Writing Magazines - Mslexia

Okay, I'll say right off that Mslexia is for women writers only. While not exactly feminist, it does sometimes contain articles highlighting some of the difficulties women writers often face in comparison to male writers. And I'm not going to argue the case for or against here! Suffice to say we all have enough of a struggle to actually get published these days.

Available quarterley, either by subscription or in some shops, Mslexia is a little more literary in tone than other writing magazines. But it does offer a few opportunities to be published. Each issue contains a New Writing section for poetry and short stories. The theme is given in the previous issue and a new guest judge is chosen for each competition. There is also a Flash Fiction story in each magazine, with a maximum of 150 words and, again, the theme is given in the previous issue.

Another slot is Curious Incidents which is a non-fiction autobiographical piece of 850-900 words to a given theme. Other submissions are welcome, including Book Reviews and One I Love.

Full details are on the Mslexia site and in the magazine. The next New Writing submissions are for the annual Open Poetry Competition, closing date 26th July 2010.

Rosemary

My Weekly Pocket Novels

The following are the updated guidelines for My Weekly Pocket Novels, although I don't know if they've changed. This seems like a good in-between idea for those writers (like me) trying to make the leap from short stories to novels. The exclamation marks were on the guidelines:

Love! Romance! Passion! Adventure! Avid fans of romantic novels can get their fix from My Weekly Pocket Novels. Two published every fortnight. We look for stories with a strong, developing romance between two identifiable characters. Within the time it takes to read one of the novels, we would like the reader to share and experience the breathless/breath-taking excitement of a growing relationship.

• Do: Create characters our readers can identify with, rejoice with or grieve with. They can have flaws.
• Do: Thrill and intrigue the reader. You have two hours (roughly) to take the reader through a gamut of emotions and resolve the dilemma, mystery, pitfalls and obstacles.
• Do: Include a heart-stopping moment! Key moments to consider: She realises she likes him; she thinks he is lost to her forever; that second-chance moment when she realises happiness can be hers…THE KISS! Some questions you might like to answer: How can she resist him? How did he misjudge her? What kind of a woman is she?
• Do: Set our pulses racing (ooh la la!) BUT remember we want passion, not pornography!
• Do: Use dialogue so the reader can participate in the story’s development rather than being told in large chunks of straight narrative.

Plot: There can be a secondary plot to help develop the romance. For instance, there are often complications and misunderstandings between the hero and the heroine, or there is something vital at stake, such as a child, an inheritance, a relationship etc. Crime and intrigue can feature, as long as they don’t distract from the developing romance.

Who: Our heroines vary in age from their early twenties to middle-age and are compassionate and morally sound. They are more modern in their relationships, thoughts, feelings and experiences when the novel has a contemporary setting.

Where and When: Stories can be set anywhere in the world and can be contemporary or historical.

How: The story is usually told from the woman’s point of view, although occasionally it is from the man’s.

Presentation: Please send in a synopsis and the first three chapters in manuscript form or via email. If we wish to proceed, we will ask you to send in the full novel electronically.

Word count: around 30,000 words, no more than 32,000. Double spacing, double quotes, single space only between full stop and next sentence. No tabs or page breakers. If accepted for publication the completed novel must be presented electronically in a format compatible with ours (i.e. Word or rich text format).

Please address: For the Attention of Maggie Seed.
Please send to: My Weekly Pocket Novels D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd., 80 Kingsway East Dundee DD4 8SL Email: myweekly@dcthomson.co.uk

All the best,
Rosemary

My Weekly Updated Guidelines (for Aug/Sep)

The following guidelines are hot off the computer from Liz Smith this morning. She is very apologetic about the time she is taking to get back to people, but she is now the only member of the fiction buying team. And she will definitely respond to everyone as soon as she can. She was interested in one my stories I emailed just over a year ago, but I only sent it to another magazine last week! So it may be more than six months before hearing about a sale. These are the updated guidelines (I've abridged it slightly for space).

