I was born in Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in a country that doesn't exist anymore. English wasn't a big deal back then, even though cultural influences from the West were strong. We listened to the music (of course) and watched the movies (with subtitles, thank goodness!), but English was not …
A bird in hand or a mammoth in the bush?
I'm not a Twitter expert nor its biggest fan. I joined it – reluctantly – in 2019 in order to be able to participate in pitching events, after someone on Scribophile suggested it was a good path to finding an agent. Before that, I’d never considered joining Twitter. It was useless to me in real …
How I got my publisher
First of all, this is not a story about triumph against all odds. I’m not here to encourage you to persist no matter what, or to face hundreds of rejections in the hope of succeeding one day even if it hurts your mental health. I will not succumb to the survivorship bias and claim I …
Of love and grief
I can't read romance, I can't write romance. It's not for the lack of trying. Sometimes I would love to read a story about two people who overcome great obstacles and end up together, happy and in love. Sometimes I think my own stories would benefit from a little romance and a HEA thrown in …
Seven literary agents who will never represent you
1. Dinosaur Diana Dinosaur Diana has owned her elite New York agency since before you were born. She drank with Hemingway and shot small furry animals with Faulkner. (Or was it the other way round?) She represents literary estates of three Nobel Prize winners and a dozen Pulitzers. She sits in her corner office reading …
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Immersion Vortex or How to Step Into a Story
I binged on TV series during the pandemic in the attempt to get away from the ugly reality. I’ve always been a sucker for period dramas (history + pretty people + gorgeous costumes = pure joy) and for some reason, I felt especially comforted by Regency pieces. I wondered - what if VR was so …
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Rejection II – Turning down acceptances
As a writer, dealing with rejection is something you need to cope with if you want to get published. However, sometimes I found myself in the position where I had to reject an offer and withdraw my story. It didn't happen very often, because when you're new to publishing, you'll jump at every opportunity to …
Rejection, Rejection
According to The Grinder, my short fiction stats for this year are: 75 submissions3 acceptances67 rejections And that's pretty average for me. I tend to submit my stories to magazines whose acceptance rates are 1% - 3%. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of stories the editors of those magazines prefer, so there's …
Variations on Death and Love
I have two pieces published this month and they're both about death. Coincidence? I don't think so. The first piece is an article, Danse Macabre: Equality in Death in Medieval Istrian Frescoes published in The Deadlands. This wasn't the first time I connected my art history knowledge with my publications in speculative fiction magazines, but …
Pogača
My new story How to Bind a Sailor’s Heart is in the May issue of Mermaids Monthly. Charles Payseur writes about it in Quick Sip Reviews A grim and bracing story, but one that acts as a fierce warning, full of haunting beauty! To celebrate its publication, I decided to share my recipe for pogača …
Jelena Dunato 