Experience in the area Fiction in anthologies from Moonstone Books, Dark Horse Books, as well as stories in CEMETERY DANCE magazine and others. Non-fiction in STARLOG magazine, SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE, the TRIBUNE-GEORGIAN newspaper and more. I have published in excess of 200 articles, columns, and stories.
Organizations belong to Former member, the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the Georgia Press Association.
Publications I have written and published over 200 stories and articles including: "Unfinished Business" in HELLBOY: ODDER JOBS, edited by Christopher Golden (Darkhorse Books, 2004); "The Shadow That Shapes the Light" in KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER CHRONICLES (Moonstone Books, 2005); "Fear Itself", in the special Stephen King Halloween edition of CEMETERY DANCE magazine, (2005); also forthoming stories in: KOLCHAK: THE NIGHSTALKER CASE FILES (Moonstone Books, 2006); "Lessons Learned" in THE PHANTOM: ANTHOLOGY I (Moonstone Books, 2007), etc. Additional work published in a variety of magazines and newspapers, including STARLOG, SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE, the TRIBUNE-GEORGIAN, and many more
Experience I can answer most questions about writing and publishing professional fiction and non-fiction, in novel, book, and magazine formats.
Expert: Richard Dean Starr Date: 7/19/2007 Subject: short stories published?
Question Hey, I'm only 16 so I'm not very experienced. My area I guess you could say is in short story writing, and I was just wondering if you know how I could get any short stories published, maybe a collection? Also I live in Australia so I'm not sure if that changes anything or not. I generally write more teenage stories, but some sci-fi and horror too, with a dash of romance!! Hope you can get back to me, thanks.
Answer Hi, Emily:
The first thing you need to do is buy a copy of the current Writer's Market. You can get it from Amazon.com. Here's the link:
After you've decided on potential markets for your short stories, get copies of those publications and read them. If you think your story is a good fit for a particular magazine, create a good submission letter and send it off! Be prepared for rejection; writers who've published numerous novels still get rejections! It's just part of the business. After you've submitted one story, submit another to a DIFFERENT publisher, and if they're both rejected, simply turn around and mail the two stories to the opposite editors.
Eventually, you'll start to make inroads. Your writing will hopefully improve, and editors will begin to take notice. Instead of form rejection letters, you'll start getting notes on your story. This is a good sign.
If you listen, and you're willing to learn from those notes, you'll eventually get published! I'd say 'It's really that simple!', but unfortunately it isn't. The process I've described above is difficult, time-consuming, and can be discouraging at times.
However, if you really want to be a writer....REALLY want to be...there is no other way. Learn your craft by reading, reading, reading...and most importantly, writing. Then write some more. In short, when you're not studying for school or reading, be writing and submitting your stories.
Good luck with your writing endeavors! I hope you stick with it and get to see your name in print!
