Tips to sell your stories...

I am on a roll, short story wise,  so I felt it would be a good time to  share some more guidance for fellow  writers and to offer a little giveaway.  So today my collection of stories  “Moments” is free for  Kindle  download.
 Actually, between you and me  (ssshh)  this isn’t so very
generous really as I have already been paid for these stories. All bar one have  been published in leading women’s magazines – mostly Women’s Weekly for whom I  write regularly. I tell you this, not for head swelling- promise -  but  because quite a few writers ask me  the secret  to  writing short stories which sell.
  They also make the mistake of assuming that I write romance…which in fact I  don’t. 
 What I explain is that you need  to be very  professional in  your approach if you want to earn from short fiction.  This  means researching the markets and reading different magazines regularly to get  to know  their readership and  their fiction preferences.

 Those who want only to write  literary stories, with no nod to markets, should of course look away now. You
can write without rules. As dark as you like (optimism entirely optional). The  Bridport and all the other wonderful prizes and literary magazines are for you.  I love a challenging literary story with the best of them. But I write for a
living and I have yet to meet a writer who earns very much from this  sector.

 So -   many years ago I examined the women’s magazine market and began to see  where my writing might fit in. I realised very quickly that romance was not for  me. All respect to those who do it well; it just isn't my first choice as a writer.  Very occasionally I will do a comic story with a nod to hearts and flowers  but mostly I write challenging relationship stories and this is where you may be  surprised.

 The first story in my collection  Moments is called The Jam Jar and I am incredibly proud that Woman’s Weekly ran  it for it deals with a tough subject and not at all sentimentally. I chose a  hindered narrator….and pushed the boundaries. All credit to Women’s Weekly .  We had some very moving letters in  response.
 Because – here's the thing. Sure;  women’s   magazines want stories that will move readers. They want fiction  to be  ultimately uplifting. Hope needs to hang in there. But they also want range and good  writing and they don’t want stories written to  formula.

 For myself I like writing  relationship stories which explore what we learn from very difficult  experiences. How tough stuff makes us  grow.

 But my memo to self is always to  draw a firm line between strong emotional landscape and indulgent  sentimentality. How?

 I will give you an  example  from the television programme The Hours. Being a journalist ( 25 years in  newspapers, magazines and TV news) I loved this series. There  was  a scene in the last one where an editor  and foreign correspondent  had been searching for their child – left behind in France for safety during the
war. Presumed adopted.

 They followed some false trails,  trying to find her and eventually discovered that  she had died.

 After confirming this terrible  news, the male editor asked his  former lover to leave the room. He began to tidy items on his desk.  Straightening papers and staplers and the like. His former lover refused to  leave. “You do what you need to do,” she said. His compulsive behaviour over the  tidying became more and more extreme . Straightening. Tidying. Straightening.  Tidying.

 By the time his emotions finally  exploded and he began to destroy the room, I was in bits. 


For me portraying strong emotion in  film and in literature is not about describing people weeping. It is about
describing what we all do to try desperately to hide what we are really  feeling.  The final story in my  collection Dust is an example of this.


So. If you are looking to get into  the commercial short story market – do have a look at my stories and let me know  what you think. The Jam Jar is my personal favourite. There is just one in there  which is clearly  experimental   (way  too  dark for the commercial sector). You will be able to guess which one  easily.

 The rest should help to illustrate  that it is not only romance that leading magazines are looking  for.


Happy writing. And just click on  the MOMENTS book link opposite to download the collection.  Or
click here   FREE   STORIES .
(And if you fancy a current story - my piece Balloons is in this week's  Feb 19th Woman's Weekly. )

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