faelings are fairly well known among certain gamers as half elf and half faerie creatures.

http://www.magicinthegarden.com/html/faelings_0.html

It's not used except in any game I've played. I'm rather out of gaming these days, but I suspect I would have heard it was used in any of the major games out there. Yeah, I used to be rather big into gaming and still have many gaming contacts in my old guilds.

Elfs are well-known as well--to put it mildly. So the name having been used somewhere won't necessarily keep me from using it although I would hesitate if it were in WoW. Actually, it is in WoW as a ferret-like summoned creature. I had forgotten that but it's not important enough to be an issue.

I don't want to use just some random mix of letters. Obviously, faeling is based on the word fae. Eafling is just kind of a random mix of letters with no resonance which isn't what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggest though.

I did decide to go with Faeling as what the elfs are called in my short story. Now if I can just get the thing polished enough to be worth sending to publishers.

However, rest assured that I will be keeping an eye out for intentional dissension.

Edit: And if the tone of my posts sounds harsh it is because there is too much history of dissention and his post in this thread was too condescending for me to do anything but bite my tongue and try my best to keep my mouth shut. I told Kathleen and I absolutely mean it that I will not feed into this dispute further.

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Once More, With Faeling...

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Interesting point. Of course, many words are homonyms, but it is something to take into consideration.

Edit: Bleh. You were saying it was close to fail. Yes. That is a true homonym.

I'm fine with faeling myself. How many words have never ever been used? But those are some alternatives for anyone who's bothered by it being close to fail.

Even if you don't happen to want to submit to Baen (I suppose there are people who wouldn't want to submit there) it's a good place for hanging out or getting critiques. People from Baen do give comments on posted stories quite regularly.

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At least two slots in each issue will be reserved to introduce new writers. Submissions wanting consideration for the "Introducing" new writers slot in each issue must be submitted via the Universe Slush conference on Baen's Bar. http://bar.baen.com There are no exceptions. A writer can only be introduced once.

New writers may submit directly to the "regular" slush pile through the submissions form, if they choose. However, those stories will not be considered for the "Introducing" slot and are competing against everything else in slush. We strongly recommend that new writers submit their stories through the Baen's Universe Slush conference in Baen's Bar. You can reach that conference by going to http://www.baen.com/, then selecting "Baen's Bar" from the menu at the top. You will need to filll out a very short registration form the first time you go there. Once into the Bar, select the conferences titled "Baens Universe Facts," "Baen's Universe Slush," and "Baens Universe Slush Comments." The first conference is for general discussion about the magazine. The "Baen's Universe Slush" conference is where you should post your story. After having posted your story, please put up a short announcement that you've done so in "Baen's Universe Slush Comments." All discussion of the stories should take place in that conference....

Furthermore, while only new writers -- as defined above -- will be eligible for the "Introducing" slot in the magazine, the Baen's Universe Slush conference is not restricted to them. Any writer who wants to, regardless of publication history, can use the Universe Slush conference as an alternate way of submitting a story. Your story will not qualify for the "Introducing" slot, to be sure, but we will be using the Slush conference to select other stories as well. Our advice is that even writers who are already established should consider doing so, although it's entirely your decision. We will simply point out that, in the nature of things, the Slush conference is a less harsh environment than the regular slush pile -- which, of necessity, operates along principles of ruthless Darwinian selection.

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I suppose they're kind of competitors with Hatrack in a way so if anyone minds this being posted, I'll delete it. But they work quite differently than Hatrack and knowing and using both are a good idea in my opinion.

Every short story I have ever sold has been workshopped and publications generally encourage rather than discourage the practice. While there may be a publication out there somewhere that would object, I have yet to see one.

Edit: Here is Andrew Bert's response on Critters to the question and although he addresses Critters in particular the same is true of any password protected critique site. And I am more than willing to take Mr. Bert's word on it.

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Is sending through the group considered publication?

In a word: No. Editors recognize the utility of critique groups and that many authors belong to them. Being seen by a restricted set of other authors is not publication ("publication" means available to anyone, i.e., "the public"). Besides, you'll almost certainly change the story after workshoppers see it, so what you submit to an editor is different than the group saw. Lastly, consider that Critters was recommended in Asimov's, and the venerable old Omni, one of the highest paying F&SF markets of its time, had workshops listed on their page of links, and the fiction editor, Ellen Datlow invited this very group to be an "official Omni workshop", so I think it's safe to conclude that at least one influential editor has no problems with critique groups.

If you're really concerned about it, mention in a cover letter that the story was sent through Critters. Chances are that will do more to enhance Critters reputation than anything else, but I doubt it hurts anyone.

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Yes, on Critters, Forward Motion, Baen's and the other critique sites I know, you post the entire story. A story can't be judged except in its entirety. The story I have posted on Baen's and Critters had a weak ending as was immediately pointed out. Only by having the entire story critiqued would that have been seen.

But I found it amusing that of all the things I struggled over in this story, that is something that no one has commented on at all. It hasn't caused any problems and with the number of critiques I've received, I feel quite comfortable in saying that.

-ling has an interesting history, by the way, and doesn't mean a diminutive necessarily as in earthling.