Story: Home Again
What follows is an analysis of a recent Woman's World story with suggestions and observations for people who want to sell stories to WW. I throw in a little personal opinion, too. :)
If you truly want to get the most from this post, it's best to have a copy of the story in front of you. (And no, I don't get a kickback for pimping the magazine here!)
Story: "Home Again" by from the April 7, 2008 issue by Lauren King.
Tagline: Melody hadn't visited Mountain Pine or seen Garrett for years. All that was about to change.
In A Nutshell: Melody visits the town where she spend her childhood summers. The "boy" she had a crush on is selling her grandma's old house. She goes to look at it and when she makes an offer to buy it, he accepts, no questions asked. They then go out and discuss it over chili.
Teaching Points: In this story, the heroine has a problem. She is unhappy with her life and is "ready for a big change." In longer stories, we can put obstacles in her way, but we only have 800 words to work with. Therefore, it behooves us to just hustle her along toward her happy ending where she gets the boy and the house. LOL
Woman's World Standbys: A deceased grandma, an old flame.
Best Part: "Garrett set his brush aside and gave me his full attention." Oh, that got me. A man who gives you his full attention is worth something!
In My Humble Opinion: "...being here feels like walking into Grandma's arms." This line was a little too corny for me. Sorry, Lauren!
Labels: Woman's World Review
posted by Kate Willoughby at 3/31/2008
5 Comments:
I really do want to try and write one of these. One day...
Thanks agian, Kate, for doing these reviews.
I'm gonna succeed at this year.
That was succeed at this this year.
A thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze at. I wish you both luck. Write write write and submit submit submit!
I find Woman's World stories border on insipid... and that's what they want. Every time I've tried to sneak a conflict into the story, or anything remotely deep or heavy, I get a note back from Johnene saying it's too depressing. The only stories they've accepted from me are saccharine sweet romances with basically no conflict. But you're right, $1000 is great pay for 800 words.
Kate H.
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