by Barbara Catlin Craven from the May 20, 2024 issue
Tagline: Upon listening to her horoscope for the day, Janna made a bold move that was quite out of character, but it led to unexpected love.
Observations: This story brought back great memories for me because the first story I sold to Woman's World was based on a horoscope!
I think the best part of this story was the ending. We got a lovely two-part epilogue that was so perfect for the story.
However, I think they meant locket, not cameo. Cameos typically don't open up...
"And two-and-a-half years later, Brent gave Janna the traditional second anniversary gifts of cotton: two pink cotton baby blankets as well as a beautiful pink cameo that held pictures of their precious twin girls..."
It all makes sense now because when I read cameo, I was like, I'm 62. Not even my mom would choose a cameo for someone of childbearing age. A locket is still pretty old-fashioned, but might be okay. This is something I would caution writers of a certain age to watch out for. Make sure everything about your story is age appropriate to your characters, not to you.
Anyway, as I said, the first story I sold to Woman's World was based on a horoscope. After two rejections, I decided to look more closely at the contents of the magazine for story ideas and it worked like a charm!
If you'd like other ways to come up with story ideas, check out the book I wrote on the subject: Story Sparking: How to Generate Ideas for Woman's World 5-Minute Romances. The first chapter goes into greater detail about how to look at the magazine for ideas.
6 comments:
Great catch on the cameo vs. locket. It bothered me, but I was thinking that the cameo was outdated. Never occurred to me about cameos don't open. Another think we writers need to think about when writing a story.
I did love the premise of the story. And I own your book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to write for WW.
It was a cute story. I thought about the wording of cameo, too.
Thanks, Pat! I'm very glad you like the book.
Sweet story. 🥰 I didn’t even think twice about the cameo/locket opening up aspect. It flew right by me. Or maybe some cameos do open? No idea.
But the age appropriate aspect - I disagree because I’ve seen young women who are really into older things. One millennial in particular that I know personally only shops at thrift stores because she loves everything from the 80’s. A bunch of her friends feel the same. I love that what’s old is often fun again. 😀
Nanci, you have a good point. There are people who like and appreciate things out of their own age group. So, should your character be one of them, point it out so that the reader doesn't think to herself, "This woman is supposed to be twenty-five but the Golden Girls is her favorite show?" If you've already established the heroine is quirky like that, there won't be a problem. Always try to avoid the reader being momentarily confused.
Both points are valid. And to further confuse matters, my only locket, (that opens for picture) has a cameo on the front!. Picked it out for my 16th birthday cuz we'd just seen Somewhere in Time which hooked me on all things old fashioned. But never being a fan of things my peers were set me apart. It'd make a great characterization in a novel, but Kate's right, it can be tricky in short stories. Kudos to the author for 'sticking the landing!'
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