Publication Tales: The Client
Premise:
Lily is an ambitious legal assistant who one day dreams of becoming a lawyer. Forced to return home to care for her sick mother, she starts a new job at a local law firm. After a few weeks, she meets a mysterious client, Mr. Cromwell, who takes a strong interest in her. Lily is both repulsed and fascinated by Mr. Cromwell. As she is pulled deeper into his world, she fights to escape his influence and keep herself and her mother safe.
Background:
While technically not my first publication, "The Client" was my first full length short story publication and I'm very proud of it. I thought I'd write about my journey with this story.
Years ago I completed my Master of Arts in Classics and was struggling finding consistent work. During the school year, I taught Myth and History, but during the summer, I worked retail. Boo. After a few years of this I decided to go back to school and become a Law Clerk (Legal Assistant).
One day while working at this law firm in an older style building, I had to go into my lawyer's office to drop off some papers. His office was an elaborate two room affair with a client room and a large wooden desk. He was away at the time and the office was dark. As I stepped inside, I felt a slight chill and for a moment, I thought someone was there in the darkness. I turned on the light and immediately felt silly in the empty room. It was a small incident, but the momentary fear I felt stuck with me.
The idea rolled around in my brain for a couple years before I sat down and wrote "The Client". Once complete, I set it aside and didn't look at it for a long time. Finally, I got brave and sent it out to a publication that doesn't exist anymore. After the rejection, I showed it to my partner and ran it through Scribophile. The main criticism was my weak ending. Again, the story sat collecting dust for a while because I didn't know how to wrap it up.
Eventually, there was a themed call with a premise that could fit my story if it were tweaked a little. I'm not going to say what it was because it will spoil the ending. Anyway, I adjusted the story and sent it off. Once again, I was rejected.
Note to any publishers reading this: I have no ill will about rejections. Totally understand. However, this publisher never even sent me a form letter. I found out it was rejected when the book was published and I wasn't in it. Please at least send us form letters so we know.
Anyway, after that, I sent the story to Little Demon Books and they accepted it! I was very happy and then I was even more thrilled when I read the other stories featured alongside mine because they were good. When this story came out, I'd had a couple pieces of flash fiction published already, but seeing this story that I'd put so much work into over the years make it out into the world was an amazing feeling.
Thanks for reading!
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