Even though 2020 by all accounts has been a miserable year for us all, I managed to find some success as a writer. This year saw me become a published writer for the very first time and I figured I would try to detail the stories that were accepted and where they came from. I'll also try to do this in order. The titles are usually taken from songs or other texts, for they have inspired me and I will add this as well.
So without further ado...
Supernatural (Carpathia Publishing) Two short stories accepted.
Once I had got some drabbles under my belt I felt I could try something longer. I already had two short stories in the works from before. One, which would evolve into The Day the River Freezes was supposed to be entered in the Racine Library Competition, which I had one in 2018, but I didn't finish it in time. The contests was about writing an urban legend. So I set it in Racine, during the winter.
I was also interested in sending in a story to Dark Regions, a publisher in the UK, that have always been in my sights. I actually sent in a story in 2017 that never got picked up. They had a call for survival horror and I tried my hand on it. The story went over the alloted word count and no matter how I tried I could never cut it. I sent in another story to them and found Carpathia's Supernatural call.
I like using archetypes for my stories, like ready made characters that I place in different situations to see how they react. The Windows Shook contains the first apperance of the figures S and E, two figures who will show up in another story next year. The story is also tied in to a novel I have been working on called Pike Lake, it is also part of what I call the Wisconsin Noir Cycle. It takes place as Pike Lake ends and the characters attempt to survive the night as the world they have come to know crashes around them.
Both were submitted and accepted and I built a very nice relationship with them.
The Windows Shook - Title taken from Paper Aeroplanes
The Day the River Freezes - Title lifted from the opening line of River Lady sung by Roger Whittaker