• Only one manuscript per month. Email, postal addresses, phone numbers etc should be marked on the manuscript
• Please pay attention to the story lengths as they are important
• For your manuscript to be considered, it’s imperative you mark prominently on your envelope or email into which category your story falls and how many words it is. If you don’t do this, I’m afraid your work can’t be considered.
• Our author box has changed. Can you please now give me 30 words about your inspiration? Please include this on your manuscript or Word document.
• Remember NOT to include any formatting such as tabs or page breakers in your Word document.
• Not looking for any more sci-fi themes in any of the categories, at the moment.

PRESENTATION
As we now edit on screen, please take a moment to check your manuscript and ensure that:

• Double quotes (“…”) are used for dialogue throughout
• You have avoided excessive use of ellipses (…) and exclamation marks
• There are only SINGLE spaces between words and sentences (please eliminate all unnecessary spaces)
• If you are emailing your story, make sure it is as a Word attachment and not in the body of the email
• You are enclosing only a SINGLE MANUSCRIPT, not several at once, and that your story is in a standard plain type of 12pt.
• All manuscripts must be typewritten, with accurate wordage supplied.
• Still low on Family stories with children at the moment – 1200 words.

LONG READS (2,500-3,000)
- Emotionally engaging
- Light and shade
- Strong continuous plot
- Intrigue - Interwoven plot lines
- Complex relationships
- Recognisable people in recognisable situations
- Escapist - Adventure - Balance of surprise vs expectations

Twist In The Tale (between 1400 and 1600 words)
- Particularly looking for light-hearted themes, or very moving - “clues” must not be misleading
- Positive, pleasant outcome - characters well rounded, need not all be likeable - revenge must not be vindictive
- A nice surprise instead of a “con”
- Ensure crime themes have emotional engagement and some sympathetic characters.

Coffee Break (700 Words Only)

• Particularly looking for light-hearted or very moving themes
• No surprise endings right now as I have enough
• Include a frisson of excitement, hint of passion
• Character studies
• Unusual, offbeat subject
• Humorous - conversation – can be all dialogue - a moment in time - pulse racing, without being sexually explicit

Romance (1200 words + 2000 words)
- looking for light-hearted or very romantic themes
- believable characters
- unusual theme/situations
- try not to be too predictable
- doesn’t have to have a standard happy ending
- engaging dialogue
- must still be hopeful - inspiring - light and shade work well - try to ring the changes with themes
- convincing emotions

You can send your work by email to myweekly@dcthomson.co.uk or lsmith@dcthomson.co.uk or by post to: The Commissioning Fiction Editor, My Weekly, D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd., 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL. Most important! If one of your stories has been accepted already, please mark the email for the attention of Liz Smith.

Good luck,
Rosemary

Leaf Books New Writing Magazine

The independant Welsh publisher, Leaf Books, has produced its first Writers' Magazine, available now. Leaf Books has been running various competitions in different genres for many years, and publishing cute little books that can be held in the palm of the hand.

I've just received a copy of the new magazine (subscriptions or one-off purchase online). It's bigger than A5 and is perfect bound with a good thick, glossy cover. I've only had a quick look so far, but it has interviews with well known writers, features about writing, competitions and previous winners, tips and listings. It seems a very good buy at £6 for one copy which includes a £3 voucher for one of their competitions. I also received one of their tiny little books free with the magazine. A year's subscription (3 issues) costs £15.

Worth checking out the magazine, and the competitions, on their website.
Rosemary

Stories for Candis Magazine

The new issue of Writers' News (June 2010) contains a piece about Candis. The family magazine is now accepting unpublished short stories of between 2,300 and 2,500 words. They particularly want stories with clever storylines that keep the reader guessing, twist in the tail, and tightly written whodunnits.

However, there is still room for stories about modern love, families and friendship. No children's, sci-fi, or stories from an animal or ghost viewpoint.

It is a competitive market which uses only 12 stories a year. Payment is £300. Email as an attachment, or in the body of the email to: fiction@candis.co.uk  Full submission details are on the Candis website and can be printed off.

Good luck,
Rosemary

Audio Version of Haiti Book Now Available

Delighted to announce that the BBC Audiobooks America version of the twenty Stories for Haiti is now available to download from Audible.

Wonder what the narrators sound like. Only one way to find out!