Hello, Again!

Two posts in one day. What's going on? Well, I've been busy looking at markets lately. My main focus has been trying to find a home for 13 Seconds. There were many possibles, a few probables, but in the end I opted for Horror D'oeuvres which is produced by DARKFUSE.

Why? Well for one they actually pay you. 5 cents a word is pretty good. I also liked the design of their website. You can't read the stories in full unless you subscribe. However, from what I could see all of the stories were well written, and professionally presented. 

The submission information is clear. The rights they ask for is listed clearly. They use Submittable to handle the submission process. As a fan of Submittable this was also a bonus. Oh, and did I mention that they pay you?

They also seem to genuinely care about the writer. The author bio, which was mandatory not optional, allowed you to express yourself in a significant 250 words. If you've got a website they want to have a look, and they're interested in how you will market the work too. Two way partnerships. They're great.

And of coure they pay you. Damn, that jokes wearing thin. Note to self...must do better! To be honest, it looked like a website that I'd be proud to have my work displayed on.

I hope they like my work as much as I liked them.

Here's a link to their website which I shall also add to the Useful Links page: http://www.horrordoeuvres.com/  
You can also find them on twitter @DarkFuse

if you're a reader of Horror fiction check them out. If you're a writer of Horror fiction check them out. What have you got to lose.

Take care,

Mike

Hello, to one and all.

I've been quite busy lately. Yesterday, I finished a short little horror story which has been titled - 13 Seconds.

The idea behind 13 Seconds was originally conceived at the inception of Project 13. For reasons I can't recall I decided not to progress the idea at the time. Yesterday I was in one of those writing moods / zones where the muse was in total control of everything I did. The story just poured itself out.

Usually when I finish a story I'll lock it away in a drawer for a week or so and then go back to it. As soon as I finished this particular story I had a really positive vibe about it. I sent it off to one of my writing buddies, the incredibly talented J T Harrell.

J T pointed out a few areas for tightening up the feel, and his points were relevant and honest. He also described the story as "Fun, and unnerving" which really made me happy as that's exactly what I was aiming for.

On another front the editors of the 13 Anthology have told me that the final story in the anthology will be The Thirteenth Camera. I'm quite proud of this. Ordering the story content of an anthology is a really difficult task. The two hardest positions to fill are the first and last stories.

The first story has to be the anchor, the story that will intrigue the reader enough to draw them in to the rest of the anthology. The final story is - presuming the reader tackles the anthology in order - the last story the reader will read. It will be the one most recent in their memory. It will be the one that completes the experience of the anthology. Nobody wants to end on a bum note so I'm more than happy with where they've placed me.

Night Owls has been sent to a literary magazine for their consideration. I'm expecting a rejection as I targeted one of the toughest markets to crack, but you've got to roll the dice. I'll do a post on the submission experience once I've had a response.

I've re-written The Flower Woman again. This will probably be its final straight forward re-write. Any further revisions will be radical. In some respects I haven't given this one too much of a chance. It was only ever entered into one competition. I'm currently getting feedback from a trusted source after which I'm going to make a point of submitting it to every qualifying market I can find. It's always been a popular story on TSL & Zoetrope so there must be an editor somewhere who will take a shine to it.

We're in July and 2013 has already been my most productive year. Three short stories finished, and one existing story re-written. Hopefully, I can maintain the productivity.

Keep writing, and keep reading, but most importantly take care,

Mike