Short fiction?

[EFCollins]

I've written a story, for a monthly prompt we do down in the horror forum, called Rhia the Chicken. I sent it out to one of my normal target markets and got a quick response.

She said the story was good, but more suited to a children's or young adult journal. She said she could even see the illustrations in her head (and thought an illustrator would have a blast with it), but that it just wasn't right for an adult spec journal. She said that she thought I'd have no problem getting it pubbed in kids or YA mags.

My problem? I've only found two listings (on Duotrope) for children's journals which take short fiction/horror. It's only slightly scary, and has a touch of humor and amusement in the narration I can't quite explain--very unlike my other stories. But the horror is there.

Are there magazines that take such stories? Should I remove the horror aspect fro my searches and look for just kids lit? This is my first attempt at kids markets and I'm flummoxed. Thanks in advance for any responses.

[Smish]

There are definitely spooky/mystery type stories in kids' magazines. I don't think I've come across any true horror, though. However, many of the children's magazines have websites with an "interactive sample" of their magazine. So, I'd suggest doing a general search for kids' mags that accept fiction, and then searching their websites for samples of stories.

It may also be helpful to check out www.KidMagWriters.com (http://www.KidMagWriters.com), particularly the "Special Report" and "Editors Speak" sections under "Archives".

Good luck!

:)Smish

[slcboston]

yeah, I would suggest dropping the "horror" tag from your search. There are plenty of sorta-scary kid's books (heck, even Dean Koontz wrote one) but I doubt any of them are thought of in terms of *horror.*

[kdbeaar]

I think I read your story...about a girl pecked by chickens who hid in their henhouse, right? I don't think that it was terribly scary (oops! Sorry, it was posted in "Horror" wasn't it? But I remember you said it was autobiographical and it had been scary for you!). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, I don't think you need to search particularly for a 'horror' kids magazine; any kids' mag would be suitable, I think. Although you might want to tone down issues of permanent scarring on her legs, and have it end with her feeding the chickens. :)

Good luck!

[Haggis]

You might also check out a library, and enlist the librarian in a search of kid 'zines they might have on hand. Worth a try, eh?

[EFCollins]

KDBear, yes, same story... and no, it's not very scary in nature for adults; the humor and amusement throw that out, but it still has more horror elements than not and totally squicked out my kids. (Nice that you remembered it, too. :)) Had I just written it without the prompt, I prolly would have just trunked it and never brought it in the light of day. It's not, as I said, an "Effie" story. Very unlike me, in my opinion, but it got good responses, so I subbed it out.

Puppy... Yep. I will do that. The Library is good for all kinds of things. But it'll have to wait till I go to the next town over again, as my little po' dunk place doesn't even have one.

'Kay. Drop horror tag, go to library when possible, look for plain ol' kid mags. I can do that. Thanks y'all.

[MsJudy]

MG kids LOVE scary stuff and not enough writers are producing it, so if you have some success with it, write some more!

[cwgranny]

Cricket would take a scary story like that.
Highlights wouldn't -- they're very touchy about anything that MIGHT scare kids, but really from the sound of it, most of the other kid fiction magazines would be okay with it. Not the CBHI magazines (Turtle, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill) but it sounds like could work for Crow Toes (if it's creepy...but they don't pay so probably not a primary interest). Boys' Life likes that kind of funny scary...but the protag would have to be a boy.

But each magazine really has it's own voice, style...so the "scary" would only be one element. Still...just thinking "scary" -- the only ones you ought to elminate for sure are Highlights and the CBHI group.