Future Shock Submissions - Response Times

[LRS]

well, I guess I've joined the club of people having received the rejection letter

[Charlie boy]

This probably won't be of any use to anybody who has posted here if you want to write shorts in comic book format only, but if you go to http://darkmarkets.com/ you'll have a decent list of magazines that publish horror/fantasy/sci fi shorts and their guidelines at your disposal. You may even make a little money-cash if they accept what you have to offer.

[Heath C Ackley]

Thanks for the link Charlie boy apart from the news on available markets there is also good advice and discussions there too.

[Ghastly McNasty]

This probably won't be of any use to anybody who has posted here if you want to write shorts in comic book format only...

Wait a minute. You're saying there are other formats?!

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Wait a minute. You're saying there are other formats?!

Seems unlikely. Maybe he's talking about Manga?

[Charlie boy]

Thanks for the link Charlie boy apart from the news on available markets there is also good advice and discussions there too.

No problem, pal.
To Jimmy Baker's Assistant, I'd say you beat me to the punch there with that reply but my decision to have a nap through the afternoon- missing Ghastly's original reply because of it- means you truly earned it!

[strontium_dog_90]

http://horrortree.com/ is a good one for prose writing sorts, too - you can break down a list of anthologies that are seeking submissions to a month-by-month view, which is handy!

[Starkers]

Well I got a new submission in a few weeks ago, I've now noticed however that they've amended the submission guidence to say they're now looking for 4 page future shocks, not 5 page ones. I'm not sure when this change came into play. Guess that's what I get for not checking first, I suppose I just didn't expect the 5 page format to change.

I wonder if this is a commercial decision or a creative one (ie a way to cut down on submissions because whilst not impossible trying to tell a story in four pages will be harder than telling it in five)

[Bolt-01]

hmmm... My initial thoughts on this are that it might be easier to fill a gap with a four page strip these days. Remember most strips in the prog run to 5 pages- except for Dredd (almost always 6) and Pat Mills product (again, mainly 6). I would imagine that Tharg has a few 5 pagers ready to go at any given time, and four pagers would also be a useful page length.

[Starkers]

Maybe, I notice the Past Imperfect in the last Prog was actually 4 pages long.

[GordonR]

4 pages for a Future Shock is still plenty. Especially when too many FS ideas I've seen tend to have 1-2 pages of waffle on the way to that final page payoff.

[Jim_Campbell]

4 pages for a Future Shock is still plenty. Especially when too many FS ideas I've seen tend to have 1-2 pages of waffle on the way to that final page payoff.

I can't remember whether Andy Diggle said this, or was recounting someone else saying it, but I always rather liked the FS advice which was to think of your twist ending, and then put it at the top of Pg2 and work out where your story goes from there...

Cheers

Jim

[Bat King]

Andy Diggle has certainly said that a good FS should be able to work on one page... let alone 4 (or 5).

[pauljholden]

The only lamentable thing about future shocks is the fixed page count - would love to see brilliantly short pieces in 1 2 or 3 pages.

(Remember Henry Flints great mad one pagers from - well, not that long ago, I suppose...)

-pj

[CrazyFoxMachine]

*ahem* MASSIVE PLUG *ahem*

The Psychedelic Journal submissions are always 1-4 pages which I always think is a nice amount. I used to swear by five pagers inspired by t'prog but cut out the fifth page and you don't lose a great deal - a nice lean story with no fatty bits. Yum.