Story Creation
“Director’s Cut” is a quirky short story about an alien actor who is determined to get a part in a movie, even if it means cheating. I remember a submission call for an anthology titled Monsters, Movies, & Mayhem. It was a project between Kevin J. Anderson and creative writing students of Western Colorado University. The stories needed to have the following elements:
- A monster of some kind, either friendly or malevolent, physical or conceptual
- Movie/film-related
- Mayhem in any form.
Submission
Ultimately, my story was not chosen, though it was well received. Here is the personalised rejection letteremailed to me by the editors:
Thank you for submitting your story, “The Director’s Cut,” to Monsters, Movies, & Mayhem. Yours was a unique approach to the theme, and the member of our team with theater/acting experience particularly enjoyed the insight the character and story showed to the audition process. In addition, the approach to creating a “monster” in your protagonist was exceptionally creative and very well-communicated for a new-to-your-story being.
We received over 400 stories, and more than 300 were dropped in the first round.The editorial team kept your story for a second round of consideration, and we enjoyed the chance for another look, but unfortunately it did not make the final round. Best of luck placing it elsewhere.
The Editors
As it turned out, the anthology ended up being a lot more horrific than I anticipated, so I must have slightly misunderstood the intended theme. “Director’s Cut” is quite light, whereas the anthology is dark. I haven’t read it, but the blurb says it all. I don’t write dark fiction anyway, so I am glad I was not selected.
More Submissions
With the encouraging editorial comments spurring me on, I then submitted the story to Fireside Fiction. It reached the highest round of consideration, but in the end it was not suitable or the magazine at that time. Another rejection. Nevertheless, it’s performance told me that I had written a winner, and all I had to do was find a place for it.
The next submission was to Clarkesworld, a highly-coveted magazine. I have always admired Neil Clarke and the success he’s had with his magazine. But the story was rejected again … within 24 hours.
So on it went to EscapePod, then to Strange Horizons, both seeing rejections.
I then found a submission call for Alex Shvartsman’s Unidentified Funny Objects 8 anthology. Unfortunately, I don’t think my story was funny enough, because it didn’t make the cut. It was never written to be funny anyway, but I thought I’d give it a shot.
After the UFO8 rejection, I tried my luck at another big-time market, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Got a lovely rejection letter from C. C. Finley, the editor. This magazine, like Clarkesworld, has been a tough one to break into, but I’m still trying.
About this time, the Writers of the Future contest was open again, so I submitted to that. I did not win, but the story was considered good enough for a Silver Honorable Mention!
Home At Last
Finally, I sent “Director’s Cut” to Space and Time Magazine. Editor Angela Yuriko-Smith told me it was the “perfect bit of brilliant humour” the magazine needed for Issue #140.
Working with Angela was fun. I got to see a mockup of the story as it would appear in the magazine. And then I had the final product in my hands—a beautiful magazine with fine cover art and exceptional interior design.
“Director’s Cut” can also be purchased individually via my Shop page.
