Short Story Month, Day11--The First Line

I'm concentrating a lot here this month on writing stories without an outer aim, but the fact is that sometimes you need those goals and deadlines. One very interesting literary magazine is The First Line. The concept is, every story in the magazine starts with the same first sentence. They do four issues a year, and they give you the story prompts at the beginning of the year.


 I've done a few of these, maybe submitted four or five. I've never actually gotten accepted, though they are good about saying when they like a story anyway. And the good news is that although they request you wait to send the story off elsewhere until after their issue is published, you can certainly do so then. I've had some luck getting these stories elsewhere, in fact, I even won a prize for one of them, so I encourage you not to get discouraged if The First Line doesn't accept yours. A deadline and a reason to write are one of the things that The First Line provides.

The most recent deadline for The First Line just passed, so this means you have till August 1st to try for the next. The months have a way of speeding by, so get started now!

I don't want to poach on their territory, so this time instead of a prompt, this time, I'm simply giving you a link:

The First Line--Deadline August 1st