And Now, a Shorter Story
By Alan Dove
Writing fiction is different from my usual work in a lot of obvious ways, but I still try to manage the workflow with some kind of organization. One thing I figured out with my first short story was that I needed a way to keep track of submissions: where I’d sent the piece, whether they sent a form rejection or one with useful comments, and where I was thinking of sending it next. After finishing a flash fiction (less than 1,000 words) piece, I followed the same pattern, dutifully logging the date when I sent it to my top choice of publishers.
Besides rejection, another common part of writing fiction is long turnaround times. So I submitted it, then set it aside and moved on to other things. Several weeks later, I got an email from the publisher accepting it. Just like that. First try.
The publisher in question is Nature, which introduced a flash fiction column a few years ago called Nature: Futures. Despite having committed a good bit of journalism for some of their publications over the years, I had no expectation they’d accept my fiction on the first attempt, but I suppose there’s no accounting for tastes. They even commissioned an artist to create a really cool image that accompanies it (thanks Jacey, if you’re reading this).
Update: I got a direct link to the PDF that should remain accessible indefinitely. Go here to read the story without having to create an account.
For the first four weeks after publication, it should be available with a free registration on the Springer Nature site. After that it’ll be paywalled, so follow this link soon. I hope you enjoy it.
Now I suppose I should write some more stories.