“Complete at 2,846 words, it is the story of an old man alone in a dingy hotel room. He is haunted by doubt, decades of struggle, and a tenuous grasp of reality. The genre is literary fiction. I retired this story to the bin because no matter how many times I rewrote the thing, rejections followed. This is the bad luck dog of short stories. And, oddly enough, I still believe in the damn thing. Writers! What are you going to do with them? Homeless optimists and terrible pessimists at the very same time. Anyway, here is my story.”

“I wrote it a few years ago for a short-story competition, in which it placed fairly highly. I submitted it to magazines a couple of times, but ended up worrying that its theme was too sensitive, and in particular worried that it might be read as exhibiting a bit of a white saviour complex, so I retired it, and haven't looked at it since. When I came across your magazine, I thought of the story again, and decided to give it a shot. So here it is. I'll look forward to hearing what you think. I note that you don't tolerate racism, which I applaud, but should warn that the story does feature racism, although I hope you'll agree it's not a racist story.”

“I trashed this short story about two years ago. I always enjoyed the story's situation as it's loosely based on my time working in retail, but the plot itself didn't feel like it worked. In spite of that, I made many revisions but I had a hard time feeling excited about it until very recently when I stumbled upon it again. I think having some time and distance from the story helped me see it more clearly, which, in turn, helped me find some excitement in it again.”

“I wrote this story at a time when it was the last thing I wanted to do. As a result, I think both the perspective and the characters feel a bit hollow, carved out. I didn’t write for a while after this and never came back to it. Returning now, I believe that emptiness in a way speaks to the position these characters are in.”

“The story structure is odd, the expression of the theme is over-the-top, and the ending is too sentimental! That's what the editor in my brain says, anyway. I do like the setting and the setup, but I've explored similar settings and setups in other pieces, so I stopped coming back to "The Reunion" (ironically enough).”

“This piece encompasses everything that's painful and beautiful about the grind of sub calls and lit mags. It was written over the course of several days, with long sleepless nights, re-writes, edits, skipped meals and anxiety to get it done and tell the story as it was meant to be told, only for it to get shot down almost immediately. It's a lighthearted piece that became personally heavy due to the harsh whiplash of love and excitement turning into embarrassment and rejection. It became a reminder that my love for the craft, my characters, and my passion can be quickly gutted by a single "Unfortunately" that feels less authentic and more obligatory. And I want to reclaim it, despite its failure it's still beautiful and I want that pain to be replaced with kindness and pride, even if it's a bit undeserving.”

“I wrote this piece for my Arthuriana class final. While I was and am proud of it, it's hard not to think of it as a piece of indulgent fanfiction, even if everything King Arthur is well in the public domain. There's also the quasi-furry stuff that can feel a bit cringe-inducing. As a result, I buried it away in my Google Drive after the semester ended. With my love for the source material as strong as ever, though, I believe this story deserves a place somewhere in the world.”

“This has been submitted to a few fellowship and mentorship programs to which I was not accepted. It was rejected by a lit mag who said “It's an interesting story, and we enjoyed the vivid imagery, but it didn't quite come together for us.” And I agree, it doesn’t. After the rollercoaster does its thing, the story kind of peters out. That’s maybe because it started out as the first chapter of a novel, and after being edited into different versions, I lost sight of why I included certain parts of the chapter; there are remnants that don’t make as much sense anymore. Then I tried using it as a standalone short story. Either way, I feel that at the very least it needs more momentum toward the end. I’m not sure if it will, one day, end up in that novel, and if it does, it will likely be re-worked.”

“This idea had haunted me for a while, and I never was quite sure how to translate the imagery on my brain into words. When I finally did, I was glad to have pushed through to create this piece. However, with every reread, I became more and more convinced that this wasn't worth showing anywhere, so I shelved it. There are elements that I genuinely enjoy while other aspects may end up making this whole story a mess. While I still don't know if this would be worth it to be seen broadly, others may relate to this jumble of emotion around and within this story. And honestly, even if imperfect, this couple deserves a home.”

“The Way We See The World was rejected multiple times by magazine that publishes queer-themed fiction. Each rejection came with ‘We love the story but...’ . But what? It wasn't good enough? It doesn't have what you are looking for? Questions like this was what I asked myself and writing began to lose hope, regretting writing it in the first place.”

“This is a story I was inspired to write by the turbulent existence of the writer striving to write their magnum opus as well as holding down that all-important bill-paying day job. As you can probably tell, it's something I am experiencing myself! The story reflects on my belief that we writers are but magpies, watching the world pass by, gathering the glittering shards of everyday life to weave into fantastical tales of the extraordinary. Unfortunately, this piece struggled to find a home: I suspect due to its Englishness, or perhaps due to its blend of magical realism and weirdness.”

“This story is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’. I’ve rewritten it and tweaked it time after time but it never seems quite right, and I’m starting to think that’s how it’s meant to be. It doesn’t seem to fit anywhere but that’s ok.”

“I love this piece, but I think it’s one of those beloved sweaters you can’t quite throw out or give away even though it’s hard to find a good occasion to wear it because it’s always a little too warm or a little too thin for most places.”

“The reason I didn't give this short story a chance is because it didn't feel strong enough. I liked the pace and everything, but there was this feeling that something- maybe the characters or the storyline, wasn't strong. I don't know. Eventually, after being unable to find what's wrong I left in the dust and worked on something else.”

“This piece is titled "Lost In Thought (On the 7:00am Bus to Downtown Louisville)" and it has been in my "unloved" folder since I wrote it.  There was something about it that felt almost pretentious and whiny and, at the time, was incredibly reflective of my own lack of satisfaction and purpose in life.  Lost in Thought was the first short story I ever wrote and it was written a year after I lost my job due to COVID, which was also a year into rediscovering my passion for writing stories.  At the time I was basically floating listlessly through life after a lot of heavy changes and needed an outlet and a faceless soul to shove my woes onto.  I've submitted it to several places and no one wanted to claim it, which felt reminiscent and appropriate considering the nature of the character in the story.  It was tragically poetic and lonely.  Despite the lack of a home, the story kept finding itself being opened on days when I felt moody.  Even though I've grown as a writer and a person since its creation, this pretentious little story means a lot to me.”

“At first, when the idea of this story came to me, I envisioned that it would turn into a mystery story. Unfortunately, I lose interest in the middle of writing it. I had no choice but to dump it.”

“I was inspired to write this by the financial situation the world finds itself in all too often. A world where the unscrupulous seem to triumph over the 'little people', and the rich look after themselves. I wanted to write a story where the universe really did take an interest in karmic justice whilst wearing a wry smile. Upon reflection, I have found my story to be very English; so steeped in Englishness I have lost faith in it ever being accepted by the outside world. Or maybe that's my inherent imposter syndrome pouring derision on my writerly ambitions. Ho hum.”

*TW; drug use

“I trashed the story because I couldn't get it to come together quite the way I wanted it to, especially the ending. I was going for more of a horror vibe, but I'm not sure what this ended up being. Kinda scary? Sorta gross? Not sure... It's based on an experience I had last summer in Portland.”

“‘Gross Paper Towel Roll’ is one of the first completed pieces I ever wrote. It's been living deep in my Google Docs because I didn't think it had a good enough ‘story.’ It was an outburst of what I wanted life to be like since I was thinking about moving out for the first time. There are definitely things I would change about it, but won't, because then it wouldn't be the story it was supposed to be. It served its purpose and made me feel a bit better about that scary next step in life.”

“I stopped submitting it after I lost confidence in it. The POV choices I made when I first wrote it feels more like a shtick now and I don't feel like the piece is very 'me' anymore.”