Open Writing

Most of us have ‘favourite’ stories, poems or articles that for some reason have never made it into print. We particularly like these pieces but it seems no-one else does! Recently I resurrected a couple of stories which had unsuccessfully done the rounds but which I thought had a strong idea behind them.

The first was a ‘twist in the tail’ about a fortune-teller and was based on an anecdote that a work colleague told me. It was rejected by both Take a Break Fiction Feast http://www.bauer.co.uk/fiction-feast and The Weekly News http://www.twns.co.uk/

I managed to distill the essence of the story down into just 60 words and emailed it off to Real People http://www.realpeoplemagazine.co.uk/ which publishes a 60 word story each week and pays £25. And finally my fortune-teller tale found a home! It was published a couple of weeks ago and now I feel that I can stop fretting over that ‘favourite’ and move on.

Similarly, another story, set partly in the early 1980s and partly in the present day, had flopped in a couple of competitions and had been rejected by Woman’s Weekly. It then also got turned down by My Weekly http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/magazines/Woman...s-Weekly – but this time with a few words about why it wasn’t quite right. I took notice of the comments, reworked the story and sent it off yet again – this time to People’s Friend http://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/ This week I had an email from one of the People’s Friend fiction team saying that they liked the story, but also listing a number of changes that would be necessary before it could be considered for the magazine. So now I’m editing the story yet again and crossing my fingers that when I re-submit it, People’s Friend will say ‘Yes’ and finally give my story a home.

So if you’ve written something you really love but can’t seem to get it accepted anywhere – keep trying. Persistance can pay!