a southern story?

[tiny44615]

You may want to try using a Southern locale.  Say maybe New Orleans?  It has been popular lately with Katrina and all and it should be very simple to look up a few street names or landmarks which can only be found there and have southern sounding names.

[LCargile]

well i live in the south so it shouldnt be too hard i buess. I ahve an idea so im gonna go and run with it

thanks guys!

[Mikki S]

Leslie,

Does the magazine specifiy "literary" fiction?  I ask because from what I understand, "literary fiction" is somewhat different from the kinds of fiction most of us write.

Noah Lukeman is a well-known agent and author, and some time ago, i read his definition of "literary fiction":  he had a fairly long definition of it, but his main thrust was that it had multidimensional, powerful characters, complex plots and a deep theme.  In other words, it's a much more involved work of fiction than we usually write...more than "just" a story.

You might want to ask Jan what she thinks literary fiction is.  I know she will have some good insight.

In the meantime, if you do start a story...just a suggestion:  do your research!  Decide upon the locale, and then research it...even if it is fiction, if it is supposed to take place in a certain part of the country, you need to know the details of that area.  What are the homes like, what are the occupations, what is the weather, animals, kinds of trees and flowers, etc.
You need to know the regional dialect...in some parts of the south, "y'all" is used for "you all", but NOT in all parts..."I reckon" is still a colloquialism, left over from the 1800s in certain parts of the south, but again, not in all.

I'm not suggesting you write an historical fiction, just that whatever story you write, you get the details correct.  If you don't, since "the south" is specified in the guidelines, you'll find the editor will reject the story just because the details are not right for that particular part of "the south."  Kentucky is not the same as West Virginia...North Carolina is not the same as Mississippi.

Good luck 

[claudette]

Leslie,

It has to do, also, with the flavor of the words chosen as both nouns and verbs. As you already know, those of the south perceive the world a bit differently than northerners do, or westerners. They interact with it in a much more subdued way than many others, as well.

It's that flavor that creates much of the Southern feel to a piece. With that flavor permeating everything, the reader doesn't even have to be told many times that the story is set in the south. The feel will speak to them, instead.

'Course, that would generally be from a literary viewpoint, too.

[LCargile]

thats a wonderful description Hardt.
good advice Mikki!
claudette, i think you're right. I want to try and write this peice of southern literary fiction. i think it would be...a challenge, somthing different  Being that i'm sort of half from charleston, sc i would probably write with a perspective relating to that general area.

[Papa Moon]

Leslie - I've read enough Weltie to be green with envy. Another contemporary writer but probably not recognized as such is Rita Mae Brown.

If it'll help. I just finished a good bit of research on the early Civil War for both a historical fiction story and a nonfiction piece.  For a setting you might consider a civil war hospital as a setting for some intriguing conflict possibilities.  For Sources, you can find Louisa May Alcott's Hospital Sketches if you google it.  Also you might check out Phoebe Yates Pember's Memoir which I didn't know was online until two minutes ago. I checked her book out of the Library of Virginia.
 
URL: http://www.mdgorman.com/Hospitals/Pember%20memoir.pdf

Both of these related to nursing sick and wounded in Civil War Hospitals, and it would seem to me that someone with literary skill such as yourself, could develop a piece about a soldier and a Hospital Matron (the forerunner of professional nurses).

If I can provide further information, holler -Daddy Dennis

[carlosn]

southern stuff--'what yall doin' or gumbo, grape vines, beggerweeds, nightshade, every star being visible in the night sky, family get togethers where people eat over salted deer jerky, boiled peanutts, and sleep, spanish moss draped off knarled old bony oak trees, roadkill, logging trucks, small toyota trucks with massive tires people gettin' married at 18, heavy christian influence, callin' everyone elder to you sir or mam, and rum cake