Guest post by Liz Filleul

Back in 2019, I submitted my first story to The People’s Friend – a 9500-word ‘long crime read’. It was set in Van Diemen’s Land (present day Tasmania) in the 1830s and featured a convict constable called Will Grafton. To my delight, the story was bought four months later and published in a May 2020 People’s Friend Special, titled ‘The Convict Constable’. I followed it up with two more long crime reads featuring Will, which were published by TPF in May 2021 and May 2022. I’ve written a good many cosy crimes for TPF since, but these convict constable stories have always been among my favourites.

As womag writers will know, stories are sold to TPF under a ‘shared rights’ agreement. Once they’ve bought the stories, they can republish them, and so can the author. I’d always hoped that one day I might have written enough convict constable stories to be able to publish them in book form. I was midway through writing another Will Grafton long crime read for TPF  when DC Thomson briefly republished the three convict constable stories in ebook format in 2024.

This move galvanised me into finally doing something about that book of convict constable stories. In my files, I had a convict constable story that TPF had rejected as being a tad dark for their readership. I had the story I was halfway through writing. I had ideas for a couple more stories. And, of course, I still had shared rights to the three published ones. 

While self-publishing was an option, I decided to try traditional publishing first. I had a good track record as a writer of short crime fiction. I’d won the Scarlet Stiletto Award (a prestigious short crime story award in Australia), been runner-up three times, and had taken out category prizes like Mystery with History. And I’d had ‘solve it yourself’ mysteries published in Woman’s World in the USA in addition to the dozens of cosy crime stories and the three mystery serials I’d had published in TPF. Plus one of my convict constable stories  – which TPF had  titled ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ – had been a finalist for the Derringer Awards, run by the Short Mystery Fiction Society in the US, in 2023. 

I emailed Lindy Cameron, who runs the Australian small-press genre publisher Clan Destine Press, and asked if she would be interested in considering a collection of convict constable short stories. I explained that there was a shared rights agreement with DC Thomson for three of the stories, but that the majority of stories would be new. 

To my surprise, she contacted me almost immediately. Unknown to me, Clan Destine Press had recently started a new imprint for short crime stories called ‘Crime Waves’; the first two collections had just come back from the printer. She was interested in considering my collection for this imprint. We ended the call, with me agreeing to submit a 70,000-word seven-story collection for consideration in early 2025. 

Over the Australian summer of 2024-25, I finished the story I was halfway through and wrote two new ones. I also needed to make some changes to the already written stories, mostly to get rid of any repetition. The three stories TPF had published contained necessary repetition to introduce Will and various recurring characters to readers who mightn’t have read the previous stories. The story TPF had rejected contained similar ‘introductions’ to characters. But in a collection of short stories, which would be read one after the other, that repetition wasn’t necessary. I finally submitted the book in April 2025 and was delighted when it was accepted in January this year.

I thought I’d captured all the repetition until I received my edits! While I’d carefully removed those sentences and paragraphs that introduced characters, other little bits had slipped past me. Like mentioning that Hobart Town’s water storage tower was in Macquarie Street every time a convict maid headed there with her buckets. Or that Elizabeth Street was part of Hobart Town’s commercial area every time Will needed to interview a shopkeeper. More cutting! 

The editor had pinpointed another continuity issue as well. The three TPF stories took place in March, June and September/October 1838. During that time, Will’s relationship with a convict maid, Norah Cottman, developed from first meeting, to friendship, then to romance. But because of the time jumps, the reader didn’t actually see the relationship develop. Those time jumps allowed for natural growth. Not so with the short story collection, which now had Will solving crimes in March, April, June, July, September/October, and November 1838 and in February 1839. Their relationship needed to develop on the page. This was the most challenging part of the editing process for me, turning romantic elements into a romance that needed to ring true to the reader, but didn’t detract from the crime-solving. 

Sentenced Beyond the Seas: The Convict Constable’s Casebook will be published later this year. I’m excited to see Will in book form, and hope people who read the original TPF stories will enjoy reading his other cases, and that he’ll reach a bunch of new readers too. 

Feeling floral

We've visited quite a few big gardens on our recent travels, as well as walking through woods and countryside full of wild flowers. Here are just a few examples of flowers we've seen.

Womag news

People are still getting rejections from TAB. It seems rather a waste of time, as we're told to assume a rejection after three months, and the rejected stories are, as far as I'm aware, all much older than that. In my case, they're nearly all for stories sent and given up on years ago. I've also had rejections for stories TAB have published!

Free to enter writing competitions

Thanks to Alyson for this flash fiction competition from Curtis Brown. Max word count 300, theme landmarks. The first prize is £300. 

