Jane Friedman, considers publishing a short story a “far more straightforward process than pitching book projects” [1] and I tend to agree with her. Opportunities to submit to a literary journal or magazine lend itself for your work to actually be read and considered for publication. My creative piece, Just a Girl From School, is a story that focuses on two young women, previously inseparable, speaking for the first time in months after a harrowing accident. After initial workshopping of my story, I turned my attention to opportunities that centered on character development, trauma in fiction and women’s stories and prioritized the Colorado Review for publication. Linda Cracknell advises that “part of the writer’s hire-wire poise is between intuition and control” [2]. There are several ways to get a short story published, but if we consider Cracknell’s advice, in conjunction with uncovering your readership and the art of editing, this will get you one step closer to publication.
Align your piece to match the audience
Alison Baverstock advises to ask yourself, “can you quantify it, outline it, give a snapshot of what kind of person might buy it?” [3]. Writers must understand how a publisher, magazine or journal would categorize their work. At a minimum, you need to have an idea of the genre of your piece to identify an audience. Something I had repeatedly made mistakes on was not considering what had previously been published and as a result, various short stories of mine submitted to Mslexia and The Dublin Review continued to be rejected. Then, I switched my focus on my favourite writer, Sally Rooney, and discovered she’d previously been an editor at one of Ireland’s top literary magazines, The Stinging Fly. Read widely the previous submissions and get a feel for what your favourite magazines already publish. Books hold a very specific heritage in the UK, with Alison Lawson reminding us that “the reading public are spoilt for choice and spoilt by good quality” [4]. Examine your work from their point of view. A publisher or agent’s interest boils down to the concern on how your story would fit with their existing list of authors versus how badly you want to get published.
Enter writing competitions
Winning a competition can bring a huge amount of credibility to your name and type of work you want to share to the world. Dianne Doubtfire, believes “you should research a competition just as thoroughly as you would a market” [5], as a successful submission can offer you a leg up if you get to the point of publication in the near future. The BBC National Short Story Award, Bridport Prize and Bath Short Story Award are all renowned competitions, but one of the most important aspects of entering is paying close attention to the competition guidelines, past winners work and grammar – proofread, proofread and proofread a third time. Unsuccessful attempts of mine in the past consisted of a lack of appropriate formatting for a short story I was really proud of. A professional writer will meticulously inspect their formatting, font size and document type but, the most professional writer will also submit to multiple competitions. Vanessa Gebbie asserts that competitions “increase your chances of a story catching the eye of the reader” [6] so, write a story a judge will forget is a submission, but rather something they won’t put down.
Explore self-publishing
Self-publishing can sometimes get a bad rap, simply because of lack of recognition, high upfront costs and the stigma of low-quality work. But, one of the most significant advantages for self-published authors is they preserve full creative control over their work, something that authors who go down the traditional route may have to relinquish almost immediately. Friedman encourages that “online retail and e-book format […] have leveled the playing field” [7], offering an avenue to compete with the main five publishing houses; some of which carry a somewhat hypnotic charm that distracts us from considering other paths. Don’t forget, self-publishing doesn’t mean you have to do absolutely everything on your own, ie. editing, marketing, pricing, printing, copy-editing. You can outsource for different elements that make a book a final product. Even a bookshop owner can tell you very quickly how likely your book cover is going to appeal to a particular audience. The Independant Publishers Alliance, Waterstones Independent Publishers and Goodreads Self Published Groups offer significant support for self-published authors. In an increasingly digital world, there will always be new opportunities to share your work; those non-traditional avenues may eventually be the routes future writers will be most allured by.
Redraft and redraft again
Joe Craig urges us to “find the weaker parts” and “cut and rewrite furiously” [8]. Very quickly, writers become biased to their own work; we’ve sat with it, edited it and analysed it – we’re too involved. We must allow ourselves space and time with a story to really enhance it to the professional and polished piece it needs to be for publication. Previous drafts of Just a Girl From School focused too much on repetitive dialogue that affected the plot payoff and patience of the reader. After focusing on other work for six weeks and observing feedback from workshops, I was encouraged to seek a sharper line of psychic distance for the remote narration as opposed to keeping the reader isolated entirely. Natalie Goldberg, puts it bluntly: “see where you are truly boring” [9] then you’ll quickly realise if you’ve come up with anything good or not. I gave myself the opportunity to see the bigger picture by printing my work and allowing it to exist on paper and far beyond a computer screen. Romesh Gunesekera reassures us that “the endless tweaking is not a sign of insecurity, often it is […] a desire to play” [10]. This is where redrafts of irrelevant descriptions, inadvertent repetitions and uninspiring openings become obvious.
When I consider an idea for a short story, I immediately observe my emotional drivers for the story, as often this is the same reason as a consumer’s emotional response to the same. When you feel you’re ready to publish, follow A.L Kennedy’s encouragement: “Address what you do have a chance of changing for the better. Keep a grip on your chosen market, read widely and deeply”. [11]
Word count (ex. footnotes & bibliography): 1,049
Footnotes:
[1] Jane Friedman, The Business of Being a Writer (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018), p.144.
[2] Vanessa Gebbie, Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story (London: Salt Publishing, 2009), p.231.
[3] Alison Baverstock, Is There a Book In You (London: A & C Black Publishers Limited, 2006), p.188.
[4] Alison Lawson, Contemporary Publishing and the Culture of Books (London: Routledge, 2020), p.59.
[5] Dianne Doubtfire, Teach yourself: Creative Writing (London: Hodder Education, 1993), p.43.
[6] Vanessa Gebbie, Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story (London: Salt Publishing, 2009), p.225.
[7] Jane Friedman, The Business of Being a Writer (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018), p.137.
[8] Joe Craig, How to win a creative writing competition – top tips (2015) <https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/nov/16/how-to-win-a-creative-writing-competition-joe-craig-tips> [Accessed 08/05/2024].
[9] Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2005), p.172.
[10] Romesh Gunesekera, A.L Kennedy, Novel Writing, A Writers and Artists Companion (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), p.60.
[11] Romesh Gunesekera, A.L Kennedy, Novel Writing, A Writers and Artists Companion (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), p.18.
Bibliography:
Baverstock, Alison, Is There a Book In You (London: A & C Black Publishers Limited, 2006)
Craig, Joe, How to win a creative writing competition – top tips (2015) <https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/nov/16/how-to-win-a-creative-writing-competition-joe-craig-tips> [Accessed 08/05/2024]
Doubtfire, Dianne, Teach Yourself: Creative Writing (London: Hodder Education, 1993)
Friedman, Jane, The Business of Being a Writer (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018)
Gebbie, Vanessa, Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story (London: Salt Publishing, 2009)
Goldberg, Natalie, Writing Down the Bones (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2005)
Gunesekera, Romesh, Kennedy, A.L, Novel Writing, A Writers and Artists Companion (London: Bloomsbury, 2015)
Lawson, Alison, Contemporary Publishing and the Culture of Books (London: Routledge, 2020)