Word Choice, Part III/Call for Submissions

This is the final article of the series, Word Choice.

1.   Choosing the right word conveys meaning and sets the tone of the story. If you’re writing about the early pioneers, you wouldn’t use the words snacked or lunched since those terms were not in use at that period of history.

2.   Use specific terms.  Pioneers and Indians feasted on catfish and corn as they celebrated the harvest are words that resonate with the genre and are specific in the reader’s mind. If you’re writing about a dog, tell the breed. Is it a hound or a Chihuahua? Is the flower a daisy or a rose? Plant pictures with words. Dog and flower are so general they don’t trigger an image as specific as hound or daisy. When vague words are used, they present unclear meaning and images, which weakens the story.

3.   Convey meaning with accuracy. Is there such a color as dull black? Maybe charcoal   would work better because it’s more precise.

Call for submissions for adult writers:

Red Squirrel Magazine. "Xiaoduo Media is a boutique publishing house with a portfolio of premium quality publications for children in China and a pioneer in the re-packaging of English and other language content for the Chinese audience. Currently we have three monthly magazines targeting elementary school students, one of which is literature called "Red Squirrel". We have introduced many contemporary children's literature from both US and Europe to our Chinese readers, including the writers and their works. We are the only children's magazine in China that has done that.

 "For our magazines published next year we are looking for authors, who could supply us with short stories. The age group of our young readers is from 8 to 12. We are looking for cool stories in length of 500 to 2000 words (An exact word count should be noted on each manuscript submitted. Word count includes every word, but does not include the title of the manuscript or the author's name.) For the selected works we will pay a rate up to 0.25 USD per word."

Submissions, queries and questions should be directed to:

Editor: Conny Fang

Submit by e-mail to: 1541522674@qq.com

Please send the submission pasted directly into the email itself.

Check out more contests on my blog: http://nancykellyallen.blogspot.com/