 Kristen Stevens/Daily Times Leader Three-time Pushcart nominee, John Floyd, signs copies of his short story collection, “Rainbow’s End and Other Stories,” for Norman Armstrong and Betty Dill, at Wednesday’s Luncheon with Books. By Kristen Stevens
Daily Times Leader
Short stories, especially those filled with mystery and surprise endings are the written equivalent of the weekly made-for-TV dramas that engaged author John Floyd as a boy growing up in Atalla County in the 1950s and ‘60s. “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Big Town,” and “Naked City” were just a few of the shows of the day that offered audiences a complete new story each week.
As a man who says he never really grew up, writing short stories has been a way for him to enjoy the thrill of fiction, and now he shares that love by not only selling his stories but by teaching writing classes at Millsaps College as part of its Continuing Education program.
Easy-going and neighborly, Floyd entertained the Luncheon with Books crowd with animated tales of rejection and snippets of his characters’ idiosyncrasies.
Floyd began writing as a hobby while still in the midst of his 30-year career with IBM. An electrical engineer, he traveled a great deal with the company and began writing to “pass the time” when alone in airports and hotels. Once the desk and bureau drawers of his home began overflowing with stories, his wife, Carolyn, suggested he try selling some of the stories to publication.
Anxious, he sent five stories to five publishers and four were accepted for publication. Encouraged by his success, he continued to send stories and the next 11 in a row were rejected.
“Rejections are how we learn how to please editors,” he said when discussing what he teaches his students about writing to sell, which comprises half of his curriculum.
Writing to sell is different than writing for pleasure.
“We tend to repeat ourselves over and over without realizing it. We use too many adjectives, use the passive voice too much,” said Floyd. Writing believable dialogue is perhaps the most difficult task for his students said Floyd.
“I teach them to write tight; the second draft should be shorter than the second, and the third shorter than the second,” he joked.
Floyd retired from IBM eight years ago and has had a successful writing career ever since. He’s built quite a following in the industry that has published more than 500 of his stories and fillers and nominated him three times for the Pushcart Prize, the most coveted award for short story writers. His mysteries are published worldwide in literary magazines, such as Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Pleiades Literary Magazine, GRIT, Listen, The Strand Magazine, as well as more commonly heard of publications such as Woman’s World, which has published more than 30 of his stories.
The going rate for short stories, according to Floyd, is anywhere from $0 to $1000 per story. Some publications pay by the word, some by the whole story, and some publications consider exposure in their magazines payment enough.
Floyd has just published a collection of 30 short stories, “Rainbow’s End and Other Stories,” including some of his fan’s favorite characters. Floyd’s very first story, “Thursday’s Child,” written in 1977, has just been purchased by Amazon Shorts and can be read online for 49 cents, along with several other of his stories. He was published for the first time in 1994 with his story, “Four for Dinner.”
“Rainbow’s End and Other Stories” is widely available for purchase in both retail booksellers and online. Floyd and his wife, Carolyn, live in Brandon, and have three grown children and three grandchildren.
Join Luncheon with Books and author Paul Swain next time on Wednesday, April 9 at noon.
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