A few years ago I read a short story whose protagonist was a high school student. One of the early scenes took place in class and that got me thinking.
It might be cool to write a story which followed a teenager through his day, with different facts about his life coming out in each class. Since no teacher or other student would see all of these actions, only the reader would come to realize what was going on.
Neat idea, I decided. But I write crime fiction so I had to figure out what crime would be involved. The obvious choice, I am sorry to say, is an active shooter situation. That is, somebody bringing a gun to school. But that was not something I wanted to write about.
So I found a different solution. I titled the story "Wednesday on the Thursday Schedule" which, to me, suggested bureaucracy at work, and something being out of whack.
I sent the story off to the usual markets and, in much longer than it takes to tell you, it was rejected. Very sad, but I tucked it into my memory files and waited.
Last year D.M. Barr announced she was looking for stories for an anthology of tales inspired by the songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Hmm...
I realized that with a little revision my story would connect with "The Cage," an obscure song from Elton's first album. Heck, I already had a mention of wild animals!
So revise I did and Barr bought my story. "The Cage" appears in Better Off Dead, Volume 1, which will be published on August 25th..
The moral, I guess, is be patient and the right market may come along. I hope you like it. If not, don't go breaking my heart.
