The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories

Last edited by on Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:31 am; edited 1 time in total

So here is a rough, rough draft of the story I'm constructing now. This will be a short story is three or four parts. This draft is currently about 1,500 words, some green, others purple; but it's essentially an idea mapped out. And I'm sure there's some spelling/grammar errors. That'll all get sorted at some point. This is all I'll post until it's completely finished, as to not give away the main story.

EDITED AWAY...
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Administrator Age : 38 Joined : 18 Jan 2007 Posts : 2380

pretty good there, sir.
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"A thousand black bats screaming in my ears for blue eyes"

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:52 pm

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:07 pm

Me rikey!

I think you are ready to start submitting this stuff. Very publishable, indeed.

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:56 pm

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:47 am

...

Taken down again for edits/changes. lol!

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"Happy people have no stories." —Therapy?

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http://www.eyesoretimes.com

Last edited by Eyesore on Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:45 am; edited 1 time in total

First real draft is complete. The title was Cold Steel, but I've changed it to The Shadow on the Wall. This story is now closer to 11,000 words—10,670, to be exact—so it's not quite a short story anymore. I've had three people read it so far and we all banged out a few changes, but overall I changed little from my original text. This of course scares me.

Jill and my sister both read it. Jill is quite opinionated and has no issues telling me like it is, but psychology dictates bias, so they could be holding back and not even realizing it. A co-worker also read it. He reads about four books a week, he eats words. But he also really liked it. Now he is my co-worker and we get along great, but we don't hang outside of work. So he should be far less biased. But again, he liked it.

I expected far more criticism, to be honest. I know I can write, but telling a story is new grounds for me here. I should have written a complete turd—right? Anyway, for what it's worth, here's the first of six parts.

EDITED
_________________
"Happy people have no stories." —Therapy?

http://www.shocktotem.com
http://www.eyesoretimes.com

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:53 am

So I gave up on my first attempt at a story. I felt like the idea might have grown too big for its own good. I sent it to Shiney, but he never told me what he thought, so it probably sucks! Haha. Kidding. I definitely think it's too short for what I was trying to do. A bit convoluted, I think. Maybe it could be a cool full novel some day?

Anyway, I just finished the first draft of my next tale. This one is a real short story, roughly 5,800 words. It's called Seven of the Blackest Words. There's a few more characters in this story, a bit more character development, but still not a ton because it is short.

But I really dig this one. I think this'll be the first one I attempt to get published somewhere, once I clean it up. Does anyone here read magazines that publish short fiction? This is another supernatural/horror/suspense story. I'd appreciate any help.
_________________
"Happy people have no stories." —Therapy?

http://www.shocktotem.com
http://www.eyesoretimes.com

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:36 am

I've had subscriptions to both of these in the past:

http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/

http://www.rofmagazine.com/

Both places have submission guidelines. You should be very careful to follow the guidelines of the magazine you choose to submit to. You might also want to purchase or at least read a recent sample issue, to determine where you think your stuff will best fit in.

Although it might be daunting, I would advise you to set your sights high. Try to get your stuff published in the best possible venue first.

Also, hang on to the rights when at all possible. Here is a sample magazine contract:

http://www.sfwa.org/contracts/magazine.htm

And you might want to take down anything you wish to submit for publication, since even posting your writing here is considered a form of publication, and many magazines will want first North American serial rights. They will for the most part not want to print something you have published elsewhere.

Subject: Re: The Stephen King Epiphany & Other Stories Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:29 pm

Thanks, Tyrion. I definitely have my sights set high. When I began trying to publish some of my poetry I submitted stuff to some of those e-zines and every one of them accepted what I submitted. So I experimented with a friend. We both wrote a completely nonsensical poem that was just bad all around. We submitted it to two different places (her to one, myself to another), and both were accepted. Haha.

So, yeah, I'll go for the more respected magazines this time. I've always had a subscription to Glimmer Train, and I have one to Apex and Subterranean, but I was looking for some others. So thanks! I'll definitely subscribe before I submit to any. Plus I like reading the stories.
_________________
"Happy people have no stories." —Therapy?

http://www.shocktotem.com
http://www.eyesoretimes.com