First up this morning are two market notes.
Issue 5 of 10Flash has gone live. http://10flash.wordpress.com/ and they've also changed their submission guidelines. Editor, KC Ball, has listed the themes for the next three issue and posted the dates for submitting to each of those themes. This will give you a lot of lead time for writing your stories, just remember to mark the dates on your calendar. Here's the new details and themes http://10flash.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/a-new-submissions-policy This is a paying market and accepts flash stories up to 1000 words in various genres.
And Necrotic Tissue has opened for submissions as of July 1 through the 31st. http://www.necrotictissue.com/ This is also a paying market. I'm making a correction here as I remembered the payments wrong. 100 word stories are paid 5cents. Short stories up to 5000 words are paid a penny plus a contributor's copy and the best story chosen by the editor will receive 5cents a word with a $250 cap. This is basically a horror market but they accept other genres so long as they include dark horror at the core of the story.
And I found this essay by Mark Charan about combining mystery and fantasy very interesting. http://www.omnivoracious.com/2010/07/guest-blogger-mark-charan-newton-on-the-mystery-of-fantasy.html
I think too many writers build fences around their stories by trying to stay within the confides of a certain genre. Be brave, explore your options, unless, of course, you're writing for a specific market. By pushing beyond the boundaries of your chosen genre you'll be able to find more markets to place your work. Don't believe me? Think about this. You can place your Western in outer space and you've got a sci-fi market. Make your PI a vampire and you can find a horror or spec-fiction market for your work. The list goes on and on. How about you? What's the weirdest story combination you've come up with and did you have trouble placing it with the twisted themes?
12 comments:
Nice one, Sandra. Thanks for the links.
P.s. Being still quite new to this and still in my first year of blogging can you suggest any 'humour' zines that I could send something off to? Thanks for your help.
Jeez, Dave, you might as well ask me which one pays a million bucks, it would be easier to answer ;-) Humour is hard to place sometimes and it would depend on what genre you've set your humor story in.
Flash markets like Apollo's Lyre and A Long Story Short take humour pieces. Big Pulp also says they accept humour but they're not open to subs until Sept. 1. Ralan.com has a section of humor markets, only about a dozen or so, that you might want to check out also. Most zines say they'll take humour also but it has to be in the genre of the zine.
And well, with humour, what one person thinks is funny, doesn't always strike another the same way. All I can say is keep submitting until you find a fit. Not very helpful, am I?
About mixin genres... Noir works pretty well . but what about sword & Sorcery with horror?
That's plenty of help, Sandra. I have two characters who I've written two pieces about (Up to now) and it's all dialogue. I've had some great feedback on them, especially my latest one, so I'm thinking of expanding on it and sending it out. Would love your opinion if you find time.
Friday Flash Fiction #34...Two Blokes At A Bar, Again. It's on my blog.
Thanks again, Sandra.
How about sword and sorcery with mystery instead, Deka? A dragon slaying, magic wielding PI might be fun to experiment with.
I'll drop by and have a read when I get a free minute, David.
Well... The Hawk & Fisher series does something like that. The heroes are a couple, husband and wife, whho are a sort of policemen in the city where the action takes place.
Oops! I'm not very familiar with the S&S genre except through TV, Deka. To mix it with horror maybe a serial killer wizard or a vampire dragon? Stories can be anything you want them to be, just think beyond the basic genre to find something new and fresh with your own unique spin.
The wierdest combo theme I came up with (and I haven't even remotely started the long process of query/begging and submission/more begging) is the book that I finished a couple of months ago.
Most of my stories are flavored with sex, and this one is no exception as it takes place in the adult movie industry. The twist is that I gave the lead character a symbiont who she interacts and communicates with on personal level.
Sounds interesting. In the story i'm working on roght now, well, is a pulp hero like the Spideror The shadow, but i added a few elelementis taken from japanese TV shows.
That sounds like a fun story, G! Have you checked into the erotica markets?
Sounds like you're really mixing it up in your story, Deka!
Just a note on the pay at Necrotic Tissue. I think it is 1 cent/word EXCEPT for their best story and those of exactly 100 words -- those are 5 cents a word with the $250 max on the best story.
~Jim
Thanks, Jim. I've made the corrections. I really should write down all the details instead of trying to remember.
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