That lottery story is taught throughout high schools and English 101 classes throughout the country. I think it works because we have an unexpected series of events unfolding as it makes a statement about society. And this was written long before we had The Hunger Games and such. It's not my favorite short story, but it is very well-known over here.
Yeah, I liked the sharp twist at the end, even though I felt something coming, but the writing didn't grab me as much. Of course it was written a long time ago and styles have changed...your story I liked much more. PS - I was obviously being sarcastic about my writing, I really don't think that...maybe the second best
I read it! Hooray hooray... I am nourished.. Obviously I enjoyed the fable tremendously. Heavy-going for young @Krispee, no doubt. Although ending was disappointment; expecting golden pitchfork, sadly fight ruined raffle, I think.
My submissions will shake the planet. Sent tiny stories to the tiniest journals in the US, definitely no readership. One story I inserted ‘beard’ every fourth word, eighth draft, very effective.
The beard thing was brilliant, bound to get accepted; you might have actually stumbled upon something...hold on while I re-write...
Crazyhorse seems to be a really difficult place to get into. I've tried a few times to access their website but to no avail. Anyone else have problems with that?
Super hard to get into. It's a well-known publication. That's one that I keep trying. I used to subscribe and really liked the work they were putting out. I also think that this is a publication on almost every short story writer's radar, making it really competitive. I send them what I think is my best, but I've always gotten a form rejection. I'm trying them again right now for the 10th time. And this is one I'll keep trying. I wish they had a thing like every ten submissions you get a free subscription. Between journal subscriptions and submission fees, it's getting kind of expensive to be a short story writer. But Crazyhorse is a good one. Worth trying, I think.
Uh, sorry DR, I clearly didn't describe my problem correctly. I literally can't access their website. I keep clicking on the link on google and it times me out. I was asking if anyone had problems like that, literally accessing their website.
Yes, it doesn't let one/you/me in. See Charleston firewall and the as yet unresolved issue of anglo engineering-types bombarding campus with access requests. Dreadful business. Submissions manager works perfik.
You're having a similar problem? Maybe it is the flood of submissions and it's fallen under the weight of all that electronic paper. What a way to go! Anyway, I'll come back to Crazyhorse a bit later in the week, maybe the problem will have gone. Submitted to Ninth so that's one of them.
NO. NO. NO. The website doesn't work. It's probably a university website, y'know passwords, access, undergraduates and professors. The submittable portal works fine. Click my link.
Sorry, Mat, got the wrong end of the stick there, it's been a hard day, and other feeble excuses. I couldn't find a link though. Are you talking about the submittable portal or something else?
https://crazyhorse.submittable.com/submit That's for you only, no-one else. Keep off the link @Deadrat x
OVER a year ago i applied to this mini scholarship. submit an essay of up to 1,000 words, get $500 toward your tuition if chosen. the piece then becomes the property of the scholarship to use and distribute at their will. Well, i submitting an excerpt but never heard anything back from them, and I am 2 classes away from graduating now so i promptly forgot about it. It was basically a rejection. Well, last week, I got an email from the scholarship provider asking me to resubmit the FULL paper and reply for the scholarship this year. I ignored the email because I thought it was standard. She emails me again this week saying they would really like to read the full paper. I responded and said that the deadline has passed for the scholarship and the paper is way over the word count. She says none of that matters, they want me to resubmit it. So i did. i am confused, flattered, and skeptical... Was i rejected the first time? Did it just take them really long to get back to me? Did they like the excerpt, but it wasn't the right time to do something with it? ....did they receive no applicants this year and pulled my name from last year? *announcers voice* STAY TUNED FOR NEXT WEEKS EPISODE OF "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON"
@ J T Woody - I think you are just going to have to play along and see what happens. Keep an open mind and keep working, I guess.
Finished a new piece last night. Like really finished it. I first wrote it a few months back, but it's really different now. You know that feeling when something is your best? Best efforts, best quality, time really spent to work and rework it. And then you have a pretty killer story. And now it's been submitted. Man, this one was a lot of work. I almost gave up on it. But right now it feels like the best thing I ever wrote. I have a good feeling about this piece. I've learned a lot from selling my creative writing. Working with these professional editors had led me to see and question things differently. It's sort of like I've learned to smooth out the prose if that makes any sense. I'm sure if this story or any of the others I have out is accepted somewhere, there will still be more work to do because there always is. But I'm producing and putting out better stuff. Before I submit, I try and think like an editor, not me as an editor but the editor I'm hoping will buy my story. How is my story going to compare to the hundreds or thousands of other submissions? How will I get the editor to read past the first page? Read to the end? Show them something new but similar to the works they publish? Remember my story later that night or the next day or the next week? I also have seen reoccurring problems I tend to make from working with different editors on different things. Things I'm training myself to stop doing or start doing. I would hope the material I'm selling is easier to work with, and if not then at least worth working with. Every editor who has bought my stuff has made it better prior to publication. Sometimes I have to go against my gut instinct to make changes, but I've never regretted those changes once they're done. I'm just trying to catch things and question my work a lot more than I used to before I submit it. With my latest story, I think I rewrote the ending twenty times or so. And I had to write it that many times to get it right. We'll see how it does now that it's on submission. I'm always expecting rejection because most submissions are rejected. But some of them get bought and published. I want this story to be one of those. I would like to think I give everything I write my all. This one left me mentally and physically drained, but it feels perfect.
