8 / 8
Mar 23

Hello!

Ah, I know, I have a lot of questions recently. :sweat_smile:

This time I would like to know if any of you have experiences with uploading short stories.
I wrote some in the last years and just made a short series of them here on Tapas now.

Is there any interest for something like a collection of only losely (if at all) connected short stories?
Is there a good way to publish short stories? :thinking:
What are the biggest mistakes I could make? :smile:

Well, if you have any thoughts to this topic, I would be happy to read them. :relaxed:
Best wishes,
Hel :sunny:

  • created

    Mar 21
  • last reply

    Mar 23
  • 7

    replies

  • 292

    views

  • 1

    user

  • 6

    likes

Publishing short stories outside of tapas I know and could offer suggestions for, but if you only mean on Tapas, sorry, I've not done that.

I take any thoughts/ advices/ suggestions I can get. :slight_smile:
I would definitely like to hear about your experiences!

I do write short stories! I've actually been considering posting a "novel" here on Tapas which is just a collection of short stories, but I haven't decided yet if I should, haha. Curious to see other people's thoughts on this!

Hehe, happy I'm not the only one! :grinning:
And well, I like short stories, reading them can be very refreshing between all these books and comics. :+1:

Alright so my main tips for writing short stories.

  1. everything should have a meaning. Like a poem, back little bits of imagery full of meaning, whether they be metaphors or opportunities to set the over all mood, (say, using the weather to give the impression of anger or sadness) you want very few extraneous things.
  2. it doesn't have to have a 'resolution' in the normal sense. you'll often want it to end as close to the climax as possible and just imply the answers to any questions your readers might have.

As for getting published.

  1. Look for open calls for submissions: there's a great website called "Curiosity Never Killed The Writer" that lists these monthly, both for ordinary submissions and for competitions. Many of these don't have submission fees.
  2. don't submit to anything with a submission fee. You'll waste your money. Art is subjective, don't pay someone to have content to put in THEIR magazine/journal etc.

I've published one short story called "Rain Dance" which won the H.G. Well Short Story Competition and the Turnill prize. It's only one short story credit for about three years of work submitting to tons of magazines and competitions, so do not do not do not waste your money paying to submit. It will stack up easily.

Thanks a lot for sharing these tips!
1. Ah, I'm not sure if I'm good at that. :sweat_smile: But I think it's an important point, will have that in mind in the future.
2. Ah, I see! Let them imagine the "end"/ resolution by themselves. :smiley:
And the publishing tips:
1. Didn't know anything about this site, thanks a lot for sharing! Sounds like a good way to not just write for the "empty room". :+1:
2. To be honest, I didn't even know that this is a thing, that's how much of a newbie I am. :sweat_smile: But it's good to know, so I'm prepared!

Whoa, that's impressive! Congrats :tada: (even though I might be very late :sweat_smile:)!
And yeah, I can now imagine that. :grimacing:
Again, thanks a lot for sharing your experiences/ knowledge!

I mostly read short stories and I uploaded some on some adult sides.
I can give you a link to a page when you are into nsfw stories