Jo interviews David Howarth

Today I am delighted to welcome David Howarth to the blog.

From Park Publications in the Cotswolds, David produces three small press magazines. Scribble and Debut focus on fiction, while Countryside Tales also includes articles and poetry on a rural theme. All three magazines offer opportunities for writers to have their work published, and there are prizes to be won in a range of competitions throughout the year.

David has kindly agreed to answer a few questions, and I began by asking...

What inspired you to set up Park Publications?

I had been writing short stories for many years and, despite some fairly good financial rewards, I got fed up with writing for the women's magazines and started to look for outlets that accepted general fiction. Good quality short story magazines seemed fairly thin on the ground; most of the small press publications were special interest such as horror or sci-fi, etc. I began to think that there must be other writers in the same position. So I launched Scribble. This really took off after a few months and I was soon getting more material than I could hope to use. The first issues were only 48 pages but this has increased to its current 60 pages. Interest has continued to grow and it is still our most popular magazine.

What are the things you most enjoy about running a small press?

The satisfaction of seeing the finished magazines and knowing that I am going to make some writer's day by including their work in one of the magazines. It is particularly satisfying when we publish someone's work for the first time. I also get a real buzz from reading all the submissions we receive and the letters I get from writers saying how much the magazines have inspired them. The hard part is rejecting a writer's work when it is obvious that they have spent many hours on it. One of the reasons I started Debut was to give newer writers a bit more of a chance and also to enable me to offer critiques on unsuitable material. Sometimes a story only needs a small tweak to get it to publishable standard, but unless an editor is prepared to offer advice a writer may go on making the same mistakes.

Roughly how many submissions a year do you receive across the three magazines?

For general magazine submissions the following is a rough guide. This is in addition to the open competitions.

Short stories: Approx. 600 a year. We keep about 180.
Articles: Approx. 250 a year. We keep about 60.
Poems: Approx. 200 - 250 a year. We keep about 60.

In the years since you founded Park Publication, have you noticed any particular trends in the quality, style or subject matter of material submitted?

The quality has definitely improved over the years; this is possibly because writers are continually discovering the magazines. Styles and subject matters are always changing with the times: for instance we get more stories featuring gay/lesbian plot lines than when we first started. We get a lot more contemporary stories with a romantic theme nowadays and there seems to be a shortage of crime fiction (oops, perhaps I shouldn't have said that!). Perhaps that is because there seems to be a much larger proportion of submissions from women writers now?

Whether it is a short story, a poem or an article, what makes a submission stand out for you?

With short stories, I look for something different; something that stands out from the crowd. I like a crisp beginning that takes me straight into the story without too much waffle. I look for interesting characters that I can believe in and want to do well; and I like a satisfying (not necessarily happy) conclusion. Articles should entertain with interesting topics and personal thoughts; I don't like too many boring statistics unless they emphasise a point. I don't mind whether poems rhyme or not but they should 'flow' and sound good when read aloud.

Which authors do you like to read and why?

I like Thomas Hardy and George Eliot for their authenticity - they were actually seeing an England that has vanished. I like Stephen King for his quirky characters and Ian Rankin for his gripping story lines. I have also recently discovered Tess Gerritsen - a brilliant American crime novelist. I also like to read about the English countryside in bygone days - particularly books by the early naturalists such as Gilbert White and Richard Jefferies.

With three regular magazines in production, do you have any plans to expand further?

I think three is enough for now!

Thank you David for giving us this insight into your work. I am one of those writers whose first ever published story appeared in a Park Publications magazine (Countryside Tales, winter 2004). I can honestly say that it marked a turning point in my life, therefore I really appreciate the value of small press magazines such as these.

For full details of how to submit to Scribble, Countryside Tales, and Debut please see the Park Publications website.


An Important Update
October 2012: Please note that sadly David is no longer to publish Countryside Tales. Meanwhile, Debut has this year been amalgamated into Scribble. This means Scribble now has more pages for your lovely stories! It's a very hard climate for small press magazines these days, so it's great that David has found a way to continue giving newer writers this opportunity for publication.

An autumn sniffle

Don't you hate it when you have a few days off work, only to feel yourself going down with a cold the moment your freedom begins? I love September, but my Loved One has generously shared the first of his autumn sniffles with me. Luckily I don't have anything too urgent I have to do. I just about have enough energy to noodle around on Farmville and browse eBay for Shelley plates!

Anyway, I did have a short story published in the September issue of small press magazine Delivered. I just wish I felt up to starting something new. I think I'll go and get a hot water bottle to stuff down my jumper.

What colour was your week?

