I’d not considered myself as a worthy candidate for publishing until this module, would people besides my university lecturers really want to read my work? With that in mind here’s my reflection of my experience of writing for publication. Specifically a short story, but this wasn’t just any story—this one’s gritty, raw, and packed with emotion. Join me as I share the highs, lows, and everything in between of bringing this piece to life, specifically for Blood and Bourbon.
Embracing the Challenge:
I decided after spending time thinking about this assignment and being conflicted to begin with that I needed to come to a decision about what format I would like my submission to take. I love writing poetry but I wasn’t sure I wanted to stick to my comfort zone and I’d attempted writing longer narratives before but had found it challenging to keep a reader consistently engaged. Friedman’s (Friedman, 2018) emphasis’ on short stories being simpler to write than books gave me the idea to craft a short story, this would all me to step out of my comfort zone of poetry and to practise my narrative skills without having to worry about such a slow burn.
Upon discovering an article listing places for submissions I read through and found that Blood and Bourbon were asking for various different submissions under the theme of death by August the 31st., I sensed an opportunity to push myself beyond my creative boundaries. Their appetite for hard-hitting, gritty work immediately caught my attention. It was a challenge I couldn’t resist—a chance to delve deep into the darkest corners of my imagination and experiences and produce something truly raw and unfiltered. This was a chance to create something entirely new for me, a short story that explored the complex feelings and emotions around death.
Initial Discomfort:
I’ll be honest—the notion of tackling the theme of death initially made me squirm. It’s not the most uplifting topic, after all and as a sensitive person I knew that it could even be triggering at times but as I mulled it over, I realised that discomfort often signals an opportunity for growth. I could take this opportunity to really think about my journey with understanding death so, I made the conscious decision to lean into the discomfort and see where it would lead. Hoping to create work that would be both emotionally charged and reflect personal growth.
Crafting and Editing:
With the theme of death firmly in mind, I set out to craft a story that would resonate on a deep level. Drawing upon personal experiences and weaving in exaggerated truths, I constructed a tale that explored the messy, complicated emotions that accompany loss
Within my first drafts I did find the writing especially hard, I leant more into a third person style which I found, after sharing my piece with a few close friends, did not read as well as I had hoped. The characters were two dimensional and the emotions seemed forced. I considered Baverstock (Baverstock 2006) and Heard’s (Heard, 2018) advice, I needed to consider my audience and keep my characters complex.
After much consideration I decided to ruthlessly edit (Craig 2015) my work and change it to first person leaning towards a balance between fiction and non-fiction, It was tough to make such a big change but I felt the piece would work better if it read like an exaggerated autobiographical recount of my experiences with death. I also found it a lot easier to really make use of my emotions surrounding significant loss and how I had thought and felt to play into the way the piece read.
However, there was a challenge looming ahead: my initial draft was perfect for the 3000 word count for my assignment but Blood and Bourbon called for a piece that was at a maximum of 2500 words. I had to cut a large 250 word chunk from the beginning and end of the story to make it the correct size for submission, I do think this hindered the depth of the story slightly but not enough that it wouldn’t be suitable to submit.
Submitting the Final Draft:
After weeks of revisions and late-night writing sessions, I arrived at a final draft that I was proud to submit. Raw, gritty, and undeniably real, it encapsulated the essence of what I aimed to convey. I made the unfortunate discovery that Blood and Bourbons submission point on the article I had found was in fact an old submission and they were not seeking stories of death anymore. Determined to still submit my work I found another publisher Months to Years seeking creative nonfiction of 2500 words, I considered if my work would fall into this category and I believed it did, a majority of the experience I had written about was true, I had altered some parts but not enough that it could be considered entirely fictional. I reviewed the fine print of the submission guidelines to make sure my work would be suitable and with that I sent off my piece.
In the end
Although I haven’t heard yet whether my submission will be published I’ve found new confidence in my abilities and what I’m capable of. The journey of creating this piece provided a huge insight into the publishing world and opened my eyes to how many opportunities are waiting for us if we just take them. Don’t be afraid to lean into the discomfort. Embrace the challenge, push your boundaries, and let your words shine!
References:
Heard, W. 2018. Writing Passport: Characters. Scribbler.
Friedman, J. 2018. The Business of Being a Writer. The University of Chicago Press.
Baverstock, A. 2006. Is There a Book in You? A & C Publishers Limited.
Craig. J, 2015. ‘How to win a Creative Writing Competition – Top Tips’, The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/nov/16/how-to-win-a-creative-writing-competition-joe-craig-tips
Submissions websites:
http://6 Great Places For Themed Submissions – International Writers’ Collective
