Shutterstock / Dmitry Demidovich©This week, I thought we might look at the Fiction Team, and what we do.
The Fiction Team
There are five of us in the Fiction Team.
On the editorial side, we have Alan, Abbie, Tracey, and Fiction Ed Lucy.
And on the visual side, we have Commissioning Illustrations Editor, Manon.
Our Main Tasks
Our main task is handling the flow of fiction from authors both known, and unknown.
We supply fiction for our weekly, Specials, Annuals, and brand extensions, such as “The Magic Of Christmas”.
We correspond with authors, on works in progress, rewrites, acceptances, and rejections.
We provide poetry content for every “Friend” publication, including our little Fireside and Friendship books.
We publish two pocket novels every month.
And we have the good fortune of access to our Archive, and our archivists, who help us with research.
The People’s Friend Online
We write blogs for our website, including the popular “Writer Of The Week” every Monday morning, and have a Twitter Writing Hour every Tuesday at 11 am.
We take turns to appear in our Friday Facebook Live.
We have fun being part of our podcasts with Digital Editor Jacqueline, bringing old stories to a new audience, and having a chat about them!
And we present workshops on Short Story Writing and Serial Writing, which are now online.
Our Artwork
We liaise with Illustrations Editor, Manon, providing briefs for story illustrations, and sourcing artwork.
When a story needs a commissioned illustration, one of our Team will write up a ‘brief’ – a brief description of the image they’d like to commission.
Manon then sends this to one of our team of illustrators.
Artwork can also be sourced from our own archive, or a picture library.
We also proofread pages of the magazine before they go to press.
Everything about the “Friend” is a Team effort!
Lucy Crichton Better known as “Fiction Editor Lucy”, I am always on the look-out for the very best short stories, poems and pocket novels. As well as sourcing enjoyable content, I enjoy working with our established contributors, encouraging new talent, and celebrating 155 years of “Friend” fiction!