A friend I clothes shop with often tells me she needs something in a certain colour. Not 'needs' in the sense of co-ordinating with the rest of her wardrobe. More 'needs' in that she just has to have that colour around her, as though it reflects how she is feeling or how she wants to feel. I know what she means. If I'm going into a situation where I want to be more confident I will wear red. Black is practical for work, but it drags me down. I am not buying anything new in black. For some reason lately I fancy something lilac, though it will clash with almost everything else I own. It's a shame yellow makes me look ill, because this week has definitely had a yellow theme.

This laburnum tree in my garden always has a good year followed by a bad one. Right now its long waterfalls of yellow flowers promise that this year will be spectacular.

My writing goes through good years and bad years too. 2009 was patchy, but 2010 has been pretty successful so far. Last week I was shortlisted in The Yellow Room magazine's spring competition, which was jolly nice. Not quite as nice as winning, but congratulations to those awarded prizes.

Around the garden two other plants have also caught my eye. Or should I say weeds? These splashy yellow poppies (left) come up everywhere.

And I probably shouldn't mention it with the Chelsea Flower Show starting next week, but I also have a healthy crop of dandelions. I do love their delicate seedheads, and can't bring myself to banish them completely from the garden. Beautiful, aren't they?

Five questions (well, one of them anyway...)

A little while ago Suzanne Jones tagged me to answer 'Five Questions' about myself. Well, Suzanne, the weather has been so lovely I've been outside most of the last week rather than sitting at the computer. I've only come in today because that dog everyone thinks is so adorable broke through the hedge and escaped. Yes, I had to retrieve the retriever from next door! Talk about embarrassment.

And apologies again Suzanne, but I have such a lot to say about your first question that I'm not going to attempt the other four now. That question is: "Where were you five years ago?" Thank goodness 2005 was one of my more interesting years. Are you sitting comfortably? Because I just need to explain why my memories of 2005 really begin with 2004.

In summer 2004 I'd started writing again after a break of several years. I was unpublished, except for a handful of readers' letters. Of the things I still wanted to achieve, seeing one of my short stories in print was around the top of the list. When I submitted a story for the annual competition organised by 'Countryside Tales', a small press magazine from Park Publications, I expected another rejection. But I was wrong. Soon I heard that my story had won second prize of £25. To receive actual money for writing a story felt like a small miracle. But more important in the long run was the thrill of seeing my story printed in the magazine in the winter of 2004. I can't tell you what a difference it made to me. At least one person in the world believed my story was good enough to publish. That was all I needed to keep me writing and I will forever be grateful for that bit of encouragement.

So 2005 opened with me submitting more seriously, full of New Year's resolutions to prove my first success wasn't purely beginner's luck. But before the next significant event in my writing life, something completely different happened...

When I was a child my best friend lived round the corner, until emigrating with her family to Canada. For a while we lost touch. But through the wonders of the Internet I managed to contact her again in 2003. After 2 years of frequent emails, she invited me to visit Toronto in June 2005. The catch? I hate flying. It terrifies me. But I knew that if I turned down the opportunity I would regret it forever. So, I made myself get on the plane. I didn't exactly conquer my fear of flying, but I coped with it. And what a terrific holiday I had. Not only was it wonderful to see my friend and catch up on all our news, Canada was a fabulous experience. The C.N. Tower. Niagara Falls. Her dog jumping into Lake Ontario and needing 3 people to fish it out. (There's always a dog getting into trouble somewhere).

Travel broadens the mind, everyone says, and I am sure that it's true. I came home refreshed and with new perspectives. I wrote, wrote, wrote. And in September I had a phone call from Woman's Weekly. They wanted to buy a story. Gosh. If they bought it that meant I had sold it. Sold! I had sold a story! I was on some other planet whose name was Bliss. I know I'd had my readers' letters published, and my Countryside Tales story. But the truth was that I still wondered whether I was deluding myself that I could maybe write a little - you know - on a good day, with the moon in the right phase and a following wind. Wind? Was that the dog again?

Now I was on the shelves in all good newsagents, I needed to get organised. Personally I think that if you have a success with your writing, you should always treat yourself to some small thing to remember it by. Or even a big thing, depending on the size of the cheque. With some of my Woman's Weekly money I treated myself to a Filofax which I still use now. I'd like to say everything is colour coded and filed to within an inch of its life, but you wouldn't believe me anyway would you? But I do keep a list in there of deadlines, especially of competitions to enter and any publishers I've noticed asking for submissions for anthologies. For me, it's good to have deadlines to aim for. They help motivate me to finish stuff.

As for the rest of 2005, well, I was pretty much here. I applied for some jobs, went for some interviews, dug my garden and read loads of books. So all in all, life was good. I did have a different dog though, and I think the last picture should be his. Sam with his favourite Teletubbies ball. Much missed. (Sam, I mean. I still have the ball.)