I was recently asked to submit a story for an anthology called Cellar Door : Words of Beauty, Tales of Terror, edited by Shawna L. Bernard. The submissions requirements asked that the story (or poem, or photograph) involve a cellar door. I instantly thought of a story I’d written years before, entitled, “Visions of a New York Loft.” This is one of my favorite stories. It’s an intense, claustrophobic tale of a woman trapped in her home by her husband.
Though this story is one of my favorites, I’d never found the right home for it. I know it was a good and psychologically disturbing story, but no one else’s guidelines ever fit. I submitted it to the editor Shawna L. Bernard, and her acceptance was almost immediate. It was PERFECT for the anthology, she wrote.
This experience is a good lesson for any writer. Often I write stories from my heart, without a market in mind. I’ve sat on stories for years waiting for just the right place to send them. The same holds true for partial stories. Often I have started a story, only to give up on it after a page or two so. When that happens, I save the stories in a folder called, “WIP.” More often than not, I later hear about a call for stories, and dig through that folder. Next thing, I have a story starter.
The Cellar Door Anthology is a beautiful collection described as, “Cellar Door… Linguists call it the most beautiful phrase in the English language based solely on the way it sounds. But as you can imagine, what it represents may be something far more sinister. In a spectacular display of poetry, artwork, fiction, and photography, the talent of fifty contributors is showcased within these pages. Voices from behind cellar doors all over the world come together in unison to whisper in your ear…can you hear them? Are they knocking on your cellar door? Edited by Shawna L. Bernard, each piece in this anthology has a beautiful title intrinsically connected to the tale that follows, and a door will be the common theme which connects the widely varied styles, genres, and stories told. Will you take your chances and find what’s lurking behind your cellar door?”
Pick up your copy HERE, at the new discounted price.
Tracy
For more fiction by Tracy, please visit her AMAZON PAGE.
Tracy L Carbone's Bit of Everything Site 