My short story journey into Nefariam

Several years ago, I wrote a blog for this site about things I found during a summer day to inspire my writing:  https://ascribewriters.com/summer-time-to-be-inspired/ One of the inspirations was a visit to the Keady market and observing the live animal auction. I began to imagine a dragon auction and what it would be like, who would come to such an auction, would it be dangerous? This idea floated in my head and although I loved the idea, I could not fit it into my current fantasy book. It was nothing more than a scene with no characters or plot yet.

My friend, Lori Twining, suggested that I write a short story for a small publishing company, ID Press, that was calling for submissions on “different twists” in thriller / crime mystery genre. I didn’t have a short story yet that fit this description but the dragon auction, still floating in my head like iceberg, remerged.

I used this scene as a jumping off point for a short story. I developed a character—and using advice from other authors, I decided to write what I knew. The character would be a lawyer; and in particular, an animal rights lawyer, specializing in dragon rights. Why was he at the dragon auction? What was his motivation, his goals and his dreams?

I used these questions and started to write a first draft. I love this part of the process when I don’t know exactly what will happen. A magic occurs where my brain takes off in a flight of ideas, characters and events that I did not anticipate.

After weeks of editing, I sent off my story to the publishing company. I was proud of my story and decided that even if it was rejected for entry into their book, I was happy that the call for submissions gave me a deadline and a motivation to write this short story.

The thrill of opening my email one day and finding that “Out of the Blue” would be included in the book, Nefariam, might be equivalent to jumping out of a plane (with a parachute). I was ecstatic. I didn’t know then that it would be a long drop to the ground before the book was completed.

There were various delays in the publishing of the book and I began to wonder if it would ever actually happen. I did edits back and forth from ID Press and then waited some more. Then another email in June this year that the book would be available in a few weeks (Covid-19 had caused further delays and roadblocks) but it would soon be here. 

My copy arrived in the mail in July and I opened with shaking hands. Would my story still be in there? I had some crazy nightmare that they would decide to cut my story at the last minute. Would I still like my story after all this time? Yes, and yes.

I am incredibly grateful for this blog. Without it, I would have never have spent a day in the summer of 2017 observing things to inspire me to write so that I would have something to write about for my turn at this blog! It was the seed that brought me to write a short story and then turn a dream of being published into reality.

And the best part is that Lori Twining’s story, Guilty Minds, was also included in Nefariam. I read her story first! Nefariam, The Element of Crime (edited by Connie DiPietro) is available from amazon.