get that in the beginning, I get that now. And I embrace it. A lot of anthologies are curated to provide a level of consistency. The consistency that I curated was an undercurrent of refuge, support, and compassion toward each other, but I did not in any way look for stories that were the same in nature. Quite the opposite. I like having a theme to tie a collection together (a generic book of stories wouldn’t interest me as acutely) but yet I love the idea that each piece is a new surprise—a new perspective on that same theme. And I love lifting up all this beautiful art, putting it in front of people to experience and enjoy.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading these stories as much as I have been honored to read and curate them into one pretty…different…book.

And if you appreciate all that, and you’d like another way to support me as an author and an editor, I’ll be dishing some back-stage dish about Hotel Stormcove on March 1^st to my Patreon community (subscriptions are $1/month and anyone wishing to support at a higher level can do so). If you sign up now, you won’t be charged for this month, and you can catch up on my own version of a Western Serial, Just Bart. Episode 05 will be posted on the 15^th. And look, the Stormcove dish will still be respectful. For the more direct version, personal contact and beverages of some variety are required. : ) ‘Cause, yeah, it got weird too… but anyway.

If you’d like to help us spread the word about Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove, people can pre-order the book in the paperback or limited-edition hardcover at the link below. The limited-edition hardcover will only be available as a pre-order, and each will be hand-numbered. The book will be on sale through standard retail outlets after its release (we’re aiming at May) but if you like what we’re doing and want to help out, the pre-orders help tremendously. (I’m way underwater on this collection, have invested a extensive amount of money and time into it, and whether or not we can at least break even will determine if I can do it again.) And in any shares, feel free to tag our accounts (Atthis Arts (@atthisarts on Twitter) or E.D.E. Bell) and use the hashtag #HotelStormcove.

https://hotel-stormcove.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Thanks for your time and support, and I hope to see you at the hotel!

Emily.

P.S. One final note to the writers who submitted. Remember, an editor doesn’t usually pick the best stories. They pick a selection of high-quality stories that creates an overall piece of art. So, if your story was not selected, there may be have been lots of different reasons for that. Don’t read into it, and don’t let it get you down. Keep writing.