posted
I have a short story that will be published if I change the setting from rural Louisiana to a Northern city. The editor is afraid the readers will not relate to a Southern setting. I can't seem to make myself rewrite it. Instead, I have written another short story set in the Louisiana swamp and the Metro New Orleans area. The first story is contempary fiction and the second story is science fiction. I am from the New Orleans area. I know what it is like to drive down old river road or to be heart broken because the French Quarter is always filled with tourists. I still remember the French Quarter from when I was a teenager and there was at least a six month period of hardly any tourist. During those six months the Bourbon Street atmosphere did not inhabit the entire quarter. It was a completely different French Quarter. I hate the fact that this incredible place that I live in is famous because of Bourbon Street. What about the jazz clubs? The historic buildings? The incredible swamp? I am babbling so back to my main problem. I don't know New York or New England. I feel that if I change the setting, it won't be my short story anymore. I can't make myself rewrite it. Posts: 14 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Oh, that should be pretty easy. Just Search-and-Replace "Orleans" with "York" and re-submit the story.
I guess it all depends on how desperate you are to get published ASAP, and it sounds like you're not desperate. If the editor of this publication liked it except for the Southern setting, then it's probably good enough that another editor will eventually take it with that setting. It just may take a while.
Frankly, I'm not sure I'd want to sell to a publication whose readers are too stupid to relate to a story that doesn't take place in a northern city.
posted
That is an excellent question, and I have an answer that I heard from OSC at his boot camp in July.
Basically what he said was for short stories you make any and all changes that the editor wants. It sucks, but that's what you do in the short story market. In novels, you stick to your guns. (Unless of course you agree wiht the editor about the change.) But for short stories, yes, you should go ahead and change your setting.
There are so many short stories out there and the editor knows he or she can easily get another story. You, however, cannot as easily get another publication. You should feel honored that the one change makes your story publication worthy. (That is probably what the editor is thinking, but also what I am thinking.)
Nothing in a story is sacred. The story is not you, it is something you made but now it is separate from you, its own entity.
I hope I'm not too premature in saying congratulations on getting such a positive response from an editor.
posted
Maybe thinking about it this way would help -- How much influence does the setting have on this particular story? Is it a universial story -- and could be told in any number of cities with basicially the same effect? Or is it a Southern story, that need aspects specifically of the South to make it work? I'm guessing it's the first based on the fact that editor thinks it will work reworked for a northern city. In that case, while it may feel less "right" to you, based on your specific experiences, the story itself would stay intact with a slight change of geographic setting.
It seems sort of like an odd request to me. I've never spent much time in the South, but have no qualms about, and in fact enjoy, reading fiction set in the South. The differences to my Mid West experience become part of what makes it interesting. I guess this editor just doesn't share my burning desire to visit New Orleans.
posted
I think that in this case you will just have to ask yourself how much you personally respect and trust this particular editor...as a writer.
I have to second GZ that this does sound like an odd request, and if you don't feel that this editor is really the cat's pajamas, then it is a bit too much of a compromise. If he's already contracted you to write this story and you're legally obliged to make the changes he requests, then I guess you have to do it (and take it as a lesson concerning those with whom you make contracts in the future).
My gut tells me that you shouldn't make the change just to get published with an editor that would make such a senseless demand. But my gut doesn't know the guy. Maybe he's got the mojo, and he knows that you could be a much better writer if you would write about stuff about which you don't know anything. Maybe he's got the eye, and he knows that if you set it in New York, it will appeal to a certain career making critic that will notice and laud you. Maybe he's a she...and thus has feminine intuition
posted
where is the magazine's greatest circulation? If it is in the north, then the request makes sense. We don't always see the need or the reason for a change, but it is an editor's job to know what will sell.
In a novel I'd draw the line at changing a setting--but I have made other changes that at first I thought bit the big one--but having done them and having asked why they wanted the change--the story is better for them.
posted
People relocate for their jobs all the time. At least this is only figurative. Of course, maybe it's only the beginning of a slippery slide in which your main character will wind up being a horse in 1790's Philadelphia giving Ben Franklin advice on the Constitution.
Posts: 334 | Registered: Sep 2003
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