Flash Fiction Earns Pro Rates

I spent about an hour last night working on a piece short flash fiction for a children's magazine that I found on Duotrope.com. As I stated yesterday, I have been looking for a market I could write a story for. The first market that I looked at only wanted flash fiction. They wanted pieces that were 650 words or less. I took that as a challenge to write something right then.

The first thing I did was a little research on the subject they wanted me to write about. Then I came up with a short premise that could be squeezed into short form fiction. Then I just started writing. At first I was a little worried that I would not be able to keep the story short. By the time I finished writing, I was 20 words below the limit. I was proud of what I had written.

I went back through the story twice and made the edits I thought it needed, then I put the document together by following the instructions on their submission guidelines. Everyone I have ever listened to about submitting a story say that you need to follow the submission guidelines to the letter. Then I mailed it off to them. Now I move on to the next piece of fiction. The funny thing is that the next market that I found, one I think I could enjoy writing is also flash fiction at 500 words or less. Sound like a good project for tomorrow night.

Finding something on Duotrope

I decided I wanted to take a break from some of the things I have been writing and see if I can do something a little shorter. I wanted to see if there is something I could submit to a magazine. Maybe I might be able to sell something to a professional market and make a little bit of real money. 

I have used Duotrope.com a few times. If you don't know what this site is, it is a website that keeps track of all the magazine markets that are taking submissions. The nice thing is you can filter the results to show you the markets you are interested in writing for.

As for me, I want to write something in the science fiction or fantasy realm and I figure if I am going to write anything, I would like to be paid like a pro for it. So I have been looking at the pro markets. The first one I am going to submit to only wants submissions that are, at most, 650 words. They want short folk tales. I am curious what I can come up with to send to them.