The rules state AI must not be used – something I totally agree with, but wouldn't be able to prove I'd complied with. Apparently in some cases, the use of dashes is considered 'evidence' of having cheated in this way, as is the knowledge AI exists. 

Here's a poetry competition with £100 first prize (you'll need to scroll down a bit to find it). Thanks to Aly Rhodes for sending me the details.

Other publication opportunities

Thanks to Alyson for the info that Haiku Shack are looking for micro fiction and short poems. They don't pay, but you can submit previously published work – as long as you did't give up all rights, of course.

btw, if you're involved in any publication, physical or digital, which welcome submissions, doesn't charge a submission / reading fee, and would like a mention on my blog, please get in touch.

From Liz Filleul – Earlier this year, I signed a contract with Clan Destine Press, an Australian small-press publisher, for a short story collection called Sentenced Beyond the Seas: The Convict Constable’s Casebook. The book features a convict constable, Will Grafton, solving crimes in 1830s Van Diemen’s Land. The seven short mysteries include three that have been previously published in The People’s Friend Special. ‘The Convict Constable’, ‘Death Knock’ and ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ appeared as 9500-word ‘long crime reads’ in May 2020, May 2021 and May 2022 respectively. 

Patsy has kindly invited me to blog about the work involved in taking those three stories and making them part of a collection that can be read like a novel. So next week I’ll be blogging about the process involved with this. Having just been through the editing stage, I can safely say that it’s been trickier than I initially envisaged!

 

Still travelling

We're still on our travels and having a great time – and managing a little bit of writing. Photos are of 'long strand' on Islay. It's a four mile beach, which we had almost to ourselves for a day and a half. 

Womag news

For those of us not on Twitter, Alyson passed on this by The People's Friend - "Calling all authors! We're currently looking for stories set in August onwards for our weekly, and from late autumn onwards for our Specials. We're also now ready to read Advent and Christmas stories to feature across all 'Friend' publications. All genres and word counts!"

Have you had another bunch of TAB rejections? Me too.

Free entry writing competitions

Here's a short story competition for those who are either unpublished, or have been published no more than four times. Entry is only free until the end of the month.

• Win cash prizes, industry recognition, and a chance to impress our expert judges.

My news

Thanks to Sharon for telling me I have a story in WW. I haven't managed to see it yet, but we're running out of supplies so will be shopping today.

There's a post on the blog on my website about POV, inspired by part of the trip, which you might find interesting. 

Getting away from it all

We're still on our adventures, still having a great time. The pictures are recent views from the mobile writing retreat. I post these daily on Facebook and Bluesky

Magazine news

Thanks to Fiona for the news that Freya at Aquila is looking for short stories (1,000 to 3,000 words) suitable for children 8-13. They're also looking for puzzle writers and historians. 'Basic rate is £150 for 700 words. For non-fiction, send a short paragraph about you with your ideas and a couple of examples of published work. For fiction, send completed short stories. In both instances, email Freya: editor@aquila.co.uk.'

Free to enter writing competitions

Have you written at least one book (fiction, non fiction or poetry) and feel that having time away in an Airbnb property (or more than one) might help you write the next? If so, explain that in Hay Festival's room to write competition and win £1,500 worth of vouchers.

Thanks to Fiona for this competition from The Scottish Wildlife Trust. They want up to 1,000 words in any form, on the theme of changing seasons and Scotland's wildlife and wild places. There's an interesting array of prizes on offer for the winner - plus a couple of small runner up prizes.

Thanks to Alyson for this 6 word competition, with a $100 prize. Hmmm, maybe I do have time to write a whole story after all.

No prize!

We've been doing a lot of travelling over the last week, both in the van on foot. The weather has been (mostly) fabulous and we've taken a great many photos – quite a few work ones for Gary, lots of flowers, and some random scenery. I've even managed some writing!

Free to enter writing competitions

Croydon writers have a monthly 'writer of the month' competition for short stories and poetry. "There is no prize except the satisfaction of having put out some good writing!"

Here's a poetry competition, which will be judged by Aly Rhodes (actually there is a prize for this one - a book token.) Aly says, Obviously it helps if the entrant has visited or knows Saltaire but also though it's not compulsory. If the entrant does win or is a runner up there is a presentation/open mic evening to attend - so travel distance will be a factor.

My news

I've finished the first draft of book 4 in my Little Mallow cosy mystery series! It doesn't have a confirmed title yet, but the first word is likely to be distracting or distracted. That's appropriate in lots of ways, not all of them related to the plot.

If you'd like to know where those steps lead, and join me in a virtual climb, take a look at my website post here.